#you don't need to be any kind of writer to join! it's for everyone!

[thelaurenshippen]

Sam is a wonderful person and writer and if you're not following her already, I highly suggest you do so! she's been writing lots of great posts about what's going on with the WGA for those of you who are curious and just TV writing in general! I learn so much from her all the time <3

and because I know a lot of podcasters/hopefuls follow me, if you haven't looked into the WGA Audio Alliance yet, please do so! despite working in scripted fiction for nearly a decade, I'm not a member of the WGA because most audio fiction shops don't work with the union (yet). but I have been working alongside really wonderful people over at WGA East to start to unionize the space and obviously we're all in full solidarity with the strike authorization.

I was on a plane this weekend, and I was chatting with the woman sitting next to me about an upcoming writer’s strike. “Do you really think you’re mistreated?” she asked me.

That’s not the issue at stake here. Let me tell you a little something about “minirooms.”

Minirooms are a way of television writing that is becoming more common. Basically, the studio will hire a small group of writers, 3-6 or so, and employ them for just a few weeks. In those few weeks (six weeks seem to be common), they have to hurriedly figure out as much about the show as they can – characters, plots, outlines for episodes. Then at the end of the six weeks, all the writers are fired except for the showrunner, who has to write the entire series themselves based on the outlines.

This is not a widespread practice, but it has become more common over the past couple of years. Studios like it because instead of paying for a full room for the full length of the show, they just pay a handful of writers for a fraction of the show. It’s not a huge problem now, but the WGA only gets the chance to make rules every three years – if we let this go for another three years and it becomes the norm? That would be DEVASTATING for the tv writing profession.

Do I feel like I’m mistreated? No. I LOVE my job! But in a world of minirooms, there is no place for someone like me – a mid-level writer who makes a decent living working on someone else’s show (I’d like to be a showrunner someday, but for now I feel like I still have a lot to learn, and my husband and I are trying to start a family so I like not being support rather than the leader for now). In a miniroom, there are only two levels – the handful of glorified idea people who are already scrambling to find their next show because you can’t make a decent living off of one six-week job (and since there are fewer people per room, there are fewer jobs overall, even at the six-week amount), and the overworked, stressed as fuck showrunner who is going to have to write the entire thing themselves. Besides being bad for me making a living, I also just think it’s plain bad for television as an art form – what I like about TV is how adaptable it is, how a whole group of people come together to tell a story better than what any of them could do on their own. Plus the showrunner can’t do their best work under all of that pressure, episode after episode, back to back. Minirooms just…fucking suck.

The WGA is proposing two things to fix this – a rule that writers have to be employed for the entire show, and a rule tying the number of writers in the room to the number of episodes you have per season. I don’t think it’s unreasonable. It’s the way shows have run since the advent of television. It’s only in the last couple of years that this has become a new thing. It’s exploitative. It squeezes out everyone except showrunners and people who have the financial means to work only a few months a year. It makes television worse. And that is the issue in this strike that means everything to me, and that is why I voted yes on the strike authorization vote.

[timdrakesbussy]

Some of my™ Stardew Valley HCs

TW: mention of miscarriages

Emily listens to all kinds of music but despite not looking like it, she mainly listens to heavy metal. It's one of the thing that brought her and Shane's early friendship together. And because of that, Haley shares a bit of fondness to the genre that she enjoys Sam's band (but don't tell him. this will mess with her rep).

Sam is pretty educated when it comes to literature, and English was always his favorite subject when he was in school. He's the main songwriter of his band and while Sebastian could also write, Sam manages to be witty and clever with his lyrics. Other than storytelling through song, he loves his double and triple entendres. Suffice to say, he could get along pretty well with Elliott and it's one of the reason why Penny loves hanging out with him.

Ever since she was a child, Maru thinks that Sebastian is really cool and she wants to be like him one way or another. Of course, she still wants to be herself but Sebastian is just so damn cool. During her time at school, she made herself learn how to ride a motorcycle using a friend's bike because she knew Sebastian would never lend her his.

Elliott was from an esteemed family from a foreign land (just Stardew's equivalent of Europe tbh) and was a licensed lawyer until he stopped to be a writer. Needless to say, his family are not happy by this sudden decision. Not that he needs their opinion on the matter, he was pushing thirty when he made this decision.

Harvey was an ER doctor in Zuzu City until the incident™. He knew that with his line of job, he can't save everyone. However, he can't help but feel guilty and terrible afterwards. Which is why he has routine check-ups for the villagers, and if they can't visit him, then he will visit them. You cannot escape him because he will find you (affectionate).

Both Haley and Alex believed that at one point, they actually liked each other romantically. But when they had their first kiss together, they realized that they weren't meant to be. They have this deep platonic connection that even Emily doesn't really understand, but she's happy that her baby sister have someone she can rely on and trust for all her life.

Robin takes pride in her name even if her parents weren't supportive over her work at first. She have Sebastian share her last name, and when she married Demetrius, she hyphenated their surnames instead of just taking his.

Demetrius and Sebastian were close when he was a child. Sebastian was an overly curious and precocious boy and Demetrius was happy that he could share something with his stepson, their interest in biology. Although Sebastian was squeamish and even almost cried when he dissected a frog, he managed to calm him down. And even after their mutual parting as Sebastian grew older, he's the only one who knows what Demetrius' favorite animal is: moonlight jellies.

Jodi and Kent were teenagers when they had Sam. Jodi came from a highly conservative and religious family so they forced them to marry after Jodi gave them the news that she was pregnant. As they were teens, Kent took any odd jobs he could get in the city, from a corner-store clerk to a garbage man. Until he got offered into joining the military.

Pam was a trucker before she became a bus driver. In fact, she met Penny's dad in the business. But in her childhood, she was in multiple beauty pageants and even into her adulthood, she knows how to hairdo. She helped Penny with her hair since she was a child and hope that she could still do Penny's hair in her future wedding, whenever that is.

Alex's mom had multiple miscarriages before she have him, and that was into her ten years of marriage. She was beyond ecstatic with his birth that she immediately called her aging parents who also shared her happiness, they then invited her to the Valley a few days after Alex was born so they could celebrate in the Mullners' house. Lewis heard about the news and asked if they wanted to celebrate in the Saloon in which Evelyn denied because Clara wanted a small celebration with just her family.

Abigail is the only marriageable candidate to be born in the Valley. Sebastian moved in not long after Maru was born so he was close to her as he was the only child her age at that time. Penny moved in when she was seven with her parents until her dad left when she was ten. Haley moved in when she was ten years old while Sam moved in a year after. Alex often visited his grandparents but he officially moved in after Clara's death in his pre-teens. The rest moved in as adults.

Similarly to Alex, Shane only ever visited and stayed for a while in the Valley until he needed to take care of Jas. He wasn't close with his parents and they never tried to be anyways, Marnie is always the mother figure he has. So other than Marnie and Jas, the only people he considered as his family was Jas' parents. Her father, whom he met and befriended in college (as he was his roommate, before they mutually dropped out) and her mother whom he wasn't very close to at first until they both find comradery in bullying (affectionate) Jas' father.

[sirxlla]

Military Corners

--------------------------------------------------

warnings: none besides fluff and use of L/N (Last Name)

notes: Gender neutral reader, any batboy fits into this. italics are actions. i'm a new writer, so i'm trying to do what might be good layout? pls Imk what you think of the story or anything really in the comments, i'd really appreciate it.

prompt: he's tired after a long week of back to back crime

-With that said it's under the cut-

There's something so lovely about sleeping in his room it was hard to pinpoint...Maybe the smell of his cologne that lingered in the air? You loved it, it's something that's sophisticated and manly yet so sweet and smokey? Could it be it how tight his bed was from the military style corners that were so neatly and carefully done the way Alfred taught him? Possibly the safety of the dog that sat on guard at the end of the bed on his bed on the floor? Or is it the man laying beside you with a few bruises from the night before a long night of crime fighting and Gotham?

To see him like this is very rare his soft petal like lips slightly parted as he dreamed so deeply, his beautiful eyes hidden by his eyelids, the exhaustion showed so deeply under his eyes... he almost never slept like this but it's been about a week of exhausting crimes back to back to back, Joker broke out of Arkham, Man-Bat was on the loose, Pyg was leaving a trail of bodies, Penguin and Two Face had joined an alliance together and thats not even mentioning the fact that Riddler was being an annoying little twit and kept kidnapping people for his riddles. Every night Gotham was full of chaos and the whole city needed all hands on deck which meant the whole Bat-Family.

He practically fell into bed this morning, your hands having done the same actions a thousand times in removing every little bit of his armor and his tight boots, gently wiping the grease paint from around his eyes... He was usually never soft, not with most but it was nights like this that the only thing he craved was sleep and maybe a handful of ibuprofen. His hair was completely awry sprawled along the pillow. He looked so calm, he looks so carefree as if he didn't have a stress in the world.

After sleeping in for a few extra hours snuggled into his side, you snuck out of bed even knowing that it might wake him up and probably would but he knew he was home so he would go right back to sleep. Alfred was up doing a few things around the house.

"Hey, do you mind if I make him breakfast this morning?" You had asked quietly considering not a single member of the family was up except for Alfred because of how chaotic the last week had been.

"I certainly don't mind Miss/Mister (L/N). How is he?" He says with a kind voice, something you always admired about him is how polite and kind he was to everyone.

"He's out like a light which is to be expected I can't even begin to imagine what they go through everytime that this stuff happens." A smile crossing your lips remembering the man in the bed that you just left with his lips slightly parted and his hair messy against the pillow beneath his head.

"Well, they certainly are gluttons for punishment I suppose." He says in a joking fashion with a smile on his face you knew how every man and his family was and how dedicated they were to keeping people safe. Alfred goes on about his business as he does leaving you in the kitchen to make breakfast (it was closer to lunch cause you knew he wasnt gonna get out of bed for quite some time) for your beloved man.

Masterlist

[inaconstantstateofchange]

Who Builds Theseus' Ship?

This ties in to a greater discussion about Larian's changes to the game post-Full Release, and whether you consider those changes to be a good thing or a bad thing. Personally speaking, the quality-of-life and gameplay mechanics improvements were appreciated, while the direct changes to characters and especially characterization were not so much.

In such discussions, I often see people downplaying the actual changes to characterization that have been made thus far as "minor" things, but I often see one of the most glaring examples of a characterization change left out, because so many people aren't even aware of it ever happening:

Halsin.

For those who don't know, if you were romancing Halsin at the time of the original full release, and for almost four months afterward, if you took him with you to Act 3's orgy scene in Sharess's Caress, he would open up about a situation in his distant past. He would tell you about how he had briefly been "something between guest, prisoner, and consort" in a drow House, and been kept there for three years before escaping.

He stated that this was something that happened "a long time ago", when he was "a foolhardy young druid", which would mean it would likely have been between ages 100 and 245 — or at minimum 105 years ago, and at (likely) maximum 250 years ago. He closed the discussion with a line that really struck me, and that gave me such an appreciation for his character, and for the writers who had created it:

The passage of time has a strange way of polishing even the most arduous of memories into precious keepsakes.

As someone in their late-20s, with a number of traumatic events in my past, this resonated so much both with my experience of those events – once harrowing and haunting, now just simple happenings that do not affect me the way they once did – and as an inspirational message, that hurt would not necessarily linger forever.

Not only that, I really valued the insight it gave into Halsin's personality, further showing him to be someone who was deeply complex and meditative, always looking for meaning and something to take away or learn from any experience. It also served to showcase the likely reality of the relationship elves and druids both would have to the concepts of time and memory. (Another example of this is the experience of Shadowheart's father compared to her mother at the hands of the Sharrans.)

I started playing the game almost immediately upon its release in August, and was intrigued by Halsin from the start. He was someone who was kind and heartfelt, but also very settled in himself and with a simultaneously rigid and very flexible moral code. It was that complexity that drew me to him, and I appreciated the inclusion of a character distinct from the Origin companions, all at close to the lowest point of their lives.

It was to my surprise to find that this appreciation for his character and perspective on his Act 3 revelation was not unanimous. As it turned out, there was a vocal group of people claiming that this writing was problematic, and that Halsin clearly didn't even realize he was actually traumatized, and that Larian needed to fix it. Not everyone joining in with this crusade had even played the game.

And, ultimately, in a pattern they have continued to follow, Larian responded. They fixed it. At the end of November, as part of Patch 5, they uploaded an edited version of the scene with new dialogue, where the player could express this "reality" to Halsin, in one of the most gallingly patronizing statements I've ever seen.

Sounds traumatic. You may need to reflect on that.

(If someone said this to me after I had opened up to them about my trauma and my experience of it to them, we would not be maintaining a cordial relationship afterward.)

Halsin's new response to these dialogue options is a cringing, self-deprecating cascade of how the player is of course right, and he should have known better, and time could "prove to be a trickster on one's recollections" and that perhaps he had "lost perspective".

Quite frankly, it is a completely different character answering, and an almost directly opposing overall message about the role of time in healing, and the path forward when it comes to trauma. No more "one day these events will not hurt to recall the way they do now". In its stead: "only healing that looks a specific way and follows a specific path is acceptable - anything else and you are simply a poor fool lying to yourself."

The following quote is from a comment left on a video of Halsin's original dialogue in that scene, before the changes, and is just one example of how much that representation meant to more than just me to see:

That said, Halsin is trauma recovery goals for me absolutely. Being able to remember without actually being triggered? Being able to fully and freely engage HOW ID LIKE TO instead of being fettered by trauma responses? Goals. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there 100%, we don’t get elven lifetimes irl, but his level of healing brings me hope.

Ultimately, this post is not meant to argue that you should agree with me that one is better than the other. More so, I want to highlight that this existed — for many people, this was their experience of events and characters, and that is not so easily redacted. And I also want to just state, for the record, that Larian's way of approaching narrative and characterization changes to their full-release game has been incredibly frustrating. I did not agree, in August, to play an Early Access game with the inherent understanding that any potential narrative aspect might change at any time. I purchased a full-release game, and immersed myself in the story and the characters, to get to know them as the writers had originally presented.

And when Larian makes these changes based on fan feedback, they are explicitly making decisions about which fans matter, and specifically, which fans matter most. Rather than allowing everyone to experience the story they decided to tell, and draw from it what they take away, and let that spark discussion and engagement, they made the decision to defer to some fans over others, and prioritize their experience of the narrative — something that, no matter how well-intended, is always going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

[tigereyes45]

I wish there was a Transformers video game where you play as Optimus Prime, and you have to send your allies out on missions. You can go on them too.

If a mission goes well maybe you gain resources to new allies, if it goes poorly you could lose them instead. Your team or the enemy could have characters on it that might die if they go on a mission injured, or due to danger chance.

Characters could have special traits or abilities that better fit some missions over others. For example maybe sending bumblebee on a scouting mission would give a 50% bonus to discovering energon deposits, or sending him on a mission not scouting focus could mean he gives a 10% chance of finding energon. Sending Ratchet on a team could lower the chance of injuries picked up. Putting Ultra Magnus in charge of a team could lower the amount of time the mission takes.

Maybe when you are on a mission, or you're at base in between missions you could talk to your teammates who are around. Perhaps some missions last a day, others last days, or weeks in game time. So whoever is around you can talk to and build bonds with leading to more conversations/plots revealed. Maybe if you don't trust a bot enough, or don't talk to them/meet their needs that can lead them to betraying you. You could include so many of the transformers in a game like this too (and people could learn about them as Optimus does in a setting that feels natural).

I'd just really like to see a game where you play an Optimus who is at the beginning of being a leader, and learning the devastating cost of war, as well as how far Decepticons would be wiling to go to win. (And you know it wouldn't have to have romance elements but I would have any Optimus I control hang out and listen to Ratchet so much).

I wish I knew how to code games so I could make this happen. Alas my skills rest primarily in writing. However if someone else is interested and needed help with writing it, I'd totally be down for it!

Edit: It seems like a lot of people are interested in this idea. Or at least think this is a kind of game that would be fun to play. So I have two questions for everyone:

1. Do y'all think I should try and put together a team of fans to make this game happen?

2. If I did try and put together a team would you want to join and if so and what capacity? (Ex. Artist, coder, writer, etc.)

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

He wasn’t the main point but I can’t stop thinking about Steve in ‘three times’, like what a man. Just hard, quick, decisive with just enough tenderness somewhere in all that loyalty. Is he lonely at all? Like, who does he have to love on? I’d gladly volunteer. Beautiful story and writing!

a/n: oh oh oh! SAAAAMMMEE! i tell you, when i was writing that fic, i kept on catching myself drooling over steve (lol as you can tell by the big part he played in the story) and had to snap myself out of it all the time because it wasn't a steve fic. but yes yes yeesss, i did think about who he has to love on hehe, let me share the thoughts ৎ୭

∼ gentle reminder that feedback, but especially reblogs are the way you support writers on here ∽

masterlist | join my taglist

i think his girl would be just the sweetest little cinnamon roll ever

maybe you started working at the cafe near his home, just part-time while you’re finishing a degree

he was already a regular there, so when you started working there, not long passed before, a) you developed a huge crush on him, and b) since he came in there all the time, his usual order became almost imprinted on your brain since it was one of the few sentences you heard him utter that your heart clung onto

so the first time that you finished his sentence with the correct kind of coffee, that was the moment that snapped him out of his usual mundane haze and forced him to truly notice you for the first time.

and before he knew it, he had fallen into a legitimate relationship with you, more serious than any other he'd let himself experience.

it's very too sweet by hozier coded... because you truly are too sweet, too pure, too good for him... but that's also why he can't get himself to stop...

he keeps on telling himself that he needs to cut off ties to you, that you deserve better and that this can only end one way, with you getting hurt. but every time he tries, he just has to look into your eyes and the words crumble from his lips like they never existed at all.

and also, the last thing he wants for you to know is the kind of man he really is and the blood he has on his hands.

but when he’s with you, he isn't a dangerous mobster. he can just pretend that he's something else, just a regular guy like the one you believe he is. when he's with you, he can step into the world where everything is good, where wishes come true and it's borderline a fairytale compared to his reality.

he could never tell you the truth about who he is because at best it would just scare you, but at worst, it could potentially get you into trouble that you of all people don't deserve.

so he keeps it a secret.

even if the excuses he fumbles to come up with aren't always that great, you still haven't found out.

he'd rather you think that he is a klutz who gets into minor accidents and hurts himself all the time than have you know about how he really gets banged up too often to count.

he'd also rather have you think that he's an asshole for showing up late or not at all, than you knowing what grim truths had kept him.

maybe one day he does tell you everything and he spends the rest of his days protecting you and keeping you a secret from everyone in his world...

or maybe he doesn't. maybe he finds a way to do the impossible and get out of the life, but only for his past to catch up to him years down the line and blow up the perfect little white picket life you'd built together...

© 2024 thyme-in-a-bubble  

[leafofkudzu]

Greetings and salutations from a summer in full swing, everyone! I hope the season is treating you well, because the first Saturday of a new month is this Saturday, and the festival gods have blessed us with the perfect venue for yet another art party hosted by my guild, [VS] Verdant Shield! That's right, finally the cards have aligned for us to visit one of my favorite locations in game - the Labyrinthine Cliffs!

For those who aren’t familiar with art parties, they’re a concept carried over from Final Fantasy XIV - in-game get-togethers for artists/writers/creatives of all types to hang out, chat, and create together! Get your favorite character/look together, head to the location, find someone that catches your eye, and create! Afterwards, everyone posts their creations in a shared tag (ours is #VSArtParty) so others can see, interact, and share! Tl;dr: the ‘goal’ of an art party isn’t to be drawn, but to draw others, and share with the community!

Time and /squadjoin information is under the cut, but will also be posted again via reblogs as the squads go up on the day of the party!

Location Information:

No picture needed because the Labyrinthine Cliffs are unforgettable! When the Festival of the Four Winds started on Tuesday everyone should have got an invitation to the festival grounds, and if you didn't you likely have an old one lying around, or can find a portal to the locations from just about any major location you can think of! Head to the Cliffs and look for my tag down by the water - there's a good chance I'll be on the NPC boat that cruises around, or lounging on the beach awaiting the next treasure hunt with everyone!

Time & Squad Details:

As we always do, we’ll be having two parties - one on EU servers and one on NA ones - with an hour break in between. People tend to arrive early and/or jump between accounts as soon as the break comes up, so don’t be surprised to see tags and announcements going up ahead of schedule!

The first party will be on EU servers and begin at 9pm Central European Summer Time (aka 3pm Eastern Daylight Time or 5 hours before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting on my EU alt account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Ashelin Falstaff for an invite.

The second party will be on NA servers and begin at 7pm Eastern Daylight Time (aka 1am Central European Summer Time or an hour before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting this one on my main account and may swap characters a few times, but a safe bet is to either /squadjoin or whisper Teekzi for an invite - just don't be surprised if you get a response from a different character name!

Closing Words:

As is clearly evidenced by this post being in the right format, I did mostly cobble my computer back together after last month's implosion! I wanted to wait until the Festival was announced in order to confirm that it would be active for this month, and then IRL got in the way again (but in a pleasant way this time don't worry), so I'm a smidge delayed. But we got there! Thank you for rolling with my weird Situations these past few months - hosting these events is a joy I will continue to prioritize as long as you all continue to come by and make them awesome! Keep being kind to each other, and I'll see you all on Saturday! ♥

[bonefall]

Maybe i just joined the fandom space way later than everyone else, but i swear to god the WaCa fandom is only this up in arms about how "ugly" and "deformed" and "disgusting" Moonpaw is/will be as a result of incest because she is confirmed to be a chimera.

I never saw this same kind of behavior when Graystripes parents were mistakenly made siblings. Nor with Ashfur and Squirrelflight, even after the fandom pointed out that theyre half-uncle and niece. I didnt see it with Fernsong and Ivypool. I didnt see it with Birchfall and Whitewing. I didnt see it with Dewnose and Sorrelstripe.

"Maybe its because theyre first cousins?" But no, because Dustpelt and Ferncloud are uncle and niece, directly related to Robinwing.

I believe the fandom only cares about the fact the parents are related here because in their mind it gives them "an excuse" to be disgusting about her chimerism. With any other characters, it's just another instance of the writers being incompetent. With Moonpaw, "it's why she's so fucked up".

Yes, they hate her because she's a result of an incest, but I'm starting to become convinced they're only this vocal about it because of how she looks. They don't truly care she's inbred, they only care that they have "a good reason" to be ableist.

This being said as a victim of incestual abuse. Cousin and cousin, just like Thriftear and Bayshine.

Is this a bad take? Am I grasping at straws? Is this just an effect of avoiding the fandom for so long? SOS

You're not grasping at straws. I think you're right on the money, honestly.

Something a lot of people don't seem to understand is that a lot of bigotry is not overt. Ableists don't usually run around saying they want all disabled people to be thrown off cliffs (when they get to that point we're in SERIOUS danger), but they DO grab your wheelchair's handles, or speak over you when you're stuttering, or assume you're stupid or dangerous. It's usually implicit biases, and structural inequality.

This is why humor is so good at revealing these internal biases. You may not believe you're classist, you might have friends from Alabama, or Durham, or Wales, but what accent do you give your "stupid" character if you're telling a story? Why are the accents of "poor" regions associated with low intelligence?

So to bring it around-- why did we see the spike in "jokes" about "ugly inbreeds" for our very first character with a confirmed genetic condition?

I've been in and around this fandom since 2008, and I've NEVER seen another character get talked about like this. Mind you, Graystripe was the child of a sister and a brother for a LONG time, too, from 2009 to 2016 (maybe even later, I don't remember exactly when the modern tree was released). And no one did it with Bristlefrost, either, in spite of there being a pretty huge uproar about her parents being distantly related.

No one else. Just the chimera. "No wonder she looks like that" and "here she is with a hapsburg jaw" and "she'd be so slurs she'd be icky."

Characters without disability, no congenital conditions, nothing = "Ugh damn writers and their incompetence strikes again. God they need to get some fresh blood in here"

(moonpaw) = "EWW NO WONDER!! WHEN WILL THE GENE POOL BE BLEACHED"

There's also the incredible irony of the fact that like. moonpaw has a common tortie fur pattern and heterochromia. you don't even need to show an ableist an actual congenital condition, you can suggest a normal face is disabled and they will lose their minds. Bigotry rots your brain.

Also, just, as a closing note, as usual the bigot is incorrect. Chimerism and inbreeding have literally nothing to do with each other. There is no link between chimerism and inbreeding. they are once again confusing chimerism and mosaicism and trying to whine It's Just Biology because you told them their joke wasn't funny.

[tbmkit]

A Deep Dive on "The End" of Las Nevadas

to start things off, this is my own interpretation of his dialogue. i explained how i feel about the stream here in this post. going off of that, i am going to break down the way quackity (who, for clarification sake i'll just refer to as alex) interpreted him. this is gonna get into random theories and probably get like, a little personal and im going to sound crazy but im also autistic and super invested with a bunch of free time... but i think the whole way this stream was carried out had a double meaning to it, and i will examine it here. not proofread, we 're going in raw. so, let's begin with...

Section 1: The Different Personalities of the Quackities

for starters, i want to examine the personalities of each character. obviously, im not taking much (aside from a few bits) into account from the other streams. this was all carefully crafted in one stream to get each persona down, rather than on-the-fly acting. each one has a sort of "archetype" to dissect.

q!quackity, who is quiet, reserved, skittish - yet smart and observant. he uses longer words, and spends more time observing the conversations, then jumping in for the "kill"

k!quackity, who is battered from the betrayal hes gone through, he feels hurt yet he doesnt feel anger. its internalized, he doesnt trust the others, however he mentions that they need to build trust to get out of the "cube"

ln!quackity, who is extroverted, boisterous, the physical incarnate of a bruised ego. he holds his head high not realizing his neck is always exposed, ready for someone to rip him to shreds if they hit the right vein. he's an asshole, making fun of the others, holds himself proudly on his achievements. but he's the only one that cries. q!quackity is anxious, but he doesn't cry. ln!quackity does.

and... alex. a self-proclaimed introvert, who is kind and observant, who forces himself to get out of his comfort zone, something he called a "finish line." a writer, a director, someone who loves telling stories. and this one, happens to be a story of different personas of his, with one being killed off.

and with that, we get into the topic of what i believe the stream represents. if you'll join me for a long read, i think this stream represents his growth as a person and a content creator, in a very extreme and especially vulnerable way.

Section 2: Pre-Quackities Dialogue

an interesting point about ln!quackity is that his dialogue is very turbulent. he goes from being confident to anxious and scared in a moment's notice.

from...

Slime! Was this you? Did you do this? I didn't mean to do this- the the.. I wasn't… malfunction! An explosive went off! I don't know where I am! I might've done some [stupid] stuff, but it's not- it's not fair to pin it on me. You saw it- you saw it- you saw what everyone did to me…

at first, he's very confused. a topic he brings up later is how he always wins, or rather how the house always wins. he succeeded in killing himself, thus the surprise. he didn't really mean to succeed, he thought he'd fail just like all the other times. that's what he's used to.

then...

I don't know who you are, and you certainly don't know who I am either. […] If you have any answers for me, just let me know, please. Alright fine- whoever put me here, get me out! Or just kill me! That was the point of what I was trying to do!

his ego pops in - "you certainly don't know who i am either" weighing his importance. he can't die, he's just so vital for his country. his carefully crafted country. but he can't stand not knowing what actually happened - did he finally succeed? for once in his entire life? no, surely not. he wants to get out - he didn't really mean to kill himself. just one more chance, he wants. but if he can't have one more chance, he just wants it to be over. either keep fighting and fighting or finally give up, even if you just succeeded for the first time in your life.

finally to...

We can make a deal, alright? Let's do a little bit of gambling, let's make a deal! […] You let me out of here, I… do you want me to do good deeds? I'll do good deeds! […] I'll do it, just let me go… just give me a sign…

"ha! gambling, casinos, money! that's my personality! you guys know me, mr. casino man! ring any bells yet?? you guys know that's what i'm all about!" he cries. that's where his power is held - material possessions, easy wins, his comfort zone. something he can easily control. he tries to paint himself as a "better" version of himself by offering his material possessions, anything to save his ass. something he can live without, something he's comfortable losing because he'll just gain it back double in the end.

Section 3: Pre-Monologue

the first thing ln!quackity says to k!quackity - apart from being taken aback by being called a gringo - is

A foreigner?! Where are you from?

now this might come off as one of the farther reaches in this post, but i feel like this was mean to represent ("this" as in, the way ln!quackity treats k!quackity as a whole) the switch to spanish content that alex did. i feel like ln!quackity is very offput by k!quackity because it was a hard switch for alex to make, given how people in the public - and in private - treated this switch. throughout the stream, ln!quackity treats k!quackity with ambivalence - not with hatred or disgust, but also with an underlying fearful tone - as he does not understand him when he speaks spanish. however, ln!quackity does speak spanish. he spoke spanish all the time. hell, the casino is called el palacio (which you can see on the signs inside), we got el rapids, mexican l'manburg, flirting with schlatt... this is just a front. he just doesn't want to communicate, even acknowledge him speaking to him. his ego gets in the way, not wanting to acknowledge this. q!quackity does not speak spanish, this was clear given the lore of qsmp with elquackity. however, ln!quackity is known as bilingual. so why would he try to hide that part of him? you tell me.

You see? I was also betrayed! And actually I was the one doing the torturing, but I have the better story here.

"hah look at me im so badass! who gives a fuck if you went through so much shit! i also did that shit but to someone else! that also kinda happened to me but who cares!" says the deeply traumatized individual who perpetuates a cycle of abuse.

Tone it fucking down. You don't know who you're speaking to.

he says this directly after being called out by the other two. he, again, deems himself as more important. he's the badass one, he's the one that is more "successful," he gets all the fame and credit. thus, when someone tries to tell him that he's full of shit, he immediately puts up his defenses - the ones he's been crafting for all his life, through the endless amount of trauma he's gone through. did he ever back down? show emotions? no, he hasn't. he's always just been a powerhouse. even when his friends and partners betrayed him, he used that to fuel his drive, not knock him down.

I win. That's my job. My job is to make people think they win. I'm a multimillionaire because I run an extremely successful casino business. I also am the president of the richest country in my world. But you know, the more success, the more people want to kill you. And if I'm here right now it's because they succeeded - although I do think the people responsible might be dead soon as well, because if I truly am dead, then they fucked up. So yeah I'm not worried about it at all. Just a bunch of cowards that stormed my casino, probably shot me, they'll get caught.

here he goes again, flaunting his achievements. whenever someone tries to wiggle through the cracks of his ego, he spits out the same recycled speech about his achievements. everyone wants him, everyone wants what he has. but does he truly want it all? is it to make up for what he had lost, or maybe it's to hide his emotions or his insecurities? will they all be drowned out by material possessions? "the more success, the more people want to kill you," so, himself, since that's who killed him in the end? with how much he's been gaining, does that mean that his will to live dwindled too as he got everything he ever wanted? but of course, this is all one big lie to cover up the fact that he was the one with a bounty on his own head.

Q!Quackity: If you are as successful as you say you are, I would imagine that you would already be on edge for someone trying to kill you. […] so how exactly did you inflict your own death?

bonus! with the context above, i feel like q!quackity picked up on his suicidal tendencies, and is thus asking, "hey, since you have it all and i kiiinda feel like we all killed ourselves here, and you said the more successful you are the more people wanna kill you, doesn't that mean you wanna kill yourself?"

Section 4: The Monologue

Fine. You wanna know how I got here? I fucking destroyed it all, I fucking did it. I fucking did it. I sat on my fucking throne and I lit it all on fire and it was fucking beautiful. You know why? Because you can't trust nobody. You can't fucking trust nobody. Alright… alright… I come from a world where you can't trust nobody. Your neighbour will backstab you for a piece of bread if he has to. There are no friends where I came from, okay? And people will sell you out in a fucking second. I tried it all, I tried politics, I tried businesses, and I never won. You know what made all those fail? You know what made every fucking attempt of mine fail? Trust! You can't trust people! They will kill you! So if I can't win, I did what I had to do.

the first half of the monologue is all about being betrayed. "how did i get here? / i destroyed it all / it was beautiful" for someone who prides himself in his material possessions, this doesn't feel like he'd be happy about getting rid of it all. his entire country, what he loved. las nevadas is his comfort zone. that's why he was confined to it, he never left, nobody entered, truly. sure he had some of his friends, but they betrayed him in the end. he ended up hurting them and they left, or they hurt him regardless.

this is where alex comes into play. this monologue was intentional, this was raw and vulnerable. it represents ln!quackity, yes. but, underlying is alex throughout it all. it's not a hidden fact that he's had a lot of people that ended up betraying him, and others in his life as well. so many people took advantage of his trust and kindness. they wanted to commodify him, use his fame, get a bit of clout, get his money, all for themselves. ln!quackity didn't want to be on top of the world, he rose so high up that from below everything looks so small and lost sight of where he was. this represents the ego. it's so easy for your ego to get ahold of you, but when you're so high up, you get knocked down, all the way to your death...

I fabricated my wins, I created my own country, I built my circumstances. Me! Nobody else! Because nobody else thinks like I do! Nobody can! So there comes a point where it's over, at some point you fucking lose.

the aforementioned fall. las nevadas was his comfort - the only place where nothing could go wrong. everything went his way, and only his. the house always wins, it's his comfort zone. he crafted it himself. "nobody else thinks like i do / nobody can" represents his internal struggle. his insecurities that he had to build four walls and a roof over, hidden away from sight in a city of different buildings. he thinks hes the only one that feels this way, he doesnt think anyone can feel the amount of pain he does. life is a chore for ln!quackity, he chugs through it and never once could he rest. but, he finally got to. and now that he has it all... what else is there left? his insecurities and shame that he trapped himself in with all this time. he's forced to sit with them, ponder, grow attached to them yet still hide them from everyone. nobody can know how he feels, nobody can know what he thinks. he never opened up, he never got in touch with his emotions and thus

My partner, my great business partner… I built him, piece by piece, I gave him the personality that I wanted! He learned from me, he is who he is because of me! Yet he has the audacity to abandon me? To abandon what I built? To defy me? He called me a bad person and guess what? I am a bad person. And I'll fucking own it til the day I die. Everything gets destroyed, I'm not gonna wait for a fucking traitor to put me in my grave, that's my JOB. So yeah, I inflicted it, I'm here because of me. I'm here because of me, nobody else. *starts crying*

this is where it gets tricky. my personal interpretation that fits with the theme is that slime represents alex. ln!quackity - or rather, his ego - molded slime into what he is - a copy of ln!quackity. a hollow imitation of the ego. ln!quackity made slime into precisely that. he was a blank slate, he had so much power over him, and thus he finally had someone who could think like him, without the pain that ln!quackity felt because slime felt none. not until ln!quackity hurt him - his own ego hurt alex, in this sense. the fame, his career had hurt him.

"to abandon what i built / to defy me" taking a step back to keep your ego in check, to finally realize what matters in life, is an act of defiance. to humble yourself, to realize you're nothing more than a person that feels hurt by his environment (calling back to: "I might've done some [stupid] stuff, but it's not- it's not fair to pin it on me. You saw it- you saw it- you saw what everyone did to me…" which he said when he was alone, begging for his life, for a second chance to go back to where he felt safest) it was such a strong revelation that it made ln!quackity cry. finally, he could cry.

ln!quackity, in his own eyes, is perfect. he's what everyone wants to be. money, fame, achievements... but the moment he realizes hes hurt he comes back down from his pedestal. he's not the badass everyone wants him to be, he's not the king of the land, he's scared and sensitive. he just wants to be loved, but every time he is, he gets hurt. so why love when you can hurt? that's why he's so rude and abrasive. because why love when hurting is easier? hurting is the norm, hurting is comfort. las nevadas is a nation that encapsulates nothing but pain.

Where do you guys think you are? What is this to you, just a little game? Just a little more entertainment? Look around us, look at this, look at this sick joke, we're puppets! They think it's real! None of this is! And maybe that's the game, we just need to play it! Who's it gonna be, huh? What am I meant to do? How do I win today's game? I'm not gonna give these bastards a show, I want out!

obligatory "who do you think we're actually talking about here?" fourth wall-breaking segment. you should be able to piece it together here. ln!quackity doesn't want to be part of the show anymore - q!quackity and k!quackity run it now.

Section 5: Post-Monologue and Closing Thoughts

Oh my god, oh my god… Okay… I'm alive- I'm alive… I'm alive, I'm alive… What am I doing? What am I doing? Okay… I need to… I need to leave, I need to get out of here, I need to walk out, I need to walk out…

wait, ln!quackity is alive? he's not hurt? he's... alive? hm. that must've all been in his head. a near death experience, some divine intervention... maybe he does get a second shot! "i need to get out of here..." he wants to get out of the comfort zone, but... letting the ego out, where he's going to suffer? let ln!quackity, the character built on legacy, suffer in a place where he has nothing? the outside? where he wouldn't even dare to-

Slime: Looks like everything is running well. Yeah. Everything's going pretty… pretty great. Slime: You look so tired. I uh… yeah, yeah I uh, I am. Slime: I came back to see you one last time. I didn't like how we had to end. Yeah, no uh… I thought about it, no hard feelings and you know what… you were right actually, this time you taught me some valuable lessons. Slime: After I left, I learned a lot. More than I ever thought there was to know. From more people that I ever thought there were. That sounds great. Slime: I came here to say goodbye, Quackity. It felt… important. Where are you going? Are you going somewhere? Slime: I want to go see it, Quackity. Everything belong this land. I don't think I belong here anymore. Wow, yeah. You deserve it, wow… look at you. Traveling the world, I'm excited for you. Slime: I've learned all I can from this place, Quackity. I'm very excited to go. And maybe even now, someone or something can learn from me. Wow, well yeah. Stay uhm, stay safe man. And remember, don't trust too many people. Slime: Quackity, thank you for teaching me what it's like to be human. Yeah… thanks. Slime: Goodbye, Quackity from Las Nevadas.

he realizes the pain is what makes people alive. you can reconcile with it, you can embrace it, you can live with it. slime was confined to las nevadas for so long that he learned how to live. why can't ln!quackity? what makes slime different? ln!quackity has been immersed in nothing but pain and suffering... and k!quackity too! q!quackity! they are all fine, they can do amazing things, but... they have nothing. they lost it all, but why was ln!quackity the one that's stuck? why did he finally crack?

it's because they love. and slime, well, he loves the world. he loves learning, teaching about life. he has a passion, he wants to experience life. he wants to be free. ln!quackity never wanted to be free. he wanted a place to call his own. with slime leaving... he has las nevadas all to himself. everything he ever wanted, all the money in the world, yet he's alone. he was never loved, only used. it's just a hollow tomb. it was built as an homage to people he loved, but they never loved him. nor did he love himself. all it stands to be is just a reminder that ln!quackity will never be loved.

"you look... so tired." "yeah... i uh- i am."

he doesn't have to keep fighting. he doesn't have to keep relishing in pain. he's happy that slime is traveling the world, thanks to him. he took bits and pieces of ln!quackity - not everything - but just enough to keep his chin high. he is his own person, using the lessons that ln!quackity taught him. slime is ln!quackity's legacy. after the conversation with his other two selves, and with slime in the real world, he realized that in order for him to be at peace, he doesn't have to keep on hurting. the pain that he shared with slime, as the lessons he taught him, inspired slime to be his own person. the pain that ln!quackity went through is what made slime realize that he, too, is human. relishing in pain and not using that to keep going makes you a victim to your own surroundings. the pain becomes comfort, and you can never leave. it's nothing more than a tomb.

and thus, the final lines said are:

"quackity, thank you for teaching me what it's like to be human." "yeah... thanks"

slime taught him how to be human as well. and to be human is to not let pain consume you and to keep forward. make amends with it, keep it in your back pocket. those are memories, it's part of your legacy. but what the other quackities could do that ln!quackity couldn't, is remind themselves that they can be better.

q!quackity, though skittish in nature, is observant and uses his knowledge to get under ln!quackity's skin and finally make him snap and realize his emotions. q!quackity represents intellect, even if he is naïve at the same time.

k!quackity, just as smart as q!quackity, is a fighter. he is observant, but he doesn't use that as much to his advantage as he has strength to back him up. he is strong and he knows it, he can lead a revolution, he is strategical. less naïve than q!quackity, he's more cautious of the posing threat that ln!quackity is. q!quackity helps him as his first instinct, showing that the two work together in tandem naturally.

with both sides working together in harmony, where does ln!quackity come in? he represents arrogance, denial of his emotions, his bolstering ego... there is no room for that to grow as a person. he had to die. the room falls silent as he kills himself, no protests. and, q!quackity and k!quackity will make it out alive. they will be coming back. which shows that they do work together to get out. not by killing themselves, but allowing themselves the best parts of each other.

so, as a finale... what does this mean as a whole? i think, although alex really loves ln!quackity, i think this stream was meant to show his journey as a person. he has said he is very grateful for what he has and where he's gotten, and i think keeping yourself humble and counting your blessings is something that you have to grow into. when you're young, you do stupid mistakes. you're naïve, you trust too easily and people take advantage of that. at the end of the stream, ln!quackity says

"don't trust too many people"

as opposed to what he said earlier, talking about himself:

"you know what made all those fail? [...] trust! you can't trust people! they kill you!"

without letting people in, ln!quackity was his own demise. he never learned how to trust, how to love, and thus he could only die alone in the end. but, slime can. he will learn how to love, how to care for, and how to trust others. don't be naïve, but don't be alone, otherwise you will be your own demise in the end.

and thus, this stream was a way to show alex's journey as a person. he said that he was really counting his blessings and being thankful for everything in his life. he can't redo the past few years, but he can move forward with the lessons he learned. that's something he has been talking a lot about lately, and i think this was his own way of interpreting it through characters he loves so dearly. he had to kill off his pride to grow. moving on is the hardest part, and what's even harder is learning how to begin again after everything. but, at the end of the year and going into the next, he will face troubles. he will face challenges.

but he will grow and learn, as he is human, as we are human. we all feel pain, as well as love. we need to learn, we need to grow. and we cannot shy these away from each other - they need to balance each other out and work in unison, as they should.

[avatricebigbang]

The AvaTrice Big Bang Returns!

We're back for hopefully another amazing year of the AvaTrice Big Bang!!!

For those of you who don't know what this event is, writers will each pair up with an artist to work together to create a piece around the same prompt and then post at the same time!

The event is open to writers of both fanfiction and social media AUs and to both artists of any kind and animators. There is no requirement for skill, you just need to be able to commit to producing a complete piece.

Curious to know more? Check out our carrd to read all about the event! It includes the rules, the schedule, and a FAQ!

Changes!

There are a few changes to how the event will run this year that we want to go over as well for those of you who participated last year.

First off, Sign Ups are going to open immediately instead of after a few weeks. (The link to the sign ups will be posted shortly after this post.)

Secondly, joining the discord server for the event is now mandatory to make sure everyone has a way to contact everyone else easily. However, along with this, we're also now opening the discord server up to people who just want to spectate the event and hang out. (The link to the discord server will be posted shortly after this post.)

Third, while the rules stated that you couldn't participate in the event this year if you dropped out past a certain point last year, that restriction is now completely gone. Anyone can join! Fourth, you can now join the event as both a writer and an artist!

There are a few more changes as well, but they can all be found on the carrd or in the discord server!

[class1akids]

Do you think there is any way of fixing what happened in the next chapter? I don't think Horikoshi is a great writer but I don't understand how could he have flumbled so bad when the set up he wrote himself made obvious what should happen. Everybody knows that a big motif was to save the villains and then that's not what happens with the MC and main antagonist? That is kind of like insulting levels of misdirection. I'm foolishly hoping that the next chapters fixes it somehow.

I've been trying to think circles around it, because I do agree with those bloggers who say that it's WILDLY OOC for Deku and it makes them suspect it's a fakeout.

Unfortunately, I only see plausible options with this set-up along the following lines:

Tomura "awakens" the missing Overhaul reconstruction component and rebuilds himself and goes to fix his dying villain buddies. -> Great. It delivers on Tomura's goal to be a hero of the villains and maybe he can turn a new leaf with a healing quirk to try to start fixing the damage he caused. It's sort of an answer to Tomura's arc, but Deku's arc is still destroyed, because he still killed the guy for all he knows and never in any way engaged with his complaints about society. Nothing changed except AFO is dead.

Deku punched TomurAFO with Vestige Magic BS he unlocked offscreen with the exact amount of force to reconstruct Tenko's body out, save the crying boy and give him a second life -> obviously total asspull, but fandom will be happy because who is not a fan of a cute crying child, and "look we told you that Deku is the greatest". Imho, this kind of solution would basically ruin Tomura's development, disregard his progress with the LoV, and would not be good for Deku if he decided that the "crying child" gets to live and told Tomura that he's unforgivable and he needs to die because he never engaged with his villain, only with a ghost of a past that normally doesn't exist anymore and is not a feasible solution to save other people like Tenko this way.

Tomura transferred OFA back to Deku and his vestige as Tenko will live inside Deku so "he'll be a hero" -> I see people getting excited with this, but the vestiges don't "live" there with his "oba-chan". Being a ghost, being trapped inside someone else, never be able to make a decision for themselves is not a life. I don't see it as a good ending for a character who didn't experience much freedom in his entire life. I also think Deku should be rid of the vestiges - it's not healthy to have them yap in his head. If you want this kind of ending, might as well write that Tenko got to join Mon, Mom, Hana etc in heaven and is living there happily in the afterlife.

Deku has brought along Eri's horn and it being in the blast zone of OFA - AFO collision it's fractional rewind turned into a mass rewind effect and he did this in purpose and knew it was gonna work out this way and was totally gonna save everyone with it, including Tomura. And their "farewell scene" was just a clumsily written misdirect. -> OK. Got MHA trending. Editors happy.

Basically Option 1, but AFO being defeated is not the end of the fight, because the Alien Parasite that infected his mom and is the source of all quirks takes form and then the LoV come in to help defeat it. Everyone loses their quirks, no more quirk society. Tomura and Spinner start a gaming youtube channel. Deku becomes a cop.

I mean, I can sit here, come up with these wild, wild BS scenarios that "undo" Tomura's death. But I don't really see a way that salvages both Tomura's and Deku's arc and makes them both deliver on the promise of their arc. Like linkspooky wrote - Deku's entire journey is what would have mattered. Him engaging with villain stories, especially with Tomura's story, trying to empathize, trying to change the root cause. But it feels like in the end, precious little changed compared to the All Might era.

I feel like both Ochako and the Todoroki family confronted Toga and Toya more at both levels - not just at the level of the cute kid whose life went off the rails, but also at the level of the person they grew into: Ochako by offering blood to Toga and the Todorokis by wanting Toya back in his current damaged form and willing to go through hell with him (unlike Toga's folks, who immediately disowned their child). But Deku only embraced crying Tenko. He really didn't offer anything to grown-up Tomura and that's where the problem lies for me.

[mcytblrescape]

Welcome to the Escape Room!

Hello, and welcome to the MCYTblr Escape Room Event, run by @edgarallanpoestan and @patorucho! This is an event where you follow clues and fulfill prompts with a team, in order to escape and complete the challenge.

Interested? Our current stage of running/creation is below, as well as more information about the event itself!

Discord

AO3 Collection

Our current stage of running/creation: Room One open!

Our next stage of running/creation: Creation

Schedule

-> Signups: October 19, 2024 12:00 am CST - November 30, 2024 11:59 pm CST

-> Team Assignments: By December 14, 2024

-> First Room Opens: January 5, 2025 12:00 am CST

-> Event Ends: March 15, 2025 11:59 pm CST

(Below is a rough breakdown of rooms; NOT necessary to stick to this schedule. Each new room opens once you complete the previous room, the only strict deadlines are those above)

-> Room One: January 5, 2025 12:00 am CST - January 18, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Two: January 19, 2025 12:00 am CST - February 1, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Three: February 2, 2025 12:00 am CST - February 15, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Four: February 16, 2025 12:00 am CST - March 1, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Five: March 2, 2025 12:00 am CST - March 15, 2025 11:59 pm CST

Rules

-> As per Tumblr and Discord Terms of Service, all participants must be 13 or older at the time of sign-ups, no exceptions

-> You must join our Discord. If that is an issue, contact a mod, and we will try to figure out a workaround, but you must be present in the server in some way

-> Show all other participants respect and consideration. You will be on different teams, but you are not against each other. Help out your fellow escapees, and be kind to everyone!

-> Work with your teammates, make sure to contribute! We understand if something comes up, real life should always be your first priority. When possible, please at least give a heads-up to your team

-> Absolutely no AI generated content

FAQ

What is the Escape Room Event? How does it work?

-> All teams are given a clue to start out. These clues will lead the team to a prompt. If you get stuck don't worry! Teams will be allowed to vote on hints. There are 5 rooms to solve, and for each room "escaped", your team is given the aforementioned prompt to create for. These can be created a few different ways: every person in the team takes a prompt to fulfill (or, each person creates one or two full pieces, depending on team size, throughout the course of the event); all team members work together to fulfill every prompt (or, each person contributes to each prompt! A webweave made with multiple people looking for content, while others are writing drabbles or doodling something to include, multiple artists working on the same art piece, one fic broken up into multiple parts for each writer, the ideas are endless); or any other combination your team would like to try, as long as everyone is participating! There is no penalty to not finishing all the rooms, this is all for fun!

How do I participate?

-> Fill out our sign-up form, and join our Discord, which is linked above the cut! This is where we will be sending most of our announcements and information, so this is required to participate. You are free to join using a throwaway or sock account, and you do not need to talk -- this is for ease of access on our end, especially if we need to reach out to anyone for any reason.

How do I join a team?

-> Teams will be randomly selected! If there is anyone you specifically do not want to be teamed with, please let a mod know privately

Is AO3 posting required?

-> You are not required to post onto AO3, but we will have a collection available for anyone who would like to!

[crazystargirl]

hi! can I request that u write something that has to due with fem!reader who works at the local movie theater and ethan met her when going to see a movie bc shes a cashier or something and he becomes obsessed with her and starts to show up all the time to watch her and learns her schedule by heart? the she begins to notice but thinks it's really cute and when she finally mentions it, they exchange numbers and go out and stuff?

lots of love, lexie <3

lil movie stalker ♥︎

pairing ♥︎ - ethan landry x reader, ethan landry x fem!reader

word count ♥︎ - 0.9k!

a/n ♥︎ - HELP THE ENDING SOUNDS SO SHITTY AND CHEESY, AND THE TITLE I COULDNT FIGURE OUT ANYTHING GOOD FOR BUT ANYWAYSSSSS, lexie i am so sorry it took so long to write this, i started writing this but ended up stopping due to writers block but here it is! Also kae i promise im working on yours now!!

Ethan had first spotted you when the friend group had dragged him to go see a movie that they had all been wanting to see in theaters. He thought seeing a movie in theaters was kind of dumb since why pay extra and buy snacks and drinks when you can just wait for it to come out and watch it at home or get it illegally. 

It wasn't as bad as having to go to one of those frat parties Chad dragged him to but it was a movie he didn't want to go watch. At least seeing you made it bearable. 

You were gorgeous to say the least. Ethan is pretty sure he's seen you somewhere other than here before.

"Hey isn't that the girl from our english class?" Chad asked Tara, with a nudge to the shoulder.

"Yeah I think she is!" Tara replied.

"Isn't she also dating that idiot jock who wanted to fight you Chad?" Mindy asked, leaning over to join into the conversation.

Ethan frowned at hearing this until Tara said something else.

"No that's a rumor I think, the jock, Steve I think, is dating that idiotic airhead."

"Oh yeah! Y/n, i think that's her name is single or something."

Sam gasps dramatically and looked back at Chad, "You better not be planning to take her out because if you break Tara's heart, I will go Billy Loomis on you."

Everyone laughed and Chad put on a shocked face as they walked up to the ticket booth to get the tickets. Sam bought the tickets and Tara, Mindy, and Ethan went to the concession stand to buy popcorn and drinks.

"Hey y/n! I didn't know you worked here!" Tara said with a bright smile

You looked at her and grinned, "Yeah! I work here part time afterschool and on the weekends cause I'm trying to be more independent"

"Ohhh makes sense, maybe I should get a part time job too, to help Sam out."

"Please don't, then Sam will feel like she's not needed," Quinn said, coming up behind Tara with Sam and Chad. 

"Hi Sam, Quinn, Chad, and boy I do not know" you said looking at Ethan, not noticing him before.

Chad came up next to Ethan and put an arm around him, "This is my best man, Ethan Landry, I don't think you guys have any classes together right?"

"I don't think we do but it's nice to meet you anyway." Ethan said with a smile.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too! Alright guys you better order now since there's a line waiting behind yall"

The group ordered and you gave them their food and drinks and waved goodbye to them. Little did you know that this wasn't going to be the last time you saw Ethan, especially not with the way he looked at you while leaving.

After that day, you hadn't seen him but he definitely saw you. He came everyday after school to watch you.

Ok that sounds a bit fucked up but hey there's no harm in just watching someone…and maybe even learning their work schedule.

After a week or two of watching you, Ethan becomes somewhat enamored. Unfortunately for him, this did not go unnoticed by you.

The first time you actually noticed is when one of your coworkers nudged you and told you something that you didn't quite like…

"Y/n, y'know the guy who always comes after school?"

"What guy?" you asked puzzled

She pointed to Ethan who quickly looked away and looked at his phone.

"Oh yeah i know him, he's friends with some people i know"

"Well i think he's pretty cute and has been coming here almost everyday. I think he might like me"

You frown at the thought, you may or may not have developed feelings for the guy and were praying your coworker wasn't going to ask him out

"Im gonna ask him out"

There goes that

You watch as she goes up to Ethan but start giggling once you see that Ethan shakes his head and looks back at his phone

"Damn he didn't like you huh?" you say as she returns huffing

"Yeah like what the fuck, he literally said he liked someone else"

You laugh and continue working, you want to ask him out or something but you're unsure on how to.

After a few days you decide to go up to him and just ask him why he's always at the theater

You come up to him with a drink

"Hey ethan!"

He looks up and smiles at you

"Hey y/n, what do i owe the pleasure?"

"Well I've noticed you're always around so i decided to just bring you a drink"

"Oh thanks! You uh noticed?"

"Well not immediately but one of my coworkers pointed it out to me, she's the one who asked you out"

"Oh yeah i remember her, i actually don't like her, i come here…well dont take this the wrong way but to watch you" ethan says looking down embarrassed.

"Aww that's actually really cute, do you wanna maybe go see a movie this weekend?"

"Yeah! That would be great, could i get your number?" 

You hand him your phone and he gives it back shortly after

"Alright I'll see you then eth!"

"Yeah cya" he says with a grin

You're probably smiling like an idiot right now but you're too happy to give a shit. You just scored a date with the guy you liked, why wouldn't you be happy? 

taglist ♥︎ - @xyzstar, @ourloveisgod23, @dizscreams, @kaesworldxx, @bhk1234uwu, @nonniesworld, @athenalive, @lanaslittletwinkie, @beccajoestar

if your name is crossed out it's bc it wouldn't let me tag you

©crazystargirl 2023 || do NOT translate or repost my work without my permission

[chocolatepot]

Twitter is rapidly sinking as people are only allowed to look at it for about ten minutes a day, so I thought I would put together a post explaining the best way to get started on Mastodon! It can be an intimidating prospect as it's not as immediately user-friendly as Twitter or other corporate social media sites.

Selecting a server

The main difference between Mastodon and Twitter is that you don't just "sign up for Mastodon". Mastodon is effectively made up of hundreds of small sites (called "instances") that are all interconnected ("federated") and use the same interface. The instance you choose has only a minor effect on your experience. The main one to be aware of is that if an instance is known to be poorly moderated and have users who cause a lot of trouble, other instances may unlink from it ("defederate") and make it more difficult for people on it to interact with you. This is rare. The very big, unthemed instances like mastodon.social are more likely to have this problem than any fannish one, in my experience. (You can also make a personal choice to block an entire instance if you have an issue with it.)

The other effect is that each instance has its own universal feed of all users on it.

The sidebar looks almost exactly like Twitter's, except for "local" and "federated". Your home feed is just the people you follow. "Local" is everyone on your instance, and "federated" is everyone on any instance yours is federated with. The local feed is why it's worthwhile to choose an instance that has some sort of theme you're interested in, like fandom, tech, queer issues, history, etc.

The two main fannish instances I'm aware of are fandom.ink and federatedfandom.net. There's also wandering.shop but that seems to be more for writers, in my experience. If you want a different sort of instance, just google "[topic] mastodon instance" and you should find it.

Applying to your instance

Because instances are more tightly moderated than the rest of social media, you can't always immediately get into the one you want. (Though I suspect that many have opened up slightly as Twitter flails.) You may need to submit some kind of application and wait a few days.

If you know someone on the instance you want to join, they may be able to get you an invite code so you can skip the queue. I have unlimited invites for fandom.ink, hit me up if you want to join.

You can also join an instance that's currently taking new accounts and then transfer into the one you want later. For the impatient souls.

Posting

The mechanics of posting are just like Twitter's.

You type in the box, you hit "toot" (I know), and out it goes. You may notice that you get a 500 character limit! This is nice.

If you add an image, make sure to add alt text. Not including alt text may get you flamed or shamed. You can also make a poll, set privacy levels, and add a content/spoiler/trigger warning that will require people to click through to see the text.

Use of hashtags is strongly encouraged on Mastodon. I've seen some talk praising Tumblr's style of having a separate field for tags and suggesting Mastodon add that, but I don't know if it'll happen. But unlike Twitter, there's an earnest culture of incorporating tags into your text (eg "I just bought a new #fountainpen") and following tags to get posts about different topics. This is the main way to find people with similar interests to follow, outside of your local feed.

It's also Mastodon culture to write an introductory post with your interests, including hashtags, so that people can find you.

Something else to be aware of is that you can edit your posts! If anyone has already rt'd ("boosted") them - they will just get a notification of your edit.

You cannot qrt on Mastodon at this time. It's a hotly debated topic. You will have to settle for boosting and then replying, or making your own post with context and linking to the post you want to qrt.

Following other people

If the person you want to follow is on your instance, that's all well and good. Click on their name, go to their profile, click the "follow" button.

If they are not on your instance, you need to make sure that you're accessing them through your instance. Clicking on their name from your federated feed, or if someone has boosted them onto your home feed, will automatically take you to the version of their profile on your instance. Also all well and good.

If you get to their profile from somewhere else, such as a direct link from another social media platform, that's a problem. If you try to follow, their instance will bleat at you that you don't have an account. There are two ways to get around this.

One is to paste their entire username (eg "@chocolatepot@fandom.ink") into the search bar on your instance, from your home feed. The other is to navigate to "http://[your server address]/[their whole username]" in your address bar. Both will take you to the same place.

[drarrydisabilityfest]

It's That Time of Year Again...

Drarry Disability Fest 2024

Welcome Back to the 2ND YEAR of Drarry Disability Fest (2024)!

For those who don't know, Drarry Disability Fest is a fest dedicated to the accurate representation of disabilities, d/Deafness, medical conditions, and mental illness; Drarry Disability Fest is the first of it's kind. In this fest there will be no romanticism of disability (though romance will definitely be present elsewhere), instead we want our artists and writers to focus on accurate depiction - whether it be of the sad, mad, or glad times of disability and mental illness.

Our goal is to add diversity to the Drarry fic and fanart community, and we firmly believe that while disability and mental illness can be very difficult to handle, they do not mean that we're destined to a life of inaction and solitude; we are an empowered community.

All the mods for this fest are disabled/mentally ill to some extent, and have experience with a variety of additional disabilities to ensure that we have maximum ability to give feedback and filter prompts to the best of our ability.

We would also like to say that everyone's experience with mental illness and disability is different, so if you end up reading a depiction of your illness or disability that differs from your own, please accept that we do our best to filter the media in this fest so that it is safe for disabled readers, and remember that every different experience with a condition is valid.

This fest will not be anonymous, and we're posting to the fest AO3 Collection in July as that is Disability Pride Month. This year we are starting everything slightly earlier so that all you beautiful creators have more time to create, so follow our tumblr and join our discord sever to be sure you don't miss anything.

Anyone may prompt to this fest, even if you don't plan to create anything, however we will be filtering your prompt submissions on the AirTable to ensure they are sensitive to the disability/mental illness you are wishing to see depicted.

You don't need to be disabled to write about disabilities, but please do your research, ask questions from disabled sensitivity readers, and if you're ever unsure our wonderful mods Ceylon, Rowan, and Kel are happy to help. We have a wordcount minimum of ~1000 or equivalent. This means if you're not doing a written piece then put in the effort equivalent in your digital fanart, podfic, or other media. We do not accept videos at this time.

Beta readers/viewers are required for each submission. You can self prompt when claiming, and you can claim multiple prompts as long as you submit each work before claiming a new prompt.

The Dates are as follows in MST/MDT:

February 29 (Leap Year): Prompting Begins

March 20: Prompting Closes (Self-Prompting still allowed)

April 1: Claiming Opens

June 15: Claiming Closes

June 16 : Submissions Deadline

July 1: Posting Begins

July 31: Posting Ends & Fest Wrap-up

Further in depth fest rules can be found at the pinned post on our tumblr, please give them a read as they have been updated!

Your mods: Rowan @basicallyahedgehog (tumblr), Ceylon @quackquackcey (tumblr), Kel @slytherinthelibrary (tumblr)

A PSA: We acknowledge that J.K. Rowling is the author of the series this fandom is based in, however all mods involved strongly disagree with and refute any and all racist, antisemitic, transphobic, homophobic, and other prejudiced ideas the author holds. This is a safe space for trans people and two of our mods are trans themselves. If you are transphobic or homophobic or otherwise prejudiced against any marginalized group; you are not welcome here.

[michaeldemiurgossociety]

Welcome to Secret Sword 3: Sword Hard with a Vengeance!!!

It's the third annual secret santa/gift exchange for the MDAS/Michael Demiurgos Appreciation Society.

Please see this year's rules below:

First the Dates: Sign-ups from 11/7/2024 - 12/8/2024

Assignments Sent on 12/12/2024

Assignments Due on 1/12/2025

Works Posted on 1/20/2025

Big Reveal of the Secrets on 1/27/2025

**

Second, the sign up form:

Third, rules:

*This is a Michael-centric gift exchange, as a result we are going to encourage mainly having Michael as the primary character or focus in fic, art, videos...etc.

*However, we will also ask if people as one of their sign-up questions would prefer any gift that either crosses over or might involve Tom Ellis in another role like Godcat in Exploding Kittens or Oliver Knight in Tell Me Lies. If we have two people with requests and willingness to do something that's TE-related from other projects, then we will consider doing that as a pairing option as well. It depends on if we have two people who match up in that way, but you are allowed to give a Tom Ellis in another media project answer to that specific question as a prompt, yes***

*This is an all ship zone. The only exceptions are for ships that might be seen as promoting inappropriate adult/underage relationships or bestiality. Everything else goes. If you don't like it, don't request it or add comments to it when works are revealed.

*The sign up list will ask everyone what their squicks/triggers are. If you have them, please list them. This helps us to appropriately make sure you're paired doing work for someone who matches you and also so you don't have to make something that makes you feel uncomfortable.

*The exchange has two hosts, myself (Legendarytobes) and Dtaina. You need to save our email when we reach out to you with assignments and be open with if stuff comes up. We don't mind, we just want to have enough time to let possible pinch hitters know.

*Similarly, please reach out to me or to Dtaina if you need more clarification of your giftee's prompts. We can always be intermediaries and ask the giftee for more specifications if that will help you create better as the Creator.

*Yes, if your giftee requests something with AU or crossovers you can do that. If they don't specifically request a crossover or AU michael idea, then you need to try and honor their prompt/request as closely as possible.

*Also, honor ratings requests of your giftee. If they want something to stay PG, then please do that. We will try as hosts to pair people who have similar heat level requests together as well.

*You will provide three prompts. The gifter who makes your gift only has to fulfill one of the three. They can do more but one out of the three prompts fulfilled is all that is required.

*Please feel free to spread this all over the internet and social media. We love to have new people participate too. Even if you've never made a fanwork, you can feel free to start now!

*In case you feel overwhelmed by being a new participant---and we love new people---but a story only has to be 500 words minimum and a vid only has to be 60 seconds and art only has to be one drawing/image. And, yes, we'll also take poems if that's your kind of fanwork.

*If you want to use AI to create images like from Bing AI Art, that is allowed. We do not want, however, fanfics created with ChatGPT at this time.

So, if you're on the fence about trying it, this is a great way to try creating in fandom too.

We really look forward to having old and new artists/writers/vidders joining us this year

Finally, please keep in mind:

*This is a very golden rule place. If you can't say something nice about a work, then just don't say anything and respect all types of Michael appreciation.