#you'll see this post reblogged a couple of times for the next week or so

[bakgos]

okay hi hello heres me announcement this blog is officially on semi - hiatus / primarily runs on queue as i’ve become a fulltime student again whilst also working a fulltime job. i work 45 to 50 hours a week & will now spend an extra 15+ hours a week for school, so everything i do roleplay / plotting / chatting wise will be on discord until further notice and / or when i have time to be here to actually reply to things , which will be very rare. my discord is shredded chicken taako#6935 & is mutuals only. please let me know who you are when i add you back <3 

[olderthannetfic]

Okay, I need advice: I'm in a very tiny fandom (like less than two dozen active people and everyone knows each other) and one of the women in it is kind of freaking me out.

We became mutuals because we had some good discussions on some of the characters we liked, but I soon became sort of uncomfortable with a lot of her online behavior whereas simultaneously she's DM-ing me more and more.

She's one of those people who's a hardliner on the issues she cares about (mostly feminism- and SA-related) while talking over people when it comes to issues she doesn't care about (mostly racism and related things). And I see a lot of her trying to intrusively police how other people talk/act, derailing people's posts, arguing with people online over the most stupid shit (where not even her own opinions come off as overly coherent - this week she'll argue something along the lines of "men are evil" and the next she'll argue that people are "demonizing masculinity" - I'll add for clarification that she's not a TERF and supports trans rights but boy... Does she sound like one sometimes) and then digging through people's profiles to find and publicize minor transgressions and bad takes, passive-aggressive vagueposting, and going into mental breakdowns over the most innocuous of online interactions.

TBH she scares me. As someone who suffered through toxic people getting overly attached to me, I genuinely sometimes get a physical reaction when I see her lashing out on the dash.

And she keeps initiating conversations! And sometimes I don't reply or bring the conversation to a natural closure and she keeps at it, or sends me random fics of hers to read that I don't have the heart to tell her don't interest me or whatever. And recently when she disagrees with something I reblogged she direct messages me to rant about it - with a lot of sort of indirect language because she doesn't want to offend me but I can see the intent. The last couple of times I replied politely because I cared about clearing misunderstandings on the topic but next time I'm just gonna tell her I dislike it when she does that.

I really want this person to stop interacting with me, to be honest, and all my polite hints to the effect go unnoticed. But the fandom is so small I feel awkward and uncomfortable about unfollowing or blocking her. I don't think she's too bad of a person, she just comes off as very... Mentally ill, I guess? And since I've tried to be polite so far I feel like it might come out of left field for her?

TBH I feel like something about her behavior also triggers some kind of freeze/fawn reaction inside of me that I don't often get and consequently don't know how to deal with.

So I need impartial advice because I don't see the situation clearly myself

--

To summarize, a person who is a walking red flag wants to be friends, and you can't easily ghost her because the fandom is small.

I think you have to accept that there is no low-conflict way out of this.

That's what's holding you back, right? You don't want more drama and you know it's coming. I think you already know in your heart of hearts that you need to get away from her even if it's a pain in the ass.

Step one is to stop responding to her DMs. That will probably make her reach out more, but you should keep not responding. If she escalates and attacks you over it, block her.

The more you offer reasons or try to gently hint, the more that will encourage her. I don't think that's true of everyone, but I do think it's the case here. This is both because it doesn't sound like she's good at perceiving or respecting boundaries and because she inspires a bad lack of ability to assert boundaries in you.

I agree that it's unfortunate that you can't stand up for yourself or tell her plainly when she's out of line, but since you can't and that probably won't change any time soon, you'll need to protect yourself a different way. Sometimes, we just have to avoid people who are bad for us even when it's an us problem. (And here, whoaaaa red flags, so I don't think it's just a you problem anyway.)

There are many sad, lonely, needy people in the world. Some of them are officially mentally ill in some way with a diagnosis. Some just need things they aren't currently getting. That sucks...

But it's also not your job to fix.

[sailor-aviator]

Hey there...

You got a second? Come chat with me.

After talking with a couple of other creators on here and seeing the reaction to a couple of my other posts, I thought it might be a good idea to chat about engagement and what that means, specifically here on Tumblr.

Engagement is the life blood of fandom. It is what keeps people enthusiastic, happy, and, well....engaged! I think there have been some misconceptions about what exactly it is content creators (fanfic writers, moodboard makers, gif makers, fan art makers, etc.) mean when they say they want meaningful engagement.

Meaningful is the operative word here. Yes, likes and reblogs do count as engagement with your favorite creators, but do they count as meaningful?

Imagine with me for a second that you are competing in a sporting event....lets say track and field. You've been preparing for this event for a while now, putting your all into it so that you can do your best. The time comes and your event goes really well!! Afterwards, you go to mingle with the crowds, your friends, your families, except...no one says a word to you. Sure, they give you thumbs up and applause, but nothing else.

You're starting to feel a little self conscious now. You thought you did really well, but no one is saying anything? So you ask them how they thought you did. Several of them just smile at you and nod their heads, giving you another thumbs up, and one of your friends even says "you did good!"

"Well, what did you all think about...?" You ask. Again, no one says anything. You look over and several other teammates are having the same thing happen to them. One or two have people gushing about their performance, and it's well deserved! They worked really hard, and they did amazing in their event! But you did too...right? You're not so sure now, and now you're starting to second guess yourself. Should you even be doing this at all? People gave you thumbs up and applause, but....

A few weeks later, you're not as engaged with track and field anymore. In fact, you've all but quit at this point, running in your free time, but you're not doing it competitively for others to see. You still enjoy the act, but you don't want to subject others to seeing you do it if they don't want to. One day, a friend comes up to you and says "You were so good at track and field! Why did you stop??"

"I didn't think anyone liked seeing me do it, so I stopped," you explain. Your friend looks at you confused.

"We all did?" They say. "We gave you thumbs up and applause. Why would you think we didn't like your events?"

"Because you never said you did. You never put forth the effort to tell me, so how was I supposed to know?" You reply.

Now, given reactions to other posts like this, I'm sure some of you are going to call me condescending or patronizing. I'm not trying to be. I'm trying to show you all why meaningful engagement is so vital to fandom experiences. Your favorite creators WILL stop creating if you don't talk to them about their work. They'll keep doing what they love, but eventually they will stop sharing it with you. You'll never know how your favorite fic ends. You'll never see your favorite characters in that style exactly again. You'll get fewer and fewer gifs.

Likes are okay, and reblogs are important for getting more eyes on your favorite things, but talking to your writers and engaging with them in the different events, their content, or fun things they try to do for you all is so important.

I joked, but the whole "ten likes and five comments for the next update" used to be a very real thing in fandom spaces. Your favorite content creators do not want to be on here constantly begging you all to talk to them. We are human beings who want to speak with other human beings, we don't want to be treated like mindless content machines for you all. Days of work go in to what we create, and a single sentence of "I really liked when X character said this! I can't wait to see what they'll do when Y happens!" on a fic takes you ten seconds. And I guarantee that the author will absolutely bombard you with their excitement to talk about their story. You're never bothering someone when you talk about their work. They share it because they WANT to talk to you about it.

Don't want to show your face? That's totally fine! That's what the anonymous feature is ACTUALLY for. Show love through anonymous messages if you don't want people to know it's you!

Show your favorite creators some more love. It's so easy.

[spnfanficpond]

Weekly Pond Newsletter

We have been busy little bees this week!

Old Business:

Angel Fish Awards - The post for June went up this past week and you can click here to see a long list of awesome fic recs!

SPN Rewatch: Fanfic Edition - We had another great chat this weekend about 2.15 Tall Tales and 2.16 Roadkill! Click here to access the Archive and see all of the things we discussed from each episode! Also, the theme docs are now up to date and fully cross-referenced. Feel free to add any notes of your own to the episode docs, and if you see any errors like incorrect links, send a message to @mrswhozeewhatsis!

Competitive Writing Sprints - Admin Michelle hosted a two-hour session of writing sprints where 5 participants wrote a total of 7207 words over 4 sprints!! The leader of the pack was @rainythursdaynight with a whopping 2629 words written! Congrats to them and to all those who joined us! Admin MJ will be hosting another session of sprints next weekend on Sunday, so you'll have more chances to compete!

Reader Insert Writing Challenge: Gender Studies - A couple of weeks ago, we announced a new writing challenge, focusing on gender stereotypes. The idea was spawned from teaching ourselves how to write a gender-neutral reader-insert character. In order to be more aware of what gender stereotypes need to be stripped away, we can lean into them by writing the same trope or prompt with both genders. If you're interested in doing this challenge, drop a message to @mrswhozeewhatsis! For more info on this challenge, click here!

Last week's #TweetFicTues prompts -

New Business:

Looking for Manta Rays outside the US - Here at the Pond, we have a lot of ideas for things we'd like to do, but we're short on the manpower to do them. It has also been brought to our attention that because most of us are in the US or Canada, most of our events are not at a great time for our members in the rest of the world. If you have been a member of the Pond for a while and you would like to be in service to your fellow Pondies, then send a message to one of our admins! For more info about this, click here! We can't wait to hear from you!

Manta Rays in the Discord server - Admins Marie and Michelle will both be spending some time hanging out in the Discord server next weekend! Marie will be there Friday evening, 9pm EDT, and Michelle will be there Saturday afternoon, 4pm EDT. These will be informal chats, but if you have a topic you'd like to bring to the table, we'd love to talk with you about it!!

Competitive Writing Sprints - As we said above, Admin MJ will be hosting some writing sprints next weekend on Sunday morning! Come participate, add words to your WIP, and win fabulous prizes!

Fishing For Treasures - Next weekend is FFT weekend here at the Pond, and this month we're celebrating RPF fics!! Submit a link to the blog here, or drop a link in the #fishing-for-treasures channel in the Discord server to get your favorite RPF fics reblogged next weekend! Deadline for submitting those links is Friday at midnight, EDT!

Sun Spin online concert - Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor from Smallville and friend to the #SPNFamily) and Rob Danson are having an online concert next weekend on Stageit.com! Click here for more info and to buy tickets! For more music links from our members, check out #the-music-room channel in our Discord server.

(Divider by @glygriffe!)

That's all for this week! To see all Pond events, and also other SPN-related things like conventions and online concerts, check out our Google calendar! Click here for a static view in Eastern US/Canada time (desktop only, no mobile app access, sadly), and click here to add our calendar to your own Google calendar! We try to keep it as up-to-date as possible. If there's something you want to see on the calendar that's not there (maybe a convention we missed, cast birthdays, or something similar), send us an ASK and let us know!

Hope you have a great week! - From your Admins and Manta Rays, @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, and @heavenssexiestangel!

[hideduoweek]

That's a wrap on Fitpac Week 1!

That's all for this week, folks! Thank you so so much, from the bottom of my heart, for taking a chance on this event and creating so much for our favourite Roommates. The timing couldn't have been any better - seeing as we got The Confession right in the middle of the week, and it has been so wonderfully inspiring to see each and every one of you contribute with your immense talent.

We reblogged 36 works of fanfiction and 24 works of art - that's 60 works in total! The AO3 collection has 38 works, so a big shoutout to those extra ones over there, too. To be the arranger for so much more content about Fitpac going into the world is an honor and a privilege.

If you missed out on posting - don't worry ! This blog will continue to reblog any posts that fulfil the Fitpac Week prompts and fill out the template, so no sweat about being late. And in other good news; as you may have gathered from the title, this certainly isn't the last you'll see of Fitpac Week. I already have more prompts ready, and a couple ideas for when to throw the next one - it will be before 12 months from now, I'm sure!

If you have anything you want to add as feedback or anything else for this event, please leave it in the replies or tags of this post!

Once more, thank you so much <3

~mod fey

[tophat-cy]

Huh...its 10 PM. You know what that means right...?

It's time for...

🎨⚔️Art Fight Attacks - Week 1🎨⚔️

This week I had several difficulties with the site, which made me temporarily quit doing attacks, but I still started good with 7 attacks (it would've been 8 but apparently the 8th one is still in production, so it will be shown in the next week batch. Sorry ^^').

Now let's see who we're the lucky ones ✨!

So :

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th attack belong to no one but @dustyisegg! We did quite the revenge chain, amirite 😋?

Then the 4th attack belongs to @faceeeeee! Her take of Lord Rubrub is actually eye-catching and interesting, who would've known that :D ?

5th attack belongs to @tamamoarts on Marmy and Otto! Marmy caught my attention for a while and I'm glad he got on Art Fight 😁. As for Otto...you'll see soon why I picked him ;] ✨.

And not at last...the 6th attack belongs to MissGaufrette! Unfortunately they don't have any socials, but what can I say is that Nuri looks pretty cute :3. And has got the MOTHERFUCKING PINK HAIR AHAHAHAHAHAHAHSHDBFKD alright campers calm down :') !!!

And now everyone will think that's all for this post...but it's NOT 😈! I have a couple of bonus doodles for @dustyisegg and @tamamoarts right under the cut. Hope you enjoy them :'] ✨!

Apparently, it was supposed to be 4 doodles here, but uuuhhh...you know how app limits are, right 😑? (might add the rest in a reblog or something idk)

Now! We can say that that was all for this post. Week two starts tomorrow, so stay prepared for more attacks! And maybe more doodles, who knows 😉✨.

🎨⚔️Have a great night, Artfighters!!!⚔️🎨

[lookbluesoup]

Seeking Bojza DR Help

NEXT Saturday (May 13th) a few people in my FC are tentatively hoping to clear the Bojza duty Delubrum Reginae, the 1-24 man duty that unlocks weekly quests for gold coins and the second region, Zadnor.

We've poked at it before but three of the four of us have some chronic health issues and DR is... intense. If you've only got a small party. Which has made it hard to get through the whole thing before we hit that pain threshold and have to stop.

Even thought there's a 10 min queue built in, this is fairly obscure content with quite a few steps to unlock. So there's just not that many people running DR on a whim and we can't usually expect randos to end up with us to help

So I'm putting feelers out to see if anyone would like to join us next week! I THINK that since world visiting is now a thing, anyone can team up, but I'm not 100% sure. At the very least folks in the Crystal DC should have no issues?

We're pretty chill, casual players but all four of us have cleared MSQ and have at least a couple classes up to 90, one of us is a Mentor - we're experienced! Plus we've got a tank and a healer, so you'd be welcome to play any class you like.

We're looking for friendly, patient folks to help us out! It will PROBABLY happen somewhere around 2-5pm US Eastern time - we really only have this window due to the wide time zone spread of our group, sorry!

If you don't have Bojza unlocked, it's a bit time consuming but not too difficult and has some really cool rewards. You'll have to rank up a bit to reach DR, but hopefully a week's notice gives anyone who wants to join but isn't there yet time to prep!

If you're interested, comment under this post or DM me! I'll keep the original post updated as much as I can with how we're doing on numbers, so if you're coming from a reblog, give the main post a look!

Currently at: 17/24 (possibly 18/24) @/skostoflight @/tallbluelady @/chiclet-go-boom @/thelongestway @/sinus-lacrimarum @/ashenbun @/meatball-headache @/meganemaryam @/shadowmoses (+3-4) @/dire-catgirl

Maybes: 8 @/boggleoflight @/thorneyes @/eorzeashan @/meeshster @/shebaa

Reserve:

@/lark-mage

If we fill up a party I'm happy to keep adding others to sit in reserve in case someone can't make it, but ofc can't guarantee we'll be able to fit everyone into the run. Thank you all so much for the interest! ;w;

Also turning reblogs off since we have so many maybes now!

[maguneedsalife]

OK so I know it's been FOREVER since we talked BUT I have been watching a stream of someone playing FFXIV from the beginning and then I was also talking to a friend about the story of FFXIV and I thought of you.

I know if I get into FFXIV it will eat my life (and sometimes I consider it) but if I do, how should I start?

Also, what are the best parts of the story and/or gameplay?

(also Aoife is cool, I like her a lot, and I've just been casually following you long enough that she's like... my default WOL, just so you know)

aaa ty for the ask! (and it doesnt feel like forever somehow bc we reblog each other's posts all the time lmao)

anyway this ended up very long so im putting it under a readmore, but aaaaa im so happy you're interested in trying the game!!

ffxiv will absolutely eat your life, but! if you're interested in giving it a try to see if you like it, (deep breath) have you heard about the free trial of the award winning mmo final fantasy fourteen with no restrictions on playtime and content up to level 70 including the heavensward and stormblood expansio--

jokes aside, the free trial is my personal rec for where to start. you can play as most of the available races (viera and hrothgar are locked to shadowbringers unforch, but as part of the story you get an item that you can use to remake your character if you want, so if you decide to buy the game later you can use that to make the bunny or lion of ur dreams). there are some limits on things like buying items off the mb and how much gil/items you can have, but for the most part there's like 200+ hours of content that's just available for FREE. Idk if you have mmo experience, but if xiv would be your first foray into MMOs i would definitely try the trial first to see if you like it! and since stormblood is included in the trial now you can meet my favorite robot beetle without paying a CENT

the other thing to consider is that there is a big expansion coming at the end of June, which will also include a gigantic graphical update for the characters and world. right now the game is doing its best with ps3-early ps4 era graphics, but come june everything will look a lot prettier! (not that it isn't already pretty, but i won't miss the pixelated grass...). They'll also be adding furry lion ladies if that's your thing (though they won't be free to play as; you'll have to buy the full game to make a hot lion). the downside is the new expansion will be a tough time to start with everyone trying to get in for the new story, so I'd say if you want to start, either do it before dawntrail (easy to log in) or end of july (login queues have eased, and you get to see everything in the pretty graphics!)

normally here is where I'd put my "if you want to play around with the character creator, there's a free benchmark program you can download that includes it!" buuuut the dawntrail benchmark has uh, let's just say wip character models, and they're actually working on putting out an update to it sometime in the next couple weeks.... but when that update does come out, it'll be a great way to play around and see what kind of character you want your wol to be!

WHEW. Okay. that's the first part of your question.

Second part of your question - i wont discuss details of the story bc imo it's worth experiencing firsthand, but i think my favorite part about the story is that your little guy is at the center of it. a lot of the wol's narrative is left open to interpretation, and you are free to imagine how your character responds to the plot. every single person who plays this game has a different and valid experience with the same story, simply due to how they envision their character participating in it, and i think that's beautiful. i can't think of a lot else like it out there.

you'll see a lot of people online arguing that some expansions are "skippable" or base game is "skippable" but they're all lying to you. play all the main story. watch all the cutscenes. there's no need to zoom through it. the reason you are crying your eyes out at the end of endwalker is because you have watched your wol grow from the time they were killing level 1 ladybugs in the starting area. some parts might be stronger or weaker than others, but it all comes together to make one of my favorite stories videogames has ever told.

(also, no spoilers, but shadowbringers is still my favorite expansion for a reason. you've probably osmosized a fair bit of it from my posts about it but it's soooo good. it's worth seeing in person.)

also there are some surprisingly good storylines in the "side" content (raids, trials, etc), so it's definitely worth picking up those blue plus quests and seeing what adventures are to be had. not to be biased but the omega storyline is my favorite ("yes ren we KNOW you like the robot beetle"). some are serious (there's one about child soldiers) and some are goofy (in one questline you solve zany mysteries with the world's least competent detective) but all of them have heart, and a little final fantasy corniness.

as for gameplay, its probably obvious that i love the fashion aspect. Gear you obtain can be seen on your character (even jewelry!), and there's a whole system for saving outfits. people joke that glamour is the true endgame but i literally, like an hour ago, cleared a high difficulty raid because i wanted a specific shirt. So obviously the dressup aspect is a main draw for me gameplay wise.

but other than that, one of the game's strengths is there's something for everyone. if you want to be the sweatiest raider and optimize your rotation and get BiS and clear ultimates, you can, but it's not the only way to enjoy the game. i have friends who enjoy just dinking around in roulettes, friends who love to fish, friends who roleplay, friends who organize rare monster kill trains, and friends who spend a ton of time on minigames in the casino. that's just scratching the surface. there's so much to do!

anyway, whew, i think that maybe answered your question? or maybe you now have more of them?

i am always available here and on discord to answer questions and help you get started in eorzea :3 ty again for the ask!!!

and aaaaaaaaaa hearing that you like aoife makes me so happy 😭

[guacas-among-us]

So, what's next?

The comic is now over after some weeks, and the ending leaves no room for a sequel, so what will be of this account now?

Firstly, I wanted to thank everyone for the support I've recieved lately! It means the world to me and helps me stay motivated to work on the story <3 I hadn't expected people to still read Among Us comics in 2024 but It's nice to see I was very wrong! I may not respond to every single reblog or comment, but I do read them all and smile every single time :D

Secondly, and the best of news, worry not, for a sequel is on the work! This second arc is titled "R83S" and takes place at Mira HQ shortly after the events of C R O P H S. There will be new characters and various PoVs instead of just one protagonist! Not only that, but this one will also be twice as long as the first! There will be enough space bean content to last a couple more years :D

With that, of course, come new schedules. Unlike for the first arc, this one isn't already finished. Drawing new pages takes a while, so I estimate there will be updates every 2 or so weeks (depending on how busy I am). It's a huge downgrade from the daily posts most of you are used to, but I'm sure you'll get used to it. The summary will be posted in about 3 weeks from now, to leave some room to rest in between each story.

So what happens in the meantime? What will you post while we wait? The answer is extra content, art and fun facts! There are many interesting things I can share about the first arc that don't necessarily contribute to the story but add to the experience of reading it.

And if you haven't yet, I heavily recommend you check out the text version too! It focuses a lot more on specific feelings and thoughts rather than just scenes. It has some slight differences from the comic that are great for crumbs of extra content XD

And I guess that's it for now! Keep an eye out these next weeks for new posts and we'll all be looking forward to the second arc, including myself.

Thank you for reading! <3

[pumpkinspice-prouvaire]

i only just got into les mis but the fandom is so intimidating skjdgj qwq any tips

hi!!!! welcome to the fandom!!! Don't be intimidated I promise we're all really nice!!!

I think my top tip would be if you're consuming content by creators in the fandom, interact with it, whether that's through comments on ao3 or reblogging art on tumblr and leaving lots of screaming in the tags or anything else. As a fic writer I remember the names of my regular commenters, and when I see them on my dash my immediate reaction is :D friend! :D And if you're a content creator yourself, post your stuff and tag it! I can't speak for artists and other content creators, but in terms of fics kudos and comments can sometimes be slow to come (especially if you're not writing ExR) but the right people will find it and love it!

Also from personal experience I've found those reblog ask games really effective for making friends, if you reblog and send the person you reblogged from an ask, a lot of the time they'll send one back. Yay, communication!!!

The fandom is sort of split into canon content and modern au/fanon content. Everyone has a preference, and you'll find that group of blogs you enjoy the most soon, but if you are chill, you can enjoy both. This goes without saying, and I hope I'm not being condescending, but if you disagree with an opinion/post/ship/person, you are under no obligation to interact with it. Block the tag and or blog and move on, PLEASE be chill.

You've also joined at a good time, because we're part way through Les Mis Letters! We're a good bit through Volume II by now, but if you've read the book previously orrrr can just Sparknotes Volume I (or be completely unhinged and do a mega catchup over the next few days- let me know if you achieve this and I'll make you a cake), you can totally join and post commentary/meta/jokes anything else! The blog is @lesmisletters , I believe there's also a Discord server

One that note, there's plenty of Discord servers if that's your thing! I can name a couple off the top of my head (Hoes for Enjolras, Lame Mis, Discorinthe) but don't have links, I know there's a post out there somewhere I will try to find it when I have time!

You've also joined at a good time because there's plenty of fandom events coming up soon! It's too late to sign up, but the ExR Big Bang is in a few weeks, Barricade Day aka the biggest Les Mis event of the year is 5th-6th June, Drink with Me aka the platonic Les Mis exchange normally happens in August time (Although I'm not positive if it's happening this year yet), and I believe Logic and Philosophy week aka Enjolras and Combeferre week is in September time? There's probably more that I'm missing out but those are the one I know are happening soon!

I think all that's left now are some blog recs 😌😌😌

@/pilferingapples @/alicedrawslesmis @/thecandlesticksfromles mis @/shitpostingfromthebarricade @/hfullofblagden @permit-it @/unicorngunter @/weisbrot @/thelawsofdaylight @/butts-of-the-barricade @/fuckyeahlesmiserables @/guide-ferre @/secretmellowblog @/barricade-blondes @/aromantic-enjolras @/p-trichor @/wild-oats-and-cornflowers @/everyonewasabird @/juliensorelisoverparty @/see-you-on-the-barricade @/probably-enjolras @/jesuisserieux @/cx-shhh @/ueinra @/kjack89 @/shamedumpster @/dolphin1812

I'm definitely missing some great blogs there but at least you have a starting point lmao I hope you enjoy!!!

[katrinafaire]

Lessons From Fanfic: own it.

So I mentioned in a couple places before that I write fanfic. Prolifically. I've written over a million words in over ten years (for the uninformed, while this is a lot I doubt I'm anywhere near the higher percentage of really prolific writers) and most of them have been very well received. In fact, I do intend to write and post more!

So while this "original works" thing I'm rusty at, I'm a very practiced writer. And I learned a lot from fanfic. And there's something very peculiar there that I have learned from and wanted to share here too, because this is an easy trap for anyone, but especially newbies, to fall into. If you don't read much further, read and internalize this next sentence:

If you don't believe in your story, no one will.

(This is not 100% accurate: author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who came to despise his Sherlock Holmes series which was wildly popular and has been for over a century, is an outlier and should not be counted.)

Humor aside though, I'm serious. If you try to get people to read for pity, people - even people who would otherwise read it and love it - will avoid reading it. Few are the people who are told by a stranger "this is probably trash, but it's my first try so please read?" are going to find themselves endeared to the writer or the story. Modesty is a virtue but self-depreciation only makes things awkward.

You wrote this story because it fascinates you. Because there's a world and people and plot you fell in love with. Tell people that! Tell people why they should love it too! Be your biggest fan and most vocal promoter. Reblog your own promo posts, at different times of the day throughout different times of the week for exposure. Tag it for #writers on Tumblr and #original writing, tag your genres. Talk about your characters and the setting and everything that makes it special.

Write a love letter to your work and toss it out there for people to see with playlists, character sheets, lore snippets and mood boards. Get involved with other authors and listen raptly to their work and then share yours!

You are worthy of attention. Your work may be a diamond in the rough, in need of a superior cut and polish, maybe even needing some dirt washed off and buffed off imperfections. Maybe it is worlds away from a publishable draft.

But it's your baby. Nurture it. And if no one else told you today, whatever it is? It's awesome because you made it in a way no one else could. Own it. Say "this is mine and I love it and this is why you should too!" Be your biggest fan, and don't worry if it takes a while for other people to realize it's good. Your work will not be for everyone, but you're writing what will be someone's favorite story someday. Remember that.

You'll get there, okay? I believe in you.

[peppermint-chocolate-cherries]

The Pure RNG Hetalia Showdown (FAQ)

Over the next couple weeks, I will run a series of polls where you have to vote for canon Hetalia characters.

Poll Results Summary has now been posted, to summarize the results of the round robin and report on the Congeniality qualifiers.

Also, a new Tumblr sideblog @hetalia-rng-showdown has been created to host future RNG tournaments!

Master List of All Poll Links

Round Robin #1 - Winner: Finland

Round Robin #2 - Winner: England

Round Robin #3 - Winner: Seychelles

Round Robin #4 - Winner: Poland

Round Robin #5 - Winner: Prussia

Round Robin #6 - Winner: Canada

Round Robin #7 - Winner: Germany

Round Robin #8 - Winner: France

Round Robin #9 - Winner: South Italy

Round Robin #10 - Winner: Scotland

Congeniality Showdown Poll - Lithuania has been crowned Mr. Congeniality!

Final Showdown Poll - Tie vote between Canada & England

Final Showdown Tiebreaker - England has been crowned Pure RNG Champion!

Congeniality Contestants

Austria, Lithuania, China, America, Wales, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Hong Kong, Ancient Rome

What are we voting on?

You can pick your favourite, a contender, a dark horse, an underdog, or go pure chaos and see what happens. This will ultimately end up becoming a popularity contest, since all the Hetalia polls so far have been swamped with people just picking their favourites, but why don't you all try something different for once and see what happens?

How will this work?

The round robin will have 10 different polls, each with 7-8 different characters, lasting a week. After the week, the 10 winners will come together into a final showdown poll.

If there is a tie in any of the round robin polls, there will be a 24-hour tiebreaking poll. See the full description in the section below.

Runners-up in the round robin poll might be selected for the Congeniality Showdown poll. See the full description in the section below.

Who is all in the poll?

If your character has a page on this Hetalia Wiki character article look-up page, they're in one of the polls.

https://hetalia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Characters

Note that I am not including nyos, 2ps, animals, humans or other entities, just the nations themselves.

How will they be grouped?

I plugged the 78 names into this random number generator website, which split them up into 10 groups of 7-8 characters.

https://www.randomlists.com/team-generator

For extra randomness, I clicked the "Rerun" button twenty times. That's why this is the "RNG" poll, it's pure luck who your fave is up against!

Why is my favourite minor character up against so many mains? Can't you fix this?

Read the above again, please.

And funny you should mention skewing the group selections, because my friend was just trying to conduct her own set of polls. The axis/allies would've all knocked each other out in the first round, and some of your favourite minor characters would've actually moved on for once. But some people complained about the choices of minor characters and their groupings, even going so far as to insult her personally...

So guess what, you're getting this poll series instead out of spite! Congratulations, your favourite minor characters are all in the polls, their groupings are purely random, and every character has a 10% chance of being up against Romano in the first round!

But what if I don't want my fave to lose to Romano in the first round?

Finally, a good question. When you find that poll, vote for your favourite and not for Romano, then reblog the post and tell all your friends to vote the same as you! Make sure you're a united force though, Romano only needs the one extra vote if you're all divided.

Don't worry about spamming my notifications with reblogs, I want to see that the polls are being shared, just be respectful in your tags please.

When can I see who's all in the groups?

You'll find out when I post the polls, as this FAQ post is going up before I even run the RNG. EDIT: The RNG has now been run, the polls are all drafted and scheduled, and the first is live! Links to all 10 polls will be added at the top as their posts are posted!

As for timing, I will post the first poll at approximately 6:00pm PDT April 18 2023, with the other polls all scheduled on 12-hour increments after that.

Once the final poll is closed after its week of voting, which will be at 6:00AM PDT on April 30th, I will create the Congeniality and Final Showdown polls.

What is this newly added Congeniality Showdown?

With the variety of options in these polls, there will indeed be a few nations that lose their round robin poll by a small margin of the vote. For these oh-so-close losers, there will be a Congeniality showdown to honour them for giving the victors such a close run for their money.

As the 10 polls each close, I will track the difference in voting percentages by which the losers lost to the victors. The 10 losing nations whose losing percentages are closest to their victors will go in the Congeniality showdown.

For example, Nation A won the poll by 32%, while Nation B finished with 25%. Nation B’s percentage difference of 7% is what determines whether they will appear in the Congeniality showdown. Should the other 9 polls results in 10 other nations getting less than that 7% difference, Nation B will not make the cut.

What are the Tiebreaker Rules?

This section is being added in case one of the round robin polls miraculously ends in a tie. Obviously Tumblr will not allow more than 10 entries into a poll, so a tiebreaker poll is the chosen method of breaking any ties!

I will post a 24-hour poll with the two (or more) nations that tied in the round robin poll, where you all have ONLY the 24 hours to vote. I will announce the tiebreaker poll ahead of time, so that as many of you as possible know during what period of time to search for it and vote.

Whoever wins this vote moves on to the final showdown. For the runner(s)-up, since they managed to tie the winner on the original poll, which makes a voting difference of 0%, they automatically take one of the 10 spots in the Congeniality showdown.

Tiebreaker polls will be scheduled for the period of April 30th to May 3rd if required, so please watch carefully for the posts. I fly to Norway on May 6th, so the Congeniality and Final Showdown polls must get posted before this Canadian goes on vacation.

[helinedmightbehere]

the two people who reblogged saying they wanted to hear me out have convinced me, so here you go. this is just one of my many aus-

this is gonna be quite long, so if you don't want to read, my post won't be across your page while you're scrolling

this is sorta based off of snowe's concept where eclipse does indeed kill lunar for the bluff deal, but i just put my own little spin to it

so basically, when eclipse goes to confirm the deal with monty, he freezes lunar like he does in canon with the code, proceeding to dismantle them. monty can't even call it off because, by the time they realize that eclipse is actually killing lunar (and by proxy moon), lunar had shut his own code off, leaving him in a coma-like state.

eclipse calls monty by digging through the contacts on sun's list and monty tells him that they'll bring the star in about an hour and to meet them in the atrium. eclipse agrees.

when eclipse leaves to go to the atrium, monty sneaks into the daycare, finds moons parts and brings them back to their space station. meanwhile, eclipse calls monty again, only to find that the number is now blocked.

monty manages to fix moon over the course of a week or two. when he wakes up, moon is disoriented and the pain is still there. monty shuts him off again, steals a couple of magic books from goldie and performs the pain go away spell. the next time moon wakes up, he can't hear lunar in the back of his head. monty says that it'd be fine, but during the next few days there's still no sign of them.

eventually, moon convinces monty that something's wrong and they both enter his mindscape together. when they get there, basically imagine kc's palace but far more ice and nature-y.

the mindscape had shifted itself to accommodate for the child, who would've never been saved. moon and monty eventually reach lunar, who's blocked off from the rest of the world in a bubble.

after about 10 minutes of trying to wake them up, they finally get up, still tired. i'd imagine that moon would try and convince lunar (who's basically gaslighting themself into believing eclipse still cares about them) to join moon and monty instead of eclipse.

at first - lunar is kinda scared of monty. that, or he hates them. either way, they do not like monty's presence, and refuse to go near them.

i haven't thought much further than that, but yeah- that's all i got

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

anyways, some extras!!

lunar often uses sleep as a coping mechanism to get away from his problems. you'll often see him carrying around a pillow or something, throwing it on the ground, then just going to sleep. it doesn't matter how loud it is, he will sleep.

his hoodie doubles as a nightcap and a hoodie!!

they own a lot, and i mean a lot of plushies. though, there is one that they carry around everywhere, which is the one that sun taught him how to make post-october arc. (hc that sun can sew and now lunar can too >:])

lunar is also nicknamed "sleepyhead" when it comes to interdimensional folk :D

sleepyhead and chaos (tad!lunar) are quite good friends actually. chaos being the mischievous one (i mean,,,it's in their name) and sleepyhead being the one to just roll with it

ar!eclipse (who i have not yet given a nickname to-) treats sleepyhead like a son. he's probably the closest eclipse alternate to sleepyhead.

[asksoldieron]

SO-18: Memory Bomb!

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand.

No art, but hopefully my eyes will improve enough to add some later!

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for Peanut Butter Bubblegum (SO-18) an instalment! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a 475 character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

There! They got him! Well, sorta. That's definitely not Erik but he's in there somewhere. They'll get him out! Eventually!

I had such a cool idea for a musical comic but I can't do it. You'll have to read and imagine David and Hyacinth having it out, while what he is now is slowly subsumed by what he once was... Or while an imposter who made a very bad decision becomes permanently trapped in a web of his own lies. Maybe both at once!

*sigh* I'm struggling, but I don't get real feedback from the eye doctor. It's like they don't think I can't handle any negativity, so everything is all smiles and "you're doing great!" while I'm dealing with shit they should've sat me down and told me about before I even had the damn surgery.

You see, I had the impression the surgery was the best option for not losing any of the improvement I spent all last year making myself sick to gain. Heh. Maybe it was, but I've still lost ground and I'll need to put in even more work to get it back. I have a different issue now: stamina. My eyes get tired of focusing on detail, near and far, and in certain situations they'll just stop. I'll be straining as hard as I can and I won't be able to tell you if that's a D, C, O or G. It won't shift in and out of focus like I might be able to get it eventually, it'll just be a static blur until I rest my eyes and come back to it. (Kinda think the doctor thought I was faking or playing it up, since I could read letters the first time she asked me to, and then I couldn't. But the tech just listened to me describe what was happening and said, "Oh, yeah. Your eyes are just tired. Take a break.")

I don't have much trouble reading - as long as it's black and white or close to that. Much like Erik, I can get it from context. I've always read the shape of the word, because my damn eyes never worked like they're supposed to. But art is not like that. Hell, even reading a comic is harder for me right now.

I'm getting my Xmas computer soon. It has a bigger screen than my tablet, and I should be able to draw on it. I might not get so tired so fast with a bigger screen, but I won't know until I try. I found a good enough refurbished deal that I can afford a pen display with an even bigger screen, if it comes to that, but I'll have to give myself some time to strengthen my eyes in any case.

I thought I was just going to heal from this - it would only be a matter of time until the wound closed and my corneas cleared up - I certainly got that impression at the start. But now they say I'm not going to get better without more work. I'm stuck doing pretty much the same exercises, only now they're hard in a different way. The dry-eye does seem to be improving, but there's no guarantee it will keep doing that. I have nearly a year to wait for the dryness and light tolerance to stabilize, those things are the slowest to heal. Well, they would be the slowest, if I didn't have this stupid vision dysfunction. I have no idea how long that's going to take to adapt.

Anyway, this is all too many words. I'm trying to explain why I won't be able to come back with more story after a two week break, even though I have the next six-pack almost ready to go. I can write. I can reorganize the site (and I need to do that, the theme and the global colours are just stupid, and all my pattern blocks are malfunctioning). I can open a new bank account and put together a Ko-Fi page (after Patreon gets rid of my data - they only have a couple more days to do that within their 30-day limit!!). I can't illustrate. Nobody's going to stop scrolling and look at this shit in their feed if there's no images, and I'm not resorting to stock photos or AI.

I want to get to the point where I can spam my followers with something I'm proud of that looks nice, and send them to a site that I'm also proud of and which looks nice. I want more readers, but I don't feel right asking for them when everything's falling apart, including me.

So, I'll be here, but there won't be more story for a while. At least give me until the 20th, that'll be three months out from the surgery and I should be fairly well healed by then. It's just that I have this stamina issue nobody warned me about and no timeline for that. Almost like it doesn't matter. Hey, you can see without glasses! 20/20! Like we promised! Does it really matter if it expires without warning? It works when you read off the chart the first time and that's all you need, right?

No. I told you people I was an artist. You don't seem to be reviewing my chart and god alone knows if you even wrote it down, but you did ask me and I told you. This is not enough.

We'll see what the next few weeks will do for me. I hope like hell I'll be back soon with another six - words AND pictures.

[Back to Site?]

[sapphire-writes]

You're going to live for the next thousand years -as the saying goes- because you updated JUST as i was thinking about you.

A couple of hours I saw this reaction image and I've just been vibrating with excitement to use it for this newest chapter.

Gworl.... Miss Jo....

I like Floris.. i like her a lot. The whole chapter gave me slight Euphoria season 1 vibes except much less toxic and with Floris giving some serious but much kinder and friendlier Maddie energy. I like her!

Also, that man needs to grovel more!! Oh, you spent a whole ass week checking your phone? Grow up Aemond, you'll never be a tumblr girlie checking on her mutuals notifications for their shitposting.

Helaena was a real one too. As far as what Aegon did to kid Aemond...ugh... Trashy, lame, boo, tomatoes.. you ruined a perfectly good kid you wet sock!

I liked that Floris got her apology, and i felt so bad for her. To be disrespected like that but see it as a compliment...oooh girl... My heart goes out to her.

Now i need you to know that the whole smut.. it was excellent... Rule of threes says the third time they indulge in their exhibitionism kink sth is going to happen! (they have no chill and im HERE FOR IT *screams in slut*)

But i also need to disclaim.. i may have an intense fear of heights and edges and Ferris wheels are particularly terrifying becuase they are slow, they build up the anticipation and the fear and let you stew in them. (I may have cried once before during a ride).

So my trashy brain kept thinking that throughout all the moaning and the *sounds* you would be able to hear the creaking of the rusty hinges and i just about died.

Last but not least

Feral cunt struck thirsty ass pussy needy Aemond is something VERY PERSONAL and also PRECIOUS, PLEASE!!!! 😩😩😩😩😩

if that man begs again or acts desperate and needy🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 i will throw my phone in the sea and watch it get swallowed by the waves

Dom! But bottom or Sub! But top Aemond is not a want actual it is a need.

This has been a PSA. Y'all are welcome.

Anyways! Great chapter as always can't wait for the gala shitshow (if dae shows up i wish baela decks him). I am now going to patiently wait for your readers to reblog the fic and post their own reaction images because istg this is the second wave of enjoyment i get everytime you or Rae update.

Bestie, first you need to know I live for your reactions- every time I post I literally giggle knowing I'll see you in my ask box soon 🤭 😘

I was totally channeling season 1 Euphoria with the carnival scene- I always knew the carnival was happening and at first, wasn't going to have Floris be a bestie, but I am such a girl's girl I simply could not make her mean!! GIRL POWER!!

Aemond begging. Let's talk about it.

IM OBSESSED AND HAVE BEEN WAITING TO WRITE THIS!! So glad you enjoyed it 😘

ilysm bestie, thanks for taking the time to always send me your thoughts, seriously you make my whole day!!

[sabakos]

.

So the mountain dew thing I posted the other day is um. Hm. I'm going to turn reblogs off on that actually. It's very good I posted it and got to see people's reactions and I think I made some people laugh with how I presented it, don't feel bad if you reblogged it. but uh. yeah. Not only is it unfortunately true, if anything I downplayed it a bit and left out the parts that weren't funny. Which I now realize I don't really want to think about every time I check my notes tab for the next few weeks. I never kept count but I'm pretty sure I spent more than just a few nights in high school curled up in pain in front of the toilet. I lost over 50 pounds in a year from that.

Kind of maybe also some not-so-unintentional self-harm was going on there I think. It fits in a pattern with some other past habits of mine that I don't post much about because, well, I don't want to turn this into a trauma blog. If you really wanna know, I was a high-functioning alcoholic until age 26. Like, rarely sober outside working hours, most of my calories from alcohol level. End-stage. Due to other personal issues ("wait sabi, weren't you in a serious LTR then?" yes and also my mom was in a psych ward, we don't have time to unpack any of that), I quit drinking cold turkey in 2019 and realized looking through old pictures on my phone that I barely remembered most of what happened in college, let alone anything before that. I don't even know if it's technically amnesia, so much as dissociating so severely from my past. I had a "bit" of a major mental collapse in fall 2019 after quitting drinking as my mind slowly remembered how to have emotions, real clutch scheduling that right before a global pandemic.

Thankfully due to doing nothing for two and a half years, I remember most of college now, and I've been able to recover almost 3 full years of high school from basically fragments in the past year alone. My liver doesn't hurt anymore. I'm also physically repulsed by alcohol as a result of the withdrawal. But it's starting to get back far enough to start reminding me of the previous mental breakdown that I had in middle school that made me almost get held back in 8th grade. I... might decide I don't need to know about anything before that for a little while. Not sure I actually have the ability to make that decision though. It will work itself out nonetheless, it will just be less pleasant.

I've actually almost never actually been suicidal or intentionally thought "oh I'm doing this to hurt myself." But I'm not just shitposting about the whole body dysphoria thing, beyond any gender stuff I just also would prefer not to deal with being a body. I hate every photograph of me as soon as I take it, I can only bear to look at any of them once enough time has gone by that I can trick my brain into thinking it's not me. I believe I drank alcohol for the same reason I drank horrifying concoctions in high school and still sometime make too spicy food or eat so many sour patch kids and takis my mouth bleeds. I only hated the stomach cramps in high school because I didn't know why I had them, but when I finally vomited so hard I puked blood and burst blood vessels in my face, it felt good. I enjoy pain, I like the feeling that my body has been hurt when I'm the one directly causing it. I'm punishing it for existing. I know a couple mutuals of mine probably know exactly what I'm talking about based on their own posts. I also know now that I'm doing this, and that I need to stop doing it. I'm not too worried now that I've figured this out.

But also I think for the first time I can remember, I actively want to continue to exist. I know on some level that I need to accept that that will include my body and not just living out my social life on the internet. I... like other people, not just in a flirty way, and I know I'm saying this on Tumblr of all places but I promise if I ever meet any of you I'm one of the weirdest fucking interesting people you'll ever meet because it's what people are telling me all the time. I'm really shy and don't know how to initiate an interaction with a stranger, but if you can get me to say anything at all, I talk endlessly in my (apparently, strange) voice, I hold my body wrong in distracting ways, I abruptly change topics when I'm not supposed to. None of this occurs to me at the time I'm doing it, and I do know how to act correctly in any situation, I'm just wholly incapable of doing so. But somehow this reads as charming and eccentric rather than horribly rude to most people I meet? People tell me I'm the strangest person they've ever met as a complement. I don't really know why.

All the memories I've recovered have contradicted my past beliefs that I've always struggled to make friends. I think I just... didn't notice? But dozens of my peers consistently made the decision to go out of their way to spend time with me almost the whole time I knew them. I don't think that was out of sympathy, I sure wasn't the Special Ed kid. So I think I actually had close friends almost my whole life from age 10 onward, many of them even? all despite the fact that I wasn't really capable of consciously reciprocating a lot of the time, and that I totally forgot in the years since that some of them even existed until later. So I want to do that again somehow, have a bunch of people I know in real life that I'm close friends with. And actually realize it this time. And I hope I'm not deluding myself with what I remember, though I've been able to independently corroborate enough that I don't think so.

Anyway if anyone was curious, that's... most of my whole brain problems deal from the parts of my life I remember. Or as much as I can condense into a post anyway. Much of it was in fact rather happy and I usually present things in a much more positive light. This post was just not about that.