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

[enchantedlandcoffee]

.

[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.

[thelongestway]

Hmm, no. I can still usually only do so much writing in a day, and the bite-size chapter structure has done such a good job of keeping me writing that I think I'll keep it around for now. I'll see if that changes later, once we get back to a larger cast!

And man oh man is everyone somber after SC. Yikes. No wonder that is really the book that is the toughest read for TMBD, because it's when the chips start to fall, psychologically.

That is to say...

Chapter 2: Death

In the end, Holism stayed at the colony site, while Sum Total, one of its two support ships, was tasked with getting ART to Preservation, and we left together with responder that carried Mensah and the rest of my Preservation humans. Sum Total wasn't nearly as talkative as Holism, which was probably for the best, because ART was…

No. I couldn't even call it sulking. ART was seriously considering the possibility of being decommissioned.

Which wasn't going to happen. Its humans wouldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let that happen. It was so clear and obvious from the way everyone behaved, I didn't know why ART couldn't see it.

(That wasn't true. I understood. Sort of.)

(I didn't believe my humans wouldn't consider me disposable either. Even after they didn't.)

(I mostly didn't believe that.)

(But ART had been with humans who cared for it for most of its life; it grew up together with Iris since it was a young drone. (It started as as a drone, and was only given a proper spaceship body much later.) Why did it still believe that they would abandon it?)

I think Peri's just realizing it's going to die someday, Iris said in one of our conversations about it, when we were being idle during transit.

(Even though we were in the same physical space at the time, we mostly talked about ART in the feed, so it would actually have to make an effort to listen in. (Which it didn't. (Which was disturbing in itself.) It only showed up to watch shows with us, or to be sarcastic, or to do work.))

That's not true, I said. It doesn't have organic parts. So its kernel can be moved to new hardware, or replicated, or backed up. If it's careful enough, it doesn't have to die.

(Would ART be careful enough? Well, if it wasn't, what was the point of being a giant smartass research transport that knows everything? But I backburnered the thought anyway.)

Iris stretched, a complicated expression on her face.

I know, she finally said. But even bigger things than Peri can die. Like planets, or suns, or polities.

Those things don't have minds.

(Planets sometimes did in media. Polities and suns definitely didn't, except in children's media.)

Yeah, but… I mean something different. Iris shifted on the couch, and her eyes glazed over slightly, like she was looking at something in the feed, even though she wasn't. Humans realize they're going to die at about 3 or 4 years of age, at a certain developmental phase. You realize you're not the same person as other people - that other people can die - that you're still a different person, but the same qualitatively as other people - and then it hits you: you're going to die. You're actually going to die someday! An impossible amount of time later, but you'll stop existing! It's terrifying!

Did you meet ART after that developmental phase?

Iris shook her head.

No. I've known Peri all my life. But Peri never had a phase like that, even though it comforted me through my own. I think it went through the same calculations you just did, about being potentially immortal, and decided it was smart enough to stay alive. And that was that. But now… Now I think Peri might be facing the idea of being dead. Or maybe of being alive, but changed by something it didn't want to happen to it.

Yeah. Ugh. I knew what that was like, and now I really needed a copy of Bharadwaj's documentary. And ART…. After everything that happened to it, maybe ART needed trauma treatment, too. But what sort of trauma treatment was even applicable to a mind like its own, which didn't have organic parts that glitched out in really stupid ways?

"This is the worst question," I said out loud. "Cosmozoans are probably real. Because of course there have to be monsters in space and not just on planets."

"I bet they are," Iris said. "I bet they float around in untapped asteroid fields and eat helium."

"None have been found to date," ART said.

"None have been openly recorded to date!" Iris argued. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but then stopped herself. Then she commented to me, privately. Probably not a good time to mention hypothetical wormhole cosmozoans that eat ships, huh?

"Stop telling SecUnit about your improbable worms." ART said menacingly.

"Yeah. Stop that," I said. "Space is bad enough without dangerous fauna."

"Fine, fine," Iris threw her hands up. "No worms. Next question: planet-side bugs!"

"There are always bugs," I said, at the same time as ART reproduced a scoffing noise it learned from its favorite World Hoppers skeptic. "Real."

"Not even a fun question." ART added. "Next."

[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!

[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!!

[hanrinz]

give your moots a valentine's day ship <3

❛ MOOTS VALENTINE'S DAY SHIP <3 ❜

༊*·˚ rosie's notes — okay okay so first of all, thank you nonnie for this ask & second i'm very sorry for my other moots i haven't added :( i tried my best to include all of you, but it's really hard & the ones who i wrote for were mostly the ones who i knew the best !!

+ for those who have received two characters, I can't really decide which one who goes with u better, so why not make it both?

༊*·˚ if you don't like this i would throw myself out of the window /hj if you're uncomfortable with this pls ignore it and you have the green light to bonk me in the head

@gettinshiggywithit with touya !!

༉‧₊˚ my first ever moot !! i'm pairing you up with dabi, wbk you'll get dabi! touya has never spent valentine's with anyone before and this would be his first time with you. he had planned it out a week before (he might have asked and research for things to do on valentine's, but that's not for u to worry about) and he's so nervous of what you might think about his idea. nonetheless, he had put so much effort in this particular day <33 he'll be giving you his famous hot chocolates that literally melts your tongue!! i now hereby declare that touya would give you matching rings :))

@popkorrn with akaashi !!

༉‧₊˚ love love love my fave moot of all time, you're my sun and the light of my world <33 i would've gone with yamaguchi, but u and akaashi would be so cute together!! please i hope u like this :') i feel like the both of you would be a fashion icon & imagine matching clothes together! the both of you are just being so adorable <33 and omg akaashi with acts of service and words of affirmation as his love language. he would be giving you all the love on this particular day & he just can't help himself fall in love with you more :(( hand holding with him on the street as the both of stroll and just spend time with each other. he has the softest smile on his face when you look at him!!

@uravichii with bakugou !!

༉‧₊˚ now hold on listen to me, i've been shipping the two of you since day one!! ik u like shinsou but idc lmao/j (i'm literally thinking of you and him as an old married couple fr) PLS katsuki would definitely bake you sweets for valentines (took extra classes for baking, when he's supposed to be sleeping early- he didn't tell u that) & when he gives it to you, he gets so shy??? and he would try to be so nonchalant about it too!! like "happy valentines day or whatever" but please give him a kiss on the cheeks as a thank you, he would be expecting it so much ;)

@suguful with shoto todoroki !

༉‧₊˚ vivi it's been so long :(( i'm pairing you up with the one and only shoto! he'll be giving you little gifts, like a matching bracelet with his color scheme on it and him with yours, he'll also be taking you out for a date or maybe simply just spend time with each other <33 omg and imagine hand kisses !! random hand & forehead kisses! by the end of the day, you'll be seeing something from your bag that looks like a love letter (he secretly slipped it while you were distracted)

@loving-august with childe !

༉‧₊˚ you & childe go together (we forgetting about scara & diluc for now🤭) mans would go all out for valentines day!! never expect less from THE eleventh fatui harbinger 😤 a bouquet of your favorite flowers? fuck that he had a field made of it just for you! sweets you say that are from another nation? no worries, he already contacted the owner of that confectionery to deliver boxes of it. or if you're not feeling any of it, he would gladly stay at home with you and cook your favorite meal <33 he's so sweet and tries his best to show you how much he appreciates you!

@escapenightmare with denki & reo mf mikage !!

༉‧₊˚ what can i say, i'm a multi-shipper. denki would literally burn you a playlist of songs that makes him remind of you :( and omg arcade dates with him!! you'll probably make it a competition (he'll get pouty every time you win lmao) and like !! physical touch with him he's so cute <33 okay we have talked about this! and reo would treat u like a royalty !! he would literally rent the whole amusement park just for you — honestly not just that,, whatever you wanted to do or go to he would just make a quick call and bam the both of you had a whole place to yourselves at your favorite cafe/restaurant, resort, island, maybe he would fly with you to paris because he's romantic & corny he loves you a lot <33

@kiiraes with kuroo !

༉‧₊˚ stop i literally just guessed that kuroo would be your fave 😭 I WAS SO GLAD anyways my rae bby, kuroo is a dork fr!! he would be using those table of elements pick-up lines "are you made of copper and tellurium?" because you're CuTe" he's so goofy. but fr he would take you out on a date, he would literally show up at your door in a tuxedo and a flower in his hands <33 or maybe the two of you would go on a trip on a beach house 🤭 he got the money okay? he would be the sweetest partner you could ever have!!

@angelshimaa with aone & kirishima !!

༉‧₊˚ i've gone with both aone & kiri <33 i couldn't decide which one so why not both? aone is so cute and very shy when he asked you to be his valentine :(( he would be standing outside your door with your favorite flower in one hand, he would give it to you without any words — the note attached to it says "my valentine?" please, say yes :(( & kiri would be taking u out on a date, he's so prepared for this day he got lots of things for you to do on that particular day! (imagine going on a picnic date with him !! all the food is valentine's theme — hearts, red, even your ship name was frosted at least one of them! he would give you a mini plushy of him <33