#which tbh I feel this sort of thing happens w popular characters a lot of like as more time goes on the worse the writing gets. which is why

[volfoss]

Idk if this is an unpopular take but my god modern batman is SO bad and abysmal

[sketching-shark]

This may or may not have asked more than once but I wanted to ask— what is your favorite alternate universe or stories of jttw in Tumblr? I've seen the glorious works of Kaijufluffs and kiri with her monkey business (may be some lmk here and there), but so far that's the only things in my list. There was also that one jttw artist and their au but like, it was from the 2015 movie (I think) and somehow integrated w the west pantheon too (their name might've been sun or something)

If you do and can, can you list down ur fav AUS and what you think of them? I've been following ur blog for a while and wanted to ask (but I've just been too shy)

Thanks for the question anon! And yes! There are definitely some fun JTTW aus out there; people on this site are incredibly creative.

So to begin, are you talking about the aus made by @sunny-days-and-warm-mournings? Because I know that they've come up with a number of AUs, and that from what I've seen they're all bangers with all sorts of interesting takes and flavors, from making everyone's favorite monkey more a god of food to a terrifying death deity! As you can imagine this has led to many a stellar design from the whimsical to the horrific for all of these monkey kings, each of which is fully worth checking out. tbh I feel like you should just scroll through their gallery to find them all & will promise that you won't be disappointed.

If you're looking for something a little more lego show flavored, then you should check out @digitaldoeslmk's "by the book au!" Its Monkey King is extremely fun sized, and it's really neat for the way it explores heartfelt sides to MK and friend's stories in a Monkie Kid scenario where JTTW happened according to Wu Cheng'en's story and where reality isn't constantly in danger so we see fun stuff like lion dancing and putting on plays and the warm interactions that come with it (& also where everyone isn't routinely yelling about how awful & incompetent SWK is fsgreafw).

I also have to give a shout-out to @violetvirus for their JTTW cyberpunk au! It's got a very fun and bouncy cartoon vibe to it, and I love how SWK, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing look as robots <3. There's hints of some interesting ways the JTTW scenario works with a cyberpunk setting, as well as some moments of silliness like this banger:

Last but certainly not least, and while its been awhile since he posted, I would definitely recommend checking out @antidotefortheawkward and @antidotefortheawkward-art's blogs for his JTTW AUs! Seriously, his blogs are cornucopias of wonderful JTTW aus, from an actors AU to a triad AU to a Lotus Lantern AU to a post-JTTW JTTW au! Each of these really shows a lot of attention and care for the characters and the details of the world they inhabit from clothing to religion to history, which as you can imagine opens up multiple opportunities for some really lovely, heartfelt, and overall great interactions. A few personal favorites include this comic of an conversation between Sun Wukong and Liu Chenxiang of Lotus Lantern fame:

A comic about Sun Wukong's reactions after first learning that Xiyouji included details about his time as Puti Zushi's tudi:

And to end on something a little darker, a comic for his JTTW-ish/Macbeth au.

So those are the JTTW aus I can think of at the top of my head, but I sincerely hope you find them as fun and interesting as I do anon! And needless to say if anyone has a JTTW au that they think worth sharing, please do so.

[koinotame]

\o/

hi! it's me, nana / koinotame!

if you're wondering why i went inactive and then deleted, my mental health kind of (really) tanked... and i ended up deleting my blog in a fit.

it's getting better bit by bit though! and i've been wanting to get back into writing (and talking abt my unhinged/yan ideas i can't really talk to anyone else abt), so. here i am! for now, at least

as for my previously posted writing, there's some good news and some bad news: the bad news is that everything i wrote directly into tumblr (99% of snippets, a lot of ask answers, most exact content warnings, etc) is gone. the slightly less bad news is that iirc there were very very few posts of mine that weren't reblogged by anyone at all, so they're probably still out there? feel free to send them my way if you find any and i'll rb them. @/midnight-remembrance also has reblogged a couple of them! there's a couple snippets i have saved in some places, so i might repost those on my own as i find them, but there's very few of those. the good news is that anything longer (proper writing — oneshots, hcs, yan alphabet responses and so on, prompt responses, etc) is safely backed up where i originally wrote it! some of it is also on my ao3, which is the same username. feel free to send me asks about any you'd like to see again and i'll repost them! i might not post them if i feel too embarrassed about/wish i hadn't posted them, and i might rewrite/heavily edit some of them, but i think there's only a handful that fall into the former category and none of them were particularly popular. either way, no harm in asking!

as for some other updates: i'm a little divided on whether i want to keep posting explicit nsfw or not so we'll see. i might just keep it out of main tags. idk yet. regardless of what decision i make, this blog is still strictly 18+ and that will not be changing. since we can reply from sideblogs now, this is a sideblog and not my main now. why? sometimes i prefer to check up on a blog frequently instead of following them for a couple of reasons, but this felt very awkward when they were following me. so this being a sideblog relieves a bit of that stress. if this makes it sound like i have severe brain worms, it's because i do. to that effect though, if we interact every so often feel free to consider us mutuals regardless of whether or not i'm actually following you =w=b tbh i.............. am not really into genshin anymore. i might post about it here and there but i just Do Not (really) Care about it anymore. scara aside to some degree i also have no clue what's going on post inazuma lol whatever projects or commitments to writing or etc i had made beforehand. i forgot all of them so just pretend that never happened ok? ok i'll also probably be posting more sparsely, but we'll see! and (this is obviously the most important bit) i have no clue where i put the mika edit so we're back to my og classic pfp. the header scales terribly and is temporary, please ignore that too

all that aside, as a treat for anyone who sees this in time,

*roughly 6/22 done, but fairly quick to write. roughly one paragraph per character (sneak peek line: "it's not too hard to be discreet with his unique magic when someone really deserves to fall face down a flight of stairs. or three. oopsie. odd they don't remember it, huh? well, he had nothing to do with that.") **more realistic isn't quite the right word(s)... probably won't post this one to the main tags regardless. won't be doing all of the characters (only important/relevant ones) and won't be writing more about/expanding on, so this one is just like. a one off experiment sort of thing. overall less violent than most takes on the au + leans a bit (or lot, depending on how you look at it) more on the religious aspect of self aware aus. i wrote a couple paragraphs a while ago, then rewrote them, but i'll only finish/post them if there's interest for it (sneak peek line: "aether has deluded himself and cast You aside entirely on his own—and when You finally grace them with Your real presence, zhongli is certain aether will be the first to fall from Your grace.")

i have one other new thing immediately ready for posting that'll get posted in a couple of days but that one's pretty silly

[cielospeaks]

it would be just. pure and utter fanservice. but

aime getting taros-style possessed by different allegrofaces in the unnamed crossover thing, and kinda being out of sorts the whole time (the focus is on kind of “lost souls finding their way home” which. to be fair is literally every one of my aus/stories/etc. but this ones focusing on being able to work through trauma to be able to live a somewhat fulfilling life in specific)

which under cut bc it can get rambly. i think is uh. lacking. in a lot of media at least thats been popular recently. ok ill say it im salty at f h and its consumer fans for acting like trauma is just something that can be “erased”. like (x character) being literally murdered by their parental figure but hey theyre wearing colorful clothing that means they have no depression now, or (y character) being tortured so hard that her “heart” went away and was basically a weapon, only to regain a slight bit of happiness after being spared by two people and befriended by another, but haha now lets make her act ooc and speak in full sentences and the fandom acts like “lol she has no depression now” its not that fucking simple you assholes.

anyways i think the whole main cast are both reflections of canon characters that have trauma and also their own thing, i noticed when writing up the bios. kr vel is very sal energy, like sal he’s partly a spiteful, violent person and partly someone who accepted responsibility and was the better person in a hard situation, and because of this merging he doesnt like to accept praise as being for him, since he attributes it to his “better half” but now theyre the same person. idk its hard to explain. i think its a bit fantastical but it is relatable i think to some extent to me personally. tbh i think its a feeling that anyone whos ever been objectified for like. one talent or skill and then hated once they showed other sides of themselves can feel. you like. have trust issues of whether people are being kind to you because they only know that side or whatever.

for laurie, shes similar to ai, she lost someone she was extremely close to (in laurie’s case her rival) and feels a lot of survivor guilt plus a feeling of wanting to sacrifice herself, but she tries to maintain a giving and optimistic personality on top of this. like she still thinks shed be better off dead/erased and still feels immensely guilty abt what happened to her rival.

for the allegros i think its a mixed bag. this was the only option for them that lead to all of them surviving, but its not the best. i mostly wanted ana to tell off someone or tell off the sort of trope at least, bc i feel like ana would tell off a divinity that tries to use people for selfish reasons, but would also tell off equally so any humans that claimed to be liberators and heroes when they actually just wanted to usurp said divinity in manipulating others. ana is a good boy. best boy. i also think ana possessing aime and doing a saisho kara saisho made climax daze would be hilarious (he instantly gets the copyright bonk w laurie)

tuley is more of a mentor to these idiots (affectionate). she can see theyre going through a lot and can sympathize but she also needs them to get their shit together also.

[pctaldrunk]

@aeipathic​ asked   :    if you haven't gotten it yet: 003 | for xie lian!   -   SEND ME A FANDOM/SHIP/CHARACTER (accepting i will reblog this in the morning dON’T TEST ME)

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character:          Best. Boy. I think pretty much from the second I met him to now, like, 5 months later, I haven’t stopped sobbing about him, and quite honestly...I don’t think I ever will? I too, would be in love with this man for 800 years. In fact, I too have been in love with this man since the three seconds his mask fell off in flashback to the parade in the donghua. So quite honestly, I think Hua Cheng’s valid. Which is awkward because I also...feel like the way I understand Xie Lian is so...weirdly personal to me. I get into specifics in my Very Emotionally Charged headcanons but like...it really is that spirit of never giving up, of getting hurt over and over and still having the courage to be brave, be kind, bare your heart, of having the courage to believe in other people, believe that ultimately in the end it’s all worth it. I relate to a lot of his insecurities and fears and flaws and I just think it’s beautiful that he manages to be such a beautiful person in spite of all of his difficulties. He gives me hope. 

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character:          Hua Cheng at the top of this list because 1) I’m basic 2) he’d murder me in my sleep if I didn’t 3) they’re just...genuinely so good for each other. They know each other in their entirety, they understand, and they are so brave for each other. Like, I’m not gonna write you a thousand word essay on the spot but I could. Just know that I could. I’m also fond of the idea of the Xianle Trio as an OT3 but also fond of the idea of every leg of that ot3. I haven’t really thought In Depth about it but like...I think it’d be fun. There’s a lot of delicious things to work with there what with The Past and everything that happened in it. So there’s that.  Honestly I’m like...still exploring tbh. My time in this fandom has been pretty recent (tm) but like...genuinely, on the rpc end of this, I’m open to shipping so long as it’s not weird stuff. I Can Be Convinced. I do think, however, that Xie Lian is one of those muses I have that just...like I Currently Cannot See Being Into a Woman? So, until he like...tries to tell me otherwise, we’re calling him Tentatively Gay.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character:     Xianle Trio x 2, I’m counting it for romantic and non-romantic shhh. It’s so complicated and there’s so much shared history and pain and little snags of conflict but also prevailing care that is just...chef’s kiss. But also whatever fucked up shit relationship Xie Lian’s got going on w/ Junwu? I’m here for that. The “older brother figure/super-supportive friend turns out actually to be your sleep paralysis demon that ruined your life” dynamic....I have brain-rot, it’s fine. They’re also just...so similar, and so different in such distinct ways and it’s so interesting.  Oh!! And the kids!! Ban Yue and Pei Xiu and Guzi and Quan Yizhen a tiny bit shh don’t come at me I think of Him As a Fluffy Child!!! I just really love that this disaster man has sort of just, collected a little gang of random children that are His Kids now that he tries to feed Semi-Decent Food to.

My unpopular opinion about this character:     I Don’t Know What the Popular/Unpopular Opinions...are? Honestly, I feel like there are parts of him that are uglier and rawer and more jagged than people necessarily like to think about or portray. And I get it, because he’s Very Good, and it touches and shakes me how good he is - but it is also Such an Effort to be that good. He doesn’t give himself enough credit and I think...brushing it all away with “He’s Just That Good” feels a little bit like we’re not giving him enough credit...too? I do think that it’s important for he himself to acknowledge that struggling with choosing goodness and kindness is normal and does not mean that You Are a Bad Person, and so I would like to see it acknowledged more in our perceptions of him?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:     I’m gonna be honest...I think T.GCF is up there in terms of books I thought were Pretty Flawless As They Were. It hit all the right spots at all the right times. I don’t think any book is truly perfect but I think this was...pretty damn close. So...there’s not a lot to say here? I do wish he had More Than One Mental Breakdown in present timeline (that is to say, the kinda thing he did in Qi Rong’s cave when he was telling Hua Cheng about how it was better that no one knew the truth about Fangxin Guoshi), because I think moments of truth for characters are incredibly insightful. Oh, I guess adding onto that - I don’t think it needs to be in the book because the book was paced pretty beautifully, but I Do Wish We’d Gotten More of the 800 year block between 2nd and 3rd ascension. I just want to know the nitty gritty details of what he got up to beyond what I already have.

Favorite friendship for this character:     I can’t answer Xianle Trio for 3 different questions so Favorite Friendship Award goes to the lovely Lady Windmaster Shi Qingxuan, who is Too Gorgeous and Generous and Lovely not to end up on this list at least once. Blows kiss.

My crossover ship:     You know I have a lot of crossover friendships / found-family relations specifically in the M.DZS / my other xianxia fandoms sector, which is great, chef’s kiss. But surprisingly? I don’t have any ship ships. Which is very strange for me given I crossover....like, everything. So? I don’t know. RPC friends...I’m here to explore the possibilities like...hmu...

[reversecreek]

snickers feverishly at myself for bringing in a 5th... who do i think i am? unstoppable? invincible? suddenly ripples my titanium plated pecs. maybe so. u can find her pinterest here n her playlist here. 

* margaret qualley, cis female + she/her  | you know bradley milligan, right? they’re twenty-four, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, all of their life? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to looking for knives by dyan like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole snow angels trampled through by your father’s footprints, casually reading a newspaper that’s catching flame & stubbing a cigarette against the wing mirror of a parked cop car thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is november 11th, so they’re a scorpio, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( nai, 24, gmt she/her  )

HISTORY:

bradley has this memory of meeting her grandmother for the first time n everything in the room was frozen still. even the air. she didn’t feel like she cld move n she got the impression this is how it’d always been in the milligan lineage. the only thing that was allowed to act of it’s own accord was her grandmother’s eyes as she tracked every slightest flinch of muscle. when her father left the room her grandmother reached out and took bradley’s hand n bradley looked at this like it was smthn she’d never seen before until her grandmother leaned close and all she could stare at was a nicotine stain on one of her front teeth. “he’s cold, isn’t he? he’s always been cold. i don’t think he’s mine.” bradley could tell from how tight she held her hand that he was. she could tell by the way she smiled as she said it, too. the way she felt obliged to smile back.

growing up in a huge white house in aquila drive w pruned hedges sounds idyllic n looks it too. swanky cars w tinted windows in the long driveway. always men filing in and out under the cloak of night wearing expensive suits n smiles worthy of a politician’s billboard. bradley’s mum alyssa thought so too n that’s hw she got into this whole mess tbh. tony milligan is very good at advertising. he cld package a jarred human heart as strawberry jam and convince u to spread it on ur toast if he wanted to. he could make u smile politely as u ate ur own. 

alyssa ws this very pretty blonde kind of mysterious presence in a room. everyone wanted to kno her story or fk her but noone rly treated her like a person more just like a puzzle to solve. john green syndrome alert..... literally manic pixie dream girled bt on turbo charge. there were vague whispers she’d run away from home when she appeared in town out of nowhere bt nothing concrete. tony decided he wanted to crack the case n once he set his mind to something there was no changing it. they wound up embroiled in a whirlwind romance. head over heels. he came at romance hard and fast as a freight train. alyssa knew he was into shady things but not quite the full extent of it n honestly she didn’t care bc she wanted security n a family to call her own n tony promised that. they were married within a year. 

tony came frm money bt he wanted to carve his own path n make his own legacy. destined fr greatness he’d tell her. we’re destined for greatness. it sounds nice doesn’t it! alyssa thought so too.

(drugs mention tw) slowly over the yrs he essentially forged his own crime organisation tht only grew. he opened a strip club down the seedier side of irving called ‘no angels’ n this became the front thru which his gang ran drugs in the back (predominantly coke n they pride themselves fr having a Superior Blend apparently) as well as laundering cash n this also was kind of their home base to hang

(abuse tw) their marriage increasingly lost it’s shine n alyssa came to realise she’d been sold a lie n she didn’t rly know this person or what he was capable of right around the time bradley was born. by then it was kind of like Wow i am rly in this n there is not an exit door huh. i won’t go into details bt things were not good at all. bradley witnessed n experienced a lot of things she shouldn’t have growing up. she didn’t understand why other kids drew home in all these different coloured crayons like they were bright places to be. she didn’t understand why everyone got so excited when the bell rang at the end of the day bc she just felt sick. she rationalised tht this was normal when she was younger bc sometimes kids talked abt the monsters under their beds giving them nightmares n she thought mayb they were talking abt their dads too. as she got older she realised tht actually her world wasn’t the same as anyone else’s n she also realised no-one wld ever be able to tell her why. she started becoming friends with the angry feeling in her chest tht she used to try and swallow around this time. often she’d wander the mall for a while to put off going home. smoke on random park benches. watch trains rattle thru town from the vantage point of a random rooftop. 

(abuse, missing person implied, murder implied & grief tw) when bradley was 12 she woke up and all of her mum’s clothes were gone frm their drawers. no shoes anywhere. a framed photo of them at the beach holding bradley as a baby vanished from over the mantelpiece. when bradley asked her dad what was going on, tony essentially said “it was exhausting her. being here. being your mother. she didn’t want to do it any more, so now she’s gone” n then he hugged her. little details leaked into the mix over the yrs. at one point tony dismissed her as having flown overseas to a foreign country to drink in the sun like she’d always wanted even tho alyssa always told bradley she liked the snow best (once she even walked outside as it fell in a thin lace nightgown when tony was out n when bradley said “mom you’re gonna get cold” she only tugged her down and made her do snow angels until her lips looked blue). the most significant memory bradley can never shake from her head is her mother cupping a yellow tulip at the park n saying she hated them. when bradley asked why she only turned and smiled at her as she stroked the hair from her face n then said “because they look so happy”. after bradley’s mum vanished a long flower bed at the bottom of the garden was suddenly overrun with dozens of freshly planted yellow tulips. whenever bradley looked at them out of her window she got this sickly feeling in the pit of her stomach like she was visiting a cemetery. she suspected what had happened to her mum (especially as rumours circulated within tony’s organisation abt alyssa being unfaithful with someone tht used to work fr him) bt she cld never bring herself to truly accept it. thus she ws stuck in this strange purgatory state of not-quite-anger at her mum for “leaving” and not-quite-grief.

bradley rly started to transgress in school after her mum was gone. alyssa was always kind of a character when she’d pick bradley up (wasn’t doing well n acted kind of ‘eccentric’ i suppose u cld say) so tony managed to spin it all as a child acting out in the wake of an unfit mother uprooting n abandoning. bradley became........ interesting. JKHGFSSKJGHFSGHSKFGHFG. she’d snap n resort to violence very easily. very desensitised to it. students were kind of scared of her tbh. as this progressed into proper high school she got in w the more rowdy popular crowd solely bc she was so fking.... wild for lack of a better word. rly would just do anything fr the thrill. had no sense of ‘i shouldn’t do this bc it’s dangerous’. partied harder than anyone. bit back harder than anyone. no filter. hung w a lot of guys honestly bc they had less morals n either found her scariness cool or wanted to fk <3

(hospitalisation, depression & drugs tw) she’s had. a few stints in psychiatric institutions fr various reasons tbh. missed a small chunk of her senior yr fr this but it wasn’t widely known just kind of rumoured. she showcases a lot of similar symptoms to her mum who struggled w severe depression (which was difficult to cope w when ur husband was often pouring ur prescription down the drain fr kicks) n in order to compensate fr the lows she takes a lot of things to kick them into highs. drinks n snorts too much. bradley i love u bt i’m begging u to seek healthier coping mechanisms......

as the yrs went on (especially once alyssa had gone) tony rly started trying to integrate bradley into the business side of things...... she literally. is named bradley bc he was expecting a boy n he was like well let’s still call her bradley. n had in mind she’d still fulfil the role he wanted her to of being his little protege so to speak.... both sexist n ugly all in one fell swoop...... an example of this is he literally. bought her a mint green switchblade for her 14th birthday n named it tinkerbell bc it would “die without attention” aka using it. tht sounds like a healthy gift to give a child tony congratulations sis <3

in an ideal world bradley wld have gone to uni to study psychology bc she jst wants to know how the fk her dad is literally like that bt she probably stuck around n is now managing no angels along with billy n marco (billy’s in her dad’s gang n is, u guessed it, a cunt, n marco is his sort of right hand man so to speak) bc tony’s in the closest neighbouring city overseeing a second ‘no angels’ opening up there to expand into a franchise n widen their income margins. bradley wld also be sort of used as a honey trap type deal once she got older if they needed to lure ppl places n sometimes still is bt it depends. the guys in the club all know not to mess w bradley bc she’s tony’s daughter n literally kind of scary herself sometimes bt there’s also this certain allure tht comes with being the boss’ daughter n it kind of comes across in how they act or talk abt her. yes i will kill them all n no i won’t feel bad abt it <3

think that’s kind of all u need to kno history wise... blinks one eye out of sync w the other..... runs to personality

PERSONALITY:

a phrase i wld always use to describe bradley in old intros is “like a cup of black coffee with one grain of sugar that u don’t taste until the last sip”. also dark chocolate. lime. liquorice. she’s an acquired taste n i feel like u either love her or u hate her. 

cannot express how unpredictably chaotic she is..... frequently throws a drink in a stranger’s face jst to start something bc she’s bored. loves to hurl cheese slices across the room so they slap onto someone’s face out of nowhere. likes smashing things. stubbing cigarettes out on faces in framed family photographs. will literally pick a lock n then smash the window besides it to defeat the whole purpose just bc she found how neat it was boring. does anything fr the adrenaline n thrill. gets into far too many fights n fights dirty. probably been thrown out of every bar in town at least three times. banned from a bunch too.

she’s witty bt she has a dark sense of humour..... can be quite mean.......... loves to roast ppl for no reason........ honestly has some nathan young frm misfits aspects in that sense like jst seems untouchable emotionally n like she doesn’t take anything seriously n is fking outrageous about it.....

has this quality abt her tht kind of scares herself sometimes. it’s like she recognises parts of her dad in her. she’s very perceptive (bc she’s had to be over the yrs trying to read every micro-expression of her dad’s to predict what’s next) n like emotionally intelligent in a way which is ironic bc her own emotions r just an absolute minefield.... bt. she can read people quite well. gets this eerily calm look abt her sometimes n it’s jst like god what’s. she thinking. what’s she’s gna do. i’m shaking. a cool n controlled kind of rage can often be scarier than the explosive type n bradley does that well. grits my teeth n tugs on my collar....

very strong on the surface. hates being vulnerable. has this ingrained idea that crying is childish or rly any kind of emotional display within herself. 50% not taking things seriously 50% angry. tht’s how she comes across....... internally? whole different story. bt ppl don’t see that.

very cavalier abt some things. will flash her tits n not even think abt it. jst very out there...... one of her closest friends is a homeless man named joe who wears neon purple fishnets on his head n loves to spit on ppl from over an underpass. finds eccentric ppl like this funny n surrounds herself w them. loves to be kept on her toes.

LOVES driving stolen cars down the wrong side of the highway. it’s a lot.

fiercely loyal to a fault to a select few bt if u wrong her personally this can switch pretty quick. quite a force to b reckoned w n will hold a grudge. bt like. if ur a Chosen One she’d bury a body for u no questions asked. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS

deals to u: bradley isn’t like full time into dealing bt she does do it sometimes.... treats it kind of like a hobby bc the lesser ranked can do tht shit as far as she’s concerned bt.. sometimes also jst gets bored n is like. why not. might be chaotic. mayb they’ll try to rob me <3 we love the thrill <3 or like..... if ur friends w her she’ll deal to u n no she will not do a friends discount <3 or if she does there will definitely be some sort of stipulation attached <3

high skl crew: if ur muse is local n ws an absolutely demonic hell spawn in high skl tht went to 1974547254 parties n was outrageously chaotic n rude then. bradley probably was friends w them <3 her friendships tend to be surface level bt they’d definitely go out a bunch bt whether they actually knew a lot abt her life is debatable bt we could explore options fr this

people who work at no angels: no angels is her dad’s strip club in irving that she kind of helps to run now. it’s kind of a shifty environment. the place where ud have an outrageous bachelor party. u go for the first time w a fake id n u get served bt u also get ur wallet stolen n ur convinced someone spat in ur drink n u also kind of think there might b a hit on u now after u made eye contact too long w a broad shouldered man smoking in a back booth. scary environment. testament to her dad as a person. maybe ur muse is a dancer there or works the bar or security or whatever u name it....

ma’am are u ok?: ur muse found bradley passed out across two bus seats one time in smudged dark eyeliner a silver slip dress n the world’s chunkiest combat boots this town hs ever seen. sometimes she winds up in spots like this when she goes too hard n it’s absolutely dangerous n reckless bt that’s jst bradley <3 mayb they forged an unlikely friendship frm this strange meeting or maybe even? dare i say it? a romance? opposite worlds colliding? good influence? let’s go crazy. release ur inhibitions. feel the rain on ur skin.

hook-ups: bradley’s cavalier abt this stuff..... very unemotional typically..... mayb we cld do an unrequited thing that wld be angsty n fun altho i won’t lie i don’t kno if she’d be the one to catch the feelings.... she rarely sleeps over bt once when she woke up in someone’s bed she hiked over to straddle them carefully as possible so they wldn’t wake up n then pressed her knife to their neck as a fun little surprise where she said boo when they opened their eyes.... she’s a lot clearly.

watermelon slugger, hiiii: bradley has this habit where she gets a bunch of watermelons n then goes to a rooftop n throws them over the edge to watch them explode when they hit the pavement.... maybe ur muse almost got hit by one once n were like WTF???????? another quirky meet cute moment like the bus one <3 can’t stop w them <3 maybe she randomly invited ur muse to do it w her when they were like. a stranger of f the street. she was bored. decided to adopt them as a science experiment. we cn elaborate on this probably....

ouch charlie: similar territory bt she also sometimes shoots pedestrians w a bb gun from rooftops. mayb ur muse wld always get hit by one on a certain route they walked n finally one day they saw her head ducking down behind a ledge n then they see her in the street one day n are like HEY IT’S YOU............. WTF? n bradley’s like ya i’m christ risen again it’s a lot to take in i know...

rly jst anything... mutually destructive friends... exes.... in one rp a character tried to get close to bradley so he cld write an expose all book about her n her family which i found so fking funny so i’ll request that again.... people she’s fought.... ppl whose gf/bf she’s fk’d n it’s caused enemy status.... someone whose place she broke into and shaved their eyebrows off in the night only to draw them on again in crudely thin permanent sharpie lines.... roommates cld be fun n sexy i’d love that actually.... jst anything rly. go wild. kisses everyone tenderly on cheeks.

[roccinan]

1/? simply because you have the most galaxy brain thoughts ever,,, what do you think would've happened if they waited until s5 to reveal sergio and andrés were (half)brothers?

i do know that when my fam started watching lcdp at first i was so put off. like i watched ep 1 and the prof creeped me out. ""berlin"" creeped me out. e v e r y o n e creeped me out. and i was cringing so hard becz of the short lived romance angle with alison parker. i literally did not watch s1 at all xcept for like sneak peeks. highlights being the scene where berlin discovers monica is alive and does his dramatic door by door thing? that was so SUSPENSEFUL even tho i had no idea what was going on. DOMINGO DE RESURECCION remains forever iconic.

2/? And OF COURSE the group bella ciao dance when they hit earth (hahah i thought the banda were actually like a "found family where they all love each other LOL") i am a SUCKER for found family. but anyhoo when i properly got intrigued was s2 when tokyo was kicked out (the music from that scene is still my favourite) it's just so dramatic..!! why am i telling u all this again? right, i haven't slept a wink and it's nearly 7 am pls forgive me if these rambles make no sense. i have a point with this.. i'm going somewhere

RIGHT. so when the fam actually rewound the ep cz i wanted to know WHY berlin did that (didn't fully realise how batsht crazy he can be), the russian roulette scene played. and pedro's acting. MAN. and like just that ep they made a point of showing us these flashbacks where sergio and andrés hug....

Hi anon! Thanks for stopping by- sorry took me a while to get back to you, will do my best to answer this string of messages (got all 4 parts)! Glad you like my thoughts XD

Firstly, I believe Andres/Sergio would be the biggest LCDP ship if the writers were evil enough to wait until s5 to reveal that they’re brothers asdfasdf. They’re already the two most popular male characters anyway. 

It’d be especially crazy because it’s not like they tell the actors these things beforehand either. So that means there’d probably be a Serdres vs Berlermo vs Serquel fight every 5 minutes. I mean, even if not everyone agrees on everything in the lcdp fandom, it’s the most “peaceful” one I’ve ever been in because no character really gets in the way of any other ship (like even with helermo and berlermo there’s no true conflict since Andres is dead). But with Serdres in the mix?? CATASTROPHE. Everyone out here writing essays about how much of a bastard/bitch/homewrecker/motherfucker that Andres or Sergio or Martin or Raquel is. Never a moment’s peace!! so basically, a regular fandom lmao.

Then when we find out they’re brothers, it goes from catastrophe to Apocalypse. Suddenly serquel and berlermo have the upper hand. Everyone would double down and harass the crew/cast into whatever’s going on.  Plot-wise, everything is the same though, just without Andres calling Sergio “hermanito.” Fandom however, would be a minefield! And I’m glad that’s not the case because I’d probably be an unfortunate serdres shippers XD No joke, my mother and I thought they were a couple in S1. So bullet dodged!

Secondly: haha, everyone creeped me out in S1 too, especially Berlin, I hated him, but thinking back, I think I mostly hated the fact that I didn’t hate him as much as I should have. I’ve made peace with it now but oh boy, was he a controversial figure in my head. I actually like the professor on sight though! IDK why, maybe because I thought his plans were cool or because of Alvaro’s delivery. I was afraid of an Alison Parker romance thing too- like, I do feel like she had a storyline that got dropped, but that part was quite cringey and overall unnecessary to the plot. Same with Ariadna, which was even cringier and even Less necessary to the plot. 

Domingo de resurrecion was iconic though yes! And even with all that said, I genuinely enjoyed parts 1 and 2 because it was so different from anything else I’d seen. Not content wise, but maybe tonally? IDK, they were just really bold with a lot of things, like being objectively unafraid of having the protagonists (plural because all of them did LMAO) do objectively shitty things. Really kept me in suspense from beginning to end! 

I’m usually a big fan of found families too! The funny thing is, then banda never struck me as a “family” until season 3. In 1 and 2, I was wondering what felt different about this show; then it hit me that these people remained colleagues to the end. Like, they backstabbed each other (repeatedly) and everyone was quite selfish, and only the bonds that were already there stuck. They were the opposite of a found family LOL But I think by S3, they went down the found family route and I didn’t mind because it makes quite a lot of sense for them to feel that bond after the Mint heist and almost dying/living together (and having witnessed 3 deaths together on the team). But I still doubt Berlin and Palermo were ever really part of this found family, with good reason XD

LOL the scene where Tokyo got kicked out is also among my favorites!! It was so funny and dramatic, and it was like, wow we can go anywhere with this now! Don’t worry- your rambles and thoughts are always welcome :D

I’m rolling over how you watched the Tokyo expulsion scene before the Russian Roulette scene haha. Also yes, PEDRO. Berlin may have been “controversial” to me at first, but I became Pedro’s fan from day one! Also the Hug is probably what made me like Berlin (despite my determination to hate him rip) in the first place. 

3/? ... and like now that i think about it... tokyo had real guts huh. like she KNEW berlin was close enough to el prof to know his name (fhshshs imagine if she'd heard andrés saying 'hermanito' it's unrealistic that she didn't TBH. i mean obviously they decided to make them brothers only towards the end but like in canon universe. how tf did andrés de 'i raised my bby brother since he was 12 and i'd actually die for him and his stupidly brilliant plans' fonollosa go 5 months without slipping up once and calling sergio hermanito. or like,,, i like to imagine sergio kinda gave him lots of leeway(?) sergio's a lil oblivious too but like i'm sure half of it is.. that's my dumbass older bro shut up i'm not being partial you all have city names .. andr-berlin, pass the salt. like OOF. + sergio also knew his big bro was dYiNG so like. i'm sure they were sneaking in some quality time (i hope they did 😭 gosh imagine if sergio really did not ever consider the possibility of andrés dying in the heist so he'd tell himself he needs to perfect the plan now & anyway he'll have enough time to spend w/ his brother post heist in philippines. and then ... that happened :/

Tokyo has guts in place of braincells you bet that she’d do something like this, consequences be damned XD I also think it’s unrealistic for Andres not to slip up, but I have a feeling nobody besides Tokyo really tried to spy on them in private. I headcanon that Andres instead slips up and does things like ruffle Sergio’s hair or adjust his tie when other people are around. I also think Tokyo was convinced that they were a gay couple when she saw them hug XD And if Sergio never went on to tell the banda that Berlin was his brother, everyone would be giving Palermo such awkward looks after Nairobi accused him of being in love with Berlin LMAO. 

I agree! I also imagine Sergio giving Andres leeway because he’s just so used to interacting with his brother that way haha. So either he’d go out of his way to ignore Berlin in front of everyone else or IDK, borderline telepathically communicate with him. Not even “pass the salt” has to leave his mouth- Berlin just puts salt into his food and cuts it up for him, in front of everyone who’s just staring like O.O

I actually do think Sergio never considered the possibility of Andres dying in the heist because he was just that confident in his own plan. Plus, Andres was probably the one person he expected to survive. And a lot of it has to do with Sergio’s attachment to him + Andres’ own habit of downplaying any illness/injury over the years, which I think is safe to believe canon. He was really in no condition to be in the heist, let alone lead it. Just the fact that he needs to take those injections is a big sign that he shouldn’t be there, but Sergio didn’t catch it because he’s human and blinded by faith :’) So yeah, I think Sergio was planning to spend proper time with Andres in Palawan and at Toledo, they just settled for those little moments by the fireplace. 

4/? what always also just GETS me in the feels is that el prof was shown to be this in control creepily calm dude who is miles ahead of everyone. + in the 1st Toledo class itself we see how detached,, like how impersonal he is, how professional - choosing frickin CITY NAMES?! no 'personal relationships' ? (after recruiting his older brother, a father son pair, and war cousins... oh sergio 😂 he's such a frickin nerd and i love him) but like the earlier seasons really emphasised how robotic and down right COLD he can be. it still sometimes bothers me that he put the button in the car. he lead the police to his own damn brother, his blood, who took care of him and adopted him and was terminally ill and like - UGH i try to rationalise that sergio is that cold and unbothered. or that he has strict morals. but it still bothers me becz that button really sort of tipped andres' already unstable sanity. like andrés tells denver someth like you've robbed my future and after that he just seems so much more suicidal and accepting that he can't get out of the mint alive - WHY SERGIO WHY. I KNOW THAT AT THAT POINT YOU BASICALLY DIDN'T KNOW ANDRÉS WAS GOING TO BE YOUR BROTHER YET BECZ IT WASN'T WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPT BUT WHYYYYY

That’s so funny to me too LMAO No personal relationships, then he recruits these guys. Sergio, hello?? Also can’t forget how he just recruited his own girfrleind in the second heist too. Buddy! Love this nerd.

I don’t think that cold aspect of Sergio went away in later seasons either; he just had more opportunity to show a more open side of himself + without Andres, he had to metaphorically leave his comfort zone without a safety net. But in earlier seasons, he really did seem heartless at times XD Then again, we can argue that the same goes for Andres.

To be fair, I didn’t feel sorry for Andres over the button thing lol, but once the brothers reveal happened and all of Alvaro/Pedro’s headcanons came out and we know everything Andres did for Sergio, it makes what Sergio did REALLY harsh. We really just have to explain it through Sergio’s strict morals and him believing this to be the best non-fatal punishment for Andres, who at that point had convinced him he killed a hostage. And because he knew the television interview was coming up, maybe Sergio assumed Andres would use it to “clear” his name anyway. And empathy isn’t one of Sergio’s strong suits either, so through that lens, I can rationalize it.

Also it was lowkey funny to me how Andres was there like DENVER MUST DIE until he found out Sergio put the button there, then he was like “oh hermanito, you and your practical jokes <3″

Still, like you said, Andres and Sergio weren’t brothers yet at this point. They were probably supposed to be lovers lmao and had a dysfunctional Hannibal Lecter x Will thing going on. But because they made #hermanos canon, that button moment just feels very out of place now, especially given how much the two genuinely love each other.

Guess we could also say that Sergio’s just generally kinda bratty with Andres XD Like, he knows no matter what, Andres would forgive him anything. That’s how I see it anyway! 

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

do u have any blairnessa headcanons? if so, I would love to read them!

hmm, i feel like i have already said a lot about them? still, might be good to put it all in one place. so this is all dynamic stuff, it got hella long but im going to give you misc Not Heavy headcanons too - which in retrospect, after writing out this wholeass esssay... is maybe what you actually asked for. give me a minute. 

until then! blairnessa dynamic rambling under the cut!!

to be really honest, most of my dair sentiments carry into blairnessa too? by which i mean - everything i like about dan and blair i can envision with blair and vanessa? blair & dan are very opinionated and have unsolicited advice on literally everything, and i feel like vanessa is like this, too? and like i’ve said before, the fact that b&v had a plausible deniability kind of moment as early as 1x12... they had the perfect energy for a really invigorating dynamic and romance. much like d&b, it would begin with mutual dislike and gradually evolve to grudging friendship - i think over mutual love for nate, tbh, which is why im forever pissed that we got d&b teaming up to save serena but NOT b&v teaming up to save nate?? anyway.

also it always felt strange to me - strange isn’t the right word but like, it felt off that blair & dan bonded over films of all things, when blair canonically regarded vanessa with such contempt? like.. budding filmmaker vanessa?? i feel like any film literacy dan has is likely because of his friendship with vanessa so that part of the dair arc always makes me feel this soft and sad nostalgia for vanessa. 

that entire thing of the dair arc, like the museums and the art galleries and the films and the opinions and the banter and the pretentiousness and the intellectualism and EVERYTHING, all of that transposes so well into b/v? 

also, there are things about blair and vanessa that dan and blair don’t have. the thing i’ve spoken about is mostly just that i feel both b&v would hold each other accountable for things (vanessa holding blair accountable for her bigotry, etc, blair wanting to do better - i’ll say more on this in a few paras i guess) but alsooo. i feel they would have a solidarity that d&b wouldn’t exactly have. you know that whole speech blair gives beatrice when she’s sloshed? the whole “you and i are the same, overbearing mothers and absent fathers and the weight of a thousand expectations’ thing?? i mean... so much of that applies to vanessa? idk about her dad being absent, but her overbearing mom + the expectations thing is literally canon for her. 

then there is - i said this in the tags of a reblog, but ‘the dair dynamic minus the melancholy, that’s blairnessa.’ like... so i feel in a lot of ways dan & vanessa are very very similar characters, which is to me part of why they work so well as best friends and so badly as romantic partners - they are like almost exactly the same person!! this is like those jokes i have seen floating around about nate & serena basically being genderswapped versions of each other. but of course they are not exactly the same, and the biggest difference between d&v (i can talk about serenate later, LMAO) is that vanessa is a lot more outgoing and extroverted than dan is.

there’s a lot to be said about this, i guess, like how many times dan has tried to make friends and have that metaphorical door slammed in his face (that bit on the bus in the pilot! my poor son) or whatever, but like, as characters - dan broods, dan sulks. dan makes a home in his sadness and just lies down there. vanessa... does not do that. vanessa literally perseveres. vanessa keeps on going on. vanessa is unfazed. vanessa gives no fucks. vanessa is punk rock, and dan is soft emo. or something! 

i just feel like, given that, blair and vanessa’s dynamic would be different, would be charged with something different, like a different energy. i had more thoughts about this but i don’t remember - mostly just like, vanessa would probably actively encourage blair to step out of her comfort zone in more extreme ways than dan. like, take blair to some hepburn remakes and insist that she tries out for the leading role, or she would be like, what if we make a porno (and maybe they would! idk) or like, sending blair’s writing to various fashion mags and helping her get a column somewhere other than just W- random, creative, miscellaneous, potentially out of blair’s comfort zone kind of things, and blair waldorf never backs down from a challenge, but also: unlike w/ chuck, vanessa is aware of like, what are blair’s hard noes and will never push her past those? 

which brings me down to like, the whole privilege thing and all that. i actually do not like blair’s bigotry, and i don’t really think it’s a fun thing about her. i love it when she is able to grow past that - and i know a lot of people in this fandom don’t really think of blair like that, which, whatever - i feel like, vanessa would prod at it a lot. and blair would have mixed feelings about it (we’re going the slow burn way, so by the time this prodding is happening, blair already likes vanessa’s company + respects her, albeit grudgingly/ with some denial of course) - blair would not really take it well, but i also feel like ultimately she would like her best friend vanessa enough to find some way to acknowledge these issues. i feel like it’d turn into some sort of blair being like, “i can prove that i am a good ally!” and at first it’d be blair being blair, doing a performance and being the best of the best at it, going to protests and marches and reading all the things, but i feel when it comes to social action/ social justice, after a point immersed in it you can’t really close your eyes to it? and i mean, blair is smart and sensitive and loves the people she loves with all her heart. the moment it’d sink in for her that like, there are forms of racist violence that vanessa can never really shut her eyes to, and blair can, blair can afford to look away - i feel like once she realises THAT, they’d actually, uh. what is the right word - that hurdle in their relationship would be overcome, sure, but also, blair as an individual would grow so much from it?? 

what would vanessa get from blair. uhhh, i feel like d&v both have this ‘outsider’ thing going where they’re actively like, trying not to admit to themselves that maybe they would like to be popular - dan more than vanessa, canonically, but i wouldn’t be surprised if vanessa has this sort of thing going as well. i think blair would make vanessa feel like it doesn’t matter. like whether you cling to being an outsider or to being the queen b, you’re still clinging to something, and are we - popular mean girl and outcast who uses snark as a defence mechanism - are we really that different? on rewatch especially all these little moments of blair’s kindness, blair’s gentleness, how MUCH blair loves the people she loves (’you’re serena van der woodsen, you deserve a guy who would move mountains for you’, etc etc) all of those stood out to me, and i feel like blair’s moments of kindness would be cherished by v in a different way because of like, how much blair and vanessa, contrary to literally ALL belief, understand each other perfectly??

[gizkasparadise]

cdrama rec/review: le coup de foudre

KDRAMA AND CDRAMA MASTER LIST OF REVIEWS

Series: le coup de foudre / love at first sight / i don’t like this world, i only like you Episodes: 35 w/ a special Genres: then & now, slice of life, high school to adult life, romance, reunion/getting back together, working with the ex Spoilers in the Rec: for set-up/light ones for character backgrounds If You Like, You’ll Like: the reply series, sad-looking dogs that are loved very much, because this is my first life (VERY similar male lead), sibling love, my sunshine but if people were nicer and had significantly better hair, multiple couples that are all a lot of fun

Rank: 10/10

PREMISE

flashback to 6-8 years ago (because the OP here can’t remember lol): it’s desk selection day in qiao yi’s classroom! a very dramatic moment for all high schoolers, qia yi has to select who she sits next to. because she’s at the bottom of the class ranking, she gets last pick, which essentially narrows down her choices to that creepy kid who writes love poetry to every female student in the class and yan mo, the scary genius student who has placed 1st in their class since...forever.

taking a gamble, qiao yi goes with yan mo. yan mo eventually agrees to tutoring qiao yi outside of class and they become friends. then...friends? if you know what i mean. it’s very sweet and cute. only problem is that yan mo is both a genius and from a Family of Means, and so is already planning on attending cambridge (yeah, fucking cambridge) after graduation. not wanting to separate, yan mo asks qiao yi to come with him and she agrees to study hard so she can get accepted to a university in the UK, too.

but then, well, bad shit happened. 

qiao yi ended up staying in their home town, yan mo left for cambridge, and we got two v heartbroken teenagers on our hands.

4 years later, yan mo returns after studying in the uk, and by chance they end up bumping into each other. angry because qiao yi hurt him, yan mo puts up an ALOOF AND COLD AND I DONT CARE AT ALL front that she sadly buys. but after he leaves for the big city to pursue a business opportunity, qiao yi harnesses some amazing big dick energy to go after him, in a sort of inverse DONT LET HER GET ON THAT PLANE! move. very abba. 

the plot bounces between their (and their friends’) high school years, their lives as reunited adults, and their future lives as married folks. i love it very, very much.

MAIN CHARACTERS

zhao qiao yi

as a high schooler, qiao yi was a quiet girl with low self-esteem, who consistently ranked at the bottom of her class and was always attempting to retreat into her school tracksuit like a turtle. despite this, qiao yi has some solid friends and is always kind if somewhat shy or uncomfortable in certain situations. as a adult, qiao yi works as a television producer and is clearly more confident. 

she buys truly awful graphic t-shirts as thank you gifts that one feels obligated to wear. falls for scams easily. will help you fold 1000 paper stars for your boyfriend even if she hates your boyfriend because she’s ride or die like that. look at how cute she is no one is allowed to be mean to someone as cute as this.

yan mo / “frank”

if you liked se hee in because this is my first life, you’re in luck because here is a 10% angrier version. at first, yan mo seems cold, aloof, snobbish, pretentious, arrogant...

okay, but he’s ALSO got a lot of feelings and will help people out. well, at the start of the show, he’ll help two people out. but that expands to like 10. so, progress! in high school, he falls for qiao yi in the typical Cannot Spit It Out fashion, buying her sentimental cans of coke, PUTTING IN ONE EARBUD SO SHE CAN LISTEN TO THE BEATLES WITH HIM, feeling Weird about her tying his tie, and single-handedly ruining a for-profit afterschool tutoring business in about 30 seconds, because they weren’t teaching qiao yi anything, and he knew he could do it better. tbh he completely fucking destroys a lot of things and people in under a minute. #ruthless

he’s very protective of qiao yi and rather than explain it, here is a clip from the special episode where yan mo confronts another student who left a love confession meant for qiao yi in his desk by mistake (subtitles have to be selected under settings, but it’s subbed in english):

zhao guan chao

zhao qiao yi’s twin brother, who has always placed 2nd in their classes after yan mo. despite his high grades, he comes off as a laidback teen heartthrob and has a reputation for being a flake and a playboy. BUT he’s legit a chill dude and clearly popular for a reason--he gets along with (almost) everyone. he loves his sister and is extremely protective of her, especially since she’s so shy and has low self-esteem for Reasons That Will Be Explained in the Tragic Backstory. he’s such a good brother. the best brother. also looks out for qiao yi’s best friend, wu yi. understands the value of shoes.

hao wu yi

qiao yi’s best friend, and another classmate of The Crew. i say this with so, so much love, but she’s got a lot of chaotic dumbass energy. struggling along the bottom ranks with qiao yi during high school. she has the worst taste in men as a teenager, falling for the guy who literally bullied her in like. ep 2. thankfully she’s got qiao yi and guanchao.

the trio are close, and that doesn’t change as they grow up. wu yi ends up becoming a novelist who writes pop and steamy romance novels and has a significant teenage girl fanbase. it’s amazing. 

fei da chuan

my boy. another classmate, he, qiao yi, and wu yi make up the official Dumbass Trio of their high school class and have adorable adventures + solidarity in it. he’s also yan mo’s uncle. somehow. because rich people families are wild. while he’s got a place to live, he more often than not crashes at yan mo’s, who Does Not Like It. but da chuan does not notice or care. 

abrasive but 100% sincere about everything and toward everyone. people will think he’s an asshole or a gangster but then he’s secretly feeding abandoned kittens in the corner or something. as an adult, has the best business casual outfits. serves as a big brother figure to a lot of people, but qiao yi in particular. cannot, cannot fucking do math.

SUPPORTING

“alicia” / cheng youmei. an old family friend of yan mo’s who is very posh and rich and dignified. studied abroad with him at cambridge, and is cold toward qiao yi after arriving back in china. cosplays B)

teacher gao. everyone’s high school teacher who later owns a bar that seems to be there only for dispensing advice. seriously. there is no way this bar is economically sound as the only customers you ever see are gao’s students coming in one at a time for Wisdom and you never see them pay for anything. also the bar has no fucking roof and is directly above traintracks. i have hang-ups about this bar

lin shu. yan mo’s mother. very sweet and pretty and a ballernia turned program director. is almost never home but clearly loves her son. du chaun’s sister. somehow.

zhao suyin. qiao yi and guan chao’s mother. one of her kinks is roleplaying condor heroes characters? okay okay okay

tian weimin. qiao yi and guan chao’s stepfather who works as police officer. best dad award. he’s so sweet and corny and peak dad humor. he loves them kids & they love him back

grandpa. yan mo’s dog in high school. a very old basset hound with sad eyes:

dollar or d. i cant tell you anything about him, other than he used to be a stray and yan mo says he’s ugly, which, rude.

DRAWBACKS

plot...hm. there’s SOME plot, but this is about characters + romance + friendship + family. if you’re looking for scheming mothers-in-law or tragic car accidents or secret destinies this isn’t the one for you. similar in vibe to Reply 1988 (they even watch the show in the show :’D / make references to it)

OKAY SO every plot summary i’ve seen says that yan mo is in a relationship with someone else when he gets back to china. no he is not. i say this because it was a huge turn off for me/initially put me off watching the series. he is definitely a one-and-only type. there’s no cheating in this show. lmao, hell, neither of the mains are even interested in anyone else but each other

i liked du chuan and his love interest a lot, but they definitely didn’t get as much screen time as the others

while it’s clear qiao yi + yan mo are the mains, another couple gets a lot of screen time as well. this might be a skip if you don’t like multiple couples/secondary relationships in a show

i surprisingly enjoyed the high school storyline a lot more than the adult one? which is super weird for me, but idk i was sad when it was over because it was so cute.

some...weird technical decisions. every once in a while, the camera will have like a nostalgia filter and then it disappears and then the edges get a bit blurry and idk it feels very film school 101 to show that what’s on screen is a ~memory. the soundtrack/music is sometimes also too loud--to the point where it can drown out the actors (particularly janice wu in the high school arc, since qiao yi is soft-spoken)

REASONS TO WATCH

the lead actors (janice wu + zhang yujian) are legit two of my favorites and they have great/easy chemistry. all the actors are amazing. everyone’s loveable

SIBLING GOALS the zhao twins are amazing and they’re both each other’s biggest fans. gaunchao had some really heartwarming brother moments

i love love lmao. this spoke to a lot of my favorite dynamics: exes reunited/having to work together, childhood sweethearts reuniting as adults, “gangster” and princess, childhood friends turned lovers, bickering couples, cold man who actually has a lot of feelings, lots of people being overprotective, idk. everything was just great. 0 complaints on any of the ships.

i genuinely liked every character other than that one piece of shit poppa zhao. even alicia, who’s put into the stereotypical rich bitch role, was actually really fun and subverted a lot of expectations for this trope

it’s just. real cute y’all. probably my favorite cdrama and definitely in my top 10 (maybe 5?) dramas overall.

FINAL THOUGHTS

i love them ;;

[theharellan]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: stolen from @dansiere tagging: @ghiassan, @deathsreflection, @altuspavus, @windrunnerrs (velanna), @hopewrought, @willbeshot, @seahaloed (iron bull), @asterfed​ (noctis), @ anyone who wants to steal it! also multis feel free to choose a different character

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated (i’m open to roleplaying with non-dragon age characters, and have AUs for other fandoms)

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. solas is both wildly popular and wildly hated. he’s been more consistently popular than the controversial women in the series, like sera or vivienne, who have only recently begun to get to the point where their tags are less vitriolic (although i’m sure it’s still out there), but there’s still a sizable hatedom that can’t have his name breathed in their vicinity w/o them talking abt how much they hate him. even if you’re currently cosplaying him!

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. again, you have ppl who are super into him and ppl who think he’s ugly. my personal opinion is that i think he’s weirdly pretty, and wish ppl would commit more to his unconventional features rather than try to chisel him into sb more traditionally attractive and that ppl who don’t find him attractive would maybe chill w/ calling him ugly. find him unattractive by all means, but lets embrace the fact that inquisition let their love interests have skin flaws etc and accept that some won’t be our cups of tea.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. its hard to deny at this point tbh.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. frustrating as the hate in the tags he has enough fans that i couldnt say he’s underrated w/ a straight face.

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO. he’s the reason the game starts with a bang and not the inevitable dissolution of the conclave b/c the sides are disparate.

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. regardless of solas’ relationship with the inquisitor, there are parallels and contrasts in their stories and he also is the reason they survive inquisition.

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. fen’harel is well-known and revered, if feared, among the dalish, yet at the same time he’s not remembered for a lot besides locking the gods away-- and the context of that decision has also been lost. as solas he’s relatively unknown until inquisition and especially trespasser.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. again, polarising!! he has loyal agents and people are willing to speak well of him despite everything, including his enemies sometimes (depending mostly on the inquisitor). 

How strictly do you follow canon?  — generally i try to have a canon basis for my interpretation, even if i interpret the text differently than the author.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  solas is an immortal who is simultaneously jaded and very much invested in the small moments of life. far from being weary of the day-to-day lives of ordinary people, it is systems and orders he is most tired of. he walks an interesting line that feels far less misanthropic than other immortal characters i’ve experienced, yet still he’s quite cynical. as a character who has fought against religious based tyranny before, but in a completely different era, he is in a unique position where what he sees around him is both horrifyingly familiar and yet completely new. it allows an exploration of the wrongs of thedas’ society from an outsider’s perspective. his motivations are complex and multifaceted, often condemnable and yet also understandable. his character arc in inquisition (if befriended, or regardless in the case of my solas) takes him from a dispassionate, disconnected antagonist to someone deeply invested in the people of thedas, deeply conflicted and actively hoping he will be proven wrong again. i think his story is a testament to human (or elven, or dwarven, or-) connection and how even when we resist we can’t resist creating bonds with the people in our lives. i personally see this bond going beyond the inquisitor hence why i play low-approval solas as conflicted as high-approval, if not when it comes to the inquisitor.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  solas is selfish and motivated solely by revenge, he’s clinging to a past that clearly no longer exists, if you ignore all the people from it who are still alive. he’s totally unaware of all his flaws and never owns up to any mistakes ever. no, i haven’t listened to a single word solas has said in my life why do you ask. he’s also critical of my faves which means he’s #cancelled, there is clearly no validity to what he’s saying. ksjdf no but in all seriousness i think a lot of reasons ppl don’t find solas interesting are just... weird readings of his character that sometimes have no basis in the text of inquisition, but also there are plenty of perfectly valid reasons to not find him interesting. usually those ppl don’t like... talk abt how much they don’t find him interesting constantly tho. they just chill and aren’t invested in this particular villain. for one thing i think the game missed out on opportunities for exploring how someone who may not have even had a body at the beginning of his existence would feel about gender and sexuality, so making him presumably straight and cis was a boring choice. i also think that the dragon age games being very protagonist-centric hurts solas’ character, there’s no real reason why the inquisitor is the only one who can throw his plans into question but making the player the center of the universe means he’s not allowed to change due to the effects of other companions or NPCs. thank god this is rp and i do what i want.

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  i have a history degree so when the inquisition companions were being teased, solas describing bias in primary sources from the memories he’s seen got me interested in him. but my first playthrough i didn’t actually take him with me all too often, i think my main party was dorian-blackwall-varric. i liked him, and i think he or dorian were my first friends in skyhold, but my initial interest was in other characters. between his dialogue that appealed to the historian in me tho and how his spirit opinions sort of turned everything i’d felt about spirits in the last two games on its head, i started vibing with him more the farther i went in. like merrill set me up for the “spirits are people” thing and solas hit it out of the park. then temple of mythal happened, and i did bring solas with me there. i found his dialogue fascinating and also suspicious, i’d just finished masked empire like the day before da:i came out so i definitely thought solas was an ancient elf in the same vein as felassan. it was after temple of mythal that i actually decided to make his blog, although like as one idk linchpin to cement my status as solas trash... i was hit BAD by the banter bug on my first playthrough, probably got like a dozen banters total. but then at some point late in the game i took solas to the forbidden oasis and he wouldn’t stop talking to people, and i really loved his banter with the rest of my party at the time.

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  replaying inquisition, new DA content when the bioware gods deign to grant us a lifeline, but the biggest thing is my rp partners. i wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the people i write with, new and old. my activity of late hasn’t been the best, work and the summer heat has really been sapping me of energy, and does even during years when we aren’t going through a pandemic. but it’s the thought of my rp partners and love of solas that keeps me coming back.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? i have my doubts sometimes, but i think i do ok.

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / SORT OF? there is no headcanon too small for me.

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO. but not lately * gestures to the low activity * i’ve been in this cycle where i get anxious abt late replies, so prioritise them, then burn myself out and can’t write the fics i want. i’ve had two i’ve been DYING to write tho i just... need to find the space in my brain to let myself.

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO. i mean it depends on the day. if i work closing shifts at my store it gets very quiet and boring around 8:30 so i spent the next 90 minutes thinking about character stuff.

Are you confident in your portrayal?  YES / NO / SORT OF? 

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO / SOMETIMES. 

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO / SORTA.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  i’m going to say ‘no’ because like, i don’t ask for criticism. this is a hobby based on my interpretation of a character, if you think i write solas too soft then you’re welcome to think that, but i’m happy with the balance i’ve struck with his internal versus external behaviour and how he changes based upon who he’s speaking to. if you think i’m erasing straight people by making solas pan then ksjdfs. ok.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  yes!!! even if they retread ground already trodden, a) my interpretation may have adjusted since the last time i played or b) a reminder is nice. if it’s new stuff then it’s fun to think about.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  it’d depend on why they disagree. if they just disagree on a subjective opinion about what i took from a certain line, then they’re welcome to their opinion but i don’t necessarily care to hear it. if it is unintentionally hurtful then i would like to know. although rather than a comment i’d rather a non-anonymous message.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  same as the above.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  if they’re vocal about it i typically just unfollow / softblock if i was following in the first place. people can feel how they want about solas, but i’ve found over the years that if people really hate solas ooc it can often bleed into their ic interactions. it’s really weird seeing your character being brought up repeatedly in threads with others specifically to dunk on, for no reason other than i guess solas is living rent free in their heads, so at least we have that in common. but anyway unfollowing is just the best choice to avoid getting kinda pressed if i’m having a bad day.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  roleplay is the wild west of writing, so i think it’d depend on what the error was. coming at me like “you shouldn’t start a sentence with a preposition” would get a laugh, but i don’t edit my replies much if at all and mistakes will 100% happen. pointing out typos is chill so long as you do it politely.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  it depends! i’ve learned that being too easy going actually just means i’m subjecting myself to negative emotions to please people. so i’ve gotten less easy going as the years go by. how does one define “easy going” anyway? does asking that question mean i am objectively not easy going? the longer this thought goes on the more the answer seems to be “probably not,” but i like to think it could be a lot worse.

[carbonatedcosmo]

all the fandom questions for DMC

OH THAT’S NEARLY ALL OF EM LMAO THIS IS GONNA BE A DOOZY

“What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?”

ok so i know a pretty good portion of the dmc fandom is SUPER on board with nero x kyrie but like??? they’re basically adopted siblings??? and i HATE the adopted sibling romance trope so in my personal dmc canon nero and kyrie do love each other but Only As Siblings

“Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?”

again, nero x kyrie! the way i see it, nero sees kyrie as his sister and kyrie sees nero as her brother because nero grew up with her in an environment that would lend to their relationship being more like that of siblings

“Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?”

uuuuhhh yes?? kind of??? they were someone who shipped nero x v, which is a ship im not overly comfortable with myself but that’s all i’ll say on that

“Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?”

uuuuuuhhhhhh???? i’ve seen a decent amount of fanart of vergil x dante like. come ON they’re BROTHERS stop making them KISS

“Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?”

uh? not that i can recall? i used to be on board with nero x kyrie myself but then i remembered that in kyrie’s character description in dmc4 it says her relationship with nero is that of a “brother, friend, and lover all in one” and that’s the fault of capcom themselves for describing the relationship that way, not necessarily the fandom’s fault

“Most disliked character(s)? Why?”

none i like all of them they’re all amazing

except arkham. absolute garbage dad in dmc3, lady deserved a better father than him

“Most disliked arc? Why?”

hm. im not really sure? i think all of the main characters have pretty decent arcs tbh

“Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?”

are there any unpopular characters in the dmc fandom??? i have no idea. i’ve seen a little bit of hate for nero (mostly in youtube comments) but idk if that counts. if it does, fuck those people nero’s baby and i adore him

“Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?”

again, i don’t think so? i don’t really get too into the discourse in the dmc fandom so i don’t have a full grasp over what’s popular and what’s not. though, i do recall seeing a bit of stuff about how people don’t like that v seems to have just been a one-off character and how they wish he could’ve been a completely separate character from vergil, but, as short as it was, i enjoyed v’s arc! i think, in the time that vergil’s human and demon halves were separated, v was able to grow a little and also sort of begin to start healing from his trauma when vergil wouldn’t let himself deal with it properly, and since v realized how important everything he threw away really was, i think vergil retained that when he became whole again and i think it’s really cool!!!

“Unpopular opinion about XXX character?’

SLAMS MY HANDS DOWN. LADY AND TRISH ARE BADASS QUEENS AND I AM LITERALLY SO MAD THAT THEY’RE ONLY IN DMC5 TO BE SEXY. THE ONLY THING THEY DID THAT IMPACTED THE PLOT EVEN A LITTLE WAS UNWILLFULLY BE SERVANTS OF URIZEN AND WHEN THEY WERE PULLED OUT OF THE DEMON BODIES URIZEN TRAPPED THEM IN THEY WERE NAKED AND A POINT WAS MADE OF SHOWING OFF THEIR BODIES AT LEAST A LITTLE AND I THINK THEIR POTENTIAL WAS WASTED 

“Unpopular opinion about your fandom?”

why do so many people in this fandom seem to ship spardacest of any degree. why. can i just go through the dmc5 tag without seeing vergil smooching his son or vergil smooching his brother or v smooching nero or-

“Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?”

nothing the dmc anime is perfect in every single way

“If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?”

nothing the dmc anime is perfect in every single w-

“Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…”

ok there are very few moments in the game i would replace with something new entirely, but i would add nero calling urizen a whore at least once like just imagine nero gets yeeted into a wall by urizen and he just goes “ow...whore” like that’d be so fucking funny

“Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?”

absolutely fuckin not my dude sometimes you’re just not on board with the most popular ships in the fandom and that’s totally okay! as long as ur not shipping incest or any kind of abusive dynamic i literally dont care if you don’t ship the popular ships

“What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?”

*inhales deeply* spardacest

“What is the purest ship in the fandom?”

ok i’ve seen literally NO ONE ELSE who ships these but lady x trish and nero x nico. lady and trish are lesbians that are dating each other and my proof is that episode of the anime where lady and trish don’t know each other so they’re fighting because trish is a demon and lady’s someone who hunts demons and trish was just trying to Not Die so they fight for the whole episode but then they find out that they’re each a friend of dante’s so they go and buy a bunch of expensive clothes together and send the bill to dante and that was their first date and now they’re girlfriends and idk man nero and nico just have a fun dynamic that made me go “they’re totally dating each other”

“What are your thoughts on crack ships?”

ok so like, in general, crack ships are fun as hell just for some shits and giggles but i haven’t really seen any crack ships in the dmc fandom??? though i think there’s plenty of potential there for a few of those and im interested to see if the fandom will come up with any crack ships!!

“Popular character you hate?”

none i absolutely adore all of them

“Unpopular character you love?”

are there any unpopular characters in this fandom? are there??? though i guess if i wanna go back to what i said about seeing a little bit of nero hate (again, mainly in youtube comments), i absolutely LOVE nero and to those people who say he doesn’t have a lot of character: yes he DOES you’re just not LOOKING HARD ENOUGH

“Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not?”

OH YES ABSOLUTELY, bro even though i certainly have my gripes about the dmc franchise, it’s SUCH a good series in spite of all that! the combat system is pretty neat (and only gets better in the later games), the music is absolutely bangin, there’s so many fun, iconic characters, the story is, for the most part, incredibly engaging and compelling, and honestly pretty much the whole series is just a family squabble but if everyone in the family was superpowered by having demonic heritage and OH YEAH THEY HAVE SWORDS

“How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?”

i wouldn’t end the dmc series any differently than capcom did!! i really enjoy that dmc5 ended with dante and vergil finally settling their differences and ending their lifelong rivalry (after nero bitch slapped dante and beat the shit out of vergil), and it looks like dante and vergil’s story has come to a very satisfying end! i don’t see where else capcom can go with the twins, but if they do make more dmc games, i would absolutely love to follow more of nero’s adventures and see how he continues to grow, both as a person and a devil hunter!!! you hear me, capcom??? give me more content with my hyper wild boy or i’ll personally come kick your asses

“Most shippable character?”

hm. im gonna say dante, i think!! let the man have a boyfriend

yeah i said it dante’s gay whatcha gonna do about it

“Least shippable character?”

vergil. definitely vergil, but that’s only because i personally see him as aromantic! i think he certainly wants to be loved, yes, but less in a romantic sense and more in a familial sense, ya feel? i would love to see him interact with nero more and see how he navigates that relationship, because i think it would be really interesting to see how he takes to having a son of his own!! but that’s a discussion for another post entirely; i view vergil as aromantic so he’s not really looking for a romantic relationship with someone but that won’t stop (and hasn’t stopped) him from sleeping with people lmao

was that all of them? i think that may have been all the fandom related ones but please let me know if i missed any!! hoo boy it feels good to go off about this LMAO

[kyluxtrashpit]

2019 Fic Recap

So I’ve done this for the past few years and I started doing it at the end of 2019 but never managed to finish it. I think between TROS and IRL and then I got really, really sick, I just haven’t had the chance to do so. But fuck it, I decided to finish it anyway even though it’s now 3 months late lmao. So anyway, a recap of my 2019 fics

Total wordcount: 96 419 words. Which is less than last year, but still not too shabby. I wish I could’ve banged something out to get it over 100k but eh, it just didn’t happen. I definitely have enough wip words and whatnot to get me over that bump, though

Tough Love, 6572 words, posted Jan 17

So this was an experimental one. As you all know, I’m pretty hard on the sub!Kylo/dom!Hux train. But I had a conversation with a friend and it turned into one of those ‘okay, I don’t like x dynamic because of a, b, and c. But is it possible to write x without those and make it into something I like?’ and as it turns out, yes, yes it was. Thus this fic happened and here we are. I still really like it and I have a lot of Feelings on this dynamic vs the one I usually write, but that’s an essay in and of itself lmao. It got some great feedback too, which was cool

Take My Breath Away, 1230 words, posted Feb 7

Ah yes, this one, which was based off a throwaway KOTOR ability but was an excuse for me to write Kylo getting stuffed from both ends with some asphyxiation thrown in. And also extremely rough sex + softer aftercare is a weakness of mine haha, so I just had to do it

Fix You, 1994 words, posted Feb 10

So this was my first piece for Bad Things Happen Bingo, which is an event I’m still planning to finish at some point lmao, and that I’ve had a lot of fun with so far. This fic was another that I tried for a more ‘classic’ feel with, though it’s a lot softer. The uncomfortable intimacy. The ‘feelings are happening but we won’t talk about them’. The shaky trust. All of that good stuff. I had fun with it

Keep Your Enemies Closer, 1657 words, posted Feb 24

Another for BTHB! I just love when Hux wins, okay. And I think this was one of those time periods where Kylo was doing all the winning in fics and I just. Needed something different lmao. Emperor Hux remains one my all time fave ideas and it’s still a shame canon never gave it to us. But I have the power to make it happen, so I did. Plus Kylo in a shock collar is always fun >:)

Indulgence, 17 357 works, completed Apr 19, first posted Mar 28

So! This was a continuation to my experiment from above and really it was just an excuse for lots of smut and pampering lmao. Much as I had thought I had said everything I wanted to say with Tough Love, apparently I had not, and this monstrosity formed. There may be a third, more serious piece to finish off the series this year, but I haven’t decided yet. Although, I have to admit, I’m still surprised how poorly this fic did feedback-wise, especially compared to its predecessor and considering it’s the more popular dynamic these days. Tbh some of my best smut is in this fic imo, but ah well, sometimes people just don’t like things and I suppose I have to accept that, even if I’m really, really proud of that thing

(Okay and the rest are behind a cut for length)

Best Served Bloody, 2666 words, posted Apr 29

Another BTHB and, again, not much deeper to it. Beating up Brendol is always fun though lmao. And when I was writing this, I really wanted Hux to be the one to strike at his father. A lot of pieces have Kylo doing it, which is great, but I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted Hux to have the power to save himself. It was fun to write in that way, as a powerful revenge fantasy

The Best, 6450 words, posted May 12

Ah, now this was a fun one lmao. It was born of a horny crack idea but I can’t do real crack, so it ended up as crack treated seriously. And really, I just wanted an excuse to have Kylo sucking dick. A lot of dick. All the dicks he can find lmao. Slutty Kylo fic remains my favourite pwp, so I gotta contribute to the cause, you know. It was a delight to write, though challenging cause it kept turning me on LMAO. Totally worth it though. It was one of the most fun this year for sure

Be My Outlet, 1003 words, posted May 23

There’s not really much of a story behind this one haha. I was horny and I wanted some classic, Not Nice Hux and hatefucking, thus this exists. Plus I miss Kylo getting choked and it’s rare these days to see stuff quite this rough. I also have a bit of a somnophilia thing, which this sort of fits in to. And I’m always a fan of messy, masochist Kylo. So yeah. Idk it’s smut lmao what else could we want? It’s just a short little pwp, but I had a lot of fun with it and it was nice to revisit the classic kylux days

Safe Harbour, 1616 words, posted Jun 13

This one was for kyluxomegaverse week and it was very fun. A/b/o is one of those tropes where I really, really like a lot of it, but there’s also some stuff that’s much less my cup of tea. So I don’t write a lot of it, even though there are aspects of it that I adore. Which this one includes a lot of lmao. I think the nesting is fucking adorable and I wanted to write something soft, so here we are. Plus omega!Kylo is just delightful. Also looking back on it now, this one did really well? Holy shit, I had no idea it was that popular!

With Dignity, 4475 words, posted Jul 1

This was the last for BTHB that I managed last year (and I still intend to finish my card eventually, it’s just been a rough go so far this year lmao). I’m actually very proud of this one because this is the exact sort of angst I love to write. I didn’t intend for it to be as heavy as it ended up being, but when I started looking up the mechanics of force-feeding and reading about the experience of it, the plan changed drastically because holy fuck. I had never thought of it as that much of a torture before. I also enjoy with Hux like, making the reader feel bad for him while also actively reminding them he’s awful and getting that perfect cognitive dissonance. So this was a great excuse to do exactly that. And I love how tough he is even in such circumstances. Despite the heavy subject matter, I had a blast with this one

Greener Grass, 3389 words, posted Jul 14

This one was originally a twitter thread that really got away from me lmao, so I edited it and put it on ao3 because I really liked it. I’ve always liked self-cest as a concept and I thought it’d be interesting for Kylo to interact with a version of himself that made some different choices. One that was happier. And then we see Kylo through Ben’s eyes, see what the dark side has wrought for him. And then, of course, some smut to pull it all together lmao. It was a really fun character study and I had a grand time with it

Subliminal, 5719 words, posted Aug 23

This one! Okay so I’m pretty sure I sent in a couple of khk prompts over the years that were basically this, but no one ever wrote them so I finally did it. I’m honestly surprised hypno kink isn’t actually used more in kylux, considering Hux is canonically in charge of the brainwashing program. So much potential. So I had to write it. I also went down quite a few rabbit holes in researching this (with mixed success lmao) and learned a whole lot about hypno kink in the process. I may have even acquired it as a fetish lmao. But anyway, this one’s a bit darker and it’s fun to write those every once in a while. I think I pulled it off well too

Ashes Among the Stars, 36634 words, posted Dec 1

Ah and my big bang this year! I had a blast with this one although it was quite the challenge. My first fandom was gundam so when I saw this prompt I was very intrigued and ended up getting it. This fic had a lot more world-building than I usually do, which was the primary challenge as I basically had to take aspects from both franchises and sew them together into a new world of its own. I think I did that rather successfully tbh. The plot gave me trouble too but also gave me some of my best eureka moments haha. My partner was also wonderful and made the experience that much better. I know crossovers don’t tend to perform as well, so I was expecting that, though I do wish some more people had given it a chance since I wrote it specifically so that no prior knowledge was needed. But alas, I’m still incredibly proud of it. It’s also my second longest fic ever!

Filthy, 5657 words, posted Dec 9

And here it is, the gangbang fic I’ve always wanted to exist lmao. I had wanted to write this one for a long time, but I could never figure out how to end it, what circumstances would lead to the gangbang. Then a convo with friends gave me the idea and boom, I could finally write it. This fic is just straight up smut and I fucking love it lmao. There needs to be more Kylo gangbang fics tbh

What have I learned?

Last year wasn’t as successful for writing as I’d hoped, given that I wrote less in 2019 than I did in 2018. But also a lot of things happened to me last year. I got a new role at work. My dad had a heart attack (he’s okay though). I had a pretty rough time with my mental health. And then there was the lead up to TROS and the frankly unnecessary amount of stress that caused me. So there was a lot going on and working against me, which is a large part of why I didn’t manage to write as much as I’d hoped I would, and there’s a lot in my folder that I started but just wasn’t able to finish before the end of the year. I worried for a while I was losing interest, but looking back, no, it was definitely the IRL shit lmao. That said, I’m also extremely happy with all of the pieces I did finish, regardless of how well they did. I’m proud of them and I loved writing them, even when it was difficult

One of my goals from last year was to write more, which I didn’t manage, and to get better at answering comments, which I think I did well on for the most part up until post-TROS lmao. I also wanted to do the big bang again (and I was hoping for a reverse, which it was!) and I did. And I also wanted to have fun and keep my confidence with my writing, which I think I was the most successful at. I feel really good about everything I made and I really enjoyed writing them, even if I didn’t manage to finish everything

Goals for 2020?

I think part of the reason I didn’t finish this post in 2019 is because of my TROS breakdown and subsequent stresses associated with it. Because I wasn’t sure what I wanted or what I was going to do. Sometimes I wanted to give up and find a new fandom/ship, other times I was sure I was over it and going to just do whatever the fuck I wanted, and then there was every emotion in between

Now, though, I’m sure I’m going to keep writing here. I haven’t managed much this year yet, but I can feel it coming back to me. I have a post-TROS fic I managed to solve a major problem with the other day. I also have renben as a new ship to excite me. And I still have a lot of wips and BTHB and various others I desperately want to do. Right now, I feel good about my writing and my interest in it is back to normal, which is great. So this year? I’m not going to set a hard goal. I’d love to write more than last year and maybe I will, but it’s okay if I don’t. I’d love to do another big bang this year, but I’m not going to kick myself if I can’t handle it when that time comes. I’d love to finish BTHB, but if it stretches into another year, who cares? My only goal is to just keep writing and keep enjoying it. I want to have fun with it. I want to be happy with whatever pieces I do manage to put out. I want to set aside time to read more fics from others, if I can. And I think all of those will really help with my mental health, which is starting to recover right now, and that’s what’s most important of all

Also thank you all for your patience with me. I know I’ve not been responsive, here or on twitter or to comments, but I am trying my best. It’s been a rough go and I don’t like to whine too much in my fandom spaces. I don’t know when or even if I’ll get back to normal, but I’m trying, and that’s what matters. I love every one of you on here <3

[folkelorde]

ADMIN TIPS! WHAT MAKES OR BREAKS A ROLEPLAY?

this has been sitting in my drafts a while because with about ten years of roleplay experience, i’ve been in a lot of group and seen a lot of different kinds of admins. now, i can look back and see the point where things started to die or the point where a group was really saved – whether i was the admin or someone else was. 

 i know being an admin can be hard work and sometimes a group can die based on circumstances that aren’t in your control, so taking the initiative to start a group can be a big risk; a lot of work for little payoff, and i think it says a lot about the passion of the writers in our community that we keep doing it. 

lately, i’ve been getting really frustrated with joining groups because they die so quickly. however, there are a few things i notice keep happening that can make a huge difference on whether a group succeeds or fails, so i’ve put some encouraging words and advice under the cut. please note that these are just my opinions and things i’ve seen that work for me.

1. SET AN EXAMPLE.

as an admin, it’s hugely important to take the leap! when your group opens, be the first to post and break the ice, be the first to post an intro, and be the first to reach out and message people. you can’t just open and then sit back and let people come to you. additionally, be sure to open the group or start events at a time that works for YOU. seriously, it makes a big difference when the admin can be online for those things. also, i find that as an admin, i have to be a little more active than what’s expected because i find it really important to create plots and connections with EVERYONE, respond to every starter possible, and make sure that i welcome every person into the group. if there’s a new member, be that person that reaches out to say hello and welcome them. be that person to post the first open starter, etc. essentially, be the sort of group member that you want to be the admin for and i think that goes a long way for creating an inclusive community. this is really the NUMBER ONE thing that i see makes or breaks a group – groups that i join where the admin is plotting w/ people, reaching out, and in on what’s going on always last longer. tbh, i’ve never been in a group that lasted where i didn’t have a plot with the admin, so make sure you have plots and connections with your members! 

2. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR MEMBERS. 

i think it’s important that people know what’s going on, every step of the way. if you think you’re going to open at a certain time, tell people in advance. if you wish there were more open starters in the tag, tell your members. if you don’t have time to answer all the asks you have, let people know. tell people when plot drops and events are coming up and ask people what they want to see. let group members be part of discussions and your decision process. essentially, as an admin, i never feel like i have to build this big wall and filter information about the group. when i’m a member, i love when it’s clear what’s going on in the group when. there are definitely times where you should keep that wall up though, like when you’re dealing with any ooc drama. in my experience, keeping conflict resolution off the dash as much as possible is key to dealing with problems. i notice that unless the group has been around a long time, an ooc matter that’s dealt with really publicly usually leads to the death of the group. if you have to communicate about what happened with your members, it’s usually best to find a way to do that privately.

3. DO NOT GIVE UP. 

this is the BIGGEST reason that rps die. almost every rp i’ve ever admin-ed has a “drop-off rate” after opening and sometimes it can be pretty large. the first activity check, for an appless rp especially, is almost always pretty brutal. however, if you can make it over that first “hump”, the odds of your rp lasting are a lot higher because i really feel like most rps die within the first week or two. if you lose a lot of members or activity slows after the first couple of days, don’t stop. keep promoting, keep posting (both in character and out of character). i find that it really helps to have a big event or plot drop within the first week to give characters something to start off with immediately and it also gives people inspiration for starters. regardless, activity on the main is going to slow after opening, that’s just inevitable. you’re going to get less asks or apps in a day, sometimes you’ll get none, and that’s okay. if it flops, it flops, but give it a week or so before you abandon the main and you might see the turnaround that i’ve come to expect. some of the most loyal members and best connections in my groups have joined in the second or third week or month. 

4. HAVE A PLAN. 

when i start a group, i usually have at least the next couple of plot drops and/or events planned out in my drafts when i start. give yourself goals to work towards and know where things are going. when i open a group, i usually have the first event or plot drop already written out and drafted, ready to post on the first or second day. at the very least, it’s good to have a little brainstormed list going of things you want to do at some point. i find that it never works to run in blind and expect that the plot will just go from there – even in a plotless town or school rp, you need to have a few plot drops or big events planned. for me, it helps to think of my roleplay like a television show and my plot drops/events are “episodes.” all the characters will have their own subplots, but there should be things that bring them together as one. additionally, once things open, it can feel like a bit of a whirlwind and you’ll be really excited about the subplots for your own character, so it’s good to have the overarching stuff planned in advance. 

5. KNOW YOUR IDEA.

i really think motivation matters. i think if you’re like “i really want to be in a group like this but it doesn’t exist and i have so much muse” always turns out better than “i want to be an admin, what will people want to be in?” don’t worry about what other people want from you when creating your plot. focus on what you want and what you have muse for, otherwise it’ll start to feel like a chore. being an admin is hard fucking work, alone or with a few other people. the plot has to really matter to you and be something that you desperately want to do, don’t base it around what you think people will be interested in. DON’T SECOND GUESS YOURSELF. if you think it’s cool and you want to write it, other people will too. some plots are more popular or are in popular genres, so they might get more attention and kick off faster, but if you stick to it, either way you’ll find your people. 

6. ESSENTIALS

these days, groups tend to have a few regularly scheduled parts of their structure needed to keep things going. these things are: honesty/meme days, tasks, events, and plot drops. 

honesty/meme days should come either once a week or once every other week depending on the activity level and size of your group. when i ran a really large group, we had them every week because there was so much going on, but with smaller groups i tend to have them when it feels right or after a plot drop/event since that’s usually when characters have a lot of new material to talk about in their answers and asks. tbh, these are really fun and help character development, so i really think they should be an essential part of your group. 

tasks for character development may seem tedious, but i do really find that they not only liven up the dash, but help people keep their muse! in a roleplay, i always make these optional, since no one HAS to do them, but it’s also a nice way to give people something to do if the dash is a little slow on a particular day or whatever. depending on the amount of effort the task takes and the size of the group, i’d say you can do these weekly or bi-weekly. 

events should be done at least once a month! most roleplays now operate with “dash events” which seems to work best since people are in all different timezones and have lives so it’s nice to have the event span over a couple of days. i really think the sweet spot is about 4-5 days, but if you have a group that gets really into them (which i have, generally in a big group), you can make them a week, but no longer than week or things will definitely stagnate. 

plot drops matter, even if your group is “plotless.” plot drops differ for events because they don’t always put all of the characters in the same vicinity and don’t have a time frame. essentially, plot drops just give characters something to talk about or make starters about. i’ve run groups with and without plot drops and without plot drops, i generally can’t keep things going for more than twoish months, so i’ve noticed the difference and they’re really a necessity for me. groups that are more plotless and character driven generally don’t need these as often as groups with a more central plot and worldbuilding.

i also really like to open the floor for members to suggest tasks, events, and plot drops – some of my best events have come from things that members have expressed to me that they really want to do. sometimes, members will send me something they want that i already have planned in my drafts, so that’s just some extra validation for me that i’m clicking with them. 

YOU CAN DO IT.

if you wanna do admin stuff, i seriously admire you. it’s exhausting, it’s hard, and it’s stressful because you care about your idea and your characters so fucking much, but it can be so worth it. being a good admin is almost like having another job with all the tasks you have to do, but when you create a plot and group that people get invested in and enjoy being part of, it’s the most rewarding thing in the world. i seriously wish you all the luck in the world with your ideas and if you need any help or advice, i’m here for you.

[fisticuffs-lesbian]

the rwby rewatch continues!!!!!!!! now with the first 6 eps of volume 1

ok like when characters use the recoil of their weapons firing as momentum for maneuvering.....PEAK

as much as i hate to admit it. torchwick’s VA is doing a pretty good job i think

OOH DANG start of the second ep, i forgot how they used to shorten the openings!!! honestly it kinda slaps, though maybe it’s just that the first op is That Good

i am literally unable to look at Yang without thinking “wife” on repeat

hhhhh oh GOD i wish i could permanently forget about the part in episode 2 where ruby turns into a chibi and it’s SUPER awkward and out of place

ok literally WHERE did ruby’s passion for weapons go!!!!!!! i love that trait of hers but i feel like it got forgotten after volume 1 :(

weiss calm down challenge

AHH BLAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE...

honestly i can’t decide if i love weiss or strongly dislike her lmao

HHGKFSGDH RUBY CALLED HER ‘PRINCESS’ I’M DYING

LMAOOO BLAKE RLLY CAME FOR WEISS LIKE THAT HUH. GOD I LOVE HER

ruby just lying on the fucking ground....same bro, it b like that sometimes

OH SHIT ITS WHITE BITCHBOY.... at least she roasts him immediately

good lord i hate early-rwby jaune

IT’S ALSO A GUN.... ILY

ok their banter at the end of the ep was cute... tbh i LOVE ruby and jaune’s friendship, it’s very good

(sees yang) AGHH SHE!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3

“where am i supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?” jaune i Will beat you to death myself

AHHHHHHHH PYRRHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SOBBING

i love yang so Fucking MUCh

“OH GOD ITS HAPPENING AGAIN” IM GONNA DIE THATWAS SO FUNNY

“oh my god you really exploded.” HER DELIVERY WAS SO GOOD... YANG ILY

HGKDJSGHDH WEISS W/ THE DISCLAIMERS IM DYING. ILY WEISS

love how weiss turned down ruby and yet still stuck near her for the opening speech thing... girl i see u. ALSO nice jaune roast, i am content (for now...)

yang and ruby commenting on oz’s weirdness... i wonder what that’s all about

also i fucking love how oz is like “you all came here to be huntsmen and huntresses? well y’know what, i look at you guys and all i see are losers. goodbye.”

HHHH JAUNE FUCK OFF I HATE YOU. DIE.

yang don’t pretend to be into dudes u are a lesbian..god bless

ruby’s lil grimm sleep mask...ough...so cute....

and then there’s jaune’s fuckin onesie fgjdhsdjjkfsdh i hate him.

wait ruby had friends at signal??? we ever gonna come back to that or...?

another jaune roast!! yang ily

i fucking LOVE the idea that blake brought that candelabra herself so she could read her book with it mysteriously in a corner

yang’s face when she first sees blake i’m hhgjdkhsf she’s a whole lesbian y’all

hhfjdskfh yang..attractive....not 2 sound like a literal anime fucker on main but

YANG’S AWFUL FLIRTING I’M GONNA DIEEE I LOVE HER!!!!!!!

yang rlly b like “aight she’s not responding to my flirting let’s bounce”

MAN WITH TWO SOULS AUUUHGHHH

OOH HAIR DOWN WEISS

“OH NOT YOU AGAIN” HHFJKDJFSH

AH!!!!!!!!! NORA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok time to be sad for a sec: do u think ren and nora slept in their day clothes because they don’t have pajamas on account of being poor orphans. i mean crwby probably just didn’t want to go to the trouble of making them character models that they’d use for all of ten seconds but still....STILL.........

nora wants to bribe OZ im hhfjdkhsjfdh

“i drink milk” BABY GIRL ILY

UGH yang is such a good sister let’s just take a moment to remember that

weiss b like hey what if i had a crush on pyrrha... haha jk... unless...?

nah but forreal i think weiss lowkey had a crush on pyrrha before coming to beacon but she didn’t know how to express it in like a normal way, so she just compliments pyrrha and asks her if she’d like to be her partner for the next four years... love that!

weiss: we’ll be popular!! we’ll get perfect grades!!! we’ll be inseparable!!!! we’ll trust each other implicitly and hold hands and go out and spend all of our time together and wait what-

HHHH JAUNE FUCK OFF!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK OFF

JAUNE RLLY JUST CALLED PYRRHA “HOT STUFF” I’M GONNA PERISH ON THE SPOT.

pyrrha so Focking tall... also i am in love with her and she deserves better than jaune.

oh boy i’m gonna get REAL tired of typing those exact words aren’t i

PYRRHA PINNING JAUNE WITH HER JAVELIN WHEN HE GOT TOO CLOSE TO WEISS AND MADE HER UNCOMFORTABLE UM PLEASE DO THAT ALL THE TIME. GOD I LOVE HER

ooohh pyrrha used her semblance to call back her javelin there... that’s so dope

jaune and ruby friendship Good... also it just occurred to me that he probably never hits on her cause she’s younger than him by like two years?? which is good and stuff

oh ew cardin, i forgot he exists

oz b like “destroy everything in your path or you Will die” and nora’s just like :D

HAHA get fucked jaune

LANDING STRATEGY

YANG’S SUNGLASSES AHHHH WIFE

“BIRDIE NO!!!” I’M GONNA CHOKE

love the landing strats, esp yang (“nailed it!”), and also pyrrha just, plowing through trees, god, marry me

her constant apologizing im. i love her but also who hurt u...

LMAOO WEISS AND RUBY

pyrrha u deserve better

love the casual use of ruby’s semblance

ruby did u rlly ditch weiss Just for the dramatic cliffhanger LMAO

“nnnnope” WIFE

is it just me or does it Mean something that blake still wants to be partners with yang even after seeing her get irrationally angry about something - y’know, the same kind of thing she probably saw from adam far too often? she probably saw that yang was a good person regardless UGH i love them so much

weiss and ruby arguing is so fun to watch! except it isn’t!

jaune doesn’t fucking know what aura is....... jesus christ.

“ITS LIKE A FORCE FIELD” I MEAN. YEAH. 

REN RLLY EXPLODED THAT GRIMM SNAKE’S HEAD BY SMACKING IT HUH.

pyrrha don’t waste ur aura on him smh

bitchboy has a lot of aura huh??? use it to SUPPORT ur FRIENDS you loser

AWW NORA ILY... the boop was so cute

OK ALRIGHT i’m about to fall asleep on my laptop so thats that for today. i gotta rlly jam on watching this now that i’m on a time limit of sorts SO i’m gonna get back on this tomorrow. yeah.

[sakumosowainthirst]

I’m running on 4 hours of sleep and coffee; let’s make a controversial post! Today’s topic: Fates/Awakening ships I hate!  :D

Preface: I’m not hating on anyone who ships these.  I’m also not saying you can’t/shouldn’t ship these.  I’m merely voicing why I dislike them, because I usually keep it all to myself and just feel like screaming into the void today.  So all of this is just my opinion, and you don’t have to take it seriously, okay? C:  Also, I don’t want to have to type “to me” after every opinion, so just take it as implied.

Now then, let’s begin.

Lonliss/Lon’qu-Lissa

Easily my biggest dislike on the list.  I will never, ever, ever understand why this is Owain’s most popular parentage.  Their supports weren’t all that great, and they are just so different from each other in ways that I think they would just clash.  I’ve seen people who ship it say, “He would be so supportive of Owain’s banter!  He would encourage his playfulness!”  And all I can think is, “Are we thinking of the same Lon’qu?  The one who’s stoic, doesn’t talk much, is very serious and grumpy?  That Lon’qu?”  He’s the token tsundere, sure, but I really don’t see him accepting Owain; I actually see the opposite.  I feel like Lissa and Owain’s upbeat personalities would grate on his nerves, to the point he’d find them both unbearably embarrassing.  Lissa and Lon’qu also just have MUCH BETTER ships/supports with other characters, and tbh, they both deserve better.  Lissa and Owain deserve someone who gels with their sunshine energy, and Lon’qu deserves a more reserved partner.  Of all Owain’s dad ships, Lonliss is the only one I truly cannot, “see,” and no explanation has made me able to, “see,” it as they both are in canon, and probably never will, tbh.  Every other Lissa ship, I can find some sort of merit, even if I don’t ship it, but when I look at Lonliss, there is just none.  No chemistry, no commonality, no anything that makes them a good couple.  Not in canon, anyway.  I’ve heard a ton of headcanons for it (I’m an Owain stan and this is quite literally his most popular dad, it’s very common), and fanon is fine and dandy, but when it bends canon too much, it just doesn’t sit well with me, and Lon’qu being any sort of okay with Lissa and Owain just bends canon too much, to me.  They’re too hyper, he’s too reserved.  As a final thought, I’m admittedly not a fan of any ship that takes Lissa and Owain away from Ylisstol, and Lon’qu (along with Donnel) does.  Their ending states they live in Ferox, and I just don’t like that.  I like Owain growing up alongside Lucina.  Also, Cynthia and probably Morgan would be in Ylisstol, and Owain canon has the Justice Cabal with them in his youth, so that’s kind of contradictory if he’s born and raised in Ferox.  (I also personally headcanon both Lissa and Owain hating the cold, tbh.  Odin has a line about hating the cold in Anna’s DLC in Fates, and I think Lissa mentions hating snow at some point, too, though I could be wrong.)

Owainigo/Laslodin/Owain-Brady

Grouping these together because I’m equally meh on both.  I can definitely see them, but I don’t like them.  Owain and Inigo do become bros, but I kind of feel like they would still squabble like petty children like their Awakening supports.  It’s more in a brotherly way, though; they start off teasing each other and end up in a slap-hands fight.  I like them as a friendship, just not a romantic ship.

Owain/Brady I have more trouble seeing because their only commonality is their mothers, and their supports make them seem like casual friends at best.  I feel like their mothers is a big part of why they’re shipped, tbh, which is just kind of :T for me.  I can see them if I squint, but it’s not a ship I care for.

The saddest thing is, look up anything spicy for Owain, you’re going to find one of these two in it.  Either these two or...

Odiniles/Leodin/Leotrio Threesome

Oh boy, here we go, SakuMo disliking another popular pairing(s).  Odin and Niles canonically bicker.  Like, they are nasty to each other.  Odin says as much in their A rank.  He says they should try to get along more, but I’m not really sure how well that would turn out.  To be honest, the only thing they really have in common is their loyalty to Leo.  Lacking that, they’re two wildly different people.  I’m not saying that different people can’t work as a couple--it happens all the time--but if you lack at least some common ground, it makes it really hard for a relationship to work.  Devotion to your master isn’t really much common ground.  Given their canon history, dramatically different personalities, and lack of common interests, I just don’t see them being compatible.  Every Odiniles fic I’ve ever read had Niles uncharacteristically understanding of Odin, to the point it didn’t even feel like Niles at all/he was very OOC.  One again, fanon is fine--you do you!--but bending canon too much and/or in ways that don’t make sense to the character is just not my scene.

Leodin is one that I can kind of see, definitely more than Odiniles, which in no way works in my head, but I’m just not a fan of it, generally.  My dislike isn’t as strong as with Odiniles, but it’s still there.  And I’ll just say that I am not into poly, don’t like OT3s, threesomes, etc., so that should sum up my feelings on the Leotrio as an OT3.

Odilise, Lazura, Selbaki, a.k.a. “The Oedipus Complex Ships”

Don’t make the Trio marry their moms, fam.  Odilise is the most egregious one, tbh, because Elise is so much like Lissa and it’s so, so creepy to ship her with Odin.  Never mind that canon Elise is supposed to be like...14-15 (I reject this canon and substitute my own hc of 18, but I digress), and though we don’t know how long the Trio is in Nohr before the start of Fates, we can assume anywhere from six months to a year or two considering they are well-established as retainers, so Odin is probably in his early 20s, at youngest maybe 20-21.  (Granted, using the canon ages makes a lot of ships suspect, especially with the younger characters, but I digress.)  I get that Elise is a good stat mom for Ophelia and gives the “canon” hair, but the ship itself is just problematic on a lot of fronts.  She’s basically his mom, their supports are playful but it def feels brotherly-sisterly (granted most of Elise’s supports do) and throws in the romance literally out of left field in the S rank, and they just look kind of suspect together, fam.  I have unfortunately in my travels across the internet for Owain content seen Odin/Elise porn, and the fact it makes me uncomfortable in a, “this looks really illegal,” way speaks volumes.  And again, yes, I know the same would be true for other ships with Elise, and it’s why there are few I actually like with her.  But Odin/Elise just in particular bothers me because like Lonliss, I see it the most, and it’s made me irrationally bitter toward it.  This one and Lonliss are my two, “hair-trigger rage,” ships.  I see either, I get really annoyed.  I don’t voice this, mind--I keep on scrolling and ignore the content--but it does make me grumpy, lol.  They’re the two I can honestly say I hate instead of just saying I dislike.

Selbaki is a bit lesser, but it basically makes Severa her own grandma, don’t do that. xD  Severa already has a complex with trying to be perfect like her mom, so making her feel the same not only for her husband but also her daughter is just cruel to her.  Give Severa a break, y’all.

Lazura is the least similar, admittedly, but it’s still in the same vein.  Performer marrying a performer.  Of the three, I can tolerate it the most, but it’s still not great for me.

Corrin/Any sibling, including Azura

Look, I get it.  Corrin is, by technicality, not blood-related to any of them, with the exception of Azura, who is their blood-related cousin.  H O W E V E R, just because they find out that they aren’t blood-related to the Nohr siblings doesn’t mean the familial bonds just go POOF.  The Nohr siblings would definitely not be like, “I guess we can bang Corrin now.”  If this were the case, adopted families would never “truly” bond because they aren’t related by blood.  Corrin growing up in Nohr means that they would most likely always see the Nohr siblings as family, and vice-versa.

Hoshido, on the other hand, is a bit trickier.  While it’s true they aren’t blood-related, I want to say Ryoma is the only one who knows?  Like, I think he’s the only one who brings it up in the S Support?  But lacking that, Corrin and the rest of the Hoshido siblings do think they’re blood-related.  Hidden Truths states that Corrin never learned the truth about their real father, nor that Lilith is their sister.  All 3 routes play out with the assumption that Sumeragi was Corrin’s father, and if it’s stated otherwise, it’s maybe only in the beginning as a throwaway line during the Mikoto section.  You could make a plausible argument that the Trio could tell Corrin the truth, since all 3 of them have heart-rank lines where they reveal their real names and that they’re from another world, but that’s leading into possible canon rather than actual canon (and is also why I hc it).  But for all intents and purposes, Corrin thinks they are blood-siblings with the Hoshido fam, so that would make them less likely to pursue them romantically.  And even if they knew, they still all all each other brother/sister.

Azurrin is the trickiest.  It’s only in Revelation that the connection between Arete, Azura’s mother, and Mikoto, Corrin’s mother, is made, afaicr, so in Birthright and Conquest, Corrin technically wouldn’t know they are cousins.  However, Azura would.  Azura always knew everything, because her mother told her about Valla and taught her the traditional song and such.  She most likely knew Mikoto was her aunt.  Even on the off chance she didn’t know, it would still be an awkward down the line thing when they find out they’re cousins.  I know Japan is more lenient on the whole cousin-marriage thing, but...don’t have Shigure and Kana coming out looking like the Habsburgs, please, I beg you, lol.

My rule of thumb: if two characters refer to each other as, “brother,” or, “sister,” at any point, don’t let them fuck.  xD

Kana/Any Romantic/Sexual Ship

Kana is a child.  Stop it.  Stop it right now.  They are a baby.  I’VE SEEN FICS, I KNOW IT EXISTS, YOU SICK FUCKS.  Even aged up feels a little awkward, but I can be a little bit more lenient on that.  I just never will.  Kana is asexual and aromantic in my eyes, lol.

That’s all I can really think of right now; coffee is wearing off, I need a nap, lol.  Once again, please don’t be offended if I dislike a ship you like!  We are all different!  I just wanted to throw this out there on the off chance I do requests again and someone wants one of these written, because I would respectfully decline.  I don’t mean these to be hateful, just sort of venting into the ether in a mildly-exhausted stupor.

Also, you can try to counter me on some of these, but tbh, a few of them, I am stubbornly never going to change my mind, so we’d just go round and round in a circular argument if you tried.  xD  I like what I like and don’t like what I don’t, lol.  I’m not typically a multi-shipper, either, so you’d probably be hard-pressed to get me to shift at all, lol.  I mean that in the most loving way possible, too.

[ais-n]

Hi, if you enjoy Whyborne and Griffin then I can wholeheartedly recommend KJ Charles to you. Her entire work in general and the Magpie Lord in particular. If you need/want anymore recommendations I can give you some pointers. In any case W & G just got its conclusion recently and I am very happy with how it all ended :D

Thanks! It’s funny because I was recommended Magpie Lord, Whyborne & Griffin, and another series all at the same time so I can totally see why you rec Magpie/KJ too. I think probably a lot of people would agree with you so I do think for anyone who read W&G or Magpie Lord and liked it, you should listen to sianascera :) 

I thought about just saying “thanks!” and not saying more because I hate ever seeming like a contrary asshole, but I’m also way too damn honest and I felt like I’d be lying if I didn’t continue… This worry going back and forth stalled me for days on figuring out how to reply, because I’m a dork ¬_¬

To compromise, here’s a longer ass reply, but I’ll put it behind a cut so as not to bug anyone who doesn’t care.

In all honesty, I actually tried Magpie Lord before Whyborne & Griffin and didn’t like it, sadly, so I don’t plan to read anything else in that series. But I did think the beginning was intriguing, I liked the world concept, and KJ’s writing style was fine from what I recall, so I’ll definitely keep her in mind for other series. It might be that other series she writes will work well for the things I tend to gravitate toward and I just happened to not connect well with that particular series. 

The problem I had with Magpie Lord is a similar problem I have with like 99.99% of BL or m/m, which is why I’m exceedingly picky with things I will read, and then what I like, and especially what I will go on to recommend to others. I don’t know how many series or books I’ve read in the m/m world but for the longest time there was only 2 series I recommended, and now it’s tentatively expanded to 4. Even within those series, I don’t find them to be perfect, but nothing is. Still, something about each of them overran any misgivings I might have otherwise had at any point in time (if any), and for all of the series I’ve read them multiple times which is otherwise not super usual for me.

Your comment caused me to analyze what it is about those 4 series that for whatever reason works for me as a reader that the other series out there I’ve read don’t. It isn’t necessarily about the world, the plot, the characters, the dialogue, the writing voice, the length, any of that. Those are all factors, but they are not the sole or even oftentimes primary deciding factor in whether I will ultimately like, reread, and recommend a story.

I realized that, for me, power dynamics between a couple is really important (especially in any sort of romance or romance-adjacent story), in that I don’t like relationships that don’t have trust, respect, and equality or give-and-take at the center of it. I also really prefer stories where consent is very consciously addressed, both in that it’s given but also that it remains, and if ever something wavers within that, it’s acknowledged and addressed. I really like stories that take their time getting the couple to get to know each other before it’s instasex, and where sex isn’t used as the way to solve or avoid problems without there being consequences, and where it isn’t just automatically assumed that sexuality = consent and interest. Like, I’m gay but I’m also ace. Just because there’s a woman who’s also a lesbian around me doesn’t mean I’m going to instantly want to sex her. Likelihood is exceedingly low for that, in fact, even if I weren’t ace. 

I also like stories where the main characters’ merits and flaws remain evident throughout, but they find ways to accommodate each other, or account for the quirks of the other person. I really like stories where you can tell there’s love and respect and trust between the main couple, and especially when we first get to watch that be earned rather than jumping straight from meeting to xyz.

And then I’m also exceedingly picky outside of that entire topic; I’m a character-driven reader, so I have to connect with one or more characters well enough to stay engaged. I also get bored quickly, so I want the plot to be decent, although a great plot is even better. I like good dialogue or interesting narration. I appreciate versatile writing voices. Most importantly for a series, not only does the series have to be good in each book, but ideally over the course of the series it gets better, AND the ending has to be adequate or at least not frustrate me to the point that it tarnishes the rest of the series leading up to it.

I know I’m super picky about all this and that the majority of stories can’t really meet all those expectations, which is why I don’t read a ton of series anymore because I got kind of burned out over the years. 

Also, to be clear: There’s absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong with anyone who likes all the things I mentioned I like to avoid. When I was younger, my view of power dynamics between a couple was drastically different than it is now. I also felt that at that time we had fewer options out there in general in the whole LGBT field, and one reason I initially got into m/m or BL is because it was the only LGBT content I could find at the time, plus because I was character-driven in feeling that some canon characters who happened to both be male really fit each other so much better than others did for them. 

But the things I tend to like in this regard are not really super popular as a whole across the genre, so it just reinforces to me that I’m extremely picky on this particular topic. Which means that just because I’m too picky for certain things, others may super love it, and that’s awesome! I love that there are so many different stories out there, so many different perspectives both as readers/writers as well as within the stories themselves. It’s so awesome

I actually do totally plan to read that one short story that KJ and Jordan wrote together--I took a break from W&G because I’m now rereading for the millionth time the Raised by Wolves series by W.A. Hoffman--but I think it’ll be really interesting to see if maybe that story pulls me into a different world KJ writes, who knows. I think it’s so cute that The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal was mentioned in W&G as a book Griffin just had lying around. For some reason, that little detail delighted me lol So I’m def curious about the whole Simon Feximal thing. Especially since the art I saw commissioned for it looks dooooope

Oh btw, though - side note, the cover of Magpie Lord is so cool! *___* I love it so much!

Anyway that was my unnecessarily long answer, sorry lol I just didn’t want you to think I ignored you if I never mentioned Magpie Lord again. I was bummed I didn’t like the story, tbh; it started out strong for me and I went into it initially assuming I would love it. Unfortunately, in the end it just happened to be a story that didn’t work for me primarily because of the couple, but like I said, I’m definitely up for trying other series KJ writes, starting with Simon Feximal ones. Depending on how that goes, I’ll see about checking out anything else she does. 

And if it turns out the Simon books also don’t work for me, it’s just a personal thing from someone who’s picky as hell about certain things. It’s definitely not a reflection on KJ as a writer, because you can tell at a glance her works are well-loved by many, and that makes me super happy. I love it so much when there’s a writer who’s able to create worlds and characters for readers in a way that they genuinely love and connect with and want to spread their joy to others. It’s such a beautiful thing :)

Thank you for the recommendation! Sorry I’m so picky I couldn’t take it to heart as much as you would have hoped, but I super appreciate the recommendation, and I hope others are less picky than me and are able to enjoy the series fully because it’s certainly an interesting premise :)