#what sucks is I can’t find fanart or writing of them I have to do it all myself

[call-me-frosting-or-not-idc]

Woo! I managed to write like a page so now I have like seven pages in the document and I’m soooo excited I’m doing stuff I’m writing words the characters are being adorable and ridiculous let’s gooo

[skumhuu]

I've never had a Twitter, and I'm never calling it X, it sounds weird lol. What are your experiences as an Undertale/mature artist there? I'm over 18, so don't worry about talking to me. I write "spicy" stories and post my general fanart in Tumblr.

In general I wanted to ask because you seem open about Twitter.

No worries, no one calls it X either 😂

I like twitter more than tumblr just because it’s so easy to blacklist and mute things and I don’t have to tag every time I retweet something. It’s SO much easier to mute people/topics on twt, where on Tumblr you have to do a whole workaround that doesn’t rlly work I can’t just mute a person and not see them for a while.

And it’s fun to make twitter threads where you ramble about an idea/hc or even make a short drabble fic and get instant validation. I like the ability to ramble a lot. Also being able to post nsfw is nice. I have a sfw account too on twt under @skulevia, I just never use it 😂

Twitter or any soc media tbh can be incredibly stressful if you aren’t careful. You could find yourself doom scrolling for hours on end, or get sucked into an echo chamber of negativity. The way I handle twt is by using extensions to get rid of the trending tabs and other stressful news stuff, as well as muting tons of words for squicks/stressful topics. I also block a ton of people on there too.

I turn off notifs for comments and likes for people I don’t follow, otherwise I get overwhelmed by the attention.

Honestly, my experience in general being a mature artist is to just find a lil corner with safe people to vibe with and talk to when smth online gets under ur skin :0 Don’t bond with ppl over hate, and communicate with others

[snarkivistfic]

Shipper Tag Game

Tagged by @heyholmesletsgo, thank you! :) I apologize that this took me literally forever to do!!!

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore? I think probably Alec Scutter/ Maurice Hall from Maurice but I wouldn’t say I don’t care about them anymore

2. Which ship would you consider your first one? I had to think about this really hard. I don’t remember if it was George and Susan San Francisco from Alien Nation or Maurice Hall and Alec Scutter from Maurice.  I loved both of these couples fiercely but especially the former I haven’t even thought of until I started thinking about this. 

3. Your first fanfic was about which couple? I didn’t ever write it down till much later

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw fanart of? I apologize to artists – I do not!!

5. Have you ever gotten into ship discourse? With my social anxiety? Heavens no.

6. Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently? I guess I do but I honestly don’t think about it too much. Like I don’t read those ships but honestly can’t be bothered to block any content because I don’t care that much.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read? WeiLan from Guardian (Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan)

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs? SO MANY (can one have multiple One True Pairings?  Yes, yes you can).  ZiNing (Ouyang Zizhen /Wen Ning) is my absolute number one.  But I also passionately love ChuGuo, BigTay, ChanPol, XiYao, YaoYang (CLs Yao and Ouyang), ZhuiLing, and Qin Su/Bicao.

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together? Okay so this is a bit of a deep cut and I refuse to google the names of the characters lest it upset me again. I adore the actor Rupert Graves (Probably because he plays Alec Scutter) and he was in this movie called Dreaming of Joseph Lees.  His character has sooooo much chemistry with the female lead and they are so good together. But in the end she goes back to her horrible and cruel husband because he’s been injured or something I don’t remember.  I just remember I was sooooo mad and it still upsets me to think about it now.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting? I mean probably if you have a really wide definition of ship and it encompasses my whole life of imagining fictional characters together. But I can’t think of one right now.  

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, would've been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over? I can’t think of anything. 

12. What is your favorite crack ship? People consider YaoYang to be a crack ship but like I don’t think I could be so passionate about them if I thought that. I am not writing them as a pairing as a joke.  I think the first time I wrote them seriously (a fic called A Call to Arms) I started it as a joke and a way to play with unreliable characters. But I ended up sort of getting in their heads and now I love them so much. Because I think people in my life find me annoying and a little too much of a know-it-all (who is often wrong about things) so I kind of identify with CL Yao in a way.  So but yeah I guess technically this is my favourite crack ship?

13. What is the couple you read the most fanfics about? Honestly, I guess WangXian just because there are the MOST of them. 

14. What do most of your ships usually have in common? Hmmmm.  I think, and maybe this is in all ships?, that each of the characters sees something in the other that no one else can. Like maybe everyone else thinks they are annoying (lol YaoYang) or just a sweet sexless cinnamon roll (ZiNing), or for whatever reasons the characters don’t think they deserve love or that anyone could love them.  I think that’s the thing.

15. What you absolutely hate in a ship? This is hard for me to answer because the whole point of fiction is that you can like things that would be terrible in real life.  So a dynamic that would suck irl could be a great ship dynamic?  I guess I don’t have an answer.

Tagging @unfortunatelycake @jaggededges123 @justacoyote @linacies @zaelriel (no pressure at all! I won't be offended if you're not interested!) and whoever else would like to answer!

[dearinglovebot]

I've written a Jurassic World fanfic about Owen, Claire and Maisie trying to be a normal family after the events of JW Dominion. I would like to know how I can get my story to have more followers, any tips?

https://www.wattpad.com/story/365137152?utm_source=android&utm_medium=link&utm_content=story_info&wp_page=story_details_button&wp_uname=ThisMovieisRATEDPG13

as a disclaimer, there’s no GUARANTEED way to do this. a solid 75% of fic writing is pure chance. there are some fics that pop off that you absolutely don’t expect to and there are some that flop. that said, these are the things I’ve noticed over the years

platform is key. wattpad skews younger while a03 skews older. ff.net is older too but that place is basically dead in the water. a03 attracts people who’ve been in fandom for much longer and thus who know fandom etiquette of things like “kudos liberally” and “leave comments”. wattpad attracts newer (but very curious and excited) people who are just getting into what fandom is. highly recommend having an a03 presence alongside your wattpad one. (also, you can read, like, and comment on a03 without an account which you can’t do with wattpad anymore. this gives shyer readers the option to discover you)

reliability. people love when unfinished fics have posting schedules (they’re terrified they’ll be abandoned). a solid 50% of people won’t even start unfinished fics unless they notice you consistently update them. this is the hardest part of multi chapters. but committing to something like “updates every sunday” or “updates monday and friday” does assure more readers will give it a chance. remember, every chapter you post is a chance of someone new finding it, too

tagging is your best friend. keep them relevant, but also interesting. is there found family? tag it. is there hurt/comfort? tag it. is it established relationship or slow burn? tag it. tropes are like catnip to readers. not only does it make your fic easier to find in the mountains of jw fics, it immediately gives readers an idea of what they’ll be getting in the fic. they’re nosey creatures. use this to your advantage.

be your own biggest fan. feel completely free to make moodboards, fanart, playlists, etc about your fic. this both promotes it to readers on social media and shows that you’re confident in having written a good fic. people don’t want to hear “this kind of sucks haha enjoy” they want to hear “this chapter was soo fun. enjoy ;)”. show them that this is a fic they want to be reading

something really unfortunate about fandom is it is english (USian, canadian, british) centric. portugese is probably the only other language you’re gonna get major traction in (brasilians are built different. campeão do mundo 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷☝️). it’s not IMPOSSIBLE but it’s something to keep in mind. it’s not YOUR failure, it’s monolingual USians and their inability to use google translate

that said, writing fic is also a very organic thing. you can’t force it. it happens when it happens. and take everything into perspective. if 10 people liked your fic this week, that might not seem like a lot. until you imagine ten strangers coming up to you in real life going “this story is amazing”. that’s something to be proud of. be proud of yourself :)

[undefeatedlegend]

┌──═━ Rule Book ━═──┐

Just a few notes on my RP rules.

01. Flexible. 

✧ First off, I’m willing to rp with anyone from any fandom and even OCs. Concerning plots, we can always work something out and see what happens next. I’m pretty flexible with ideas so I can rp anything. 

✧ I RP canon/au/crossovers…even crack just for the hell of it. Whatever as long as it's fun.

02. Shipping. 

✧ I am willing to be multishipping with anyone, I guess it depends on how the chemistry is between our characters. Who knows if it’ll work out.

3. NSFW.

✧ NSFW, I’m willing to do this as well but please it has to be 18 and over, Mun is over 18. No exceptions.  

✧ NSFW threads will be either under Read More or not, it all depends on my rp partner. And they will be tagged accordingly, #;; nsfw #;; nsfw-ish.

THERE WILL BE TRIGGER WARNING ON EVERY TAGS I MAKE WITH JAEKYUNG WHEN ITS NEEDED. As we know, the manhwa is graphic. I would like to express that despite how I am portraying this character, I will portray him as in the manhwa, he is rude and brutal.

4. Godmoding. 

✧ No Godmoding, which is obvious. So please do not do that.

05. Threads. 

✧ If I do forget a thread, please let me know since I tend to be busy with work and real life. But don't mention it every 10 minutes. It just gets annoying and makes me think of not responding. Not to be a pain but I want to be considerate.

06. Hate. 

✧ I will not and refuse to tolerate hate that is sent to me. So don’t bother because I’ll block you on sight. Do not send any kind of hate to anyone. I know a lot of people may not like this character so please be respectful and do not send me hate messages. I will just ignore and click delete, so please don't bother.

07. Asks. 

✧ My inbox is open 24/7. Anons are welcome, same for any random asks from any of my followers. I enjoy talking OOC as well so please feel free to ask me anything! And don't be afraid to approach me!

08. Followers. 

✧ New follow starters are not written (it's because I suck at coming up with starters ;3;) but feel free to tag me if you have one! But if I do feel inspired to send you one, I will tag you, and it's up to you if you want to reply or not. If you don't, no hard feelings!

09. Disclaimer. 

✧ Disclaimer: I do not own any of the series that my muses are in, they belong to their respectful owners. I will add more information as I continue to work on this blog.

10. Muse =/= Mun. 

✧I do not condone what my muse does, or say. I have a muse who could do terrible things and in many people's eyes, is a complete jerk. I do agree with most of the things he has done, but I believe in my heart as the manhwa progresses, I think Jaekyung will come around and be a better person. The manwha is not completed yet so who knows what will happen in the future.

However, I don’t condone his behavior or his words when he hurts others. Just because I write it doesn’t mean I condone such a thing.

11. Icons. ✧ Icon template by @jessource Icons are made, cleaned, and edited by me so please…don’t steal. Fanart, gifs are not mine, and if I have the source for them, I will make sure to post it. But if I can’t find them, I will let you all know and I would appreciate it if you help me in finding them. If the creator doesn’t want me to use them, then I will immediately apologize and take them down.

12. Jaekyung face claim: Park Seo Joon (ex. THE DIVINE FURY in 2019)

Mun.

✧Hello, My name is Bernice, but you can call me B. I have been rping for almost 15+ years under different platforms, 7 of which are on Tumblr. Mun is 35+ and has a busy life. I tend to disappear randomly due to it. So please forgive me as I do that.

I also have two other blogs, @swimmingforthegold & @changeandmovingon

✧ Well that’s all, thank you for reading and thank you for following me. Hope to rp with you all soon. :3

[just-my-latest-hyperfixation]

I nEvEr GeT aSk GaMe StUfF

✨🦋🌿🎀💝💥💎💌

Geee, alright already! 🤣🤣🤣

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Okay, first things first, I'm pretty satisfied with how all of my fics have been perceived so far, so I can't really complain. 

That being said: Someone who cares is doing significantly less good than Hic sunt dracones, statistics-wise. It is my own emotional support fic and incredibly close to my heart, so I really am delighted about every positive comment I get about it. 

🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

Erm, everything? Can I say everything? 🤣

I'm literally a nervous wreck after posting, anxiously hitting F5 and waiting for feedback, mind in a constant loop of self-doubt.

What if my characterization is off?

What if the premise sucks?

What if my readers don't like the direction I'm taking the story? 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! 

🌿how does creating make you feel?

So many things!!! 

For one thing, it scratches the brain itch. I’ve always had to create things, as far back as I remember. When I was a kid, my parents could stick me in a corner with some paper and scissors and crayons and glue and wouldn’t hear from me for hours. 

Even during the 15 years that I didn’t write, I always had to be doing something creative. Knitting, painting, drawing, photographing, you name it. It’s an urge that I need to fulfill and I get crabby if I can’t. 

Seeing the end results makes me feel insanely proud and accomplished. It may not be perfect, but I made that! I sunk my teeth into it and saw it through and made this wonderful thing that I love. 

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

How dare you make me say nice things about myself?! 

Okay … I guess my writing does something to other people that makes them want to create their own stuff. People have repeatedly told me that reading my fics kickstarted their own imagination into creating stories or art of their own. And every time that happens, I get so incredibly happy because that is like a god-tier compliment right there! That somebody found my writing so engaging that it made their brain spin off on a tangent and they created something out of it! 

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Dragons! Dragons dragons dragons dragoooooons!!!! 

The feedback I am getting for this fic just won’t stop blowing my mind, seriously, and every time I think it’s done, you guys hit me in right in the feels again with your gorgeous comments and rec lists mentions and fucking FANART! I am incredibly happy and humbled and awed that people are loving it so much! 

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

That would be Someone like you, which is a little bonus story to Someone who cares. It's a purely self-indulgent little one-shot featuring married Steddie and a baby. This universe is my emotional support AU and I loved visiting the boys again. 💕

💎why is writing important to you?

Wow, where to start? 

Because it's incredibly fun and allows me to completely immerse myself in the story I'm creating. Because I get to be self-indulgent and spoil myself and make the story exactly like I want it to be. 

And because I have met so many amazing, creative, lovely ppl through it over the past few months, who bring me joy and make me smile every single day.

I honestly don't know how I could ever go without it for so long! 

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Okay, so I'm still firmly stuck on the demon!Eddie brainworm and fully planning on turning it into a chaptered fic. I'm still figuring out a lot of the specifics, but I've already got some nice twists and details planned. There'll be demon besties Eddie and Chrissy, a nice side of Buckingham, lots of smutty goodness, Dustin running a mystery YouTube channel and so much more, it will be glorious! 

[elenyafinwe]

Periodical reminder, that I have a Naruto focused server to hang around, talk and simp. I aim to create a queer friendly fandom space, where everyone is chill about fandom discourse. The server is not too big, but active nonetheless.

What you get upon joining:

Channels for general chats and rl pics (including my birbs and balcony pidgey fam :D)

Separate roles for sfw, nsfw and dead dove topics, so everything is opt-in and you can design your own user experience. If you like the nsfw content but no dead dove, then simply grab only the nsfw role!

No minors in the server, please. Sorry, kids, that’s not a place for you.

Corners for Naruto fanart, Naruto fanfics and for other fandoms as well. (As if I would ever shut up about elves and Ainur and dragon riding queens who deserve better, dracarys bitches.)

Members can request their own channels to do whatever the fuck they want with it. If you want a place to spam your wips, but don’t feel like putting them in the general channels, that would be an option for you. Just one example.

Server exclusive events like the Trope of the Month. Members get to suggest and vote upon the tropes every month.

We technically have voice channels and the opportunity is there to play games together, but tbh so far we haven’t done this.

If you want up to date updates on my writing, you find them on the channel as well ^^

Rules for trigger warnings, so even in the dead dove channels we warn for potentially triggering stuff like gore and hide behind spoilers if deemed neccessary.

No bigots (ableists, racists, Nazis, TERFs, radfems, battleaxe bis, exclus ect.) allowed. This is one of the very few hard rules. We don’t promote works of bigots on the server, because that’s not how Death of the Author works. The server aims to be a save space for queer people and that does not work, if you think it’s ok to consume stuff from a TERF like jkr.

We allow every content, that does not promote racism, queermisia, antisemitism ect.

Every content means literally this. We believe in freedom to fiction, that ship bashing is uncool and that your kink is not my kink and that’s ok. So if you search for a place to be kinky af and unhinged, you’ve found it! We allow any kink and any dead dove, even the stuff some might find “problematic” or “gross”.

We gave the bots we have funny names. For example the ao3 linker bot is our Uchiha Stone Tablet, the Carl-bot is Shikamaru, Rock Lee is the Apollo bot for creating events Kakashi is Not Quite Nitro, that allows you to use animated emojis without paying for Nitro, and so on. Sorrynotsorry, I though I was funny with that.

What's new since I last promoted by server:

We banned AI and NFTs. Went without saying so far, but better make it clear. That shit sucks, we don't want that. Be gone. Go back to the abyss whence you came from!

We added a channel for shameless self promo. Ok, honestly, if you only join to promote your commission sheet, boo. But if you, at any point, feel like you want to promote something like your commission sheet or stuff you're selling, we now have the place for it.

If you can’t be chill about this, please don’t join.

@narutoevents heared you also boost servers? Can the Naruto Hell get a little boost pls? 🥺👉👈

[sprigofbasil-archive]

Tips for New Writeblrs

i’ve been seeing a lot of new and young writeblrs popping up recently, and i know the community can seem a bit daunting at first so i decided to make a post with some tips i wish i’d have known when i first joined!

↳ INTERACTION IS KEY

first off, and i cannot stress this enough, is the importance of interacting with other writeblrs. this community is here to help us all grow as writers, and one of the best ways to do that is to find writer friends. there’s so many incredible wips on writeblr, and it’s a genuine treat to get to see them develop further. interaction comes mostly through reblogs on tumblr, but for making actual friends, your best bet is joining a writing discord server. @welcometowriteblr​ is an example of a writeblr net with an open discord, but there are also many others out there catering to specific genres and subcategories.

↳ CLOUT IS MEANINGLESS

tumblr is bad enough at interaction on its own, but it’s especially true in communities like writeblr. unlike litblr graphics or fanart, writeblr content usually doesn’t come with a built-in audience unless you’re writing fic. so instead of trying to appeal to trends and getting lost in a sea of identical wips, your priority should be creating something you’re actually passionate about. a wip is a huge commitment, and it’s important to find a project you love instead of hopping from trend to trend. it’s ok to drop wips and realize that maybe it’s not the right time to write them, but wips are not solely there for notes.

↳ WRITEBLR, NOT GRAPHICBLR

it may not always seem like it, but this is in fact a writing community, and not a graphics one. making pretty graphics can be really fun, as well as doubly functioning as a procrastination tool. however, the main reason we’re all here is to write. don’t spend all your time on making pretty pictures for tumblr and then only ever complaining about how you never write. a lot of the most popular meme posts are jokes about writeblrs never writing, but the community is called writeblr for a reason.

↳ DO YOUR RESEARCH

so you have a wip idea. now what? now it’s research, research, research. this is especially prevalent in fantasy worldbuilding but really applies everywhere: you cannot pick and choose the parts of a culture you like while ignoring all others and their implications. there are certain topics that need to be handled with delicacy, which in itself requires a lot of research on its own. then there’s writing characters different from you. there is a vast difference between tokenism and representation, and the first thing is to make sure you actually treat your characters and world with respect. don’t rely on people from those groups to call you out for your mistakes—google is free, and it’s not their job to deal with your mistakes. if people are open to helping though, you should reach out to them if you still haven’t found your answers. @writingwithcolor is an excellent resource, and there are many other blogs dedicated to giving advice.

↳ CHOOSE ACCESSIBILITY

this is a community focused on writing, so your priority should be making that writing as accessible as possible. i know scripts and fancy text are a popular aesthetic, but @ikilledmyocs made an excellent post here as to why you should avoid them; namely, they’re an accessibility nightmare. i promise that your posts will still look nice, and more importantly, they’ll actually be readable. the same goes for blog themes. large text and high contrast are your friend! @serpentarii has a wonderful theme recommendation post here with some examples of writer-friendly themes.

↳ DON’T GET CAUGHT UP IN PROSE

and lastly, this applies particularly to new writers in general. very purple, floral prose is popular on writeblr, and sometimes it can seem like it’s the only writing on here at all. however, you’re here to actually write a wip. the purpose of your first draft is to exist, not to win a pulitzer, and it’s perfectly ok for it to suck. making it actually good is the job of future drafts; after all, you can’t paint a house that hasn’t been built yet. your writing style will come with time, and simpler writing also has its place up there with pretty prose. i can promise that coherence is far more important than putting nice-sounding words together without actually knowing what they mean. that isn’t to say that floral prose is bad, but it isn’t the only writing of value, and i think that we sometimes forget that on writeblr. just sit down, take a breath, and write.

[gffa]

I swore for about ten entire minutes that I wasn’t going to do a set of recs for THE OLD GUARD, I was just going to watch the movie, indulge in a bit of fanart, and then I would be done. But then I was like HOW ABOUT I HAVE SOME FEELINGS INSTEAD? and here we are. So HAVE SOME FEELINGS ABOUT ANCIENT IMMORTALS AND REASONABLY ANCIENT IMMORTALS AND BABY IMMORTALS.  COME YELL ABOUT FEELINGS WITH ME, FANDOM. THE OLD GUARD RECS: ✦ An Unrecorded History by xpityx, joe/nicky, 1.1k    Joe closed the book and dropped it none too carefully on the table. He would have liked to have thrown it away—to prevent anyone else from reading it—but it was far too easy to make copies of books in these times, so he knew it would be no use. He also could not quite bring himself to discard something as precious as a book, no matter how poorly written it was. ✦ keep yourself alive for me by retts, joe/nicky, NSFW, 1.7k    Nicky grabbed Joe’s hand and pulled him towards the stairs, not that there was any resistance from Joe. ‘If I remember correctly, this one has two bathrooms, doesn’t it?’ ✦ let’s give them something to talk about by lacecat, joe/nicky & andy/nile, nsfw, 4.8k    In which Nicky and Joe take liberties with recounting history, because it’s fun. ✦ Family Dinner by dadvans, joe/nicky & nile, 2.4k    The only time Nile ever sleeps a full night and feels remotely part of herself is when she stays with Nicky and Joe, who shampoo brains out of each other’s hair in the shower and clean their guns on the couch watching Chopped reruns. ✦ one burning candle, one wind-whipped flame by Dialux, joe/nicky & andy, 5.1k    Yusuf dies, and dies, and dies, and lives, as well, for a thousand years. Nicolo’s by his side for all of them, and it’s not quite the love story of eternity, but it’s theirs: and that’s enough for them both ✦ Future Days by maroon, joe/nicky & andy/noriko, 2.1k    “Then why untie me?” The man grins, terribly amused, and awfully affectionate. Andromache wants to look away, but for some reason, can’t. Maybe because the look in his eye reminds her of herself, a lifetime ago. “Because my beloved is soft, and kind, and will flay me alive if he’d known I tied up a woman.” ✦ Islands of Hours by RC_McLachlan, joe/nicky, 1.5k    There eventually comes a lull, and so they go to Malta. ✦ take out by j_gabrielle, joe/nicky & nile, ~1k    It probably should bother her when Joe kicks the door to the flat open and promptly marches in to deposit their takeout on the living room table. All while he is tracking half-dried blood and mud on the shiny tile floors. “You, ah,” Nile says even as she hurries to pick through the night’s offerings. “They let you on the subway like that?” ✦ all a smooth plain, and the soil deep by inlovewithnight, andy & nile & joe & nicky, 2.1k    After London, they all need to rest. ✦ we are golden by retts, joe/nicky, ~1k    Joe lowers his gaze to the open page on his lap. The sketch is of a man on a charging horse, hair and beard whipping in the wind, sword in one hand and a shield in the other. The eyes in the drawing are the same eyes watching him now. His Nicolo. 'You were a hard fucker to kill back then, Nicky.’ ✦ An eagle’s old age, a sparrow’s youth by BakedAppleSauce, joe/nicky, 2.2k    Joe comes shuffling back into the room, heavy footsteps that mean he’s either tired, or not really trying, or both. Familiar as breathing. Nicky’d recognize him anywhere, walking among a million of strangers. In which some people are laying low for a while, in more ways than one. ✦ A Most Forgetful Death by RC_McLachlan, joe/nicky, 1.2k    “You’re an incurable romantic,” Nicky says, and though his expression doesn’t so much as twitch, Joe can hear the laughter languishing between the words, can feel it on his tongue and rubbing up against his teeth when Nicky meets him halfway to smear a kiss against his mouth. ✦ Luce e ombre by sheafrotherdon, andy & nile, 1.2k    The discomfort is so new that it startles her, and she searches her memory to remember a time before she was immortal: a time when a cut, a scrape, a bruise hurt for longer than a moment, long enough to interrupt sleep. The memories don’t come ✦ When I Am with You by takethisnight_wrapitaroundme, joe/nicky, NSFW, 5.4k    “You… would like to waste a thousand euros’ worth of champagne by pouring it all over me?” Nicky has to repeat it aloud to make sure he’s heard right. While spending some quality time together on vacation in France, Nicky has a surprise for Joe. And Joe, as it turns out, has a surprise for Nicky. ✦ the common tongue of your loving me by spokenitalics, joe/nicky, NSFW, 1.4k    “It’s just— Do you ever wonder how much we’ve forgotten?” Nicky asks, eventually. “How many names and faces and places have just… faded away from our memory?” ✦ i have loved you for a thousand years by owilde, ~1k    It’s him. Again. Yusuf shields his eyes from the blinding desert sunlight, staring into the near distance where a man is stood, alone, a harsh silhouette cut against the bright blue sky and peach-coloured sand. ✦ this is why by retts, joe/nicky, 1.2k    Small as it was, they had their own room in the London safe house, which was a good thing because Joe was prying open Nicky’s mouth with his fingers. Not with his tongue, much as Nicky would prefer it, but with three calloused fingers sneaking inside his lips as if Nicky wouldn’t wake up from the intrusion. He was on his back, Joe pressed closer to him than his own shadow. The slant of moonlight from the window illuminated Joe’s dark eyes as he bent over Nicky. Joe sucked in the corner of his mouth, a tell that he’d never shaken off all these long centuries. ✦ I Found Peace in Your Violence by j_gabrielle, joe/nicky, 1.5k    5 Times Joe and Nicky kill each other + 1 (of many) times they killed someone together ✦ life is very long by kaydeefalls, joe/nicky & andy & nile & booker & quynh & copley, 7.1k    Andromache tells him: “The Greeks used to have seven different words for love. Well. More, probably. But I remember seven.” She shrugs. “There are many ways to love one another, and life is long. We’ve time enough for them all. It’s the only thing that makes it worthwhile.” Nicky and his immortal family, over the centuries. ✦ take a breath by BeStillMySlashyHeart, joe/nicky & andy & nile & booker, 1k    Once they are safe, Nicky and Joe take a moment together. ✦ Between the Hour and the Age by hauntedjaeger (saellys), andy & nile & joe & nicky, 2.5k    “To the Art Institute of Chicago,” Andy echoes, “so that my breasts may be culturally appreciated in perpetuity.” She tips the bottle and lets out three drops. As they fall to the stone floor, Joe and Nicky rap their knuckles on the nearest pieces of metal: the other lantern for Nicky, the oxidized helmet for Joe. One rap for each drop. In another time, they might have struck their swords on shields. ✦ how we live by retts, joe/nicky, ~1k    Life, though, brings pain. Goddamn pain. Bullets that struck his cranium and pelvis – the big bones in the body – are forced out. The rest went through him, carrying organ tissue and muscle with them. Those lost bits have to be regrown. Bones realign and the ribs in his lungs retract so they can breathe again. So Nicky can breathe again. And when he breathes, he thinks, Yusuf. ✦ Paradeisos by Enneara, joe/nicky, 2.9k    Traveling through Greece with Yusuf after fleeing the Holy Land, Nicolò suffers a crisis of faith. ✦ The Language of Love by 1derspark, joe/nicky & andy/quynh & booker & nile, 4.5k    Or five times Nicky hears Joe speak his language and one time Nicky returns the favor. ✦ Le Vite by ScribeofArda, joe/nicky & andy & nile & booker, 8k    Nicky breathes out. “What did I miss?” he asks, staring out at the hills. “Why didn’t I see this coming?” After everything, after finding Nile and losing Booker and Andy’s new mortality, Joe is pissed off. Nicky is just tired. ✦ The god of my idolatry by Petra, andy/nile, NSFW, 3.4k    “You said you were worshipped as a god.” “I was.” Nile steels herself and asks, “Would you like to do it again?” Andy laughs and throws back the contents of her glass. “They don’t teach you pick-up lines in the Marines, do they.” ✦ love is not over by retts, joe/nicky & andy & nile, 1.3k    'Babe, do you know what this reminds me of?’ asked Nicky. Joe licked his lips and tilted his head to the side, gaze intent on the mole on Nicky’s cheek. 'What?’ 'The first time you drew me.’ ✦ Case Analysis by skeeno, joe/nicky & andy & booker & copley, 3.4k    It’s not totally out of the ordinary for the people Copley meets in his line of work to be extraordinary. But he’s intrigued by these four. ✦ compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience by Jack_R, joe/nicky & andy & quynh, 11.9k    ‘You are a shame to your countrymen and the lowest of the low,’ Yusuf said, ‘and your mother copulated with a dog.’ ✦ Everything in moderation (even moderation) by BakedAppleSauce, joe/nicky, NSFW, 6.1k    The novelty has worn off, of course, but it’s not the novelty that keeps anybody coming back, anyway. Novelty never sustains anything. ✦ What the Water Takes by xpityx, andy & nile & quynh, 1k    Here is a secret she will never write down. ✦ Stracciatella by ScribeofArda, joe/nicky & andy & nile, 4.8k    “None of us have any evidence of the ways we have died,” Nicky continues. “But you remember the fall, don’t you? You remember the first time you died, the way your blood spilled out as your throat was slashed. I remember the first time I died, when the love of my life drew his sword across my neck as I drove mine into his chest and we both fell to the sand.”

[itsclydebitches]

Please stop putting Rwde in the main tags holy shit. Blocked tags dont work on trending tags

Okay, today we're going to have a talk about curating your own content online. This isn’t the first time I’ve had an anon, somewhat angrily, demand that I stop using the “RWBY” tag and I’m sure it won’t be the last. However, my answer remains the same: No. Sorry. I’m not going to stop. Why?

Because my posts are about RWBY.

In case the above isn’t answer enough, let’s do a quick FAQs.

Why are you using the “RWBY” tag when so many of your posts are critical?

Because, as said, my posts are about RWBY. That’s the subject. I’ve been in the RWBY tumblr fandom for over five years now. I want all my RWBY content accessible in one place on my blog, not divided up between praise posts, critical posts, fanart, fic, etc. If an easy division between the first two is even possible (which it's not). It’s just all RWBY and, oddly enough, when I started reblogging and posting here, I tagged it with “RWBY.” Because that’s the show. My tagging system is far from complex, but I’m not about to re-organize or switch up 228 pages of content.

But we decided a long time ago that critical posts shouldn’t go in the main tag.

That’s ridiculous. People realize that’s ridiculous, right? I mean, I know we've all mostly agreed to observe this self-imposed rule, but that doesn't mean I haven't been raising an eyebrow at it since it first came up. I’ve been in a lot of fandoms and I’ve never seen another that insisted only praise could go in the main tag. When you come on tumblr and want to look up RWBY posts, you expect to get everything about RWBY—any post that deals with that subject. I would stake a great deal on the assumption that there are other posts in the main tag that you dislike, anon, simply because that's how people work. We all don't like the same things and, indeed, in a long-running show with a massive cast, there's going to be stuff we hate too. Ships you can't stand, takes you think are awful, that character you’re just so sick of seeing… yet we don’t exclude other, major subjects from the tag just because certain individuals dislike them. If we did, there would be no “RWBY” search because no one would ever agree on what is and is not allowed.

You have “RWDE” though.

We do! And as evidenced by the post you’re upset with, I use it when I think it's warranted. Here’s the thing about “RWDE” though: no one can agree on that either. Some fans think “RWDE” is solely for the angry, curse-laden posts. Others think it’s only for posts that are 100% critical. Others think it’s for ranting critical posts, not analysis critical posts. Still others think it’s for posts that say anything bad about RWBY, no matter if other parts of the post are complimentary or neutral—with "bad" ranging from "Actively insulting aspects" to "I didn't praise this enough to the individual's liking." It's so subjective as to be almost useless, to the point where "RWDE" posters are currently upset that others are posting critical takes about "RWDE" takes. Where do we draw the lines then? Your guess is as good as mine. But the one time I tried to post solely in “RWDE,” I was getting different anons going, “Omg stop posting in rwde this isn’t rwde!” So… my posts are apparently too critical for “RWBY” and, often, not critical enough for “RWDE.” Fantastic.

Just create your own unique tag then.

On the social media website where we post specifically to have other people interact with our work? You may not like my posts, anon, but other people do. “RWBY” is useful in part because it allows like-minded people to find me. If I only used a unique tag, I’d never come up in searches. Besides, I already do have a unique tag: “mymetas.” Every critical RWBY post of mine has that attached. Thus, it’s your job to blog “RWDE,” “mymetas,” or me entirely.

I tried that though and tumblr’s blocking system didn’t work for [insert reason here]

I really am sorry to hear that, it sucks, but tumblr’s shoddy system is not my fault—nor my responsibility. And now we come to the part about curating our online experience. Sometimes it’s not just about blocking everything because the system itself is flawed. Often you have to go further by scrolling past.

I'm going to say that again because people really need to practice it more on tumblr: scroll past the content you don't like.

If you don’t like a post, don’t read it. If you start reading a post and realize you don’t like it, stop and go find something else you enjoy. Being a responsible fan online often means going, “Huh. I hate that” and moving on, not coming into the author’s inbox to demand that they—impossibly—ensure that you never have to see something you hate ever again. Anon, you spent more time with something you claim to dislike by coming into my inbox to write and send a message demanding that I stop using "RWBY" than you would have by simply ignoring my post and moving on. That tells me you care more about controlling others' online experience than you do managing your own.

But we don’t want to see critical takes in the “RWBY” tag! We come on tumblr because we love the show and it sucks to see people dragging it all the time. I just want to enjoy the show in peace.

A valid stance… and one that doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to RWBY. Between the time I posted about the teaser and the time I saw this ask, two hours had passed and a hundred and four new posts had appeared in “RWBY." I know because I took the time to count. The RWBY critical community is absolutely miniscule compared to the rest of the fandom. There are maybe 2-7 new “RWDE” posts a day, max, and those are coming from a few key blogs that focus on analyzing the show. There is no scenario in which there are so many critical posts that it’s ruining your RWBY time on tumblr, simply because that amount of critical content doesn’t exist. And if seeing a single critical take from my blog—or even 2-4, because that's my own max per day—honestly upsets you to the extent that you can't just move on, you shouldn’t be on a website known for its diverse content and incredibly iffy blocking system. My posts exist in a sea of RWBY excitement, praise, and celebration. It is your job to scroll past, anon, not my job to play a subjective, rigged game to ensure you never brush past a single bit of seaweed in that massive, ever-expanding ocean.

What this argument comes down to is, “You’re not allowed to tag RWBY content with RWBY because I don’t like what you have to say.” Sorry, but that just doesn't work for me.

[artistiacons]

If you’re here from Twitter, cool

So yeah, we know Twitter is a dumpster fire and we wish it would get better, but no. Elon Musk is planning to implement the whole “pay me $8 per month just to have a voice” thing. Yeah hell no.

Sorry but not like I can do that anyways. I wouldn’t be able to afford it anyways. In fact at least 2/3rds of people won’t be able to due to our Lower, Middle, and High social classes. And of course, Elon is on that top shelf who is spoiled with greed. He doesn’t want to hear voices, he wants money. He wants fortune. He doesn’t care about the people, he cares about what HE wants and nobody else. Reason behind him even buying Twitter was to gain and sway a major political audience, of which is only one targeted group.

In short, no one is going to be willing to pay for a subscription just to be able to talk, to have a voice. Otherwise if you continue on without paying, you’ll be shadowbanned. Everyone hates shadowban, it sucks, no one can see you or your content. And that right there is what he’s aiming to do. It’s a tactic to get you to pay. Don’t instigate his desires, show how much you hate the idea by promoting your work elsewhere or make a stand for it on Twitter by banding together. After all, it’s the numbers that count.

Anywho, aside my whole rant of this idiotic thing, I plan to revamp my Tumblr if anything goes wrong! If you came from Twitter, thanks for continuing to follow my content, it means the world to me. But I won’t be leaving Twitter if that’s what you’re thinking. But if I can’t seem to grow much more there, I plan to become active here or Instagram (though mind you, Instagram will have Sonic-only artwork, it will only act as an art-only account with no stories).

Let me run down how things will go....

If I become active here, expect multiple blogs due to the blog feature. I have a couple I’ve used before, so I’d like to get to using that feature again.

Multiple blogs would be art-only/ask blogs. Examples would be targeted towards my certain audiences who follow me for certain things. There’s my Sonic work (which I primarily focus on), Postal/Postal Dude, other fandom media, and Original works. I may make at least 3 blogs for this.

This blog (my main one) will act as a source/main blog. It will be for my original work while I’ll create other blogs for interaction, such as Sonic fanart and Postal Dude fanart. Those are my current focuses atm, so things are subject to change.

Regarding Instagram, my main account will remain as a Sonic art-only account. My secondary one (needing to be revamped) will plan to turn into an alt or maybe just a SFW-ish Postal art account.

Due to Tumblr having an extensive amount of a writing feature, I may turn my Postal blog into a / Postal sona blog as well. Lore will be added, will show how I interpret Postal content from my eyes, and etc. It’s gonna be one of those cheesy ask blogs too lol. So in short, you can ask my Postal sona questions (still thinking if I should do a take on my version of the Dude and how I perceive him, I’ll let y’all know later), ask about lore hints, ask about the relationship*, and other stuff.

*(FYI, I don’t actively ship them as a normal fangirl would. I just find their dynamic interesting and see them more platonic-like. But each to their own ig.)

Here are my current active medias if you have any questions!

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ArtistiaCons

Toyhouse: https://toyhou.se/ArtistiaCons

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistiacons

My Carrd: https://artistiacons.carrd.co

Or feel free to ask here!!

OTHER BLOGS BTW:

Postal (OC lore/interactions + fanart): https://www.tumblr.com/artistia-gone-postal

Little Nightmares (OC lore/interactions + fanart): https://www.tumblr.com/artistias-little-nightmares 

Sonic (OC lore/interactions + fanart): https://www.tumblr.com/artistiacons-sonic

I also plan to go through my followed accounts and will link my current blogs later. I also have to rebrand this Tumblr to my current style and organize how I want things done. Hopefully I can get this all sorted by the end of the week since it’s so messy and lots of things were unfinished before I went inactive.

Anywho, feel free to send me asks if you want! Don’t have to be targeted toward my character and just me, but it’d be cool to have art-drawn replies goin!

Also fandom specified refs of my sona Artistia!

If you want better quality versions, check her Toyhouse profile!!

Main Reference -- The OG

Little Nightmares

Sonic The Hedgehog

Postal [N/A]

NO_IMAGE_AVAILABLE

[thelemoncoffee]

yaknow- i said i was gonna try my hand at making my own takes on at least Kagehara and Bonkichi- guess i should actually do that.

here's my take- instead of the abusive or hella creepy stuff where one or both are completly off their rocker cause i never understood that- what if they're just two nerds who suck at socializing who found one another and decided the other was really cool, and they like them alot, and maybe they should hang out or something

Bon carries over my artistic talent hc from Ouma, and loves to draw all sorts fanart, from fluff to angst to shitposts. He likes to draw Kage fanart of all the detective character as those are all his favorites, and sometimes draws a ship or two for him. He has a wall he covered in traditional art, and has almost run out of space on his tablet from the sheer amount of digitals drawings and refrence images he has saved.

It's his comfort/venting media so he spends alot if time working on new art when his paranoia issues are higher than they should be (which is more often than he'd ever admit) Bon is reserved, but still a bastard and loves to do things that tic people off, he's a bully in that regard- using a verbal bite to keep people out of his buisness. People love his art, but most don't ever confront him cause they'd rather not get bullied, the only person to have actually surpassed his bullying is Kage, and even then to an outsider the way Bon talks to Kage sounds like bullying- even if it's lighthearted

Kage is a semi school-popular danganronpa geek who loves to write, he does mainly theories- but on ocassion he'll bust out a great fanfic / oneshot. He's mainly popular because of his looks but most find his DR hyperfixation a turnoff so not that many people actually try to go after him, as results he gets some very mixed interactions.

Kage is the kind of guy to sit there and rattle your ears off about little very unnoticable things in danganronpa that are somehow importiant to the overaching plot of DR. the only known people to have enough patience for his rants are his tumblr followers, and Bon- who also follows him on tumblr. He honestly is just a harmless geek and most people can't handle how much energy he puts into his hyperfixation, so he just kinda vibes with the few people who don't mind. Outside of his hyperfixation he's mostly a talkative but shy geek with some serious adhd that he has meds for but forgot to take for the past year. he also has a soft spot for anything fluffy

it's also worth to note here i 100% think these two are dating and people just don't realize it cause Bon's publicly used love language is insults, and Kage is just too much to really imagine anyone actually finding a personality to love underneith the DR hyperfixation, but they make it work and very well. They probably were mid fangan creation when the oprotunity to join DR popped up. Kage was so desperate to be part of it he over exagerated himself in the audition to try and secure a place, and Bon joined to fufill a personal desire to fuck shit up- he'd actually gone behind Kage's back to join cause he didn't want him freaking out over his safty

[gay-otlc]

Keepers Of The Chaos (Chapter 1)

The first chapter of the Tumblr KOTLC Fandom Fandom story is here!

Summary: Tam, Linh, Keefe, Biana, and Fitz are part of the tiny fandom for Keeper of the Chaos, and Tam and Linh's podcast convinces some of their other friends to watch it as well. The group finds themselves strangely invested in this show, where students at Tumblr High School who work together to write about an elf named Sophia, cause incomprehensible chaos, and fight their rival Pinterest High School.

Content warnings: Cursing

Word count: 1204

Read on AO3

Linh leans into the microphone. "Welcome to the Twins of the Chaos podcast," she says.

"Where some chaotic twins discuss our favorite show, Keepers of the Chaos," adds Tam. He tugs at his silver tipped bangs. "I'm Tam, and my sister's Linh, and today, we're going to be talking about why you should watch KOTC. Now, if you're one of our five regular listeners, you've probably already seen it, but feel free to share this with a friend or relative to convince them to watch this show!"

Smiling, Linh takes the microphone back and continues. "In this show, there's a group of very, very chaotic friends who all go to Tumblr High School together. As soon as they return after New Year's, their principal informs the school of a writing competition taking place between high schools, with other opportunities for extras like drawing or animation. Every member of the winning team gets a free scholarship to an arts school the characters all want to go to, but don't like their chances of getting in normally or paying, so they sign up. Through the nine episode season, taking place over the month of January, the characters in the writing competition start on the premise, get sidetracked, come up with some truly horrifying ideas, write some gay short stories, and, as the title promises, act very chaotic."

"Now, the writing prompt that the group has to build on is kind of... fuckin' weird," Tam says, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "They have to write about a girl named Sophia, who's twelve years old and can read minds, who meets a teal- yes, teal- eyed boy named Finn, who tells her she's an elf. Then, she travels to the elf world, where she struggles a bit at elf school, makes friends with some other elves, learns that she is an illegal creation of a rebel group called the Dark Duck, and another rebel group- the Rarelynoticed- tries to kidnap and kill Sophia and her friend Deck. And yes, we're aware that the names are shitty but the characters in the show really get into mocking them, so that's an upside."

Linh laughs a little at the names. "There are a lot of rebels, you might have noticed," she adds.

Tam nods. "Yeah, I noticed. There are a lot of rebels because their government sucks. There's a council of twelve really old elves, and only two of them are alright, then one of those two dies, and then one of the previously bad ones turns good."

"The characters in the show were given a very detailed list of worldbuilding, plot, and character details. We don't have to read the whole thing, though- they just consult it when it's relevant."

"But writing about Sophia and the Dark Duck isn't the only plot of KOTC, thankfully. We also get to see the competitors writing Dark Duck interact with one another and have fun. It makes connections to real life events- mainly through Bernie Sanders memes, but whatever. Bernie Sanders memes are funny."

"Bernie Sanders memes are funny," says Linh, nodding seriously. "And yes. There are some romantic ships in there- like Amelia and Akki, or Shai/Lynn/Tater, but there are also close friendships, and you get to see the group bond over their shared desire to get the scholarship, and their collective love of chaos, so the more platonic aspect is definitely given screen time as well."

"Which, given how often shows center only on romance, is really great," Tam agrees.

"The show also does really incredibly with including diverse characters. Pretty much none of them are both straight and cis, and most of them are neither."

Tam grins. "Right, and no one really makes a big deal about it. They mention it when relevant, of course, and some have homophobic parents, but they have depth beyond getting the authors ally cookies or whatever. Everyone uses correct pronouns, or apologizes when they screw up, and everyone's pronouns are validated no matter how 'weird' or 'confusing' it might be."

"The show also has a lot of good religious diversity, with quite a few Jewish characters, who make sure it's very clear that they're Jewish."

"Yeah, one of the characters- Shai- starts a movement to turn all the Sophia and the Dark Duck characters Jewish as well."

"It doesn't succeed, but good job to aer for trying," Linh says, sighing sadly.

They fall silent for a little while as Tam checks their episode outline, scribbled in Linh's rather illegible handwriting. "Linh, what the fuck does this say?"

Brow furrowing, Linh asks "You can't read my handwriting?"

"No, I can't!"

She sighs. "It very clearly says 'great characters- discuss,'" she huffs.

"Yeah, no one can read your handwriting. Also, we should probably cut this out when we edit."

Linh nods. "Probably, yeah."

Tam leans in closer to the microphone and starts speaking into it again. "The competition has fifty something participants- fifty two, was it?" He looks to Linh for confirmation, who nods again. "Fifty two. But somehow, all of the characters have their own distinct personalities and stories and interests, and they're shown as complex human beings."

"Yeah, that's always been my favorite part of the show. The characters are just so interesting. Canon manages to focus on them a lot more than I would have thought possible, but it still doesn't give us all the details- since it has to balance so many people, it can't spend a long time focusing on just one- so there's a lot of room for speculation in the fandom. Some get noticeably more or less focus than others. Like, Lynn and her fiancees get kind of a lot, while I wish some of my favorite characters like Specs or Charlene got a bit more screen time. But everyone gets some, no one gets too many, and the fandom is there to fill in the gaps!"

"Yeah, and the fandom is fantastic," says Tam. "There aren't a whole lot of us, which we wish would change because the show is really great, but we're a good fandom to be in. There's not usually a lot of discourse, and there are so many talented people making content. lordofthesnuggles's theories for season two are always so detailed and logical that I lowkey suspect he writes for the show, and thehunkiestofhunkyhair makes fantastic fanart."

Snapping her fingers, Linh exclaims. "Oh, and les-biana has the best fanfictions."

Tam coughs, and mutters "Yeah, you like Biana's fanfictions."

"Oh, like you're any different with Keefe," Linh huffs.

There aren't any visuals, so no listeners of the podcast can prove Tam was blushing. "Anyway, the first- and currently only- season starts with everyone signing up for the competition, no idea what they're in for, and ended with half of them wearing sleeping masks with teal eyes painted on and the other half watching the chaos with mild amusement. It's entertaining as fuck, and very well written, so do go check it, recommend it to your friends, let Keepers of the Chaos take over the world, whatever you like."

"Thanks for listening to the Twins of the Chaos podcast, and have an amazing day!" Linh finishes, and she stops recording.

[eyessharpweaponshot]

hi there!! are there any fics you’re reading right now that you would recommend? i need something good after the season we’ve been given so far 😣

hello there!

I agree, this season has been disappointing - especially considering it’s the last one. but thankfully, our fandom is full of amazing writers that serve us goods regularly. I have so much to recommend, it’s a joke. so prepare for a long fic rec. In no particular order, let’s begin:

1. Chasin’ You - @burninghoneyatdusk

okay. you’re gonna see a bit of a theme with me in these fic recs because the authors I mention are some of my favourites in the world - sam being one of the TOP TIER ones. this fic is a modern au, written about clarke and bellamy as exes (a favourite trope of mine) that have went their separate ways. clarke has moved away and hasn’t kept tabs on bellamy but he's soared to the top as a country star, his hit single being about her and what they had. if there’s any fic from this list you need to start reading, it’s this one.

2. Voices in the Water - @burninghoneyatdusk

It’s the canon version we all wanted. set on earth, clarke’s aunt (nia) forces her into an arranged marriage with king bellamy to unite the clans. but under it all, nia has tasked her to kill him. obviously, as clarke falls in love with bellamy, it’s the one task wanheda probably can’t complete. I'm in love with the imagery and descriptions in this fic. there are honestly some lines that sam writes that I want to frame and put up in my house. absolute brilliance.

3. All Because of You - @burninghoneyatdusk

*sheepishly raises hand* - hi, it’s me again, fangirling over another one of sam’s fics. if you have followed me for a while, either here or on twitter, you’ll have seen me screaming about this fic. I've pulled over while driving to read an update that came through to my email. no lie. I don’t say this lightly but it is definitely in my top 3 favourite bellarke fics of all time. sam DELIVERS with this one. bellamy knocks up his sister’s best friend when they’re both young and they grow together in raising their daughter. this fic flashes between present and future in the most seamless way and we see how in love they were back then but too scared to admit it, combined with how in love they are now that they are mature and older - but yet can’t seem to take the leap. I can’t tell you enough how good this fic is. I'm in love and it’s one of those fics that I would happily have as a book on my bookshelf, the pages worn and falling out from the amount of times that I re-read it.

*I just want to note that sam is doing a fantastic job at running @bellarkefic-for-blm. This is an opportunity for the bellarke community to directly support the Black Lives Matter cause through reading and writing fanfiction. For every fanfiction prompt a participating writer receives, they ask that you donate to an organization that supports the BLM cause. This initiative includes non-bellarke the 100 ships and requests for other content (e.g. gif sets, icons, moodboards, fanart). please check them out and request a prompt (this also includes updates for the above mentioned fics)*

4. Count Your Teeth - @icantloseyou-too

let me tell you, you guys will be well fed after reading this fic. It’s one of the most original idea’s and we get so much bellarke and the blake siblings in this one. bellamy is a treasure hunter and married to clarke, after leaving his thieving days behind him. that is until his past comes knocking and drags him back into that world again - and clarke along with him. absolute chefs kiss!

5. Cups and Sorcerers - @icantloseyou-too

again, such a unique plot with just the right amount of fluff. clarke is a witch who owns a coffee shop and she ends up meeting someone just as unique as her. I’m invested in this to an embarrassing degree and it always puts me in a good mood when this fic is updated. such a light and heart filling read and ciara does a fantastic job of world building in this fic.

6. Paint me in Trust - @pawprinterfanfic

I'm sure this fic needs no introduction. everyone and their mother has heard of it and if you haven’t read it yet, believe me, you’re missing out. a harry potter au that runs alongside the last few movies without being involved with the main characters. essie manages to make an already existing world so different, thrilling and gripping. it emotionally upends you and takes you along for the ride without any intention of letting you off. I'm just in love with it and rightly so!

7. When the Wolves Come Home - @pawprinterfanfic

I don’t know how people aren’t RAVING about this fic more because I certainly am. it’s massive for me to even say this because I love all of essie’s work but it’s my favourite fic that she’s written. I can’t describe the feeling I get when I read how she’s written bellarke in this. it’s a percy jackson au but you don’t need to have knowledge of that world to enjoy this. I actually started reading the books because of this fic. essie writes it so well and incorporates a lot of fantastic elements from greek mythology while also keeping me on the edge of my seat with bellarke’s journey. HERE FOR IT ALL THE WAY.

8. I’ll Find You in the Morning Sun - @cominguproses13x

I’ve never seen a fic talked about as much as this one. with 60 chapters, it’s bound to satisfy any hunger you have for bellarke. it’s set in a post apocalyptic world and it is beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favourite setting to read bellarke in. I've actually stopped reading this fic on chapter 5 because im currently writing my own post apocalyptic au as it was a trope on my bingo card and I don’t want any subconscious spill over, but I fully intend on reading the rest of the fic in one go once my fic is published and done. it deserves all the praise and hype.

9. For Blue Skies - @kombellarke

kayla’s fics make me actually weep. her writing style is just unbelievable and she sucks me into stories so fast. this one is no different. I live and breathe for bellarke as exes and this fic is one of my favourites. it’s a modern au with clarke as a mother and she cascades back into bellamy’s life without warning. perfect angst and anticipation. in love.

10. Love Like Fools - @talistheintrovert

the way I love talis with my whole heart. I'm always obsessed with her fics and the way this one was written was just magnificent. enemies to friends to lovers, roommates, angst, emotional comforting? SIGN ME UP. the perfect mix of all of those and I felt so good after reading this. always a fan.

11. It Had To Be You - @useyourtelescope

I had the honour of pre-reading some of this fic before it was published and I felt so privileged. a regency au with a prank war sprinkled in? perfection. hana honestly writes this so beautifully and I can’t recommend this enough. it’s so unique and we are all so incredibly lucky that there’s something in the bellarke fic world for everyone.

12. Veni, Vidi, Vinci - @carrieeve

Again, proof of the pudding that there’s something in fic for everyone. I’ve never read one like this before and it THRILLED me. murphy and bellamy working together to steal a Vinci? it was the fic I never knew I needed. the bellarke interaction in this was beautifully written and I am just completely obsessed. we really struck gold with the bellarke big bang works this year.

13. A Twist of Fate - @queenemori

let’s be honest, soulmate au’s are always wanted and needed in this fandom and kara does an excellent job of serving us this one. we got some team cockroach in here along with some top tier quality bellarke. what more could you ask for? if you haven’t read this fic yet, you need to. so thankful for kara being the absolute gifted babe that she is.

14. Power Over Me - @sparklyfairymira

okay, if you recently watched the witcher on netflix like I did, believe me, you NEED to read this fic. if you haven’t watched the witcher, this fic will make you want to watch it. the smut in this, the plot, the WRITING. absolutely phenomenal. have I mentioned how lucky we are to have such fantastic writers in this fandom?

15. There’s a Serpent Lying Deep Down in These Still Waters - @shaeheda

post apocalyptic au? SIGN ME UP. bellarke thrown together in unkind circumstances? SIGN ME UP. this magnificent human writing a fic? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. I'm so in love with this fic already and I haven’t even finished it yet. as I've said, I've stopped reading fics in this genre until my own is completed but I’ve read enough to tell you that this needs to be on your next to read list. forever in awe of the talent here and this fic makes me feel so lucky to be part of something so great.

I hope this satisfies you for a while and that you enjoy all the bellarkey goodness that comes from these fics. I'm gonna drop some of mine below because why not? just in case you’re in need of something more.

1. I Found Peace in Your Violence

clarke griffin has it all. she’s popular, an artistic prodigy and has a wealthy family to boot. so when her perfect world comes crashing down around her, it’s time to sink or swim. she tests positive for the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome gene, also known as the kill gene. clarke is plucked from her comfortable life and placed into a school with people just like her - carriers, delinquents. when she meets bellamy blake there, he looks like everything they say HTS carriers are. a monster, a criminal. yet, he’s the one who protects her.

2. I Am Lost This Time

a void!bellamy fic that we all deserved to have happen in canon. an au where bellamy hears clarke’s radio calls from earth, sees her memories in m-cap and where she really is the key: the one that unlocks his memories and brings him back to her.

3. Purple, Blue, Orange, Red

bellarke are childhood friends and teenage lovers, reuniting in the midst of the same grief that tore them apart.

4. Devil Side

post apocalyptic setting and my favourite fic to have ever written. both of them coming together to survive and protect those in their family, including two small children. bellarke started out as strangers, who would have thought that they’d end up co-parenting in the middle of a world that is too dangerous to survive out in the open?

5. Waste It on Me

a soulmate/reincarnation au that I wrote based off my own breakup and feelings. probably my most popular fic and should keep you going in terms of bellarke feels.

[esarkay999]

This may or may not be a hot take. I'm not a Sylkie fan. But I don't buy into the arguments against it, that it's 'selfcest,' either. It doesn't even affect reality because it can't happen in real life in the way it's happening in the show. So, the only excuse left around demonizing it is, "it makes me uncomfortable." That's cool. But it doesn't mean that people should stop writing that sort of thing. Write whatever the hell you want. Just tag it. Fanfiction and fanart doesn't have the same impacts mass media do... I suspect, the only people complaining that being against Sylkie is 'Bisexual erasure' are either straight women for Sylkie or Bi women for Sylkie who have a preference for men. I'm a part of the second group but I can still be unbiased about this. Loki's and Sylkie's relationship reinforces Heteronormativity and makes same-sex-attraction seem inferior to straightness which is Homophobia and Biphobia. When Bisexuals have to erase, suppress, hide the same-sex attracted part of themselves to appease Heteros, that is just as oppressive as having to erase your opposite sex attraction to be accepted and respected by monosexuals in the LGBTQ community. It's frustrating and harmful, hearing certain people constantly ignoring what I last wrote. There are Bisexuals who've been forced to hide one part of themselves (the same-sex-attracted part) and have dealt with Bi/Homophobia when others have discovered they were attracted to the same sex. That can be very traumatizing and damaging.

There are also bisexuals who at certain times in their lives, have been exclusively attracted to the same sex. There are bisexuals who are more attracted to the same sex, overall. Why couldn't Loki have been the later type of bisexuals? Because Disney wanted to make their money without offending homophobes and bisexuals who are mostly or currently exclusively attracted to the opposite sex. When you spew all these self-serving arguments in the future, please consider this. Not all Bisexuals have coasted through life like yourself. That also doesn't mean I'm for Loki/Mobius. I just don't find the actor who plays Mobius, attractive. I don't wanna imagine that. And I like dark, problematic elements in my fictional romances. But because I have a strong distaste for this pairing, the problematic elements I noticed in Mobius and Loki's dynamic, just solidifies my distaste for this pairing, even more. I noticed the abusive imbalance of power between them in the beginning and it made me mortified for Loki and even a bit frustrated with how the writers wrote him, so easily, cringily, OOCishly submitting to it and opening up to Mobius when in a real life, therapeutic relationship, this dynamic would be highly unethical and traumatizing for the client. Now, if that's what you intend to write, it's not real and life is full of people doing unethical things so why can't those stories be told but in the context of this being a ship and in me seeing myself in Loki, it sucks for me.

People claim Mobius showed Loki compassion. I disagree. He needed him for his own self-centered purposes which was to catch another Loki. He didn't seem to actually care about Loki, at all. He seemed to have a strong contempt bordering on scorn, for him. That's not compassion. That's not empathy. It was almost traumatizing for me to watch. I just hated it. There was too little focus on Loki's psyche like I wanted and too much focus on Sylvie, Sylkie, Mobius and everything else. Disappointed with the direction of the show, overall. But I do love Loki and hope that T.H. remains employed as Loki or in other roles for the foreseeable future. I'd rather create OCs in my fanfictions for Loki to be with like putting him with an OC, T.H. version of himself because two T.H. Lokis are double the sexiness. And same-sex attracted men being portrayed in media in obviously sexual ways, spits in the face of homophobia and heteronormativity, for all those saying 'Gay fetishization.' Even straight men being sexualized by women bucks against the status quo and the straight male gaze. It can sometimes be harmful for women attracted to men to sexualize Gay men depending on the context. But I don't think writing Gay fanfic is the same as women pressuring random Gay and Bi men to perform for them in real life or some obviously creepy and wrong shit like that. Fiction =/= equal reality. Ship and let ship.

[thursday-knight]

This fic is for @ihni, who drew me fanart recently for a thing and when I said I'd write her fic for it asked for  "hmm, I've been feeling overworked lately, how about some exhausted, bone-tired Billy? Free interpretation on that!" So here you go! I hope you like it.

//

It's been a long fucking day. The kind of ugly, awful, long fucking day that's had Billy snarling at everyone he's come across, the kind of day that's had him low enough that the only thing he's grateful for right now is that he hasn't threatened anyone. Or hit anyone, though he's certainly had the urge. He's felt the urge, the one he used to let fly free as easy as breathing, that urge, he's had it just under his skin all day and every trick he's learned through years of therapy and introspection are only just barely keeping it at bay.

But there's a saving grace. His shift is almost up. Five more minutes and he can go home and take a shower and get this sweat and beer stench off his clothes, off his body, he can put on his favorite sweatpants and dive into re-reading IT and it'll be okay.

It'll be okay if he can just make it these next five minutes. 

He makes it three before Anthony, the new guy, comes up and asks him if he'll stay an extra hour, saying he wants (needs) to go deal with a roommate squabble or something at home.

Billy pictures biting this guy's arm clean off as he tells him that, no, he won't be staying late tonight because he is not, in fact, anyone's fucking babysitter. He took this shift and he can work it 'til it's done, that's what working is, what having a job is and if Anthony is too young to know that, it's not Billy's job to teach him.

Once Billy's done with his little spiel Anthony looks like he just might cry, but he also lets him go. And Billy's time is up, so he grabs his jacket from under the bar and he goes.

Outside it's cold. Like freeze certain body parts off cold. It's cold and it's snowed and Billy kicks at one of the front tires of his cheap, shitty second-hand shit brown Toyota, the one he's hated ever since the day he bought it, the one that will never, could never take the place of his beloved Camaro but that was all he could afford at the time, given the circumstances. 

He continues to kick at the tire and even adds in some screams for good measure, hoping it'll at least make him feel better, but it doesn't. It gets him nowhere.

He hates the snow and he hates the cold and he hates Indianapolis and he hates his car and he hates this day and there's nothing he can do about any of it.

And okay, usually he doesn't mind living in Indianapolis that much, usually, he can accept the fact that they won't be here forever, that they're just here while Steve finishes up school. 

He's put up with cold weather for years now and while he hates it, he's used to it. And at least it isn't as bad as it was that first year out here in the midwest, where he had no proper jacket and no money for one.

Same goes for working two jobs, he's done it for years and he's used to that, too.

Usually.

He's used to it, usually. But today, man. Today… today fucking sucks. Today is the culmination of a lot of bad things all lined up in a row and he can't help but feel it all the way down to his toes. 

He hasn't had a single day off in two weeks, he didn't get a wink of sleep last night for absolutely no reason whatsoever, he was just up all night watching Steve sleep peacefully while his mind came up with scenario after scenario, grisly image after grisly image of all the bad things that could happen to Steve, the one person he loves most in the world. All the monsters that could get to him both human and non-human. (Not to mention certain three-lettered viruses that are currently tearing through the population of guys just like them all across the country, the continent, the world.)

And then, to make all of that worse, in his exhaustion, he forgot his lunch at home. And then at least six different middle-aged women hit on him at the bar and since he's come out, he's realized he really, aggressively, actually hates that. He doesn't like women hitting on him to begin with, but women more than twice his age doing it? It makes his skin crawl and makes him feel like he needs to burn all his clothes and take a long, hot shower. 

And then one of them spilled their drink on him and didn't even apologize for it, either, just giggled drunkenly and tottered off on her stupidly high, stupidly pink high heels.

So all in all, it's been a long, terrible, shitty fucking day. 

It only gets worse when Billy gets home. 

There isn't any gum anywhere in the kitchen but he does find Steve's secret stash of cigarettes and that, well, that punches his craving in the face more than the gum would've helped in the first place.

Then his favorite sweatpants are in the dirty laundry hamper, still covered in mustard from that cooking incident last week. 

Then, to top it all off, like the cherry on top of the shit cake that is this day, that is his life at this point, the hot water in the shower only lasts for about five minutes, leaving Billy, who has never liked anything cold that wasn't the ocean, to stand there shivering and washing the shampoo out of his hair with cold water. 

Then Steve gets home and something in Billy erupts.

Steve's barely just taken his shoes off when Billy's yelling at him, "And what the hell are these?" and throwing the dusty, bent, and probably years-old pack of cigarettes at him. 

They both know that Steve hasn't smoked in years, they both know that the cigarettes were less a dirty little secret and more something forgotten at the back of a junk drawer, but Steve blushes like a tomato at the accusation anyway. "Ummm…" he squeaks, voice a good bit higher than it normally is. "Nothing?" 

This is the wrong answer and it has Billy huffing in anger. "I quit a month ago on your say so and you made me dump out every single cigarette I had and this whole time you've been holding out on me? Like you're allowed to smoke but I'm not?"

"Okay, first," Steve says, all manner of squeakiness in his voice gone and replaced by something much more steely and layered with a heavy resolve. "Quitting was your idea. You talked about it for almost a year before I gently nudged you into doing it and—" 

"Nudged! You insisted!" Billy shouts, interrupting Steve before he had a chance to finish. "You made me do it!" 

Everything falls to silence after this and Steve's face is instantly inscrutable. Billy swallows and it feels like he's trying to swallow around a marble or maybe something bigger. He starts to feel guilty. He knows he's picked a fight over nothing. 

Fortunately, so does Steve. So without saying anything, Steve reaches down, grabs the cigarettes, and squeezes past Billy, even though he's taking up most of the space in the hall and marches to the kitchen where he immediately chucks the cigarettes into the garbage can.

Billy follows after him, head down, and waits.

And Steve makes him wait. 

For about three minutes, then he says, "Have you calmed down yet?"

Billy nods. 

"You wanna tell me what's really bothering you?"

Billy nods and looks up. "Bad day," he says. 

And he waits, as always, for something bad to happen. For Steve to get mad at him. For Steve to tell he's done, this is over, five years has been more than long enough. He's paid his dues, done his time and now he's out. He deserves someone better than Billy, someone who isn't this much of a jackass, someone who isn't carrying so much baggage, someone who doesn't get angry over nothing like this. 

But instead, as always, Steve walks forward and takes Billy's hands in his and kisses his knuckles gently. "Would making dinner and cuddling on the couch help?" he says, soft, as always. 

And again, Billy just nods and this time he lets Steve step in closer and hug him, lets Steve's warmth wrap around him and lets out a deep breath and buries his nose in the side of Steve's neck and breathes in deep.

It doesn't make the entirety of his bad day go away, it doesn't make the stress of the past few weeks go away and it doesn't make his exhaustion go away, either, but it helps.

Steve always helps.