#which by the way. how fucking incredible is that as a ship name. how cool is it. it's so cool i fucking love it

[moinsbienquekaworu]

The true pain of reading a good AU is you want more of these specific guys but that characterisation only exists in the one specific fic/series

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: Queer fantasy, part 1

A note: queer here does not necessarily mean “guarantee of an f/f or m/m ship with a happy ending”, but rather simply a significant presence of queerness. Some of the books feature no romance but has a same gender attracted/trans/a-spectrum lead, or features an m/f relationship with bisexual, trans or aro/ace characters, or simply features a world-building which is heavily queer inclusive in ways that don’t always compare to our own ideas of sexuality and gender. I have however disqualified works where the only queer presence is along the lines of “gay best friend” or a blink and you’ll miss it confirmation that never comes up again.

For queer sci-fi recs, click here! For a masterpost of book rec lists, click here! For more details on the books recommended here, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites!

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez*

AKA the book the killed me. Two boys travel throughout their land with the body of a god as her horrible, horrible children try to hunt them down. It’s hard to explain more than that, but trust me when I say the narrative voice and literary techniques are incredibly unique in how they blend past and present, reality and story, lead and bystander. Truly an experience. Features an m/m romance.

The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost series) by C.L. Clark*

Tourraine, who was stolen as a child and trained as a soldier for the empire that conquered her home, is recruited by Luka, the future leader of the conquering country, to root out a rebellion. A game of twisted loyalties and attraction is soon to develop as the two must decide where their priorities lie: with each other, or with their respective countries and people.

Sing the Four Quarters (Quarters series) by Tanya Huff*

Though a royal by birth, princess Annice renounced her throne to become a bard, a musician who through training can Sing elemental spirits to do their bidding. Ten years later, she goes on the run for two counts of treason, first by imperiling the succession order by becoming pregnant, second by helping her ex, and the father of her child, escape the palace dungeons and a death sentence. Bisexual lead in an f/f relationship. When I first read this book I described it as, and I quote, 'a fucking delight', and I stand by that.

The Unspoken Name (The Serpent Gates duology) by C.L. Clark*

The sort of portal fantasy you get when all the worlds connected by portals are fantasy worlds, and none of them are ours. The portals themselves become simply a part of the worldbuilding that the characters use to travel between fascinating places, and it’s all really cool. It follows Csorwe (lesbian orc assassin whom I love), who grew up in a cult, indoctrinated as a child sacrifice to a god. But on the day she was meant to die, she instead chose to follow a powerful wizard and train to become his loyal servant and sword. Aside from being an excellent fantasy, it’s also a close look at the hard path of unlearning indoctrination and the search for love and validation where you’ll never find it, and learning to live for yourself. Multiple queer leads.

The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms series) by Tasha Suri

A princess held captive by her own brother, who wants to see her dead, tries to trick a servant into helping her escape, but with undeniable attraction growing between them and the servant having her own goals of liberation things quickly get complicated, both between them and in the country at large as rebellion and dangerous magic brews. Sapphic romance.

The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos duology) by Samantha Shannon

Queen Sabran's lineage has protected the country of Inys from dragons for a thousand years, but now the safety of their land is threatened as Sabran is yet to conceive and assassins are closing in. Lady-in-waiting Ead is secretly part of a society of hidden mages, and is using her position to protect her queen. Meanwhile, on the other side of the sea, dragonrider Tané is faced with an impossible choice. The fates of all three are intertwined as they attempt to stop the rise of a great dragon. 800+ page epic fantasy. Sapphic romance.

The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher*

Young adult, fairy tale retelling of the Snow Queen. When Gerta's friend Kai is stolen away by the evil Snow Queen, Gerta must depart on a mission to save him. On the way, she encounters, among others, a talking raven and a pretty robber girl who become her allies. Sapphic romance.

The Rise of Kyoshi (Kyoshi duology) by F.C. Yee*

Young adult. Set in the Avatar universe, but aimed at an older audience than the animated series. Though she will one day be one of the most well-known avatars of the land, for now, young Kyoshi is but a humble girl who has yet to find out her true destiny as the bender of all four elements and keeper of balance of her world. When betrayal strikes and a dear friend is lost, Kyoshi goes on the run alongside fiesty firebender Rangi to find out the truth of her destiny and power. Sapphic romance.

Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes series) by Travis Baldree

Viv is tired of adventures and bloodshed - now she wants a peaceful life, and decides to go after it by opening a café. But going from warrior to small business owner is easier said than done, especially when Viv's old life comes knocking. Best described as a cozy fantasy, with a largely low-stakes but heartwarming plot and a sapphic romance.

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Gyen Jebi is an artist, but making a living is difficult. When offered a job by the Ministry of Armor to paint the magical sigils that animate their automaton soldiers, they have little choice but to accept. But as Jebi sees the dark depths of the government, especially the shocking source of their magical paint, they must find a way to resist. Perhaps by freeing the Ministry's mighty automaton dragon... Nonbinary main character.

Crier's War by Nina Varela

Young adult. Who says sci-fi has monopoly on robots? In Crier’s War, artificially created automae have defeated and subjugated humans, who live as second class citizens. Young Ayla goes undercover as a servant, meaning to assassinate automae girl and Sovereign’s daughter Crier. This would be easier if the two weren’t quick to develop feelings for each other.

Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky trilogy) by Rebecca Roanhorse

In a pre-columbian inspired world, sea captain Xiala, gifted with an unusual connection to the sea, travels with a mysterious scarred and blind passenger toward a dangerous goal as prophecy heralds the return of a god. Features among others bisexual and nonbinary leads.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin*

In a world regularly torn apart by natural disasters, a big one finally strikes and society as we know it falls, leaving people floundering to survive in a post apocalyptic world, its secrets and past to be slowly revealed. We follow a mother as she races through this world to find and save her daughter, stolen away by a father who just murdered their son after having discovered a terrible secret of their family. Does feature multiple queer characters and a main polyam relationship, but DO NOT read this expecting happy queer relationships as this series handles many dark subjects (you should still read it though, it's incredibly good).

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan*

Young adult. Kids who can walk between our world and a magical one get recruited into a magical school that trains them to be either fighters or diplomats. Our lead decides that fighting is stupid and that he’s going to peacefully solve every conflict ever, all while being the most delightfully obnoxious little brat possible and getting involved in the most bisexual love triangle imaginable. Very good, funny, and heart-felt coming of age story.

Our Bloody Pearl D.N. Bryn

A siren who’s been held captive by a pirate is freed, but too injured to survive on their own as their tail has become paralyzed. Another pirate captain decides to help them out and has to work to win their trust. Fairly fluffy and light on world-building and plot (though there is a bit of a revenge story in there), with a focus on character and recovery. m/nb romance with an asexual love interest.

A Master of Djinn by P. Djélí Clark

Set in an alternate 1910’s steampunk Cairo, where djinn and other creatures live alongside humans. We get to follow an investigator as she races to catch a criminal using a powerful object to control djinn and stir unrest. Fantastically creative and fresh, and also features a buddy cop dynamic between two female leads as well as a sapphic romance.

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho*

As a toddler, Jessamyn Teoh left Malaysia. Now a young adult, she’s broke, closeted, and moving back. There she’s faced with the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma, who was a medium and avatar of the deity the Black Water Sister in life. Now she demands Jess' help in exacting revenge against a gang boss that offended her god. Meanwhile, all Jess wants is to get her life back on track.

Heaven Official's Blessing (Heaven Official's Blessing series) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Once, Xie Lian was the beloved crown prince of a kingdom. Then he rose to godhood at a young age, and was expected to take a step back from his land and his people, but in his inability to do so ended up losing everything. Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian has ascended to godhood for a third time, forgotten by mortals and the laughing stock of Heaven. Trying to rebuild his reputation, Xie Lian sets off on a mission, and on it encounters an infamous demon king who inspires fear in all of heaven. M/M romance.

Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore*

Young Adult. Jane is invited by an old acquaintance to an extravagant gala in an island mansion, stranding her among the rich and glamorous. But being surrounded by rich people is the least of Jane’s problems: the mansion is housing secrets, some of them tied to Jane’s own family. The mansion offers her five choices, all of them leading her down different paths and different answers. Jane, Unlimited is a choose-your-own adventure story of sorts, featuring five different endings in five different genres, each more off the wall bonkers than the next. It also features a bisexual main character!

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children series) by Seanan McGuire*

A tumblr favorite, the Wayward Children novellas feature a school open to children who have returned from adventures in other realms and now have trouble adapting back to regular life. Some installments are set in our world, others follow children as they have their otherworldly adventures. The main characters vary between books, but are generally pretty diverse with among others asexual, trans, intersexual and sapphic leads. Both funny and dark, it takes a closer look at the trauma many endure growing up different.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern*

Surreal and fairy tale-esque, The Starless Sea is stories within a story, following graduate student Zachary as he finds a strange book which, in-between other tales, tells a story from his own childhood. Trying to find out how this came to be, Zachary gets involved with a pink-haired woman and a handsome man who are doing their utmost to protect a strange, otherworldly library available only through magical doors. It’s a book hard to put in words, but which I once described as “romantic without being a romance while stile having a love story at it’s core”, and which can be summed up only as “an Experience”. It’s also quite gay!

Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer*

Young adult. Nita isn’t a murderer - technically. She just dissects the bodies of supernatural beings her mother brings home and sells for parts on the black market. But when her mother brings home a still living victim, Nita has had enough and frees him. As it turns out, no good deed goes unpunished as Nita is betrayed, her own nature as a supernatural entity outed as she’s kidnapped and placed behind bars. Now she must find a way to escape before she's sold for parts. Features two aroace leads and a queerplatonic relationship, though it isn’t made textual until book 3 and briefly masquerades as a romance, which is pretty hilarious.

The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence) by K.D. Edwards

Urban fantasy. Rune Saint John is the only survivor of the massacre against the Sun Court years prior. Now he’s been hired by Lady Judgement to find her missing son, Addam. Alongside his companion and bodyguard Brand, Rune goes on to question Addam's family and business contacts all over New Atlantis, island city and home of the Atlanteans after their original home was destroyed by ordinary humans. But the more he digs, the more Rune finds clues that Addam's absence is connected to Rune's own tragic past. M/M romance.

Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino

Centuries ago in Ireland, Chairiste Ní Cummen was trained in the secrets of music and magic. But her pride was her downfall, trapping her and her lover in the land of the Sidh. Only Chairiste escaped, hoping to one day win her lover's freedom in musical battle with the fairy that holds her captive. Now she is Christa Cruitare, harp teacher in the modern world and all but resigned to her loss. Until she comes across a great new music: heavy metal. Taking one last chance to win her lover's freedom, Christa sets out to gather other skilled musicians and bring them with her in her final battle. Sapphic romance.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

Pantomime (Micah Grey trilogy) by Laura Lam

Young adult. On the surface, Gene's life is that of a noble debutante. In reality, she has secrets: she's both male and female, and has magical abilities that hasn’t been seen in an age. In the face of a betrayal from her parents, Gene runs away from home, dresses up as a boy, and joins a circus. Intersex main character.

Ghost Walk by Kay Solo

Maaya Sahni can see ghosts, and does her best to survive in her small isolated town by keeping her head down. But when an entire street full of people is spirited away by faceless specters that scares even ghosts, Maaya must find a way to stop the specters. Lesbian main character.

Swordspoint (Riverside series) by Ellen Kushner

In Riverside, duels are the way to settle disputes, and Richard St. Vier is the undisputed master of the sword - at least until a death is met not with awe but with outrage. M/M romance.

[goodluckclove]

Some Loose Thoughts on Queer Rep (Specifically Aspec Rep)

(Just in advance I'm going to dunk on Alastor from Hazbin Hotel like a lil' bit, as a treat. Mainly the team that made him and what he represents, but still. If that's rage bait for you, I suggest maybe dipping out now)

I have a theory that queer media needs both queer characters and queer genre characters. The difference is very important.

I think a queer character would be a character in a story about their queerness. For some reason the only two characters I could think of are the guy from Love, Simon (What was his name again?) and the protagonist from Rubyfruit Jungle, which should express the weird and complicated relationship I have with this particular archetype.

Queer stories centered around queerness are definitely needed, but at the same time I feel like we're just starting to come to terms with the desperate need for the alternative, which are queer characters in genre media that contain overarching plots larger than their sexuality. Not separate, necessarily (Their queerness certainly influences things), but just beyond. This is more accessible for a variety of artists, which is also the reason why it can be a flop or a massive success.

We get more of this than ever for gay and sapphic characters, as well as some trans folks and occasionally non-binary. It's definitely way less seen in aspec characters, and even less respected. I started thinking this way because the internet is flooded with references to fucking Alastor from Hazbin Hotel as an aroace character and - like - god, I don't get it.

Like you can have your serial killer comfort character, that's fine. But latching onto him as representation for the entire aspec community when he was only confirmed to be aroace through a reference in a livestream and the weakest joke onscreen is pretty disheartening. It definitely reads like this part of his identity was added pretty late in his character development, and by a team of people that didn't seem to consider what the response and reaction would be and how they'd handle it.

I also wish the newest aspec icon in media wasn't created by a team so adamant on encouraging shipping culture above actually respecting the identity they've decided to provide representation for. Like I see it means a lot to people to have an aroace character doing something cool in a fun TV show that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with their identity. Then there's like four other people right behind that person who really wants that person to be romantic and fuck.

And like, yeah, aroace people can do that sometimes. It's a spectrum, I know. But can't we start with a baseline representation before providing proof of fluidity?

I just think we deserve better. Like a character who in the media is established to be aspec, and people are like "great" and move on to fight robots or do magic or whatever. And the person can be morally grey, or even a total dick, but like I'd personally prefer something with a little more depth than Hot Topic genericism.

Like don't get me wrong, I'll take some sort of eldritch horror as my representation, but...make him at all horrifying? Like everyone talks about how he has Eldritch powers, which I know to mean unfathomable and maddening. But I've seen everything he does in the canon of the show and it is both incredibly fathomable and makes me feel normal and sane. Yog-Sothoth this man is not.

But yeah, I don't think there's a solution here besides more aspec artists creating aspec characters in their work. That way people can still like Alastor if they want, but he's not like the only viable option in terms of representation in the media. Let me see lovingly-crafted cool guys and dipshits and chaos goblins and little babies and True Horrors, all of whom have varying degrees of distaste or indifference towards sex and romance.

Do it. We need it. Please.

[cleverthylacine]

Just watched Ep 1 of Earthspark S2. And I'm furious.

Don't read this if you don't want spoilers. Or if you think the showrunners can still do no wrong, and are unprepared for the level of Incandescent Fury of which I am capable. But if you DO have spoilers for the whole season and understand my particular vibe, PLEASE read this and reblog with answers (but use the cut for the sake of my followers)...

Reasons why I'm mad:

A year goes by in which all of the stuff I was actually interested in presumably happened: dealing with GHOST, the Decepticons and Autobots cooperating, and also, Mo and Robby getting cool mech suits.

Then for no reason other than "Decepticons huh" the Decepticons apparently forgot their alliance, turned on Our Designated Good Guys (tm) and just randomly started trying to conquer and/or kill everything again. Or were they screwed over, yet again? I really hope so, not because I want them to suffer but because there needs to be a freaking reason why they turn on other Cybertronians when they are stuck on Earth. But I don't have a good feeling about it given the contemptuous attitudes displayed by Bee (as usual, because ES Bee is a fucking asshole) and Robby (disappointing, he wasn't like that before).

And we never did get to find out what the fuck was up with GHOST or why the Decepticons were all in jail (and no, "Decepticons huh" is not an acceptable reason--they have every reason to hate us.)

Breakdown is a terrible parent for no reason? BREAKDOWN?

The Chaos Terrans thing gives me the same willies that the Orcs in Tolkien (I am not a Tolkien fan) used to do. I am not comfortable with the eugenicist/ableist notion that people can be born corrupt and innately evil, especially not if it has something to do with HOW they were born.

Soooo... if you've finished the season (I know you've been posting a bit about it) is there any reason for me to continue?

Reasons I would continue:

Ravage continues to be basically the same Ravage I write, only much smaller.

RavWave (as a ship, not just platonic interaction, mostly because I would watch anything for that no matter how messed up)

Explanation that there actually is a reason why the Cons turned on everyone, and what that reason is. Did they want to put them back in jail? Did they want them to do forced labour? Did Megatron start whaling on Starscream again? I note Tara isn't around Con HQ, what does Tara know?

Quints are interesting and not just scary (the Quints in Cyberverse scared me more than many adult horror movie villains did, BUT they are also just kinda evil and mean and we have no idea why, which would not have been particularly interesting at all except for the fun of watching Hot Rod and Soundwave become the faction leaders while OP and Megatron were unable to be)

Chaos Terrans are not innately bad or do not need some mystical power of nuclear heteronormative family to make them good

The Decepticons get something out of the ending other than screwed

We find out more about Dot and Megs

Some Cons are good parents

More Tarantulas and Nightshade content

Hashtag continues to have a relationship with Starscream that affects the plot as it develops

We are actually told what happened during the year they missed

Reasons I would not continue:

Cons are just bad because cons are bad.

Ravage is Soundwave's daughter or pet or in some other way not actually a grown-ass adult Decepticon officer, making Soundwave a father who raises child soldiers or a guy who runs dogfights, which is not cute even if he is snatched af

(they don't have to be lovers though my shipping heart was pleased when their PDA in the deleted scenes embarrassed Starscream, but she has to be a Real Independent Person who could be someone's partner if not his)

Chaos Terrans are innately bad until "saved" by the Power of Love And the Nuclear Family (or just innately bad)

Emberstone continues to be Allspark Mark II so why even change the name?

Bee's incredible assholery is never called out (it's not funny when a starving person accidentally kills their starving teammate due to a mistake they made because they were starving)

Only Autobots and people who form nuclear families can be good parents

Everyone being friends with the cows goes to the PETA place

Cons get nothing but screwed

Please tell me this series hasn't gone where I was afraid it would. Or let me know that it has so I can decide if it's going to be so bad I'll be mad the whole time like I was in Ep 1.

Warning: anyone who clowns on this post to be a RavWave anti or say "The Decepticons are supposed to be pure evil, duh!" will get blocked.

[schrijverr]

I Didn’t Mean to Say I Do, but I Do. I Do. 19

Chapter 19 out of 50

Secret marriage of convenience buddie slow burn AU, where Buck and Eddie have been married for years so Buck could adopt Chris and no one at the 118 knows.

In this chapter, Buck and Eddie hover as Chris hangs out with the 118 then Maddie, having promised to not mention papi, but still a kid. Meanwhile Maddie is planning to start living for herself and solving a problem for them.

On AO3.

Ships: Buddie (slow burn)

Warnings: referenced domestic violence, ableism mention, internalized misogyny, insecurity

~~~

Chapter 19: Building a Life for Yourself

If everyone knowing about Chris feels weird, seeing everyone interact with him is even weirder. He doesn’t know how they know, but they’re all awaiting them when they arrive, looking curious and eager to meet Chris.

Eddie feels a little nervous as he walks in behind him, unsure if Chris can keep his promise not to say and if the others will react okay to Chris. They’ve been nice to him about Chris so far and they deal with disabled people a lot in their line of work and he’s never seen them be anything but compassionate and normal, but the anxiety lingers anyway.

It is assuaged slightly by Buck, who seems relaxed under these circumstances, loudly greeting everyone with: “We come bearing bribery coffee.”

“I would say who cares about coffee when you’re bringing such an esteemed guest, but I really need my caffeine fix,” Hen jokes, a big gentle smile on her face.

Eddie smiles slightly at that as well, waiting for Buck to make a joke about Chris being way more important than some coffee and more than enough of a fix to get you through the day. He is surprised when it doesn’t come, before he realizes that it isn’t Buck’s place right now and instead it’s his job.

“Hey, Chris is way better than coffee,” he tries clumsily, wanting to disappear the second he does it, which is only somewhat mitigated bit by Buck’s grin and Chris’s beaming smile.

“I believe you,” Hen says, before turning to Chris and holding out her hand: “Hi, I’m Hen. I heard a lot about you, you’re a real smart kid.”

“Hello, I’m Christopher,” Chris says shaking her hand. “You’re really cool, daddy says so.”

“Oh I like him,” Hen tells Eddie, twinkle in her eye.

“Hey, what about me. I’m cool,” Chimney butts in immediately, also holding out his hand. “I’m Chimney.”

“Chimney! I know you. You have a silly name,” Chris informs him seriously, getting laughs from everyone.

Eddie lets out a relieved breath as Chris keeps his promise to them and is accepted by everyone without question and with a lot of love. These people don’t seem to think badly of him for needing to have Chris here for a bit. They don’t seem to think he’s ruining Chris’s life. They’re just happy to meet Chris and get to know him. It would choke him up, if that were a thing he did.

Buck must catch something in his face, because he squeezes his shoulder in a comforting manner, before joining the others in going up the stairs.

Chris seems to be determined to do it alone and Eddie waits for the inevitable moment that someone will jog ahead or sigh in annoyance or offer help in that tone. But it never comes. They just walk with him as they talk, asking him about school and talking about the trucks and the ambulances when he asks.

Much like Eddie, Chris is easily absorbed into the 118 and he finds himself on the couch with the three others and Chris, laughing like it’s something they’ve always done. As if Eddie hasn’t known these people for almost three months, but for much longer than that.

It feels good. So incredibly good. It reminds him a bit of showing up frantically to the Johnson farm only to be met with understanding as Buck got him to laugh about Chris accidentally repeating ‘fucking’ before they hid out among the chickens so Eddie could talk about Shannon leaving and organize his thoughts. That quiet acceptance and space and understanding, the kind that makes a bad situation okay again.

He flies high, so his stomach sinks heavily when Bobby comes up to everyone, saying: “What’s this? I don’t remember asking the chief for reinforcements. You any good with a hose, kid?”

“I can try,” Chris smiles and everyone chuckles.

“Alright,” Bobby smiles back, because Chris’s smile is infectious. He got that from Shannon.

It’s a joke. Eddie knows it’s a joke and a joke means they’re probably okay, but he panics anyway, scrambling to his feet as he explains: “So sorry, Cap. Pepa, my tía is taking him tonight, but Maddie’s getting off work early so she can take him before that, but you know LA traffic, so until then w- I- I didn’t know where to take him.”

“Yeah, you did,” Bobby says, making Eddie confused, before his chest explodes with warmth at the follow up. “Right here. Buck gave me a heads up,” he nods to Buck, who gives him a smile, probably called while waiting for coffee. “I already cleared it with the chief.”

Eddie is at a loss for words. He wants to cry a little, but also grin brightly. He has no clue what to do with his face or his hands and he knows he needs to figure it out quickly, before it gets uncomfortable.

Luckily, he doesn’t have to figure out shit in the end, because the alarm starts ringing, so the moment gets ruined.

They all get up to run to the fire engines as they’re informed of what’s happening. Both Buck and Eddie are working, but he doesn’t just want to leave Chris. So, he stands there near the couch, trying to figure out what to do.

He sees Buck tell Bobby something as he jogs past to the pole and Bobby looks back at him, calling out: “Come on, Diaz. Bring the kid.”

“You wanna ride in the truck?” he asks Chris, who nods excitedly. “Alright, we need to hurry, so I’m giving you a ride.”

Chris is already reaching out, before Eddie is even done speaking and together they hurry down the steps. Eddie hands Chris over to Buck without thinking so he can get into his turnout gear. He is glad when no one questions that.

On the drive over to the accident, which is nothing big or too traumatizing for Chris, Hen and Chimney entertain him. While they’re working, Bobby takes Chris easily, telling him all about what’s happening and feeding his ever growing curiosity, which he definitely gets from Buck.

It’s nice how they all step in to make Chris comfortable, to accommodate for Eddie’s job, while not making him feel helpless and in need of their help. It’s a lot like hanging out with Abuela felt to him when he was a kid.

When they return from the call it’s to a message from Maddie saying she’ll be a little later due to traffic.

The news makes Eddie slightly anxious again, because the longer this goes on, the easier it can go wrong. It seems like Buck isn’t the only person on the team in tune with his emotions, because once he’s shared the news, Chimney says: “Well, Chris, seems like there is enough time for me to show you the pinball machine we have. Think you can beat your dad’s record?”

And with Chris’s enthusiasm and Eddie’s nod, Chimney leads Chris away so they can play pinball while Eddie gathers himself a bit.

“You okay?” Buck asks once it’s just the two of them downstairs.

“Yeah, just stressed,” he sighs, rubbing his face. “I think I’ll only relax once Chris is safe with Maddie and none of this has blown up in our faces.”

“Same,” Buck snorts, though there isn’t much humor in it.

Shame creeps up Eddie’s spine once more as he realizes this is all stressful for Buck too and he hasn’t been there for him at all, drowning in his own anxiety instead. It’s not like him. He’s supposed to be the steady protector, not the emotional one. “Are, uh- are you okay?”

“Hm?” Buck looks at him in surprise, before the question registers and he smiles tiredly. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just weird. You know. To not know him.”

And Eddie gets it. He remembers how weird it was to not know Chris that after that second tour when he came home, even if he hadn’t actually been in Chris’s life for years at that point. Buck has been consistently in his life since the kid was three years old, Eddie can’t imagine how much worse it might be for him, especially because he knows Buck worries about belonging.

He places a hand on Buck’s shoulder, hand automatically finding the juncture between his neck and shoulder. “You still know him and he knows you too. When you come home tonight, that kid is going to bombard you with questions that Hen and Chim didn’t answer to his satisfaction, because you gave him incredibly high standards when it comes to getting answers.”

At that Buck’s smile becomes more real. “Thanks, man.”

“Course.”

With that established they break apart to go restock and clean, which is their duty for today. They work in tandem yet separate, somehow both thinking that being seen together will make what they’re trying to keep hidden visible.

Because they’re busy downstairs and walking around, they miss Maddie coming in. Instead, finding her chatting with Chimney at the pinball machine as Chris is smashing the buttons with glee.

Maddie and Chim both look caught when they spot Eddie coming up the stairs, Buck right behind him. Maddia tucks her hair behind her ear and says: “Oh, we were about to find you. I didn’t just want to take Chris without giving him a chance to say goodbye.”

“It’s fine,” Eddie assures her with a smile, wanting to make her as comfortable as possible, both after what she’s been through and what she’s doing for him. “Are you sure you’re okay with taking him?”

“Of course, it’s no problem at all,” Maddie tells him with a kind smile. If Eddie hadn’t heard about her parents, he’d say kindness and helpfulness must be a Buckley trait.

“Still, it’s really appreciated.”

“And it’s really not a problem. If Abuela needs any help after coming home from the hospital I’m always here and happy to help. It’ll only be repaying the favor.”

“There is no favor that needs repaying, Abuela would scold me if she heard me letting you say that,” Eddie says. “She’s probably moving back to Texas. We already can’t find someone to look after Chris, it’ll be easier for her to be closer to more family with less busy schedules. But thank you, truly.”

Something flashes in Maddie’s eyes that Eddie vaguely knows from Buck’s face, but he can’t place it on hers quite yet, only that she has decided something. However, she doesn’t say and he doesn’t push, instead she smiles: “Well, I don’t mind hanging out with this little man here,” as she ruffles Chris’s hair.

Chris is done with his game and looks up at her with a big smile as he greets her. He already knows her from the time he spends at Abuela’s house. Eddie is glad he won’t be leaving him with a stranger.

Buck has gathered Chris’s crutches and joins them as Chris gears up to leave with Maddie. Before he goes, Eddie looks Chris in the eyes, cupping his cheek. He can’t help but smile, always feeling at ease when he has his son right there, safe and well. But that’s not the point right now. “You be good for tía Maddie, okay, mijo?” he tells Chris.

Maddie’s eyes widen slightly and Eddie half regrets the bold move made to indirectly include Buck, but he’s not regretting it entirely either with the way Buck’s eyes sparkle as Chris nods.

She leaves with Chris next to her, Buck giving him a quick ruffle of his hair, obviously dying to say something, but staying quiet. The others just waving and calling out their goodbyes.

Eddie stays standing there at the edge of the balcony until Maddie and Chris have left the firehouse, aware that Buck and Bobby are both behind him. Probably hovering for different reasons.

Once they’re gone, he turns back. Bobby gives him a gentle smile and says: “You have a good kid, Eddie. He was a pleasure to have in this firehouse and he is always welcome here.”

Emotion overwhelms him and it needs to get out. In an out of character moment, he hugs Bobby tightly, hoping it will convey the sheer thankfulness he feels in that moment. How grateful he is to have this acceptance, this help that doesn’t feel like help.

Then in further boldness, he lets go of Bobby and hugs Buck too. They’ve never been huggers before, not really. Often living more alongside each other than with each other, but in recent months they’ve become more tactile and right now Eddie might need the hug as badly as Buck does. If he thinks it’s weird, he doesn’t say, just hugs back.

When he lets go of Buck, he suddenly feels awkward about his outburst. Today has had him thrown off since he got that call, maybe even since he was flirted with so bluntly. He doesn’t know what to do with himself and is grateful when the alarm rings again so he can go.

No one mentions the hugs after and the day continues as normal. He gets a text from Maddie – who got his number through Buck – that Chris has been handed over to Pepa without any trouble and then in the morning he gets a text from tía Pepa that Chris has been dropped off at school.

They visit Abuela when their shift is done, glad to find her awake and in relatively good spirits after what happened to her. She has already charmed the hospital staff and befriended the other woman that she’s sharing her room with.

After their visit, the two split up. Eddie drives home, collapsing on his bed to nap for an hour, before he has to go pick up Chris. He normally has longer to sleep, but their last call ran over.

Buck, meanwhile, is driving to Abuela’s house to check up on Maddie. He is still kind of processing yesterday and just wants to see his sister for a bit. Eddie doesn’t seem mad at him anymore about the whole PT thing, even calling Maddie Chris’s tía and hugging him, but those few moments where it seemed he ruined everything still make his heart stop.

Not to mention how heart wrenching it was not to be able to be there for Chris like he wanted. Not being able to scoop him up in his arms and tell him all about their gear. Not being able to brag to the others about how he had the best kid. Not being his papi.

Having experienced that, he can totally see why Eddie would be mad at him, but he isn’t, not as far as Buck can tell anyway, which truly is a miracle in and of itself.

Maddie opens the door after a quick knock and Buck reminds himself to not be as familiar in this house as he actually is when she ushers him inside after a greeting.

“So, tía Maddie, huh?” he asks, maybe a little too eager, but needing to know what she thinks of the title and of Chris. Wanting a bit of validation after everything.

“Yeah,” Maddie blushes. “It feels like I’m overstepping, but it has to be fine, right? Eddie said it first, Chris is just following his dad.”

“It’s totally fine,” Buck assures her. “Did he behave?”

“Chris? Yeah, he’s a sweet kid. Very smart and funny in a kid kind of way,” Maddie smiles.

Buck feels his chest puff up with pride, even though that is mostly just Chris being awesome. It always feels a bit weird to claim credit for that – even if the jokes he taught Chris are hilarious no matter what Eddie says.

“Did Eddie or Pepa explain what’s happening with the child care situation to you?” Maddie asks. “I mean, Eddie mentioned something about not being able to find anyone, but there are programs.”

A warmth spreads through his chest at that. His sister is still here trying to help him, even if she doesn’t know. And helping Eddie. It’s nice to still see the bits of her he used to know, to have that familiarity.

“Eddie’s working on it,” he answers keeping it at a distance from himself, while outing his own frustrations with it all. “He's got insurance. And there’s other stuff through the city, state and county, but the requirements are all different. You can apply for one, and it can disqualify you from another. It’s a whole, giant bureaucratic mess. I-I can’t get my head around it.”

She leads him to the couch and grabs her laptop as she says: “Well, I was a nurse, remember? The only people who truly navigate a bureaucracy are the people who work inside it. So, I got some recommendations, but I feel weird about texting them to Eddie.”

“You can send them to me,” Buck immediately offers. “I can bring them up instead. We’re pretty friendly.”

“Really? Thank you,” Maddie says.

“Course, no problem.”

She taps away on her laptop and Buck gets a notification on his phone. Then she opens something different on her laptop and says: “I also have some news. I found an apartment. It’s not far from work. Two bedrooms, secure building, parking included.”

“You’re moving out?” Buck frowns. “You can stay here for longer, Abuela wouldn’t mind you being here while she moves out back to Texas.”

“I don’t want to be more of a bother when she’s already done so much for me. And you can’t just offer that for other people. Besides, I was never planning on living here forever,” she says.

Buck isn’t entirely convinced she isn’t just doing this to make herself small and it must show on his face, because she goes on. “Look, when I left Doug, I didn’t have a plan. I just grabbed up all my stuff and ran as fast and as far as I possibly could, but then you convinced me to start over, make a brand new life in LA.”

“And I was right about that,” he quickly points out, suddenly scared this apartment she found is in a different city and she’s leaving again.

“You were,” she rolls her eyes fondly, luckily. “But it’s just not gonna feel like mine unless I’m standing on my own two feet. That’s the only way I’m gonna know it’s real.”

“Alright. Okay. Yeah, no, I get that,” Buck says, even though it feels like he’ll be a horrible brother if he lets her out of the circle of carefully vetted people she’s been staying in. He hadn’t been there to protect her the first time around, he needs to protect her now. But she needs this, so he merely says: “Show me the apartment you found.”

They end up catching up for hours and he has to text Eddie he’s not making dinner tonight and to not burn the house down while he’s gone. Eddie sends two thumbs up back, because he is an old man, then a middle finger, because he’s a bitch. Buck loves him dearly and he hates that his heart does a little flip over the stupid emojis.

He is home in time to tuck Chris in, not telling him a bedtime story, but answering all his questions and telling him more about the firehouse, much like Eddie had predicted.

When Chris is fast asleep, Buck joins Eddie on the couch where he’s watching a telenovella he claims to only watch so he has something to talk about with Abuela and tía Pepa. Buck doesn’t call him out for it tonight, instead excitedly sharing the links Maddie shared with him. The top one had apparently been shared with her by a coworker, who heard about Carla through another coworker who had left, so they had a character reference for her.

The worries about Maddie moving out forgotten for a bit as they focus on getting a meeting of sorts set up with this Carla, hoping she can be their savior.

However, they’re back in full force the next day when they’re on the job. He doesn’t want to add to Eddie’s worries, so instead he unloads on Bobby. “The only way she knows it’s real is for her to live in a two-bedroom apartment in Eagle Rock. What does that even mean?”

“I think it means she’s not comfortable squatting in an injured, elderly woman’s place, who is a stranger to her.”

“Abuela is not a stranger. She’s Eddie’s grandmother,” Buck protests. Bobby gives him a look that makes Buck want to defend himself in ways he can’t, because then he needs to explain why that makes total sense. Both Maddie and Abuela are family.

“I just feel like it’s all happening too fast. I mean, how many years did it take her before she was ready to leave Doug?” Buck says.

“That hardly feels like the same thing.”

“My point is she just got here and now she’s leaving again.”

“Buck, she’s moving to Eagle Rock, not Alaska. It’s ten minutes from Eddie’s grandmother’s place, you live near there too, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but she’ll be in a place I don’t know. What if her neighbors are horrible? What if she feels alone with no one else living with her?”

“Your sister is building a new life for herself. Be proud of her,” Bobby tells him and he has a point, which Buck hates.

He also hates it when he later tells Eddie all about it anyway, because he is practically incapable of not sharing things and hopes Eddie might have a different reaction, since he also has sisters. However, Eddie, the traitor, agrees with Bobby and thinks Buck should let Maddie built her own life.

They’re annoyingly correct, but he makes his peace with it. Because he is proud of her, despite his protective instincts going haywire. He just wants her to be okay and he knows this is the best way to have her be okay, but it feels wrong anyway.

Still, he supports her regardless, because that’s what she needs from him and he’ll always try to give her what she needs. Especially when she does the same.

The meeting they have with Carla is a huge success. She is kind and fun and non-judgmental. She even takes their explanation about their platonic marriage that is a secret at work with a minimal amount of blinking.

All in all, she is a great fit and a big help in getting through the bureaucratic nightmare to ensure they can actually employ her without going bankrupt. Chris loves her immediately and she is charmed by Chris too.

It’s a heavy weight of off both their shoulders, but especially Eddie’s. Buck can see how he moves differently, as if he actually feels physically lighter. It breaks his heart a little, but also makes him so glad that they were able to organize this, that he has helped in lightening Eddie’s burdens.

When they tell tía Pepa about it, she makes them tamales as celebration and they take them to the hospital to share with Abuela, who is glad to get some real food.

A week later, he finds himself on the couch in the loft with Chimney looking over security systems for Maddie. He apparently knows about them, since he tried to be an entrepreneur before and Buck can use all the assurance he can get.

He still doesn’t feel great about Maddie moving out of Abuela’s house, even if he understands her wanting to have her own place. One that is wholly her own.

But if he wants to be able to have any sort of peace of mind when she does live on her own, he’ll need to get her the best security system. Hence recruiting Chimney. Though, he seems not that unhappy about being recruited into Buck’s protective spiral, even inviting himself to help her move since apparently they struck up a conversation and he thought she was nice.

When he asks Maddie later if it’s okay, she smiles and tells him she’ll text him thanks, since she gave him her number apparently, something Buck is trying not to think about too much.

She is building a life for herself, he should let her, he reminds himself.

Not that that is going to stop him from keeping an eye on Chimney. No matter how much he loves the guy, it’s different when he thinks he has a chance to his sister’s heart. He learned his lesson about not being too careful.

It’s not that he thinks Chimney will be a Doug 2.0, he just has to focus his protective instinct elsewhere now that he doesn’t have Abuela to keep an eye on her 24/7. Not to mention that he got to witness the disaster that was Chim’s relationship with Tatiana.

He’s just playing it safe, nothing else. Everything seems to be going well for them recently, it’s natural to be suspicious of that, he reasons.

~~

A/N:

I keep trying to not let this fic get out of hand, yet here I am, spending two chapters on one episode, so that’s not working out well for me lmao xp

Also, for the sake of this fanfic’s plot, I request you all do not think too closely about the time Maddie spend with Chris after picking him up from the 118 firehouse, please and thank you <3

[cambrioleur]

Random observations on this season (updating)

(SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY)

Episode 1

I don't think we've ever seen Assane do a genuine fourth-wall break before

OK so Claire has a last name now

Assane really expected that he could just show up and Claire would just fall at his feet

I'm surprised Benjamin is just allowed to continue working at his shop

This feels better-edited than Parts 1 & 2

Name a more iconic duo than Belkacem and failing constantly (she really doesn't listen, does she)

Episode 2

Philippe Courbet sighting

NEVER invite Guédira to a funeral lmaooo

Hang on I'm just now realizing that Juliette is at this funeral, too (she's standing in the second row behind Benjamin and Claire and honestly doesn't seem too upset about Assane's "death")

I like how in the flashback Babakar tells Assane that he reminds him of his mother and then it turns out she was a criminal

This seems to be around the time of Raoul's birthday again; he really can't catch a break on that

Episode 3

New shipping war just dropped: Guédira/Belkacem vs Guédira/Fleur

That bit where Claire was outright begging Benjamin to tell her Assane was alive and he couldn't...that was sad

But then it was followed by Benjamin doing the "uhh my FRIEND just died" act with Belkacem which was funny

This gang of thugs is trying a little too hard tbh

Assane's disguise in this episode is fucking terrible lol

The basketball coach disguise, on the other hand, is the only time I've genuinely thought he wasn't recognizable

Episode 4

Ironically that coach persona is probably the best parenting Assane has ever done

Claire? Doing things that are vaguely cool?? That feels illegal. Also, she looked so proud of herself for swiping that book, lol

Betraying Benjamin was certainly...a choice on Assane's part ("everyone disliked that")

This episode is going to devastate the show's Tumblr fandom

Episode 5

Assane trolling the shit out of Guédira will never not be funny

These 1998 flashbacks are pretty dark actually

Honestly the way Claire got that reveal out of Benjamin was very well-played on her part

Guédira out here looking like present-day Ringo Starr with that disguise

Aww look at Assane playing the matchmaker for Guédira and Belkacem, heh heh

This is easily one of the funniest episodes

Except Benjamin is straight up not having a good time -- it looks like he got beaten up in prison

Episode 6

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not totally sure Benjamin knows that Assane betrayed him. It's possible he just thinks that he fucked up with the bracelet and then missed a cue in the maze

"Pasta with ketchup" jesus fucking christ Claire that sounds horrendous (although I'm guessing the only reason they did that was because of the ketchup-bottle reveal)

Assane really has Claire's number because he's now seduced her twice under two different identities

IDK whether or not Raoul has figured out that the coach is his dad but it's funny that he still seemed to be shipping it either way

It's nice that we get to see Claire's more playful side in this season, like her messing with Assane by acting really flirty with "Alex" after she realizes they're the same person

INCREDIBLE casting for the younger and older versions of Keller tbh; they easily look like they could be the same person

Episode 7

What a nice family reunion...it would be a shame if something happened to it...

The flashbacks are significantly darker than the present timeline this time around

Guédira finally got to arrest Assane, good for him!

The scene at the train station with the letter from Assane to Claire sort of reminds me of the ending to A Tale of Two Cities, which I had to read for AP prep a while back

Oh look, Hubert Pellegrini is back

So they're CLEARLY setting up another season with this ending

The choice of people to show on the montage there was interesting, lol

I could see a Juliette antagonist arc happening tbh

Maybe Assane's mom isn't all she seems either

And what about Benjamin? If he turns against Assane the viewers are going to lose their minds

[yujeong]

Favourite Underrated Ship? Simple answer: Every single Pete rarepair! -> PorschePete? Iconic! Brilliant! Phenomenal! Most people love "best friends who kiss", I love "secret third thing". However one enjoys them, though, they're delicious to consume😌 (You might think it's not an underrated ship, but I'd like to inform you that it has, in fact, less than 100 fics on Ao3, so it very much is in my book. I'm happy to have contributed to it by posting two of them, but I'd love it if there were more. Hopefully, I'll get inspired anew one day.) -> KinnPete? Oh please, the power dynamics make me giggle like a 10 year old girl playing with Barbie dolls. Such glorious toxicity, such perfect ways Kinn could use and abuse Pete to his benefit, either with or without knowing he's doing it. You can do so much with them, either pre, during or post canon and I get so excited thinking about it. (This one has less than 50(!) fics posted, so I'm super thankful to the few authors who have gifted me some amazing works. Sharing my personal favourite because it deserves to be cherished 🥹) -> ArmPete? Do I even need to sell this one? It can do fluff, it can do angst, it can do smut, it can do it all. My personal favourite flavour of it is Arm having unrequited feelings for Pete because it's just so deliciously angsty 😇 I love me some pain, I can't help it. (This one doesn't have any fics to its name, besides one in Chinese. I'm devastated. I did personally have an idea for a multi-chaptered fic with 3k words already written, but if I manage to focus on it properly one day, it'll end up being a simple one-shot.) -> KimPete? Oh, you mean the ship I got so obsessed over I wrote 25k words of them platonically bonding, while having Kim think to himself more than once how pretty Pete is? You mean the ship that shares so many similarities with VegasPete, while still having its own identity based on the differences between Kim and Vegas? You mean the love of my life? (Again, fics for this one are almost non-existent, which is a shame, but understandable. One day, I'll manage to enrich the tag. One day.) -> TankhunPete? Take KinnPete's fucked up power imbalance and twist it in a more peculiar direction. What you get is this ship, which makes me so uncomfortable but so, so intrigued. (Incredibly underrated with how few fics it has, but a special thanks to this one for altering my brain chemistry when I first read it.) -> BigPete? Rivals who might engage in hate sex from time to time? Pals who share the same fate and understand it and bond over it? Pick your poison and roll with it, because it's delicious either way. I'm personally team "They hate each other" because it's more fun that way 😉 (Almost nothing here again, which is a shame, but again understandable. I had forgotten they shared 2 lines of dialogue together in the show, I deadass thought they never talked to each other, which was great for me lol. Here's one fic written by the same person who wrote the KinnPete one, in case you'd like something cool to read.) -> TayPete? This one's for pure aesthetic reasons because have you seen Tay, have you seen Tay at the auction, have you imagined Pete and Tay fucking at the auction, because I surely have 🙂 It's such a gorgeous image, I lose focus for a hot minute when it comes to me. (This one's tricky, because most people write Vegas/Pete/Tay, which is a glorious choice and I support it, and my talented friend is writing a very good VPT fic, but I'd love it if there were more fics that focus on these two only. They're too powerful, I can't get enough.) I think those are all the ones I'm personally obsessed with. All I have to say is, Pete deserves all the beautiful men and what they'd like to do with him ❤️

[friendshiptothemax]

hi i bet you get this all the time and you dont have to answer if you dont want to BUT what was your journey to being an Actual Tv Writer like? im looking into becoming a writer but im so out of my depth on how to do it

My journey to being a TV writer is incredibly regular -- it's kind of the template of how it should work. That being said not everyone goes this route, and not everyone who tries it is as lucky as I was! But it's kind of the most "basic" method.

I moved out to LA in 2011 to go to grad school. I don't think grad school is necessary for everyone -- the two biggest things I got out of it were time to write and a close group of friends, so if you can obtain that in other ways you might as well save yourself the $$. While I was in grad school, I worked a little in the industry, freelancing as a script supervisor on a number of student films, vanity projects, webseries, and commercials. I also worked at a couple of internships, where I met more people than just my classmates.

Once I graduated, I kept doing the un/underemployed thing (I read and reviewed self-published novels for rent money) until I was lucky enough to get a job as a production office production assistant on an NBC show called Aquarius. I spent a season getting lunches and running copies for the production office (which includes the accountants, art department, locations, and general office staff). I did that on two more shows before I got hired as the writer's production assistant for The Blacklist. I was still getting lunches and running copies, but for the writers! Woohoo!

After two years of that, there was an opening in the writer's room for script coordinator. The script coordinator is kind of between assistant and writer. I read every script about 1,000 times, proofreading, looking for continuity errors, and keeping up the entire writer's room, cast, and crew all on what was the most current copy of the script. It was an amazing job that was hard as fuck but I really enjoyed because I got to really get into the heads of my bosses. In my second year of that, they told me I could pitch them ideas, and I pitched an idea that became episode 618. I wrote it and it went really well, I think in part because I was so familiar with their voice. After that, they brought me on as a writer full time for season 7, and I was a writer there for the next four years.

My advice to you is twofold --

Work on your writing. I really like Pam Douglas' book "Writing the TV Drama Series." There are some good podcasts, particularly by John August and Craig Mazin, though I'm sure there are others. Read as many scripts as you can. When you have a script, enter contests to get feedback. Here is a great list of the most reputable ones, so you can get feedback and hopefully a little credit to your name if you place highly in one.

Make friends. I find that "networking events" are stupid, but HAVING a network is invaluable. Every TV job I've ever gotten is because I knew someone already working there. Move to LA and start meeting people. For me, besides my grad school classmates, it was improv classes, D&D, and working on the low-budget sets as a script supervisor (different from script coordinator, I know it's confusing), but you can find your own thing. The more friends I made in the TV assistant world, the MORE friends I made. As they say, a rising tide raises all ships, and that has been very true for me. Be nice and cool to everyone -- you never know when that construction PA you worked with on one show might be the in to your next.

Good luck!! Let me know if you have any more questions! :)

[cosmiccrushes]

Not Part Of The Crew

Law x OC || 2.2k word chapter || 12.9k words total

Read the other chapters on ao3!

CW: brief mention of blood

i've got a nasty cold right now so fingers crossed this chapter isn't complete nonsense but i'm on cold & flu meds and can't breathe out of my nose properly so fuck it, post

CH 6

“Fuck, fuck, fuuuck.” 

Rue shoves her way through the congested dock of Bell island. By no means as busy of a port as Ashita Island, but various fisherman and dock workers jostle Rue to and fro. Incredibly annoying, seeing as she was currently trying to make an inconspicuous exit from the crowd. No more than ten minutes after Law dropped her off, she nearly walked straight into a couple of Fang Pirates hanging a poster up at a bulletin board. A poster with her picture, her name, and a bounty. A literal fucking bounty. Rue’s heart dropped. 

Why would the government issue a bounty for her? She wasn’t a bloody pirate! She wasn’t part of Fangle’s crew! She’s only a bard, making berry for Malax, sure. But by imprisonment, not choice! She didn’t belong to his brutal fighting force- which the government hadn’t done a damn thing about anyways. And why the hell would the Fang Pirates- obvious by the Fang emblem they wore on their shirts- be the ones hanging her wanted poster up? A brief scan around confirmed there were no Navy officers in the port- per usual in these waters. Rue couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen a naval ship anywhere near Ashita Island. She suspected a hefty bribe kept them well away from Fangle’s business in this island chain. Rue snuck closer to the board, praying to the high seas that the two pirates wouldn’t turn in her direction. 

Well, shit. This poster was no government issued bounty. Oh, no. Right there under her picture and name were the words: Reward to be paid by the Fang Pirates upon return. Not even the decency to name his price upfront! That absolute bastard. Rue knew Malax Fangle would be coming for her, of course he would. The Fang Pirates would be hunting her. She hadn’t, to her complete chagrin, considered that he would enlist the local islands to do his dirty work for him though. 

Rue finally breaks through the throng of people and heads towards the first alley she sees, muttering obscenities under her breath. As the cool shade between buildings envelopes her, Rue slumps against the wall. Lightly thumping her head against the brick- can’t very well risk a concussion on top of this catastrophic turn of events. Rue’s plan, admittedly, largely involved exactly one step- escape. And it had just been rendered unimaginably more difficult. 

“Fuuuuck,” she said on an exhale, hanging on to the word for as long as her breath would allow- which was a while, she was a bard. A bard who now couldn’t safely perform in any tavern within the Fang Pirates’ territory. No berry for travel, shelter, food. She resisted the urge to put her fist into the brick wall in front of her, overcome by a deep wellspring of rage bursting forth. A rage untapped in years. Not even drawn from when Carlo’s blood spilled out in front of her, soaking into the wooden floorboards, seeping into the crevices of her memory. A stain she’d never get out. Too numb from the shock to feel anything, do anything but get away.

You can grieve later, you can be angry later. She’d told herself that as she’d plotted her escape from Malax’s clutches, her focus single-minded. Get away, then figure out how to get revenge. Justice. Rue was prepared to spend however long it took running from the Fang Pirates. But this? Malax had just made her a target for every single person eager to earn favor with him, desperate for a chance to earn berry. Now staying one step ahead of Malax meant outrunning his blasted devil fruit powers without the one thing that Rue could always rely on, her voice.

Just like that, Rue was sixteen again. She’d been traveling as a bard for a couple of years by then. Experiencing relief like a cold compress against a blistering wound each time she stepped in front of a crowd and opened her mouth. Wondrously shocking to discover she was not only good at something, but that she actually enjoyed something. Singing, weaving a story with her voice, became a salve Rue used to treat the deep gash in her life where a childhood should’ve been. 

Once, when she was sixteen, Rue caught a terrible flu. It lasted for two weeks, leaving her unable to perform. She’d had to rely on the meager savings she’d scraped together to rent out a broom closet of a room, a straw mat on the floor, the only furniture. Creeping out to steal food when she could muster up the energy to do so. Going hungry on the days she couldn’t. Rue laid curled on that straw mat contemplating that she may actually die there. All because she couldn’t do the one thing that gave her the ability to protect herself. It’d been hell.

And she’d been so angry. It wasn’t fair. All Rue had was her voice. Without it, she was trapped, helpless. She loathed feeling that way. It terrified her. Reminded her of being a child at the whims of whatever adults ruled the orphanage that week. Rue learned at a young age how to hide behind fake smiles and sharp words. When she sang, she felt seen, she felt real. She couldn’t fathom losing that tangibility after finding it. Without it, she was reduced back to a tiny pinprick of existence, balancing one goal of survivability on its needle edge. No room for her to be anything else. The parts of her that weren't about surviving were forced to become incorporeal, to hover at the edges of that point. But when she sang…when she sang she solidified. That knife edge turning on its side, still a sharpened blade but giving her more space to exist. 

The first sob wrenched out of her as she lurched further down the alley. The need to flee, clawing at her skin. But there was nowhere to go. Rue collapsed behind some discarded barrels, hunkering down over herself as her body trembled with the force of her silent tears. This is why Rue didn’t let herself form attachments. Attachments meant pain, loss. Because in the end, she was always all alone. Even as the thought occurred, Rue knew it wasn’t fair to Carlo. He hadn’t forced her to care about him. Certainly hadn’t forced her to stay for him. And he hadn’t really left her alone. He’d been by her side, until the very end. Because that’s what you do for family, Cerulean. 

Rue wills herself to take deep, shuddering breaths. She cannot fall apart now. Malax Fangle wields the Sagasu Sagasu no Mi- the Find Find Fruit. He can find anyone, as long as he’s touched them just once. Stay more than three days in one place and his devil fruit powers would lock onto her location. The closer his target was, the quicker their location was triangulated. Rue had no time to dissolve into a shivering mess in this alley. She couldn't afford to do that when she was sixteen and literally a shivering, feverish mess. Maybe not that much has changed for her over the years after all. But one thing has. 

You can grieve later, you can be angry later. Right now, you need to move. There’s one performance that cannot wait. Rue tells herself this, her breathing settling as she staggers to her feet. A requiem for revenge. A reprise of reprisal. Whatever title she gave it, someway, somehow, she’d make damn sure it was the last song Malax Fangle ever heard. 

***

“Please, Delphi,” Rue doesn't bother trying to keep the desperation out of her voice as she addresses the hostel owner. Delphi runs the hostel of choice amongst performers traveling through Bell Island. Off the beaten track, perfect for a bard looking for a quiet rest after a rowdy night on the stage. A risk coming to her, but Rue hoped her history of being a dependable and trouble-free patron would earn her a spot of kindness. Before being ensnared by Malax, Bell Island was a typical stop on Rue’s route. Rue couldn’t exactly say that she’d built a relationship with Delphi, but surely their professional rapport held worth. Rue hates asking for help. Knows it often comes with strings attached and Rue couldn’t handle being pulled in any more directions. Rue didn’t ask for help, she bartered. So much easier when expectations were clear and she knew exactly what someone expected from her in return. Standing in front of Delphi, there was nothing Rue could offer in return for the hostel owner’s help. 

The arms crossed over Delphi’s chest had any hope of a meaningful rapport rapidly declining. “I know you're wanted, Rue. I'm not looking for trouble by inviting an enemy of the Fang Pirates into my business.” 

“An enemy? Aw, come on Delphi, you know how Malax is! We're all his enemy! I'm just asking you for a place to lay low for a day and a hot meal to eat. Then I'm gone. I promise. I’m not trying to bring trouble to your doorstep. I just-” Rue’s voice falters. “I just need help.” 

Delphi sighs, staring Rue up and down before looking away. “You can go round back, hide in the kitchen. Get yourself a meal while you're there.” 

“Delphi, thank you.” 

Delphi gives Rue a hard look. “If Malax’s men come asking questions, I won't lie for you. Ignorance I'm willing to claim. I'll say I let you in before I heard anything about the bounty. Outright disobedience to Fangle though?” Delphi shakes her head. “I'm sorry, Rue. I can't do that for you.” 

Rue nods. “I understand, Delphi. I'll be discreet and I'll be out of here as soon as possible.”

Delphi hesitates, hand poised to close the hostel's front door. “For what it's worth, Rue, I hope they don't come asking questions.” Delphi closes the door before Rue can respond. 

***

Rue spends the hours making herself as small and unobtrusive as she can while Delphi's kitchen staff bustles around her. They offer her food and drink which Rue consumes, figuring it might be the last substantial and non-fruit centric meal she has in the foreseeable future. Because Rue’s pretty sure her next move is quickly turning into her only move, her signature move. Great. Well, there are worse ways to spend your life than hiding away in shipping crates of produce. Shipping crates of poisonous snakes, for example. Rue's dark sense of humor will be an excellent companion for her life spent in dark cargo holds at sea.   

She inquires with one of Delphi's cooks on whether they know the shipping schedule at the docks. As luck would have it, the early hours of tomorrow morning will see Bell Island's export of apples shipped out. Rue really, really hopes she ends up on a merchant vessel this time, not another pirate ship. 

Ending up on Trafalgar Law’s ship could've meant death. She got lucky that Law had a penchant for mysteries and didn't chop her up into pieces on sight. She may not get so lucky again. 

Rue pulls the book Law gave her out of her pocket. Her heart flutters as she stares down at it. A small novel bearing the title The Bard’s Bewitchment. Trafalgar Law. Suspiciously unmurderous, aggravatingly handsome, funny and…returning a flirtatious jab? It couldn’t be. He didn’t mean it like that, surely. Rue hadn’t bewitched him, she’d simply intrigued him. Rue ran a finger over the embossed title. Spending the day reading in his office had soothed her anxiety. A gentle, meditative hum in the midst of this discordant chorus of her life. She's never going to see him again. But what might it be like if she did? Would his coolheaded presence make her feel calm again? Would teasing him make her feel…real again?

Rue opens the book, settling into her wooden chair in the corner of the kitchen. She's got some time to pass. Might as well see what kind of book Trafalgar Law finds giftable. As she curls her feet under her, she lets herself imagine she’s back on his ship, sinking into his plush sofa cushions. Nothing more to worry about than what book to select next and what barb to send at Trafalgar Law while she did it.  

***

The predawn hours and a foggy chill shrouds Rue as she creeps along the wharf. She'd managed to sleep some, propped in a chair in Delphi's kitchen, Law’s book tucked safely back into her jacket pocket when her eyes grew too heavy to keep reading. She can feel the aches settling in her bones and the exhaustion settling behind her eyes. 

Fingers numb, she pops the lid off of a wooden crate, moving slowly to avoid drawing the attention of the few dock workers already bustling about. A glance inside confirms it's part of the shipment of apples she was aiming for.

As quietly and quickly as possible, Rue scoops apples out, gently tossing them over the side of the pier into the ocean. Cringing at how bad it feels to discard perfectly good food. Then again, she’s trying really hard to keep her life from being discarded. Sorry apples, it’s me or you. 

When there’s a space big enough for her to wedge herself in, she climbs inside, pulling the lid back into place over her. Pretending it absolutely does not feel like sealing her own tomb. 

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda under the cut

Shiv Roy

She's honestly kind of a canonical victim of yaoi almost. She and her husband Tom have a loveless marriage but never end up getting divorced. Tom has a weird psychosexual obsession with Shiv's cousin Greg and at one point literally compares them all to the time Emperor Nero pushed his wife down the stairs and then castrated and married a slave boy named Sporus (Tom is unwell). Anyway the show just ended and long story short Tom is now CEO of Shiv's family's evil company and she is reduced to being his pregnant wife (which is the result of her voting not to authorize either of her brothers as CEO in order to save them from themselves) and Tom made another weird comment about literally owning Greg. And now people who ship Tom and Greg are like "omg it's canon we won" but I don't. Think that they did. Sorry I'm rambling it was just a really good finale idek if this counts but

I will be honest I'm not really tuned into the tomgreg fandom, but tons of people wanted tom to leave shiv and get with greg and tons of people thought shiv was the devil incarnate and refused to see any nuance in her character and I don't think those two things are a coincidence. 

She gets a lot of hate from fans, largely just for being a woman who reacts in a non pretty way to abuse and for doing the exact same shitty stuff her brothers do. But also a large part of the hate she gets comes from the people who ship her husband with her cousin. To the point where people claim she's abusing her husband who views her as an accessory, a baby factory, and a ticket to money. Don't get me wrong, their relationship is incredibly toxic and unhealthy, but it is so on both of their parts. But Shiv's the only one who gets criticized for it

Kyoko Kirigiri

The anime series Danganronpa 3's ending somewhat implied she and Makoto are a couple but the fandom likes to ship Makoto with Byakuya much more. The same anime series also saw a lot of hatred against her character and well, it was already there because people also complain about how she acted in the original Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc game as well, unfairly in my opinion. She's really cool and really smart and just isn't the quickest to trust people, which makes sense considering she's in fucking death games. Her deduction skills and strategy played a big part in saving the people who did make it out BOTH times she was in killing games and in one of those cases she was even willing to potentially sacrifice herself for it. I'll stop now but she is my most mistreated fave

arguably the most important character in the game but gets tossed aside a lot because of the two male leads byakuya and the main guy (dont even remember his name ngl) and she is so pretty and cool and smart and i love her so yeah <3

[blackjackkent]

Glad I took a final look around, bc there's a whole chest of letters (loabeled "Chest of Grateful Words") and some Baldur's Mouth Gazettes pinned up on a board.

Various fun newspaper headlines first:

"Fresh Stock: An Interview with the New Master of Ramazith's Tower"

"Thorm's Army Dispersed from Baldurian Borders"

"Report: Stone Lord Killed by Beloved Ranger"

"Harpers Out of Hiding: Secretive Sect Step Forward to Aid City"

"Almond Cakes of Avernus: Elturian Refugees - and Owners of City's Newest Cafe - Share Their Recipe"

"Site of Foundry Blast Still Sectioned Off, Says Fist"

"New Waveservant at Umberlee's Temple: No Leads on Desecration"

"Ravengard Returned to Full Strength"

"Gondians Disband: 'Gond's Time Has Come and Gone'" (A/N: Bongle will be pleased. 🙄)

"Duke Stelmane's Murderer Still at Large"

"Planar Pains: City Caught in Center of Githyanki War?"

"Volothamp Geddarm's Guide to Baldur's Gate: Bard Seeks Contributors to Newest Edition"

"Last Holdout Cultists Cleared from Temple of Bhaal"

"Iron Throne Wreckage Continues to Block Shipping Lanes, Complain Merchants"

"Settles Bound for Lands Upriver Amid Claims Curse is Lifted"

"Business Boom - Take Your Troubles to the House of Grief"

"Witnesses Encounter Vampire Spawn - And Live to Tell the Tale"

"Six Months Since the Assassination of Archduke Gortash"

"Small Sun: Tour New District Built by Elturian Refugees"

"New Bardic School, Tiefling Founder, Secures Upper City Funding" (A/N: AHHHHH Go Alfira Go! :D )

"Jannath House to Host Evening of Art and Culture, Celebrating Salvation of City"

"Monument Planned for Heroes of the High Hall"

I love all of this. :D

Also a quick side note because I need to shout out my favorite bit of the ambient dialogue in the camp - everyone has been making random comments the whole night, but every once in a while, Shadowheart comments: "Withers has a keen eye for a nice vintage. Why were we scrounging in barrels and crates for supplies when he could source these? Gods, I remember one evening we had to eat fourteen apples, some fish heads, and a stale loaf of bread just to get by."

lolololol <3

On to the letters!

"Official Guild Letter":

Aw. :)

----

Wehhhhhhh. <3 I'm glad we got you free of the curse, Art. Poor guy.

-----

Hector still hates you, Valeria, and this isn't helping.

-----

Atta boy, Mr. Duke.

-----

I'm assuming Beard Man is Elminster. :D Excellent. I think Hector probably has Gale keep an ear to the ground on how she's doing; the whole group felt very protective of Arabella.

-----

Oh, shut up.

-----

[incredibly loud squinting from Hector] You are so FUCKING creepy, ma'am. And if you come anywhere near Astarion again, by the way, Hector will kill you (if Astarion doesn't do so first).

-----

Aw. I'm glad they were able to find some kind of stability, even though there was no real good outcome to that situation. :(

-----

Florriiiiiiiiiiick. <3 She's so cool. I wanna be Florrick when I grow up.

-----

This is kind of sweet actually. Growth for everyone.

-----

EEEEEEEE :D I love this so much. She deserved such a good ending and she got it. (Though people KEEP putting Hector's names on things; I think he's giving up on fighting against notoriety. XD )

-----

HI DAMMON! Hector definitely makes sure Karlach sends him a super nice letter bringing him up to date. He's a saint in their eyes, made it possible for them to be together at all.

-----

Hee. Elminster turned out to be interestingly nuanced in terms of Gale's storyline; he didn't really seem to approve of how Mystra was treating Gale, but also wanted to toe the party line of the goddess of magic. Hector's a smidge skeptical of him as a result. But good to hear he and Gale are still on good terms.

-----

<3 If Nocture eventually decides to leave the Sharrans, and Shadowheart goes to help her, Hector would absolutely be there to help as well.

-----

Eyyyy, Voss. I love this because he greets Hector with the title "She'lak", which means 'benevolent burden' (a term for a do-gooder hero), which I already headcanoned was what Lae'zel calls Hector. So she's got Voss doing it too, which absolutely makes Hector smile.

-----

Aw. Hope seems to be doing okay. <3 As okay as she can be under the circumstances at least.

@writer86 pointed out to me that the House of Hope would make perfect sense as a regular headquarters for Hector and Karlach and Wyll; I think they probably go there pretty regularly for time to rest and recuperate.

-----

Aw, Mayrina gets a happy ending! This is great! She didn't end up naming her son after Hector after all though lol. Which he's fine with tbh.

-----

Oh no. XD

-----

I love the implication that Nine-Fingers might have just randomly showed up too and been the only non-companion here besides Tara. XD That line about getting Jaheira to sing intrigues me. Fodder for a one-shot perhaps...

-----

Zevlor is such a great character, man. I think this is a good end for him, and hopefully he finds peace and happiness in it somehow, in the end.

-----

Awwwwwww. Atta boy Geraldus!

It's incredibly unclear to me how easily Hector and co. can or cannot get out of the Hells. But if he has the freedom to do so, he would absolutely be there. (Though honestly, lbr. It should be Jaheira.)

[rotisseries]

🔥 okay tell me abt sidlink

ok it sucks so bad. first of all I'm sorry to sidon he's very sweet and cool and I am about to just rip him to shreds.

anyway he is the no.1 most boring character in botw I'm sorry. of the ones with any effect on the plot. like there is one other notable male character people will ship link with (revali🫶🫶🫶) and he is far more interesting. that is better. anyway so sidon is VERYYY boring, but he's hot and sweet

so people want to fuck him so they just use link as their SELF INSERTTTTT AND THEY SHIP LINK WITH HIM AND ONLY TALK ABOUT THIS GUY TO THE EXCLUSION OF ANY OTHER CHARACTERS BUT ESPECIALLY ZELDA. and listen. this fish is gay. maybe even gay for link. this does not make the ship suck less. because link and him have next to nothing going on. where is the flavor. but mostly because again. it results in fans who COMPLETELY ignore zelda. not only in the franchise named after her btw but specifically in the games that are the most "about zelda" that a zelda game could POSSIBLY GET. I cannot stress enough how much botw zelda is the most fascinating character with an incredibly interesting arc and she does just get relegated to link's platonic wingwoman bestie. and that's if people are being kind. like ok for example link and zelda live together in totk. we're not gonna go over the details you've probably seen them before anyway from me but they do. but technically, there is just a *smidgen* of plausible deniability about this. technicallyyyyy it's theoretically barely possible if you're fucking blind, that link doesn't live in the house with zelda. the house in question was link's first. so after totk there were SOOO many fandom """jokes""" about how zelda just kicked link out of his house which grates on me for multiple reasons 1. because even if you don't ship them I think their close bond is really important and it manifests in things like the fact they live together. why can't they live together and just be friends why. do you even know what they went through together of course they live together. this is a dilution of the importance of platonic bonds. 2. after botw, people (reddit gamer dudebros in particular, I do not want to unjustly assign blame to sidlink shippers on this although I am sure some participated and/or were aware of this well enough to remember it when totk came around) would RIP into zelda about how mean and terrible she is, because she has the audacity to initially dislike link. they said she was SOOOO mean and awful to him. "zelda kicked link out of his own house" jokes just grate on me cause they remind me of this again. y'all want her to be a bitch soooo bad. 3. this pissed me off the MOST because this is the ONLY time and the ONLY way I would see people talk about zelda AT ALL. totk is even more zelda centric than botw. we are wasting our fucking time talking about that stupid ass fish when zelda has CRAZY and INTERESTING shit going on. in conclusion. fujoshi disease dot jpeg. shipping sidlink is for losers who would rather die than talk about women for 5 minutes

[swallowtailed]

palisade 28!

first of all, the intro—loved it. honoring black screen, reclaiming rhythm, acknowledging that post-combustor it still doesn’t feel like anything’s changed, but pushing forward anyway… (also i am so curious about this pirate rap station. who are the other hosts?? what are their shows like??)

i know the particular game of the interview scene was that brnine couldn’t gain any rhetorical ground, but ali absolutely slayed. incredible rp. truly a horrifying situation and brnine still landed some fantastic lines.

also want to make some sort of comparison to fever-dream and nightmare sequences—not quite sure what to call it, but i’m thinking of the kind of scene where a delirious character seems to hallucinate old arguments. coming under judgment, past and present blurring. (and how do we understand what it means to leave palisade?)

“stolen cameo” is a cool ship name but it became much funnier when it was revealed that they had kidnapped brnine to put them on tv

the question i had during that sequence was what’s asepsis doing while brnine’s in prison, and by the end of the episode i still had that question but even more so. what… the fuck! (also, didn’t brnine have some drones with them? does asepsis know where they are???)

eclectic opposition is The keith character name lmao. that’s just all of them already

jokes aside this character rips and i’m so excited for more terrible sleuth energy. black sequined poncho. “eclectic, and easily.” i have such a soft spot for noir aesthetics pasted over another genre. also very excited to dig into why all these hooks are “leap says”.

brief reflection on crew dynamics in brnine’s absence: figure stepped up, thisbe stepped in. which is really cool to see for both of them. figure took the lead in the scene and called the meeting to order, which really speaks to their freedom and confidence post-clem. thisbe didn’t do that, despite being technically in command, but she redirected the conversational dynamic in the way brnine might’ve tried to (her telling cori that vaping is bad for you is maybe my new favorite thisbe line… okay, no, it’s still second to “spoilers, corn is a grass”, but it’s up there.) 

really excited for figure’s plotline! talking to gur, seeing ghosts everywhere, bringing partial palisade onboard—they’ve leveled up and i’m so here for it. (also thinking about the past bleeding into the present, or maybe it’s better to understand that as a sort of recognition of continuity—same people, only changed. (which appeared a few times in this episode.) anyway, no new life can free you from your past, etc etc.)

also: partial palisade!!!! coming back onscreen!!!!!! we LOVE to see it

my main feeling after the latest faction turn was that somehow, post-combustor, nothing had actually changed. the blue channel got a huge win! the hugest! and then the cause went directly back to reacting to (and losing to) the authority, rather than actually making moves (cf outro of 25). i’m hoping we see more of a shift on the blue channel side, at least—it seems like the table is still set for that. having partial palisade on board could be really powerful (plotwise/thematically but maybe also mechanically). who knows—things could take a while to develop. (but also let’s drop another pillar!!!)

[reading-stains]

some cool observations I figured out after asking myself what makes a good fanfic

I wanted to randomly talk about how wonderful fanfiction is. Like really. It’s genuinely one of the most wonderful experiences being here has to offer. I’ve been having a really tough time these past few weeks, and the only thing that keeps getting me through a day has been to sit down and read a couple long fics. I’m an avid AO3 reader (don’t you dare suggest any other platform for me for reading, I like the organization okay), which yeah means I don’t read as carefully as the next person but I do read like 90% of the fic so that means something right? Reading a whole 300,000 words a day, while still having time to cook three meals separately, have a two hour tutoring session, and some space to freak out over my AP scores has got to be a superpower.

Anyways, my point is this: fanfiction is fucking amazing. How many ways worlds can come together, how many times characters can fall in love and it doesn’t get boring is just that, fucking amazing. The amount of great material I’ve found has been stellar. And since I’ve had so many hours to waste the past two weeks, my urge for fanfic reading has been consistently there. Which is strange to me because I’ve barely wanted to read, period. Academic, casual, printed, or online for months. But fanfiction is perfectly centered in what I love.

Yet I was thinking how do you make a good fanfic? After all, there’s so much, some of it is just better than the rest. And I figured I’d explore that.

Firstly, there’s the whole charm of fanfiction, since there’s something powerful in having characters you know. I’d like to highlight that it’s entirely possible and true that people can have completely different experiences in the fanfiction world. There’s Y/N and its whole self insert genre, and there’s the whole original characters' situation in universes that are explored within the OG material. Of course there’s a whole sub division of fanfic readers that love it, adore it, write it, and consume it, and who am I to judge? I guess when I say good fanfiction in this post, it’s about how good character based fanfiction works out. Because in my eyes, good fanfiction challenges the framing of a character, and works to develop a tangible change in both internal and external measures. For example, I was reading this two part (not-yet-fully-completed-but-doesn’t-really-end-in-a-cliffhanger-so-it’s-okay-as-someone-that-doesn’t-like-reading-uncomplete-stuff-I-give-the-green-light) Spideypool fic where the ship mainly worked as an empowering device for the story of Peter Parker (spoilers guys, he’s Spider-Man) finding connection, with his boss (it’s Harry Osborn :o), with his fellow superheroes, with his dying aunt, with his new boyfriend, and finally, with himself. The fic works with multiple characters to develop the plot. Good character based fanfiction in this case revolves about the multiple relationships developed between said explored characters. Because characters are fundamentally different from the source material, writing them and giving them needs and actions that feel indebted to the original want of the characters and balancing their choice from said wants is hard. It’s a fine line, tying it all up. Developing something independent from the original material to some extent, from a possibly canon compliant conversation to a whole different universe, and using that independence to further an enrichment of a world or character is necessary. Otherwise, stories bring themselves to a stalemate. Otherwise, stories bring themselves to lack character and connection to the reader. 

Meanwhile, in I Was Screaming Your Name Through The Radio (a musician!au Soukoku fic) works with incredible storytelling design, using a past and present narrative as well as work with the characters' feelings and journeys with the description of music and their lyrics. Good fanfiction, here, uses positively impacting narrative tools to develop a good, tightly done story. In the fic, the development of falling in love, betrayal, heartbreak, and healing are explored. The way the characters connect, disconnect, and reconnect is just amazing. And the way that connection or lack thereof is explored works well with the narrative style of story. Two POVs, each having two time spaces. These POVs worked around the release date of Corruption, the fictional song the two main characters created together in the fic. The interaction between time settings allowed to further explore the characters’ memories and experiences wholly. It was a better choice than to write linearly. Much more entertaining as well. This is good fanfiction, using the narrative to explore and enrich once again the story. 

Finally, there’s the greatest, most important aspect for a good fic. A great story. I wanted to highlight my first auditive fanfic in my life, and the only author I’ve been so unquestionably loyal to since I first heard her story: Mira Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction on YouTube has forever been feeding me with rich stories, great jokes, and heartbreaking tears. What A Catch works as a creative outlet of all the powerful characters and their archetypes, and applies both a challenging reframe of a character and great narrative control. The story begins with all the main characters of the series as adults, in a wedding, unaware of the twisted memories that Hawkmoth has influenced. The story develops and explores something further than the previous two discussed factors. Before getting to that though, I want to clear up, I love romance fanfiction. It’s what I read 99.9% of the time. But I also enjoy stories that further the relationship not just with internal plot devices. The story of Marinette and Adrien is a long one, especially in the real world when the show’s been airing since 2015. However, there’s a magic in exploring something outside situations while adapting the narrative to continue the story already explored. Developing mayhem, confusion, stakes, as well as creating character growth within the flaws and victories that come with the challenges set in a fanfiction is important. Essential. Otherwise, fanfics turn into retellings, lightly chipping away the power of a story and beginning to re-make something already done. Archetypes are tools to work on choices, wants, and needs of a plot device. Characters breathe and feel with their own choices, wants, and needs along said plot. And stories? They make characters and feelings and experiences simply real.

In conclusion, what makes good fanfiction? In my humble opinion, it brings the following things. As expressed previously, first of all comes the challenging reframing of a character where depth is furthered or a new role is given. Consequently, the character keeps its original charm and familiarity while still developing a growth within the story and itself. Secondly, there’s the usage of palpable narrative control. Using narrative and literary devices to explore a story creates a better execution to the plot and the whole experience of the tale being told. Additionally, I’d like to plug in here that this requires good grammar and developed vocabulary (this doesn’t mean you need to be wordy or overwhelmingly poetic, just enjoyably readable). Thirdly, there’s the banger. The true reason stories can be done over and over again: they’re not being done over and over again. A good fanfic tells something new, explores something better, explains something different. A good fanfic has originality in its fundamental magic. For something to genuinely work as a banger in my book, you have to tell something I haven’t heard before. Something that will capture the reader. You can read a hundred coffee shop AUs, but did all of them make you feel the same, did all of them make you taste the need for more? Probably not. Because some of them will have something more than the fundamental establishment of the AU. Because there’s something new under the surface of the plot. I’ve listed three very different fanfics. One was clearly driven in canon spaces, another in a completely alternative universe, and the final one works after the culmination of the work explored in the original material. Fanfiction is endless, and it’s powerful. People may spit on its masterpieces, but we know its beauty. And it is as dashing as the sun, it is as changing as the ocean, and it is perfectly fitting of the puzzle that we’ve created for our comfort, our mind, and our heart.

Thank you for reading this far! 

Happy reading <3 PS: This was the Spideypool fanfic in case anyone was interested

[opsidecrewsclash]

One Piece Side Crews Clash - Semifinals

Members and Propaganda under the cut

Heart Pirates

Members:

Trafalgar Law

Bepo

Shachi

Penguin

Jean Bart

Ikkaku

Uni

Clione

Hakugan

Polar Tang

Propaganda:

Law is such a cool character and the rest of his crew is cool as well :)

Listen, they are a bunch of losers and I love them. Their captain calls himself a doctor, but his crew doesn't even know how to give first aid?! Like... they fished an uncouncious Luffy out of the water and were like 'what do we dooooo???!!!' and then proceded to just yell his name until he came to. Also, they have a submarine, which is really cool.

Some of them have been around since their captain was a kid (and so were they!), loved him and stood by his side the whole time. They have silly names and silly hats and one of the coolest ships in the series (Polar Tang beloved). They’re silly and goofy and they love their captain so much, and they’re so cool for being specialists in underwater fights.      

1. Law is hot 2. Law is a disaster 3. Bepo is soft and fluffy and looks nice to hug 4. Shachi has a killer whale hat 5. Penguin is named penguin 6. The heart pirates story is amazing and to long to put here but they are basically the perfect found family with law, penguin, shachi and bepo finding each other in their early teens. Law beat up a young shachi and penguin after they attacked bepo and suddenly law had two teenagers and a polar bear mink attached to him. It's also amazing how this crew is just completely devoted to a hot mess like Law. 7. Yellow submarine

Found family!! The crew works together as a wonderful team and constantly supports each other and their captain. At ever possible opportunity they have shown how although they may not be the strongest crew they are definitely one of the most caring. The fact that Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo all share the technical title and roll of first mate is so cute to me! They all live their captain so much even though he is kinda crabby and Law has shown to go to great lengths to keep his crew from harms way. When they actually do get to fight they are well coordinated and look out for each other. Shachi and Penguin can just fight underwater. Also they have a fucking submarine! I love the polar tang.    

Kid Pirates

Members:

Eustass Kid

Killer

Heat

Wire

Bubblegum

Mosh

Uk

Pomp

Emma

Hip

Hop

Pampas

Boogie

Quincy

Dive

Propaganda:

Oda did them so dirty, they deserve it

Because they look like they're all outcasts, they have a punk ass ship, and they obviously care about each other a lot.

Kid causes so many problems and I love him. Then you’ve got Killer who is there to get him to chill for like 2 seconds.

listen have you seen them. have you seen these crazy kids and their punk theme. their dedication not only to their captain but to the aesthetic? these guys fucking rule. like Kidd and Killer obviously slap as characters, and it’s really fun to see a captain and first mate combo who are so dedicated to each other, but then they also have a whole crew who are as dedicated to them?? incredible. they went and fought a yonko for funsies and survived! also special shout-out to heat for his overall Frankenstein’s monster look <3

[tobiasdrake]

That was a complete unmitigated disaster. Good job, everyone. We're heroes.

If he dies, I'm hitting you with my beatstick.

Not because I blame you or anything. You stuck your neck out to help us and I really appreciate what you're doing for us. I want you to know that.

No, I just mean that if he dies, I am going to be an absolute emotional wreck and am liable to start lashing out at whatever's nearby. Zale already knows to get out of the way. This isn't a threat, it's a caution warning.

My life, your life, I'll throw this whole goddamn village under the bus if I have to. I know what my answer to the Trolley Problem is and I'm not ashamed to say it.

And so we somehow wrap right back around to "We will either burgle this powerful wizard or rob them; Let's roll those dice!"

This is a bit of a pattern with you, isn't it Captain Cliche?

That just sounds like ordinary sibling drama to me. I think all siblings are like that.

Oh, that's convenient. We might have some moral qualms about this if she was the good or neutral one. I mean, as mentioned, if I had to beat her to death with a stick to save Garl, I'd do it either way. But if she's the evil one, then I can sleep easy tonight even if this burgla-robbery does go south in the worst possible way.

Oh shit, is he going to charge us in obols? Because all I have is gold. And not much gold, since I spent all of it on an incredible piece of gear that is currently in Garl's possession, goddammit.

Look, if I made good lifestyle choices, I wouldn't have come to this island voluntarily and with full knowledge of what I would find here.

Oh, she has a real name now. Well, welcome aboard, Cap'n. You will continue referring to me as God-Empress... whatever I fucking said when we met, I have no idea.

Oh god, you have to talk to him in rhyme. Do we get free passage if we can beat him in a rap battle?

Well, fuck. He beat us in the rap battle so Cap'n had to get desperate.

That answers my questions about how the Coin gets used. You do not have to be sneaky about it. If you hand it over to the undead entity, they are required to accept your business transaction.

But it doesn't enslave them or anything. You get one transaction. Nothing more.

Such a fascinating artifact.

So much for buying the Vespertine with it. But honestly, that's for the best. Like I noted earlier, the Captain of the Vespertine was thrown overboard so it's not even his ship anymore.

Well, we're here. And we aren't going back without proper payment this time. We have a necromancer to burgle (or rob) and a green flame to locate.

Yeah. Uh. I'll keep that in mind, inexplicable Victorian Gentleman.

And might I just say, I appreciate the civility. Not every undead is as polite as you. Which may or may not be related to the recent rise in broken kneecaps among zombie servants.

Like these guys. Nobody with a tongue like that ever has good intentions. Those guys are getting their kneecaps broken.

But you and I? As long as things stay civil, we're cool.

...I already miss Garl. He was very good at keeping us all well-nourished.

Oh, it's you again. If you aren't on guard patrol then what are you? Like, her secretaries or something?

Yeah, if I wanted to design a place that screams "Necromancer's Lair, enter at your own peril", this is what I'd go with.

Oh, this guy is a guard; He was just being lenient earlier. Okay, guess we can add a couple more kneecaps to the list.

Oh shit, I think the pirates were talking about this guy. The Dweller's mansion used to be his.

Y'know, if this island is a duchy then that implies the existence of a kingdom that this duchy is a territory of. I wonder what king or queen Aventry served under?

Questions later. Kneecaps now.

WHOA HO HO HO That is a huge skull-hammer. I love it. I'm going to take it off your corpse after your deanimation.

It's even color-coordinated for me already.

That's what I thought. Between me and my cinnamon roll is a bad place to stand. I'm glad we're on the same page about that now.

Oh yeah, by all means. We'll be over here. Giggling. Because Zale got old off by a zombie for not being quick enough.

Teehee.

I can't believe you managed to make a friend out of the security guard whose kneecaps we just broke. During the robbery in progress. I'm genuinely awestruck by your socializing abilities.