#why would you go to so much effort researching a ship that you don't think is real

[enchantedlandcoffee]

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[urlocaldesertdweller]

His Ego (Stanford x Reader, PART 2)

(PART 1)

(Suggestive/borderline smut)

By request of an anon for a hate sex continuation of the link above! Also, this is a different ending from the first part!!!

(I tried rlly hard to make it something close to hate sex so I hope you can enjoy it either way)

You only can take so much from an egotistical asshole who thinks so highly of themselves. It frustrated you all the more that Stanford seemingly deemed you unworthy of his time from the say he came out of the portal.

You always had your own ways of fighting back, though, from "evidently" disturbing his private studies in the basement to inviting yourself to his outside adventures. You did this for many reasons, one to annoy him and two to discover why he hates you.

So, of course, when Dipper and Mabel told you that he was planning to return to the buried UFO behind town for further investigations. An idea of yours had struck your mind.

Self-invites were already a common thing between Ford and you. He would only tolerate you because the rest of the family would never let go of this odd, one-sided rivalry. He would mainly avoid you at all costs, even his own life, just to keep away from his own research.

But this time, you thought confidently to yourself on the hike. Things were going to be different, and that was a promise.

He handed you an extra magnet gun without making eye contact, so you'll live on the way down. He knew how much the twins and Stanley loved you. He knew that they would never forgive him if he let you die on purpose.

By the time you both finally landed in the large and dark hallways of the ship. You quickly followed behind him since he didn't care to bring a second light source for you. He had his limits, and you were, for some reason, at the top of the list (next to Bill).

A thick tension sticks between you as he stops in the room with the control room, setting his equipment, and starts to get to work. You watch him for a moment sucking a breath and gaining the courage.

As you step up next to him, you open your mouth to speak. But the moment catches up to you, and you make an awful mix of quiet screech and squeal, which makes Ford glare at you and sidestep away, still staring at you. You cover your mouth, close your eyes, cough, and gather your thoughts. You open your eyes as they harden on Ford.

Before he steps away, you grab his wrist. He is clearly confused, as you now have his full attention, and he turns his body towards you instead of the console.

"If you don't mind, can you let go of my wrist? Surely you have your own reasons for being here than to bother me."

Ford snarkily comments on your odd behavior. He looks at your hand, almost disgusted, and attempts to wiggle his lim away. But your surprising strength keeps him there. You finally speak up quickly, hushing Ford before he can comment on you again.

"Ford. You are nearing your 60s."

You grit your teeth as you think about how such an intelligent man like Ford can act bitterly to someone like yourself for some petty reason.

"What's the point of keeping up with this whole... Hate thing for me? Like, I'm actually confused about you! Why spend so much time and effort to hate on one person and have it be me?"

You are trying hard to shout as you break into a rant about all of the times he has treated you differently and how much it has affected you negatively. Your grip on his wrist goes into both of your hands on the lapels of his coat, nearly shaking him.

Ford is growing irritated not only by you putting your hands on him but also by you asking why he hates you so much. He roughly grabs your arms.

"Get a hold of yourself! You will activate something hazardous; it will all be your fault because you can't bear the fact that I strongly dislike you!"

He steps close, pushing a finger into your chest, and makes you step into the console. You chuckle as his response feels more like an excuse than anything. Your face hardens as you laugh, even in between the console and Ford. You push closer to Ford in an attempt to at least win by making him uncomfortable.

"Oh, it's going to be my fault? Of course, to you, everything is my fault when a small inconvenience happens to you!"

You are chest to chest, having to look up at Ford with his height. A finger raises to push to the tip of his nose mockingly.

"Because you think nothing bad ever comes from you, doesn't it? Isn't that right, little Mister Perfect?"

He pulls back as your finger lingers on his nose, his cheeks dust a warm pink.

"You always make assumptions about me. It's insane!"

Perhaps it's something in the aged air, but it only brings you more confidence. You stomp on his foot, and before you let him react, you take fistfuls of his coat, sweeping him to the console. He groans in pain and gasps at the suddenness of everything.

"What is it, Ford? Do you think that you are too good to even give me an answer to my question?"

He coughs as you push yourself against him. A determined look paints your expression, and he stares into your eyes, unsure of what to do. He does the occasional shift and shuffle, but your iron grip keeps him pinned and leaning comfortably on the console.

"It's anything but that! God forbid I can't be unrealistically nice to everyone on this doomed planet!"

He moves enough to leave him heaving. Eventually, it seems that the tension churns between you as you stare into each other eyes with an odd passion. You smirk until you peek at his lips; if force doesn't get the answer out, maybe being unpredictable could.

The silence speaks for itself as you roughly mash your lips into his. He gasps into the rough kiss, and he keeps his eyes open. You know how little experience Ford has in kissing and other spicy stuff, but you are more than willing to let him take on the challenge.

After a long minute or three, you tempt them to pry his soft lips with your warm tongue, and he resists, but with a hand to push his jawline, he becomes putty.

He can't help but gasp and feel his hips naturally move into yours as he steps into new foreign territory, making out. His reactions make you smirk; it encourages you to push him more as a hand rubs tenderly into the fat of his hip through his pants.

He pulls away, desperate for air; you chuckle, watching his turtleneck stretch and shift with his heaving chest. You don't wait for him; a sneaky finger finds its way to drag the turtle's neck down to reveal his delicious neck. You peck his skin from his shivering lips and strong jaw to, finally, his pale neck.

He mutters through his breath, asking you to be careful. You start with soft kisses to rough bites, making him yelp, which you shoot up, covering his mouth; you lean in close to his ear in a ticklish whisper to his ear.

"Who's going to activate something now, hm? Better hang on, Know it All, because I'm just starting."

He hums in slight confusion into your hand as he isn't prepared for your hand going from his hip to his growing bulge. You message it, pressing, twisting, poking it. His cock quickly wets the fabric making a notable stain.

He gasps and bites down on your hand. You keep it there for him; his reaction is worth every tooth mark on your hand.

He wriths under you, spitting out your hand. You expected a more suitable expression, but you were pleasantly surprised when he glared at you; he leaned to you in a raspy growl.

"I hate you... So much."

You giggle with evident delight enjoying him being pissed off. That is until you feel a hand snake around your back and push you into his hips. Catching you off guard and yelp.

Now, he is the one to smirk, and he starts to fall into an addicting rhythm between you and him. You are not happy to be caught, so off guard, your eyes twitch, and you feel your pride falter just a little.

"Don't make an old man like me all riled up and expect me to finish the job all by myself."

You sit up in one more attempt to roughly kiss him, hands, tongue, and all. He isn't surprised this time. He is a quick learner, after all. And a mix of tounges and saliva as Ford fights against you again, even during the long kiss.

He lasts longer, leaving you to pull away. You catch your breath, and listening to his comment makes you click in your brain.

"I thought you hated me. But don't you hate me nearly enough to keep me from being pushed away during intimacy?"

He stays quiet and stares at you unamused; his silence is up to you whether he truly feels about you.

Nevertheless, this is progress between you and Ford. Besides, you had a long "investigation" session with Ford in the UFO.

[ashen-char]

dating river - hcs (pt 2!)

ship: river (all souls) x gender neutral reader

warnings: bit of swearin

notes: since the last one was so focused on river as a mom and how you slot into her little family, enjoy some more general hcs about your relationship. requested here

✦ river hates grand gestures. she just doesn't know how to deal with them, she's not really a romantic

✧ the tiny things you do always surprise and elate her though

✧ a simple handwritten note, a surprise cup of coffee, buying snacks or Monster for her without being asked

✧ she likes that you think of her when you're out, though she does tease you for being so fucking cheesy

✦ if you asked, river would say she loves your sense of humour

✧ the fact that you can make her smile on the toughest days is why she just couldn't help falling for you

✦ protective

✧ if anyone messes with you, they'd better watch out because river would deck a motherfucker for ya

✦ river initiates physical affection surprisingly often

✧ despite her tough, 'i don't need anyone' exterior, river craves physical closeness and intimacy with you

✧ she likes to use touch as a way to express her care in a tangible way

✧ sometimes she just needs a hug to recharge after a bad day

✧ you can feel river smiling into your kiss. she thinks you can't hear it but you always catch a little "god i love you"

✦ river always sings. you wonder if she notices she does it so often

✧ usually it's a lullaby, but occasionally you'll catch river vibing to some top 40 even though she swears she doesn't listen to it

✦ with her never being in a proper relationship, she always prefaces whatever she does for you with a "ok so i didn't know what to do but"

✧ and yet everything she's attempted has been the best ever!

✦ river doesn't do a lot for herself! anything extra in her paycheck (i.e. whatever didn't need to be put towards bills or the week's groceries) she used to buy toys and clothes for her daughter

✧ so you were surprised when river took some of her hard-earned cash to give you gifts too

✧ river struggles to accept thanks for 'em, even when they're so sweet and thoughtful and river clearly put a lot of effort into getting things she knew you needed or would love

✧ river hides her smile and stuffs her hands into her hoodie, shrugging. "yeah whatever, don't say i never do anything for ya"

✧ and she is AWFUL at accepting compliments

✧ whatever she doesn't bat away with "you're just saying that", she'd go completely still and blush hard. she tends to brush them off or respond with a joke

✧ hates being called cute. don't try it.

✦ she lets you steal her hoodies

✧ when she noticed how much you love 'em, river even bought some just for you and pretended she was going to keep them

✧ she sprayed these with extra perfume so you can keep that river scent a little longer

✦ when she's out, she likes to take random pictures of things that remind her of you and you've never felt so seen

✦ with her busy schedule, river sets aside dedicated time to spend with you, free from distractions and interruptions, notifications from cops be damned

✦ river plans awesome dates. they're the perfect blend of fun and being able to talk and be together

✧ she shows you how to tag, showing you hidden spots where you can make beautiful art together

✧ she takes you to the tattoo parlour and lets you choose her next one. river swears she's tough but it hurts less when she's holding your hand, ok?

✧ she'll cook you home cooked meals. she asks you questions about what you loved to eat growing up, surprising you by already knowing how to cook it the next time you come over because she stayed up researching it

✧ she knows the best spots in the city and loves showing them to you. she knows the city like it's the back of her hand

✧ like making notes on her phone of what you'd enjoy, writing all her ideas about where to go next

✦ she was surprised when you slowed the relationship down and told her that you'd be ok with not sleeping together so soon

✧ river had this long lasting thought that people only liked her if she did stuff for them - be that favours for friends or spreading her legs

✧ so she couldn't understand how you claimed to like her without her 'doing anything' for you

✧ you had to very explicitly explain that her being around made you happy and that there was nothing else to it. she only understood when you asked her why she likes you, and river realised that there was no real reason either

✧ like, of course you two appreciate when you do things for each other. but those things should be done because you want to. because you care about each other. it's not the reverse - that people only care because they got something

✧ so you two waited before you got intimate. and every day that went by without affection having to escalate, river's trust that you wouldn't leave her built

✧ she doesn't completely get what you like about her. but river realises that she doesn't have to

✧ you like her, and she likes you, and that's all both of you need

✦ the fact that she has someone to depend on now means the world to her, and you know river would never take you for granted

[nicki0kaye]

random Kallus hc inspired by someone else's post #2

man he's gotta hate that he lost his bo-rifle to fucking Thrawn

like so the moral of the Honorable Ones to me was Kallus realizing he has nothing of value in his life--he has TWO personal items to his name; this fuckin glow rock and his bo-rifle which he has just learned is his by right. Regardless of what he did to Lasan, regardless of all the awful reasons he should never be accepted by any of his enemies, that fucking bo-rifle is his and no Honor Guard of Lasan can argue otherwise. There are a lot of reasons he turns on the Empire, but this is where it starts. The realization his life is so small and so empty, and he just limped back to it. Why? Why is this life worth living? And with more research, it stops being a selfish desire to ditch and becomes an informed hatred of the Empire, BUT

lets go back to that kernel of rebellion. Kallus' life is small and empty. He's got a Rock and Bo-Rifle. That's all that defines him outside his identity as a ISB officer.

He just acquired the Rock. He's been living with bo-rifle as his single defining trait for maybe a decade at this point. It's an extension of his beef with Lasat in general, which started on Onderon when one blew up his first Big Boy Mission. It makes sense he'd fixate on such a traumatic event but it's not JUST that. You don't get to have personal hobbies or a sense of fashion or really any kind of identity within the Empire outside who you personally want to fuck up. Kallus chose the Lasat and got fucking spiteful about it, which led him to the Siege of Lasan, where he won his bo-rifle.

but like, it's more than that. It isn't just hatred--if it were, I don't think Zeb would have gotten to him. I think that Kallus has had a buried respect for the Lasat for a long time, if only because of how much time and effort it took to win and then become proficient with the bo-rifle. Then there's the layer of it being the only true outlet for identity he's allowed. THEN there's the fact the bo-rifles are a Force weapon. They've got kyber crystals inside them. And I personally subscribe to the idea that everyone can sense the Force, thus be guided by the Force, it's just that not everyone can recognize what is intuition/one's own emotions and what is the Force, nevermind having an ability to influence other shit with the Force.

What I'm trying to say is I wanna believe Kallus bonded with his bo-rifle in a cosmic way. He is the Warrior, hunting the future; the Force always had plans for his ass and saw that a Force-conductive weapon made its way into his hands, that he then spent years becoming deadly with. That fucking weapon is connected to his soul.

and he lost it to Thrawn.

Thrawn didn't beat him in a fight while Kallus was armed with his bo-rifle, but he super beat his ass in a fight. Even if Kallus could argue he didn't earn the bo-rifle, Kallus couldn't retrieve it before having to gtfo. It's still somewhere on Thrawn's stupid ship--my assumption is that Thrawn goes and adds it to his collection of stolen artwork.

Regardless, Kallus doesn't have it anymore. This thing he poured what little identity he was allowed to maintain, years of hard work and practice and countless battles where he relied on it to keep him alive as his primary weapon, nevermind a Force connection, anyone would become attached to a weapon after years of service. This reminder of Lasan, this piece of history, its fucking gone now.

I don't think he'd think he's allowed to mourn that, considering all he's done, but you can't logic away your feelings, and now he's with a group of ppl who actively find that kind of coping pretty fucking unhealthy. At some point he's gonna have to process what that weapon meant to him and its not gonna be pretty.

imo, he gets a tat of it on the forearm of his dominant hand. He'd think about it for a long time but only go through with it after finally discussing all his mixed up feelings with Zeb, who would super approve of him paying his respects to a sacred fuckin weapon this way. It was his, by right, by soul, by will of the Ashla.

[sciderman]

Reading New Mutants #98 is such a wild experience because Wade still acts as the snarky and kinda sadistic shit talking queen of mercs, but he's also like...super menacing and competent too? Especialy next to today where people fuck him up like a noob, seeing him taking out a group of mutants with gadgets and tricks, body Nathan and having to be taken out by a suprise element was a true shock...and i kinda love it? Like, Wade shows up and he's actually a threat, but a threat that doesn't even take you seriously, he insults you but is also oddly polite to his main target. What is your take on the original version of Wade?

interesting question! really really reaaaally interesting question! new mutants #98 is an issue i've read like, a million times because newer comics always always always recontextualise it - so you find out, wait - domino was vanessa in disguise, so actually, she probably had an insight on how to take down wade better than anyone else - wait, nathan knew wade as someone who saves his life so was probably pulling his punches actually - wait - the guy who sent wade to kill nate was actually nathan's SON?? like there's five million plot twists that come after new mutants #98 that get me rereading it over and over.

i do love that wade's introduced as someone who is equipped and prepared – he definitely was more competent in the earlier comics, he was perpetually a threat, and always had just the contrived weapon in his arsenal needed to take out certain mutants with certain powers.

they kind of gradually started stripping him of all that - i think when he started making the transition from minor villain to empathetic anti-hero, they started stripping him of his teleporter belt, his image inducer, his swiss-army-knife arsenal that made every fight too convenient for him. and now - now he's just a guy with two swords and maximum effort.

i'm not saying it's bad – buuuut... i love the mission impossible movies. i love impossible gadgets. it's so much more fun to see than just, you know, guys hitting and slashing at each other. give me stupid weird gadget that wade has tucked away in some pouch belt of plot convenience specifically to take down this specific guy with weird specific powers. give me a competent wade who did all the research before going into the fight. not a wade wilson who kind of coasts by with dumb luck and gumption.

but - you know, on the topic of wade being hyper-competent in new mutants #98 it's - kind of not something i believe, either. sure, he's a menace to those kids but - remember, he does still get his ass handed to him in a humiliating kind of a way. what a start to his career. and these guys aren't shaken at all. no "oh my god. this guy is someone we should worry about. we should worry about letting him free." no. wade is shipped back to his employer in a box. there's no worry that he might come back angrier. deadpool's kind of a joke.

nathan summers does often maintain a level-head in general - buuut, i just don't think there was any moment in that fight that nathan really thought he was going to lose against wade. there was no "oh no, all hope is lost" moment. wade was just quick with his punches, sure, but i don't think the cards were actually in his favour. nathan wasn't incapacitated, and would have easily taken wade down.

he kind of just didn't want to, i don't think.

i think maybe he wanted to see what wade could do. and i think if nate really thought wade was a threat to the kids, nathan would have protected them more fiercely. there's no reason at all why nathan couldn't have so, so easily just - yeeted wade out of the building. wade really, really wouldn't have stood a chance if nathan really saw him as a threat to him or (especially) to the kids. nate's training up these kids. he probably saw wade as just - adequate practice for them, but no real threat. wade is completely manageable for him.

i think later on wade gets savvy to the fact that nathan usually pulls the punches with him.

nathan could so, so easily just...

if he didn't want to deal with deadpool.

i think vanessa probably knew that too. and i think that's why she stepped in when she did - because she probably thought if wade pushed too far and trod on one of nathan's nerves, it would be the end for wade. so she neutralised him.

i write a bit about it in i love you, wade wilson - my beloved fic about deadpool's early days.

[project-sekai-facts]

Regarding your post about censorship: I'm like 90% sure most of this is not censorship (they left the entirety of buddy funny as it was. I refuse to believe "partner" is where they draw the line). I've played tons of Japanese video games in official English; the usual standard for translation is, in practice, that it shouldn't be obvious it wasn't originally written in English. Imo, this is the actual difference between "the miles i fell in love with is so cool!" (Not grammatically incorrect but not how actual people speak) and the official. As for it having romantic connotation to begin with, lol you said you got that from looking it up but Google the same thing in English and you will still get only romantic advice because it just assumes you're asking when the appropriate time to say I love you in a relationship is.... It could've been a joke, or a gay allegation, an anime way of speaking, or even nothing. How would you know which? I absolutely do not mean this in a rude way and I'm really sorry if it comes off like that but. I don't think you can comment on the connotations of words or level of casualness without speaking the language yourself.

Same with minoharu; it's (unfortunately) not canon. If she actually said "I love you!!" Regardless of dictionary definitions, it will be read as a romantic confession by most players, and you often say the game likes ambiguity so I take it that's a no. "I like you!" Is rather an awkward thing to yell in english, though. So "you're the best" is what they substitute.

(Please don't blame the translators for stuff this insignificant tbh. Some things in early game may sound clunky, but they've really smoothed out over time in terms of word choice sounding natural (...event names notwithstanding). I've done translations between my first language and English for fun; if you linger on every last word and it's connotations, you will go /insane/ reallyyy quickly. Imo no two words in different languages have the exact same meaning, connotation, use case etc. Ever. Differences of this level are utterly inevitable when games have so much text.)

Anyway. Thanks for all the effort you put into this blog, it's a fantastic one and it's not my intention to be harsh, if it comes off like that please just delete this ask. Don't feel bad about something some stranger on the internet said.

to be honest I don't think it's all censorship either, i just kinda went off on a tangent about things getting removed in translation and i did put in the post reasons why these translations actually are valid (aside from Toya woao because they did leave that one in the card name so it was a deliberate choice to remove it from the story, thereby also removing the reference in the card name). That Asahi post is old and I have done more research into it since, because my JP isn't good so I've gotta make up for it somehow, and literally every dictionary definition and anything I can find for that word frames it as romantic. For the extra mile I checked Japanese dictionaries for languages other than English. I found one thing saying it can be used for an idolisation, but even in that instance the way it's framed in the story is still done in a way that could be viewed as ship tease. In other words, it's probably romantic. Even if he's just talking about the character and not Tsukasa, it has a romantic reading and removing it was a deliberate choice. "The miles i fell in love with is so cool" might sound a bit rough, but it could have still been translated to keep the original context no problem. You could've just done something like "well of course it was cool. i fell in love with miles for a reason" or "it was so cool! as expected of the miles i love". the thing is with writing for a game like this is sometimes people need to say things that in real life you would probably just say in your head. the POV character for this event is Rui so we can't just take a look at the thoughts of the characters, which is why what they're feeling needs to be conveyed through text even if it sacrifices a bit of the realism. especially in a visual novel styled game like this because the characters are limited to a 2D model with limited movement and expression. if this was an anime you could probably get more leeway with what they say because you can convey the character's feelings through various other means (eg: the animated MVs that don't have any dialogue but could convey a story and emotion much better than looking at the in-game version of the scene with no dialogue). Don't worry I don't think you came off as rude and I know I shouldn't really talk about a language I don't speak but I hope the research can at least kind of make up for it.

Minoharu isn't canon I know but it's very obvious that what Minori feels for Haruka goes into romantic territory, whether you like the ship or not. And sure, if you put "I love you" most people would probably read it as romantic by default, but that hasn't stopped the translators before. "You're the best" honestly is a valid localisation that still conveys pretty much the same meaning I just find it odd that "I love you" is removed here, a flashback scene from a point in time where minori and haruka didn't know each other, but is translated with accuracy in multiple interactions between An and Kohane in present day. If Minori and Haruka don't know each other it's slightly less likely that people will interpret it as romantic and slightly more likely that people will interpret it as a simple idolisation but with An an Kohane actually knowing each other and having a close and affectionate relationship the go-to is probably gonna be romantic (which isn't wrong considering the events of BFST and Wishing for Your Happiness, but still sticks out that they left this in here but change it for another couple with heavy romantic subtext).

I'm not blaming this on the translators, they're just doing their job and obviously with localisation you've gotta lose stuff, it's just that some of these are very specific things to cut (eg: any indication of Asahi feeling romantically towards Tsukasa's character and ambiguously Tsukasa himself is completely absent in the official translation). I'm blaming this on the higher ups at sega who get the final say on what is and isn't included in the translation. You can't translate everything directly because languages don't all work exactly the same, especially english and japanese. obviously due to these differences, you're not going to be able to translate everything directly and localisation is necessary (regardless of language) to make it accessible and easy to read for an audience outside the country of origin. but there are gonna be questions raised when a scene is localised to keep the same meaning as the original text aside from one line that removes notable queer subtext. because if they can keep the rest of toya's speech in line with the original but they specifically remove the part about him wanting to stay side-by-side with akito forever and change it to wanting to perform side-by-side, despite the fact they left in the "now on and always" part in his card name, that was removed from the story intentionally. they kept what asahi says to tsukasa with the same meaning as well, but any indication of asahi feeling romantically towards the other is completely gone. the issue is that sega seems to be intentionally removing queer subtext from the game.

don't worry anon this wasn't harsh, and localisation is something that actually interests me and i've read into quite a bit, so i enjoy the opportunity to talk about it. and thank you as well!

[hyperfixated-homo]

The Disney Trivia

Ao3 Link (leave a comment if you wanna! it would make my day <3)

Summary:

It's been months now since the side's have made up, and started actually treating each other like family. Now, with everything back together, they have the brilliant idea to play a game of trivia!

In which, Virgil and Roman are the hosts (who knows more about Disney than those two?) and also may be dating, we'll get back to you on that one.

Patton and Janus are flirting the whole time.

And Remus just thinks Logan is neat.

A/N: Holy god that is the most I have ever written in a single session ever. I don't regret it at all, this was amazing asodijowajd. I missed a lot! But it was kinda necessary because the fic would have been hella long otherwise and some of it was contradictory. I hope you guys like it :)

Word Count: 5117

Ships: Mociet, Prinxiety, Intrulogical

Warnings: Mentions of Remus' heart squishing? I don't think there's anything to be really concerned about lmao

“Why are we doing this again?”

“Because DISNEY Logan!”

“That’s not exactly a sufficient answer, Roman.”

Patton smiled at the two of them as they started bickering. Even now, months after their little family sorted through their drama and everyone started getting along, it seemed like some things would never change.

The sides sat together in a large debate hall, apparently a dreamspace Logan had created a while back for a video with Virgil. Back then it had been the two of them arguing over Thomas’ negative thinking, but now it was being used for something much more fun. The side’s first ever proper group trivia!

It was an idea Roman had a couple weeks ago, during their family game nights (which mainly consisted of uncontrollable chaos). He had thrown it out there randomly during a game of Kahoot, but forgot about it shortly after.

It wasn’t until earlier that week that it was brought up again.

Virgil had come up to him shyly asking if he still felt down to do a proper game of trivia, and had suggested the first theme: Disney!

Roman had agreed instantly, and the two of them spent a couple days planning and researching for the game.

The two of them would be running the game as hosts, while the other sides were split into groups of two. Janus and Patton had been dubbed team Mociet, while Logan and Remus were in team Intrulogical.

Patton was more than a little confused when Remus started giggling at the names, but shrugged it off.

The room had been decorated more interestingly for the fun occasion. Roman and Virgil had stated that they wanted to go all out for this trivia, even if it’s more of a joke than anything else.

The curtains behind were closed, colored black as they were before, but now had added detailing that made it a less monotone background. They had strung up simple banners on the wall, and there were more than a couple new lights in the room that they wanted to use for aesthetic purposes. The floor had been changed to carpeting that had a full rainbow gradient from one corner of the room to the other.

But most importantly was the art.

Hundreds of paintings of Disney characters lined the walls. Different, stylised versions of every princess, prince and villain imaginable had been drawn on them in bright, vibrant colors.

Logan was very confused when he saw them, noting that they wouldn’t be seen much anyways since the attention would be on the judges and the stage, so he didn’t understand why they would put so much effort into it.

Roman said that it didn’t matter.

(The amount of fun that he and Remus had painting them together more than made up for it.)

It was a very neat set up! And according to the boys, there were a couple other things too that they hadn't even shown yet, because they wanted it to be a surprise for when the game actually started.

“Wow, they’re still going?”

Janus’ voice cut through Patton’s thoughts, snapping his attention to the snakey side on his left.

“Huh? Oh- they stopped arguing about the scoreboard ten minutes ago. This is a new argument.”

Janus looked at him with a deadpan expression that Patton couldn’t help but smile at.

“It’s not that bad. We just need to wait for Virgil to get the cards! He’s not going to take that long.”

Janus’ eyes softened quickly, and he turned to look back at Logan and Roman. “Yes… I suppose so. We’ll just have to wait.”

Then he turned back around, suddenly seeming a lot more competitive. “What’s our game plan?”

Patton blinked. He had absolutely no clue what Janus was talking about.

“The what now?”

Janus sighed, fondly exasperated.

“How are we going to win this Patton? You probably know at least a little bit about disney. I’m going to be fully honest, I know virtually nothing. I would say that the teams are fair in that sense except Logan’s a massive Marvel nerd and Remus knows almost as much about Disney in general as Roman, so it really isn’t. We’re at a massive disadvantage here.”

Patton blinked, again.

And Janus sighed, again.

“Do we not- is there no game plan?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Patton looked between him and Roman. “…be nice and hope for the best?”

Janus looked at him for a moment, then once again turned away, mumbling something about how hard it would be to gaslight Virgil into giving them points. Patton was about to make a concerned remark when the door slammed open and the anxious side himself walked into the room.

“Alright losers, stop the fighting. It’s game time.”

Roman audibly squealed, immediately stumbling over to his stand.

“Okay everybody stand in your area. Go stand- you too remus, you stand normally by your podium. We’re starting! Play the music! Why isn’t- LOGAN, THIS IS YOUR DREAMSCAPE, PLAY THE MUSIC!”

Logan rolled his eyes, but complied with the prince’s request, snapping his fingers. The Disney theme started playing, and suddenly the lights shut off.

As the music swelled, new, brighter spotlights slammed on, and the four contestants were surprised to see that they’d been changed into stunning suits and corsets, similar to their outfits at the courtroom but clearly glamorized by Roman. Their podiums had changed as well, the old wooden stands being covered fabric of their own colors with their symbols at the bottom.

Before they had time to even mention the change, another bright spotlight illuminated their hosts. Virgil and Roman were also wearing new clothes, much more layered outfits with more designs sewn into them. Virgil was sat down behind a tilted table that no doubt hid the question cards, while Roman stood in front of them.

The short intro theme faded into a bright show theme, something Patton vaguely recognised.

Roman jumped forwards, welcoming them to the show and going over a prepared speech that played in time with the music.

“Welcome everyone to the first ever Sanders Sides Trivia! Not about us, but being played by us! Today we have a very special theme, suggested by my darling emo nightmare behind me,” Virgil blushed and gave a little wave “DISNEY!”

Patton cheered. Remus joined in, and then all four of them were clapping for Roman.

His eyes were alight as he walked in front of them, posture bubbly in a way that it only ever was when he got the chance to be on stage.

“Thank you! Thank you all!” He took a mock bow.

“Today on the stage we have our two wonderful teams! First up, Team Mociet! Featuring everyone’s favorite father figure, Patton, and the slithery snake himself, Janus!”

Remus whooped from beside them, and Logan and Virgil clapped for them loudly.

Janus loudly said “Totally hate being here today, how dare you invite me.”

Patton waved at everyone, unable to stop himself from giggling.

“And as their competitors today, we’ve got our brilliant book nerd, Logan, and his partner in crime (who may or may not have actually committed some crimes), Remus!”

He and Janus cheered for them, and Remus laughed maniacally while the two of them waved as well.

“I am, of course, Roman Sanders, and this is Virgil! We will be your hosts today everybody!” he continued. The four of them together gave them a round of applause, Patton and Remus yelling out compliments over the loud noise.

“Thank you, thank you. And thank you all for coming! We’re going to go over some ground rules first, before the game can officially start, so we can just jump straight into it!”

He made his way behind the table, as he said that, sitting down. The next part was apparently Virgil’s job to present.

“We’re playing by a point system. You are given points for getting questions right, giving us a good argument or just being cool in general. We’d set better requirements but honestly, I’m sure that all of you guys would find a loophole no matter what rules we set. So we’re not doing that. Points are given based entirely on how me and Roman feel about your answers.” He leaned forwards in his chair, and rested his head in his hands, elbows on the table.

“We can also add points at any time in the game!” Roman chimed in quickly “Not just during question times! For example, padre, I’m loving the attitude right now. Plus ten points!”

There was a loud ring, and then the curtains opened behind them to show a big board, with the two teams' scores on it. Team Mociet had ten points.

Virgil continued. “We can and will take away points, too. Not for getting questions wrong, but for other things. Arguments we don’t like, trying to cheat, sabotage, all that good stuff. Like, say, that stupid hat Janus is still wearing. Minus ten points. Bad hat.”

There was a sort of power down sound, and they watched the points be erased and go down to zero.

Janus didn’t say anything. He just looked at Virgil with the most “are you serious right now” face he could muster. Patton tried his absolute hardest to not laugh next to him. He mostly succeeded.

Virgil was not phased.

“Also, fun fact, even though we can’t actually participate or win, me and Roman can also get points. Because we’re just superior to you guys in every way. We have pretty general rules here, no changing the answer, no physical fighting, no attempted murder, the usual things. Basically just don’t break our monopoly rules and we’ll probably be fine.”

“We’re also not going to win anything.” Patton wondered how long Virgil and Roman had rehearsed this for them to be this in sync. “This is obviously just for fun. No need to get too competitive. I’m looking at you Logan.”

“That’s bold coming from the guy who played checkers with Janus for five hours because he refused to stop until he won a game.” Remus called out.

“That’s not what we’re talking about right now.” Roman replied “And honestly, you would have too if you saw how close I was. There were so many times I almost won. We tied at least-”

“ANYWAYS!” Virgil interrupted him. If Roman started rambling now they would never actually play. “That’s all we have to say. We might add or change some rules later on if things are too chaotic.”

“Right, right. Okay! With that all out of the way, let the games begin!”

A happy little tune that sounded somewhat similar to the ending of a looney toons episode played, and the lights flickered on again.

There was silence for a moment in the debate room, and then Virgil spoke quietly.

“So… how was that?”

“Guys that was amazing!! Oh my goodness I loved it!!” Patton was practically vibrating on the spot from pure excitement over the performance that the two of them just gave.

“Oh I absolutely despised the personal nicknames. Horribly kind of you.” Janus couldn’t seem to keep a smile off his face, clearly also very hyped up.

“I was not expecting the lightshow, I will admit. It was a brilliant choice to use that blackout period to change the scenery, we were all invested quite quickly.” Logan commented.

“Very good idea. We all look hotter than a hooker on a Friday evening in these clothes!” Was Remus’ response. An interesting complement, but a complement nonetheless.

Their judges were clearly happy with the positive reception, Roman hardly able to keep still in his chair and Virgil’s eyeshadow glowing a bright, glittery purple.

“Then let us not waste any more time! Onwards, to the competition!”

Patton let himself relax into a more comfortable standing position, as the category of the first questions were announced.

They would have an absolute blast playing this, he was sure. He just wondered if it would get as chaotic as their previous family times.

———

Everything instantly fell apart.

Well, instantly was a bit of a stretch. Everyone behaved for at least five minutes, usually the game nights spiral downhill as soon as it starts!

Patton just needs to keep looking at the positives. If not, he might literally explode.

“THUMBS both ARE and ARE NOT FINGERS, ROMAN. Some people, especially those in the medical field, do refer to them as such for simplicity's sake, but the truth is that the answer to that question is SUBJECTIVE. They have a DIFFERENT ANATOMY, ROMAN. I DID NOT ANSWER INCORRECTLY.”

“LOGAN THE QUESTION WAS HOW MANY FINGERS MICKEY MOUSE HAS. IT ISN’T THAT COMPLICATED.”

“DEFINE A FINGER FOR ME ROMAN. DEFINE IT. TELL ME WHAT A FINGER IS. IS A THUMB A FINGER TO YOU? IS IT? DOES EVERYONE HERE CONSIDER A THUMB A FINGER?”

Remus raised his hand lazily, pretending to not find this entire situation hilarious. “I don’t think a thumb is a finger. It’s a digit.”

“REMUS STOP SUCKING UP TO LOGAN LIKE THAT FOR MORE POINTS-”

It was honestly sort of amazing that they’d managed to start screaming at each other so quickly. They hadn't even gotten to the actual “debate for points” questions. These were just regular trivia. And yet they somehow managed to start a debate. About fingers.

When Virgil said that they could gain points by “giving a good argument”, Patton didn’t think he considered how far Logan and Janus were willing to go to convince the others that they were correct. Maybe he forgot that one debated for fun and the other liked to pretend to be a lawyer. This was bound to happen eventually.

Although, Patton wasn’t really focusing on that right now, but rather the fact that Janus was trying to change the points on the scoreboard behind them again.

“Jan! Stop that!” He whisper shouted.

“Stop what? I’m not doing anything.” He lied. Like a liar.

“Stop trying to give us points, we’re tied already, it doesn’t matter!”

Indeed, the two teams were tied at 30 points each, after seven questions. So far, they had been pretty simple, and the reason that their team didn’t have more points was because Virgil had randomly decided to subtract five from them, because he “felt like Janus was up to something. Nothing in particular but… something.”

He was right, obviously. Janus was trying to steal the question cards from the host table with one of his spare hands. But Virgil didn’t know that.

“No, you're right. I’m sorry sweetheart. There’s no point in cheating this early in the game, it’ll just make the others suspicious and make it harder to do so later on. I’ll save that one for later” Janus winked.

“That is not what I meant and you know it mister.” Patton crossed his arms, as if that would make Janus take him more seriously.

“Do I?” His mischievous smirk only seemed to grow.

“Yes! You do!”

“Sorry about that darling. I’ll get it eventually, promise.” Even if Patton wasn’t literally face to face with him right now, he would be able to hear the smirk in Janus’ voice.

“That’s-”

“FINE. YOU GUYS CAN GET TWO POINTS. IS THAT OKAY?”

“FINE.”

“FINE.”

Roman threw his hand up and the scoreboard behind them changed to show the numbers 30 - 32.

All four of the other sides just stared at the two of them.

“Okay, Virgil, what’s the next question?”

He looked Roman up and down, squinted, and then looked away.

“Uh… when did snow white come out.”

“Alright. JANUS.” The deceitful side jumped slightly, then turned to Roman, smoothing out his outfit as if it never happened.

“Right. What’s the question?”

“Minus five points for not paying attention.”

“Wha- excuse me?” Janus stared at Virgil in shock. “That’s not fair-”

“Shoulda been listening dude. You keep forgetting that we can do that. Pay attention.” Virgil smirked at Janus’ barely concealed rage. “The question is what year Snow White came out.”

Janus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Pfft, easy. 1957”

Roman stood up quickly, and in a dramatic gesture moved to point at Janus “HAH, WRONG! It was-”

“No, it’s not! It’s totally 1947! Are you just making stuff up to make me lose?”

Roman stared at him, immediately stumped. He spluttered out a “What? No! I promise it’s-”

But Janus was quick, and also an expert gaslighter. “Then did someone change the date on the flash card? Because it was definitely 1937! How could you get such an easy question wrong!?”

Roman’s mouth opened and closed a couple times, as if he was trying to refute the statement but couldn’t find the words.

“When did it come out then?”

Virgil rolled his eyes in response. “1937. Dude you were off by like twenty years.”

“No he wasn’t.” Remus’ voice. Yet again speaking purely to add on to this meaningless argument, adding flame to the fire. “He said 1937.”

Virgil looked at him like he’d grown four heads. “N- dude did you miss that entire conversation? He said 1957.”

“He did also say 1937, though.” Said Logan, as if he was helping them in literally any way. “Are we still counting it if he changes his answer before the actual answer is revealed? His final date was 1937.”

Roman just stood there, trying and failing to process their questions. Virgil answered for him.

“We. We’re not accepting that. Final decision. We’re the hosts here, and he’s not getting any points.” Then he turned to glare at Janus again. “Matter of fact, minus five points for trying to trick us.”

Now it was Janus’ turn to splutter, exclaiming various forms of “what the hell, Virgil?” and “why??? Just why???”

Patton sighed, leaning down to lay his head on his stand.

“Patton! This next question is for you!”

He snapped his head up to look at them, smiling on instinct. “Yeah! I got this!”

“I thought it was one question per team-” Logan tried to interject but Roman steamrolled over him.

“How many years was Genie from Aladdin trapped in the magic lamp?”

“Oh! Uhh… like a hundred thousand years right? It was a really long time!”

Roman looked at his card, then at Virgil. He just shrugged. “Close enough.”

The princely side turned back to Patton, a beaming smile on his face. “Great job popstar, 10 points for you! You’re doing fantastic!”

“Ten poi- he didn’t even get it right?!”

“Shush up Logan, he deserves it. Anyways, Remus!”

Patton found himself smiling as well. The fact that his kiddos would give him points even when he got it wrong, ah he loved them so much!

He looked over to see what Janus thought, only to see him quickly turn away to look at their friends. He caught a glimpse of a smile on his face though, a moment of fondness in his expression.

And then Patton found himself smiling a whole lot more.

It was nice. This was nice. Maybe a little bit chaotic, but when were they not?

Besides, it wasn’t that bad.

———

At some point during the trivia, Virgil and Roman had started to give themselves points. Which was fine, they had mentioned that they would do so at the start after all!

But then they started doing so increasingly often.

Like, every couple minutes often.

For things like how cute the other looked, or how smart they were, or how well they worked together.

And they gave each other a lot of points. Like, hundreds of points. Way too many points, considering the fact that it was over double the amount of points the two teams had combined.

So Remus and Logan, the competitive bastards that they were, of course immediately decided to comment on it and start a debate on whether it was appropriate to give each other points for things like “the color of their eyes” (Roman you can’t give your team points every time you look at Virgil because you think he’s pretty. If we could all do that then what is even the point of the point system in the first place?)

And the hosts immediately took offense, justifying it by saying that they were the ones in charge here, so obviously they got to decide what was and wasn’t a good reason to give someone points.

Which prompted Janus to start another debate about how unjust it was that the two of them were in complete control in this situation even though it was not through democratic election, thus making them the unofficial rulers of a self proclaimed biarchy.

To which they responded that since it’s not a government system, it doesn’t work like that.

And now they were talking about kingdom hierarchy, in the middle of a disney debate.

And yet again, Patton could not find reason to care, because Janus was once again attempting to change the scores in their favor.

“Jay! We said that you couldn’t do this!”

“We said? I think you mean you said, my dear. I never agreed to anything.”

Patton threw his head back tiredly. “Janus, that’s cheating. It’s not fair to the others! We aren’t even winning anything, there’s no need to keep trying to find ways to win!”

“Oh but Patton, I need to do something to assist you! After all, you’ve almost been carrying me this whole game!”

That was true. Virgil and Roman had tried their absolute hardest to find ways to discredit Janus’ every answer, and take away points from him at any chance they got. In direct juxtaposition, they gave Patton as many points as they possibly could, even for completely incorrect answers.

(Patton didn’t really know how to explain that the points didn’t really mean anything to him, and by now was answering wrong just to see how Janus would react when they gave him the points. The fact that they were somehow still above negative points was honestly just a bonus.)

“C’mon sugar, let me do this? Please?”

Well. If Janus was going to play it like that, then Patton was going to have to bring out the big guns as well.

He turned to him, opened his eyes, and gave him is best pouty face.

He saw the exact moment Janus’ face went from “smug flirting” to “oh no he’s cute”.

He had to fight to not blush at the way the snake looked at him.

(Janus couldn’t stop looking at his eyes, his lips, the soft curves of his face as he tried to win him over. Patton looked every bit like the sweetheart Janus kept calling him.)

He sighed, closing his eyes, and pretending that he wasn’t completely melting on the inside. “…I suppose it doesn’t matter that much. If it really upsets you, I’ll stop.”

Patton’s face split and without really thinking about it, he launched himself forwards to crush Janus in a hug.

Arms wrapped around him by instinct (too many arms for a normal person, probably, but Patton had always thought that more arms meant more comfort). He laughed out a small thank you, burying his face into Janus’ suit.

“Yes, yes, I’m amazing, I know. Go back to your stand, you’re making me look soft.”

Patton laughed at the comment, but did indeed stand up and go back to his podium (he didn’t mention the fact that despite the complaints, Janus didn’t try to separate himself from him until Patton did).

The others had been arguing for far too long now anyways.

“I’m just saying, we should definitely have guillotined more rulers! It would have fixed so many problems!”

Wait, what?

“Remus, that would be RIDICULOUS. They didn’t have the concept of free will, or rights back then. They just would have elected another bad ruler!”

“Guys what the hell are we talking about.”

The conversation died instantly. The four of them looked at each other, and then at Janus, and then back at each other.

“I uh… I have no clue.” Was Virgil’s reply.

Which was typical. And also understandable. But maybe not what they should be doing right now.

“…okay. Can we get back to trivia now. That’s… that’s like the only reason we’re here in this stupidly fancy room, still standing up, still killing my legs. Can we wrap this up please.”

Roman snapped into action, getting the cards and moving swiftly on to the next question.

“Right! Yeah! Y'know what, we’re going to do a couple flash rounds. Me and Virge will just call out some questions and whoever answers first and most accurately gets points. Good?”

They nodded.

The game continued.

———

“Order!” Roman called out in the loud room. “Order in the court! This is the FINAL question! Up for debate here my guys, gals and nonbinary pals. Completely subjective, alright?”

Everyone hushed up, ready to answer the final question.

“Who is the best Disney prince?”

“Flynn Rider.” Four voices called out simultaneously.

The hosts paused for a moment, before looking at each other, and then back at their contestants.

“Correct. Five hundred points for everyone. Good game!”

“Well, this was a miserable experience. I despised every part of it.” he smiled at Virgil and Roman, not out of mischief or irritation but of pure, unfiltered care. “Thank you for organizing this. It was wonderful.”

Patton nodded aggressively next to him. “Yeah!! We got super side tracked but by golly was it fun!”

Roman laughed, and Virgil’s eyeshadow seemed to brighten a few shades to match the pink growing on his cheeks.

“Yeah it was… it was fun or whatever.”

“It was enjoyable.” Said Logan from beside them. His voice was low, a little raw from how much yelling he did in the two hours they spent doing the trivia. “Even though it devolved quickly into something that was most definitely not trivia.”

“Maybe next time we should have another group host it.” Remus said. “Y’know, like the winners of this game get to choose a theme for the next time.”

All of them seemed to perk up a little at that idea.

“Who won?” asked Janus.

“Not you guys.” was Virgil’s immediate response.

Janus hissed at him. Virgil hissed back.

“Did we even count the points?” Roman squinted at the board behind them, as if closing his eyes would make the massive numbers on them make more sense.

“I believe you stopped trying to actually calculate it when you started adding thousands onto the board. Much less the millions.

Roman shrugged. “Eh. That’s fair. We don’t really know who won then. Maybe we can hold a vote or something.”

Logan hummed. “That would be appropriate.”

Patton felt a hand rest on his, atop his podium.

He smiled, and closed his eyes.

For a moment there was peace. The group was tired out, energy completely depleted after that rollercoaster of emotions.

“…Maybe Janus should be disqualified though. I would consider changing the question cards and the scoreboards quite an easy disqualifier.”

“He did WHAT.”

———

Maybe it was a little bit mean for Remus to tell Logan that Janus had cheated right at the end there. Everyone was tired after all, so there was no point in wasting any of their remaining energy on questioning how he did it.

But Remus was petty.

And Janus did try to mess with his score.

All is fair in love and war.

Besides, who would he even be if he didn’t try to cause a little chaos right at the end?

He looked over at the other sides from his spot in between his and Logan’s podiums, bent in a position that would probably be impossible, if he weren’t an imaginary person who could make his spine disappear if he wanted to.

Janus was trying to justify himself to a group of three angry light sides, although it was clear that most of that effort went into trying to explain his methods to Patton. Said moral side was making an attempt to scold him that would probably be more effective if he looked in any way mad, and not just like his kitty had clawed up his favorite couch cushion. Roman and Virgil were leaning together in their seats, heads leaning on each other and holding hands.

He turned to look at his teammate. Logan stood resting his elbows on the podium in a rare moment of relaxation. He was observing the “fight” just as Remus was before, but usual cold expression was replaced with a soft, happy smile.

Something about it made Remus’ heart squish strangely. Maybe he was having heart palpitations.

He untangled himself enough to poke Logan's leg with his foot.

“Psst.”

Logan turned to look down. The fondness remained on his face, albeit with a little bit of added confusion.

He looked really hot from down here, damn.

“What is it you need, Remus?”

“If you could see any marvel scene in real life right now, to study, what scene would it be.”

Logan furrowed his brow and tilted his head. “…Comic book or movie scene?”

Remus shimmied, moving around so that he could stand up.

“Either.”

Logan took a moment to think, looking away from him in concentration. “Hm… there’s a fascinating scene in the marvel comics where the Scarlet Witch removes the abilities of all mutants from planet earth, almost by accident, because she doesn’t want them and the humans to keep fighting. Although, I suppose that’s not exactly a visitable scene, since her powers are never really thought to be observable in that sense.” He looked at Remus again, who was now standing up. “I would want to see what Tony Stark’s lab looks like. I know most of the science there isn’t real by any means, but it would still be fascinating to see how he would theoretically create his suits and weaponry.”

That sounded really smart. And complicated. And like it would take a lot of effort.

Remus reached out and grabbed him by the hand.

And suddenly, they weren’t in Logan’s dreamscape anymore, but Remus’.

Although it didn’t look like what his dreamscape usually looked like.

There were tables and tables of tech all around them. Holograms and metal scraps and projects were laid out that looked incredibly similar to the ones in the original Marvel movies. There were some odd choices of weapons, for sure, some of them seemingly old fashioned and not at all what would actually be in Ironman’s lab.

It didn’t matter.

And it didn’t matter how much energy it took Remus to make the room. Or how much his head hurt trying to remember basic mechanics so that he could make anything here believable.

None of it mattered.

It was all worth it, for the way Logan screamed in happiness.

[jimbo-thy]

The Promised Power Scaling Essay

I managed to fall asleep while I was typing some thoughts on power scaling fan-fiction, so now I'm finishing what I started. Much yapping beneath the break.

Part One: Power Scaling and Fan Fiction

The best place to start is to recap how I even got here. As a vague fan of anime and superheroes, I get recommended power scaling videos a lot on YouTube. I'm not too big into the power scaling community, but I know my way around their language and methods. It's good fun to get into as a super hero nerd, and I'm a touch too aromantic to reliably engage with the other half of super hero fan fiction.

That being said...

At the time of my initial rant, I didn't watch this video. I really wanted to know what was up, but the red flags are apparent to anyone who has observed a power scaler in the wild. Dragonball fan, "Solos," etc. All things considered, it's not really a standout example of this particular genre. I just knew it would be the video equivalent of junk food, and would rather not convince YouTube that I wanted to see more junk content.

I have watched this video (using incognito mode) but my thoughts on it will come later. This is more about the big picture of power scaling and my opinions on fan fiction rather than the minutia.

So, I didn't watch it, I just made a dumb joke out of the thumbnail and tried to move on. I did not move on. The thumbnail alone got me thinking, "Why does Kars win?" Not "how," but "why?"

Like I said, although I don't really interact with the community of power scalers, I do think about these kind of things. Albeit, not in the "traditional" sense of death battles and power creep. I subscribe to the words of Stan Lee:

"The person who would win in a fight is the person that the scriptwriter wants to win!"

Power scaling is fan fiction, and I use fan fiction to put extra time into the themes and characterization of the characters, not just their powers. But "They win because I say so" is the lame answer! And it's oftentimes dissatisfying to see a character with awesome powers getting beaten by another character that they should be able to beat. (Especially if the author is being disingenuous)

So this leads me to the conclusion that, especially in the superhero genre, victory and strength are very crucial themes to explore with your character. Oftentimes, their power is a key part of their characterization. So a writer has to at least make an effort to stop and think "Which traits can I use to explore victory with my character?"

So lets bring it back to Kars. I'm not going to make him fight all of Jujutsu Kaisen, so I want to pick out a character who is thematically interesting for him to fight. Gojo and Sukuna are "heavy hitters" and bring the most power for the power scaling contest, but also not really thematically applicable to Kars other than being strong as fuck.

This is, admittedly, where my knowledge of JJK breaks down. But preliminary research has been enough. I actually went into this thinking Mahito might be have been a good match, considering he has access to visually similar powers. The fight could also serve as a foil to Kars' mastery over the body vs Mahito's mastery over the soul. It gives Kars an excellent opportunity to learn about the soul and its inherent properties.

But preliminary research on Kenjaku gave me something even stronger. He intends to optimize cursed energy, to test the limits. And to achieve such, he is experimenting with humans and curses. Kars is the ultimate life-form, something that would attract Kenjaku's attention. Likewise, a human trying to replicate the process of Kars would attract Kars' attention. These characters would be directly at odds with each other.

You may notice some parallels with shipping discussion here...

So who do I want to win? Well, I like Kars more than Kenjaku and a villain obsessed with being the pinnacle of life stopping another villain from transcending life is very interesting to me. But in a 1v1, Kars wins pretty easily unless Kenjaku has the "Domain Expansion: Go to Space" up his sleeve. So how do we write a good story between these two characters? How do we make it interesting?

Part Two: Jojo's Bizarre Conflicts

In my mind, Kars is the advent of the "impossible challenge" writing style of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. The impossible challenge is an idea I learned from Matt Colville, where the villain puts a task in front of the hero that is impossible for them to complete, but the hero "changes the conditions of the test" and thwarts the villain's plan.

Joseph Joestar spends the majority of his story in control of every situation. Even in fights where it seems he's on the back foot, his signature style is trickery and mind games. Nothing is ever impossible, he was in control the whole time.

Then Kars becomes the ultimate life form, with 400 IQ, the ability to rewrite his genes at whim, immunity to solar radiation, and blazingly asexual.

Joseph Joestar cannot beat Kars. It is impossible. He has lost all control of the situation. He has one choice left: to run away screaming...

And by doing so, the conditions of the test are changed! Joseph's goal is no longer to kill Kars, its to lead the murderous ultimate life-form away from the people he cares about. In this, he can succeed, even at the cost of his own life. He believes that if he can buy a little time, the others will find a way to win in his stead.

The fight from here is a miraculous series of events. Joseph throws Kars into a volcano, Kars survives the heat. Joseph accidentally causes the volcano to launch them both into the upper atmosphere, Kars is literally about to just fly away unscathed before sheer dumb luck launches the ultimate into deep space.

The villains to follow Kars would be similarly impossible to defeat. DIO's time stop, Kira's Bites the Dust, Diavolo, Pucci is in a class by himself, Valentine's Love Train, Wonder of U. These powers are all Impossible challenges, only defeated once Jojo changes their approach in a dramatic way.

Even Jotaro, famous for pulling a timestop out of his ass, defeats DIO by changing his approach. Most fights against Jotaro are villains who can avoid fighting him head-on. Even during his early fight against Kakyoin, the only way Kakyoin's Hierophant Green could face Jotaro is by taking a hostage. But DIO's the World is the first stand that can truly go head-to-head with Star Platinum. And in conjunction with DIO's innate vampire powers, Jotaro can't just rush DIO down with devastating blows at the earliest opportunity. He has to slowly wear DIO down psychologically until he makes one fatal mistake. Meanwhile, the villain gets to employ Jotaro's usual strategy of overwhelming speed and power.

So we see this pattern of writing take over after Kars is defeated. The villain sets up the rules, and the hero finds a way to break them. It's a conflict style that is much more prevalent in more "mature" media.

Media such as Jujutsu Kaisen.

Part Three: Powers Based on Rules

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Jujutsu Kaisen share this key aspect of their battles. The abilities the characters use against each other have rules. You can think of it like a strategy card game. The core rules are rules that everyone has to follow, such as "draw a card on your turn" or "you may play only one card per turn." In a series like JJBA or JJK, these core rules are things like "only stands can damage stands" or "only those with cursed energy can see curses."

In this same hypothetical strategy game, there is a way to win. Lets say it's by scoring a certain number of points. Each turn, you want to play cards that increase your score so you'll have the most points. In superhero media, these are the basic punchy fights. Important for winning, but not strategically complex.

But then, you have the cards that don't give you any points, but they change the rules of the game. "Draw two cards" or "You may play three cards this turn" These are the core of what makes this card game a strategy game and they are what makes the game so interesting. You can have a fun game about numbers that simply adds score until the game is won, but it stimulates the brain more to think about which rule-changing cards gives you a more reliable win.

That's why the rules-heavy powers in JJBA and JJK are thematically compelling. They establish new parameters for victory and prevent every fight from ending in one flashy signature super move.

So how does this relate to Kars vs Kenjaku and power scaling?

Part Four: Kars vs JJK

Well that's just it, our problem as a writer is that we need to find a way for a rivalry between Kars and Kenjaku to be interesting to the reader. Again, if Kars and Kenjaku are just meeting up behind the Denny's for a 1v1, then Kars is already inside ordering breakfast. (He doesn't need to eat, but what else do you do after killing your rival?)

So we need to set up the rules of their engagement. And to bring credit to a notorius fandom, career power scalers do set up rules. But where they'll say things like "verse equalization" or "stat matching," I'm more interested in "what will either character do to prevent the other from winning?"

Kars is the easy one here. The arrogant ultimate life-form will simply terminator bee-line to wherever he thinks Kenjaku is. If he doesn't know, he'll hang back and do some research and investigation.

Kenjaku has the hard task of masking his location from the smartest life-form on the planet. To be fair, he was pretty good at masking his location from an entire organization of conceited and self-interested sorcerers, so it might actually be hard for Kars to catch wind of any schemes.

But for this fight to even be a possibility, Kars has to know about Kenjaku and his plans somehow. So now the writer is tasked with finding a way for Kars to learn about Kenjaku.

Earlier, we established that Kenjaku would be interested in an ultimate lifeform. Therefore, it is plausible that he would be the one to provoke Kars anyway. And as the sneaky schemer he is, Kenjaku would likely use a whole web of conspiracy to pull this off, ensuring he's never in a 1v1 with Kars while slowly nearing his goals.

Thus begins a long cat-and-mouse game where the ultimate lifeform attempts to eradicate a spirit user before they can learn the secrets of his ascendancy. Sounds like a Jojo story already. And with the archetypal mastermind villain Kenjaku pulling the strings, Kars can fight any number of JJK characters in his adventure. We don't need to worry about who is more powerful than the other because the characters are now given thematic reasons to win or lose.

Part Five: Power Scaling Complacency

So what's the point of all this? Why invent a whole fan fiction based on a thumbnail I saw in passing once? If power scaling is junk food content, why bother giving it so much engagement? Nerds will have their hobbies, and they'll do it how they want. Trying to change that is to deny people from having fun in their own way.

Because I did some reflection on how power scaling looks from the outside. Most superhero fans have found a rogue Dragonball fan in the comments of their favorite media, pondering the age old question of "Can they beat Goku?" Engagement with one of these people is a losing battle. They take pride in believing that their favorite character could beat yours in a fight with no further depth.

This perception on power scalers has created a strange pocket in fandom spaces. A source of fan fiction which has isolated itself into its own toxic echo-chamber genre. They have their own language and jargon, go on long discussions about character feats, and get into fights that would rival the most inflammatory of shipping wars. It's a wild ride to listen to the extreme mental gymnastics some of them will go through to defend their blorbos being number one.

Nerds will have their own fun, yes, but I want to extend an invitation for more people to break out of the power scaling echo chamber and start breaking down their death battles with a more critical eye. To stop thinking in terms of "feats" and "power" and start thinking in terms of themes.

On the other hand, I also want to extend an invitation to people outside the power scaling fandom to give it a try. You don't need to count up feats or calculate the tonnes of TNT that your character's punch is equivalent to. You can have a high literacy perspective on the notion of death battles and power scaling, writing compelling stories as two characters start butting heads in a cross-over fan fiction. Just like shipping, it's not for everyone, but the themes of hatred, strength, and violence are prime material to explore without the clouded lens of competition and toxicity that defines the power scaling fandom.

[merchantarthurn]

it's funny that 2/3 of the companions i ship astarion (the 3 being halsin, wyll and karlach) with are people who are objectively just lovely, selfless people but in a way that's just... too far. both in their own ways don't acknowledge they give/have given too much away for the good of others and a big part of the healing they need is setting even a single limit on what's "too far".

(under the cut cos it got long but this is more a ramble about character dynamics than romantic stuff so please enjoy even if you don't care for the 'ship' aspect. ive also got a LOT to say about karlach but i don't here im sorry i love her so much pls--)

wyll's willing to give his immortal soul (TWICE) for the sake of a city and father that turned his back on him with barely a moment to reflect on the unfairness to himself (at least in a 'and that's why it shouldn't be expected of me' way, anyway). halsin's given a hundred years of devoted research to the shadowcursed lands and cut himself off from deeper connections in order to remain committed to lifting the curse, not the mention the way he skirts around really acknowledging his trauma from the Underdark as a trauma instead of just a Fun Halsin Fact!TM

now... like all relationships between companions this is a compelling area without any romantic undertones, this is more what's driving my interest in the ships at all, but i find the above level of self-sacrifice really interesting in contrast to astarion. similarly, setting boundaries doesn't initially come naturally to him - he's not in the practice of being able to say no, and getting through the 'disgust' is something he tries to handwave as worth it for the rewards. but when in control, he's very much got selfish goals in mind. personal safety, mostly, being considered useful enough to keep around under the protection of the artefact. and in addition his moral compass is very much not aligned with the above, but does seem to shift in that direction the more compassion he's shown. it's never all the way flipped but... still.

two things that are interesting about that - both the selfish and selfless goals are, in isolation, completely understandable? save a city? well that's a good thing! protect yourself? can't argue with that!! but "no matter the cost to my mental and physical health" ooh never mind. astarion is, out of the three, seemingly much better positioned to understand and admit that? which is what's particularly interesting about either wyll or halsin's relationship (romantic or not) with him. cos any efforts they make to help astarion out with his own boundary issues and healing creates a big ol' elephant in the room with their own deal that i think astarion would, like, push back on y'know? he's already incredulous about heroes and do-gooders for both understandable and dnd-evil reasons but once an established rapport comes into play, then you get that incredibly tasty dimension of "okay, so you spent all that energy encouraging me not to loan myself out to make us stronger but you're gonna sell your eternal soul to a demon for a bit of information? and you're going to keep neglecting any aspect of your life that isn't shadow-curse related, to the point where you rushed in to enemy territory without regard for your safety and would have died if we hadn't stepped in?"

it's just such a chewable way of a bond developing right? both sides changing each other with something they initially might have found deplorable/insufferable about the other? but it both ultimately resulting in healthier boundary setting and the valuing of their own bodies and hhrhghruguhgguh. which is the sort of thing i Need when it comes to ships. man. oog. the list of little scenes i need to write gets longer by the second i swear. we can add shadowheart to the "dynamics i need to explore with wyll" list too ahrghr oogrhg

it's also making bl**dweave conceptually more interesting as an antithesis to this although i honestly haven't stumbled on anything that actually fits this particular niche so [handwaves] but to me that's two men who are gonna make each other Worse actually (this is not inherently a bad thing for Drama but all im saying is im pretty sure if you put those two together for too long you'll end up with a god + ascended ending ok). censoring the ship name cos i see much more fluffy stuff and im not here to ruin fun with opposing headcanons in a search ahaha

[doomednarrative]

one thing i rlly like about your plaga leon au is that you actually give a realistic and in character reason for it to happen. it makes sense and it’s compelling. a lot of those aus don’t have as much thought put into them besides “leon’s basically a verdugo now” which just leaves more annoying questions. like what happened to ashley? did the cult’s plan work? what about ada, or krauser? nobody thinks of that they just want leon to have mandibles and kiss luis. that’s fine in art but when constructing a world you need more than that lol anyway this is half a rant and half praise of you 🩵

One thing about me personally is even if I write au stuff, I Want and Need it to be possible within the realm of canon as far as "Does this logically work within the limitations of the story the canon is trying to tell/work within the lore" and "Does this actually work for a character and match up with their motivations and ideals?" I will never do something Solely for the sake of shipping, even if it might look fun.

The whole point of why I (and Claire and Ethan) went with the plaga au in the first place is because A. It's just fun to see what an impact that would have on the rest of Leon's story and what unique challenges it presents for him in the future, B. It does actually give an explanation as to how he manages to survive so much stuff in 4 because he's got something biological on his side and thus helps him to save Ashley with some more ease, and C. Leon has a track record history of letting himself get hurt or putting himself in more danger if it means keeping other people safe. So writing out the exact plaga we gave him and that motivation for actually taking it on for himself Makes Sense within the realm of sticking to his usual motives and such.

Ever with the au changes we made because of the remake, the biggest part of why Leon takes on the plaga is Because he's trying to save Ashley. It isn't about Him, it's about what will give her the best chance of survival, his own future consequences be damned. If this time can be different, if he can actually manage to save Ashley and get her home safe and remover her parasite in time, then whatever sacrifices he makes are worth it to him, and that's in line with everything we ever see him do. He takes those risks Very frequently, like a good example being the opening of 6 where he tells Helena they're making time to save that one guy's daughter even tho it's in vain in the end. He knows he wouldn't be able to live with more loss on his conscience if he refused to help.

I have seen a few au's that do take this kinda stuff into account, like @polarspaz's stuff has Leon take on a prototype of Luis's work because the stress of fighting has made his Plaga develop faster, and taking the prototype means he'll be mutated but regain control of himself without the hallucinations and the hivemind stuff, so that also increases his chances of getting Ashley home safe and allows him to save Luis later on as well. @alvivaarts also has an au fic, Simulation Swarm, that I've been reading on and off where Leon and Ashley both get their plagas removed but because it was so late stage in the game, they Both still end up with some permanent mutations that Luis is trying to research how to reverse for them, and it basically becomes a group effort kinda thing to look out for each other after the worlds turned on them.

So like, there IS ways to do this au that you can still have your fun while actually making it Work in universe y'know? And without throwing Ashley out with the trash because if there's anythng that infuriates me more is when people just make these au's and then don't include her in it at all. That shit makes me so mad when she's so central to the entire story and would absolutely be tied up in any decisions Leon makes during the course of 4. If it's not to the benefit of trying to get them both to safety then Why would he do it in the first place y'know?? She's important to him, he's not going to discard her like that.

Anyways that's more of a long winded answer than I meant to give but anytime you ask me about this au I will take it as a chance to go off on a tangent ~

[sendaidivision]

Coming home from the academy, Ryūzō Mizutori found a small package next to the door. Cautiously picking it up, the contents surprisingly felt light. Going inside, he opened it at his desk to find…

An ancient-looking book and scroll? There’s a letter attached too…

‘Greetings to you, Mr. Mizutori.

I’m really glad that this was published in time to give to you. Never went through so much effort before to give a present to someone, but hey I say this was pretty worth it.

About two years ago, me and my archaeology team found scrolls buried underneath the forest in Kyoto. That same area was said to be home to a royal family in the Heian period. Deciphering these scrolls have lead us to believe that they belonged to the heir of the family; it went into really deep detail about the duties he needed to do, his relationships with his parents and servants, the eventual downfall of his kingdom…

So why not make use of what we’ve deciphered and turn this into an autobiography? Since we were randomly thrust into this Secret Santa event, and you’re a language teacher, I figured this would make a cool gift for you. Don't you think it’s such an honor that you could read this book pre-release~?

Ah, but if you want to see what the ancient scrolls originally said, we’ve made a copy of those too. It’s on the scroll. Have fun reading~

Merry Christmas,

- Koizumi Asuka.’

(sorry for not having any picture! i couldn’t find an accurate one T-T)

Ryūzō had finished reading the letter before he took another look at the book and scroll that were delivered unto him by the archeologist. Truthfully, he had a love/hate relationship with most historians. While digging up the past for research in order to find out more about the way ancient civilizations lived their lives was a worthy cause, he had seen for himself too many times that most archeologists were little more than treasure hunters, using the guise of researchers as a way to line their own pockets. Many famous and ancient treasures from times past always had a way of turning up 'missing' whenever such "researchers" arrived on the scene.

He recalled one such mission during his time as an assassin where he was put in charge of a convoy that was guarding some valuable and priceless treasures dug up in Egypt that were to be shipped here to Japan to showcase in one of Tokyo's museums. Unfortunately, the curator was worried that the treasures wouldn't make it to the museum, so he was asked to safeguard them. Imagine everyone's surprise when the treasures were actually being stolen and shipped somewhere by the head archeologist, himself. But thanks to Ryūzō, the thief was captured and the treasures were safely delivered to their destination.

Looking down at the scroll once more, the English languages teacher disappeared into one of the room in his house before coming back with some black ink paint and a paint brush. Sitting down at his living room table, with his dogs crowded around him to observe him, the professor followed the advice of the archeologist of Enoshima and began the slow, but fulfilling task of writing out the life of the man known as Ryūzō Mizutori...

Thanks for the gift!

[formulatrash]

Obviously you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but was just wondering what you think of Lewis' vacation to Antarctica. I've seen a lot of opinions on it and it's made me quite annoyed

hmm, well. so: the bit of Antarctica that he's in is the southern tip of Argentina, not the island that we tend to call the Antarctic. which does somewhat make a difference because that's a place (not many but some) people live not a research station in a desert. there is a lot of tourism to this part of the Antarctic - cruise ships take people there to see it, you can organise trips there as a normal person. so he's not entirely flexing a privilege to do something only he could.

which doesn't, of course, make the environmental and social impacts of tourism in vulnerable regions any better.

for someone who genuinely cares a lot about animals and the environment, Lewis is sometimes really a dork about thinking things through. people shouldn't be that close to penguins and seals and probably a good idea to leave the scant amount of sheet ice alone and not treat it as a ski slope. Tierra del Fuego is often thought about as the end of the world; unfortunately, the climate is actually looking like that.

do I think Lewis is doing it with any malice? no, of course not. and maybe he has been educating himself while he's there. but there are far less environmentally impactful places to do that from; watch Frozen Planet, y'know.

the other factor is that Tierra del Fuego is home to indigenous people who are unlikely to profit from tourism and whose home is affected by it. Mapuche people, the largest indigenous group in Argentina, live there and so do Yaghans and other Fuegans. tourism affects indigenous people's rights to use their land, as well as animal populations and creating pollution and potential energy conflict.

so: there are lots of reasons why holidaying in Antarctica is not great and conflicts with a lot of what Lewis believes. does that make him hypocritical? yes but I suspect in an unaware way; he's sometimes extremely oblivious because he has spent his entire adult life in a very small bubble, which his efforts to educate himself beyond sometimes disguise how much those are things he had to do deliberately, not information that was fed to or came naturally to him.

I am not delighted he's done it. I don't think he intended to cause harm and would be worried by the idea he could have, if it was discussed with him. for someone who advocates conscious living he can be a bit live, laugh, love when it's something he wants to do and to be honest, there's a lot of childish delight at the idea of seeing the Antarctic that would probably enchant a lot of us given the opportunity. there are 200,000 people who visit Ushuaia every year, so there's clearly a market for it.

is it a reason to remember that Lewis, like everyone, isn't some sort of pure figure who can do no wrong? yeah. awhile ago I answered an ask that was something along the lines of 'how can you think Lewis is problematic' and it's like: because he's a Formula 1 driver. because he is a person who is honestly trying to do his best on a lot of things but who is still going to make mistakes. his ultimate priority remains driving a car faster than anyone else on 23 Sundays a year, not educating himself or other people in a mature and informed way and if you expect anything else from him you will be inevitably disappointed.

so: it's ok to be annoyed at him about this and still like or support him. it's ok to think he's the best F1 driver at advocating for things and also just a fucking idiot rich boy with zero thoughts in his brain sometimes. what Lewis has achieved and overcome isn't lessened or negated by the fact he did it while also being Just Some Guy Who Makes Bad Choices Because He Was Having Fun or whatever. blorbos are multifaceted and it's what makes them so incredibly tempting to like, put in a box and tell them no.

[super-hero-confessions]

I'll never understand why some people are so insecure in their tastes that they have to take opposition and claim supremacy to what they consider 'other'.

Shipping wars. Marvel vs. DC. Comics vs. Film.

Obviously, not exclusive to fiction. But a perfect example of where the worst of it starts.

I understand when something warrants actual criticism or a closer look. Fandom bullshit and bullying should always be called out. Having a fave in and of itself is understandable. But at the end of the day, this shit is supposed to be and remain fictional and it's just so ridiculous how hypocritical these people don't even realize they are.

And here's a crazy ass concept.

Why not both??

I swear these are the same type of people to think you have to choose between anal or oral. But like... you have options. You can enjoy all of them in some capacity or another and still have your faves, that is an option too.

I swear though, the acting like tween fangirls and throwing a fit or having to take a serious dig at something that isn't your absolute fave because you can't cope with your own insecurity doesn't make you look any better.

It's called being petty and childish.

Dismissive and disrespectful too when the thing that gets thrown constant digs may cover extremely important subject matter that deserves a second look more than people could possibly know. Case in point for example but not limited to?

The Boys comics.

Let me just tell you, it is just wonderful to know how little people actually care about one of the biggest detriments to human life the world has ever seen so much so that they would do exactly what the show and books criticize.

Just go, "haha, supe go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" for the show or exclusively fawn over the actors while denying or ignoring the important stuff cause porn I guess and let the rest be swept under the rug.

Because we should always blame the soldiers and veterans instead of the war profiteers and mercenaries that have kids sign contracts before they know what they're getting into and who they're really fighting for, right?

This coming from someone who has preferences and faves. Because guess what? You can like more than one thing and even have fandom discourse and discussion. You can even have reasons to not prefer something that are valid.

But when you pretend those reasons and opinions are more valid than someone who has put in the time and effort and research without a second thought? Or deny the experiences of someone who has because you couldn't be bothered to pay enough attention?

Instead of just accepting that you have a preference, that's okay, and you shouldn't have to put something down to justify your preference?

You're part of the problem. And you don't even realize it.

Fandom, like what you like. Enjoy and have fun. But please grow up and learn to be serious when appropriate instead of horrifically dismissive or taking everything as a personal attack.

Fictional stuff especially is way less important than real life stuff. Bullying should not be happening over fiction. And we should be taking the messages from the media we consume as a reason to do better and try our best to listen and learn.

And maybe don't listen to the 500 different peoples' opinions about a comic not a single one of them has bothered to actually legitimately read or even make a vague attempt to understand.

The world could be a better place.

[stinastar]

20 questions for fic writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 101! Wow! Keep in mind many are short, and one is an even shorter poem about eggs 🥚

2. What’s your total A03 word count? 188,209

3. What fandoms do you write for? I honestly don't know how to answer this properly haha. I still have drafts or thoughts for fics for Good Omens, The Witcher, James Bond, and Our Flag Means Death. I'm currently mainly into writing Jason Todd (Red Hood / Batman).

I just looked in my folder and I also have notes for a piece each for Lord of the Rings and Shadow and Bone, but it's unlikely those will ever be finished and posted lol.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Of Dragons and Heartbreak, we’ll rip up the map by the seams, Which Half?, Sweet Truth, The Dumb Brute and the Bardling. So all for The Witcher, unsurprisingly. I don't think this kind of metric means much, honestly. It just means it was a big popular fandom at the time, I was writing the most popular ship, and these had tropes people were after. I think, at least. I by no means think those are my best works, is all I'm saying.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Of course! I love love love getting comments and so make an effort to always reply to them. If I missed one I promise it was by accident!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I think that has to be you’ve got a second chance, you could go home. I'm still quite pleased with it. But people really wanted it fixed, so I did write a follow up :)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I honestly don't know how to quantify that 😅 Maybe Fire Me Up? The fic as a whole is very soft and sappy.

8. Do you get hate on fics? No, not really. I had one nasty comment a few years back from a fan that clearly hated a character and wanted to make that my (and others') problem, lol, and have had a few iffy comments here and there, but.

9. Do you write smut? Not reallllly. But I used to only fade to black, and have started dabbling in writing sex scenes a bit, so we may get there. We'll see. I didn't think I would, lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? No (that one crackfic notwithstanding, lol), they don't really interest me.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of 🤞🏻

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know of, but what an honour!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I don't think so, yet? I wrote a fic that went along with others, once, and I have a very neglected draft that I was working on with @ahh-fxck (sorry friend!), but I don't think I have a fic posted that I wrote with someone else...?

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? You want me to pick between my precious babies?? lol. I honestly really don't know that I have one.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Pffft, sadly and honestly, so many.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue comes quite easily for me, and I think I tend to do it well. The rest has been a WIP lol, but I think I've been improving!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Everything else. Ha!! For real though. All the stuff in between dialogue lol. Longer stories. Patience (lack thereof). I'm getting tired because kiddo would not GTFTS, so apologies if I'm becoming less coherent...

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Thoughts? I mean, I've done it, a tiny bit. I did a bit of researching as well as using online dictionaries etc, and I was lucky to find a native speaker to read things over and give their input before posting.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Good Omens. It honestly happened by accident.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written? Oooooh. Possibly Wintersong? I'm quite happy with it. What can I say, I love angst. That one isn't my most favourite kind, but I'm proud of it and love it.

Thank you for the tag @aniron48 💗 Tagging @major-trouble @cicerfics @brothebro @girls-and-honey @holycatsandrabbits and anyone who sees this and wants to tag on 😘

[lamardeuse]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @devirnis <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

342

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

a little over 1.8 million

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, 9-1-1, though in the last two years I've also written Merlin, Ted Lasso, Stargate: Atlantis and Our Flag Means Death, and I've completed two OFMD vids and am working on a third.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Accept No Substitutes (Merlin) 2. What Child Is This (Merlin) 3. Best Man (Merlin) 4. Motive and Method (Hawaii Five-O) 5. Revelation (Merlin)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I might put angst in the fic itself, but I don't usually leave it in an angsty place. I suppose overall the angstiest fics ending-wise would be the Doggett/Reyes fics I wrote in X Files, probably because that was kind of the mood of the show.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I haven't really written any non-happy ending fics, and to classify one as "happiest" after 300+ stories over 20 years is pretty much impossible, sorry. Oh wait, in Defenders of the Realm (linked below) Merlin and Arthur save millions of people so I guess I'd pick that one. ;)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't gotten hate specifically; I've shown my ass once or twice over the years and been called out for it, and I've apologized and corrected where possible. And lately with 9-1-1 I've had the odd person upset about the actions of a character in a couple of my fics, but it's not that they think the actions are out of character. It almost seems as though they don't want characters to ever do things that are personally frustrating or upsetting to them even if those actions make sense for that character in that situation? It's odd, but thankfully it's been pretty rare.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep. I've written a wide variety of stuff over the years. Even straight people getting it on! :D

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Harry Potter/US Queer as Folk, anyone?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't really care if I have.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, several times! I'm always so amazed that someone took the time to do that.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, though not recently; it used to happen a lot more in the good ol' days of LiveJournal.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I couldn't even begin to pick. So many men, so little time. When I'm in the throes of fandom love, that's my favourite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have one Merlin WIP up on AO3 that still bothers me from time to time, but I'm not sure I'll ever get back to it because I just got mired in a plot dead end and saw no way out. I also have over 10000 words of an OFMD modern AU, but again, I hit a point where I realized I had no idea how to end it so I hit the brakes at the end of act one.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I would say characterization, and making an effort to research and try my best to work the location or the culture of the characters into a story in an authentic way.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot-heavy stories are not my favourite thing - I can do it but I'd rather write basic bitch romcoms. And you're not going to get the most original shit ever from me - my writing is not gourmet cuisine, it's comfort food.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Research, and/or have a beta who speaks that language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh god, I think it was either V or Adderly, a very Canadian show from the 80s. Those were written on high school foolscap and will never see the light of day.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Again, it's really hard to pick one after all these years. Just a few random fics I have soft spots for: Auld Lang Syne (due South), Refugee Status (Sentinel), The Road to Nevada (SGA), Defenders of the Realm (Merlin), And We'll Talk in Present Tenses (Lewis), Skin Deep (I Spy), From a Rut to a Groove (Die Hard), and too many heartbeats for one ribcage (911).

I don't tag, so anyone who wants to do this have at it!

[pierregazly]

hiiiii congrats on 1.5k, so well deserved!!!! you're incredibly talented and can't wait to see you continue to thrive!!

for ⚓, I'm a Pisces (cusp with Aquarius!). I'm very blonde and a lil taller than average. I'm American and work in climate policy research and am a bit of a workaholic (oops but not really because my job is mostly reading and synthesizing information which I love AND I'm working to make the world survivable so it's worth it). Non work hobbies include traveling (I'm going abroad twice this year!), going to so many concerts (14 last year, tickets for 11 so far this year) and listening to music in general (Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy were my top two artists last year), coaching my alma maters debate team, trying new classes at my gym, going for long walks to farmers markets and coffee shops, and reading historical fiction. Some fun tidbits about my personality: I was told I was too intense for animal crossing on a first date and they were probably right, I'm an introvert mostly but will not shut up around people im comfortable with, I was way too obsessed with Harry Potter and being a Slytherin as a kid, I'm extremely competitive even in silly meaningless things like my cornhole league, and will do anything for my closest friends (once I took a three hour bus there and back in one day to give my friend her wallet when she forgot to pack it).

hope you're having a great day 💕

⚓️ give me a small description of yourself/your hobbies/your zodiac signs/life and i'll ship you with a driver

hi love!!! you're TOO sweet, thank you soooo much - you don't even know how much your words mean to me 🥺

oh man, it barely took me like 10 seconds to figure out you should be shipped with george russell! (i promise the 'lil taller than average' part only had like a small tidbit to do with it) i think as a workaholic himself, george would really admire how much you throw yourself into your career and how much effort you're constantly putting into your job and making the world a better place! whenever he's not travelling for work, george seems to do a lot of travelling himself so i think he would looove that about you, and i don't think it would take much effort to drag him to any/all concerts you're going to! the animal crossings thing made me cackle, because i could fully see george also being too intense for animal crossings?? like i don't know why, but would LOVE to see that combination. i think he'd also love the competitive streak you have, even though it would absolutely come to head whenever there's any slight competition between the two of you. i definitely think you and george would work the best!

thank you for celebrating with me!!