#This was an excellent question

[thequeenofthewinter]

If you could redo anything about In the Midst of Winter, what would it be?

Oh man AU...how did you know I was just thinking about this question the other day...

I think that this is loaded with a lot of other things as In the Midst of Winter is the first thing I have ever written. I would definitely say that I have improved a lot since writing the fic (and even from the beginning to the end of it), but...if I had to pinpoint something specific that I would change/redo, (other than re-writing those first few chapters) I would have to say I would like to clean up some of the language and organization a bit.

I think I was a touch starry eyed and was trying to do it all at once instead of focusing on what I could do from a technical standpoint. There is perhaps some cleaning up that I could do which could make the execution of the first parts a bit better in terms of structure and language choices.

#thanks for the ask friend #I have definitely improved but I am still proud of what I have done #but perhaps someday I will revisit it #this was an excellent question #winter answers asks

[shinidamachu]

How do you think Kagome would handle high school/young adult life if she never went down the well (at that point)? I assume she'd study a lot, and maybe go on a few dates from obligation. But I think it'd be sweet if she felt like her heart already belonged to someone

How do I think Kagome would handle High School and young adult life if she never went down the well? Like a champ! Let's not forget that she managed to graduate despite the crazy adventures that forced her to miss a considerable amount of classes, meaning she was way behind the rest of the class and had to make up for it on her own, in between fighting one dangerous demon and the next while dealing not only with physical and psychological traumas but also with a broken heart.

I believe that before she fell down the well, it's a canon fact that she was on top of her classes, which makes perfect sense because as an average girl, studying was pretty much her only obligation and number one priority. Through the whole series we were shown time and time again just how serious she took her education. Even after the weight of a world saving mission fell on her shoulders.

There's more than enough evidence for us to assume Kagome was a fast learner — look at how quickly she managed to figure the Feudal Era out — and that she could self-taught too, if needed: not once did we see her taking bow and arrow or spiritual power lessons, which means she had to be learning on the job by trial and error, practicing under unbearable pressure.

She's "book" smart, but she's also very clever. Always quick on her feet, always capable of adapting and finding creative solutions for the problems they face, ultimately saving the day because of it. Her intelligence also makes her a great strategist — she has an amazing understanding of her own strengths and weaknesses as well as her opponents, using this knowledge against them and in her favor —and an excellent leader — remember how she took charge of things in the school fair episode?

She is organized and determinated by nature. Without the distractions and the ulcer indulcing stress she had to go through, school and adult life would have been a walk in the park for her, because she would have finally been able to focus, which she does due to her inherent desire to learn stuff — she loves making herself useful and having an extensive baggage of information is a wonderful way to do that — and to make her family proud.

This is not to say she would never find adversities along the way. Nobody can be good at everything and we've seen her struggling with math (and it makes sense for someone with her personality to find the subject extremely uninteresting, preferring words instead of numbers — personally, I've always took her for a biology-literature-history kind of girl). We've also seen how incredibly anxious tests tend to make her.

But another thing that Kagome has to her advantage is that, despite her stubbornness, she's never too prideful to ask for help when she's feeling lost, be it talking out her boy problems with her mother or asking the girls to borrow their notes. And she does have a support system to help and guide her when needed.

So yes. She would study a lot. She would also go on dates and live all of the experiences that are expected for a girl her age to live. Her friends would make sure of that. And Kagome would probably feel like she owe it to them — to herself — to see what all the fuss is about, but would ultimately realize that she doesn't have to do anything just because someone else said so and would live her life on her own terms.

I think she would have been a well adjusted young adult. As clueless and scared as everyone is at this age, but trying her best and making it up as she goes. I see her as a pediatrician because it combines her passion for children and for medicine. I can also see her as any other type of doctor, as a teacher, as a business graduate that got over her aversion to math so she could manage the family shrine, as a writer who tells the fantastic fairy tales she didn't get to live and I can see her working her butt off in a living wage job first, in order to get there. The possibilities are endless...

But I also think that the odd feeling of something missing would haunt her wherever she goes. She would try to fill this emptiness with school and then with her job, she would try to distract herself from it with her family, friends and romances. However, the sensation of not being where she was supposed to be would always be there, in the back of her mind, making her restless. She would have spent the rest of her life searching, longing, for something that she doesn't even know what it is.

Don't get me wrong. I'm positive that she would have made a remarkable life for herself regardless. It would still have been beautiful and joyful, only in different ways. And Kagome would be happy somehow.

But she would never be satisfied.

#Inuyasha #Kagome #Kagome Higurashi #Inukag #Sidmailing #This was an excellent question #I'm glad we're on the same page #Sorry about the long ass response #I'm sure you were expecting something way shorter #But Kagome is my girl and I have a lot of feelings about her #So I WILL gush about her like a proud mama hen #And no one can stop me

[an-indecisive-mess]

I just finished Adventures in Disney! I have a question though, during one of the chapters Pain seemed jealous that Frankie was crushing hard on Randel, was he jealous? Does he also have a crush on Frankie?

No, it was more in the sense of that he hasn’t really figured her out at that moment. First she lies to his ex boss, but then she was willing to accept him and Panic when they knew they didn’t deserve it. She was the first person who ever really cared about them. So, when he sees her being all flirty and crushing hard on Randall, he has second thoughts about her caring about him and Panic. He didn’t know if she really cared or only acted like she did until she found some other loser to care about.

How did you like the story? I’m curious to know what all you liked about it and what all I can do to improve on it for the sequel.

#ask #disney #pain and panic #my baby bois #randall boggs #my husband #oc #frankie cole #my daughter #this was an excellent question

[writingonesdreams]

Hello, hello, and happy sts, dreams~! I've noticed you have a lot of AU's of the Sky of Shards/Tears of Iron cast, and was wondering if you had a favorite and what makes it stand out to you? What storyline do you feel like each character shines the most in? Which one showcases their dynamics best? And which one has your favorite setting?

Haha that's a wonderful question, Ren, thank you for indulging me. These AUs have been on my mind a lot these days lol.

There are 4 AUs for Tears of Iron right now and each has something else going for them tbh. Hard to pick a favourite, it really depends on the mood and which one gets the focus at the time.

Who we are in the dark is my entry into urban fantasy, with mage gangs and machinations around the city's supernatural community's power. It doesn't have a steady storyline yet, and switches a lot between focusing on Zephyr as a reluctant leader, with inhereted right and power to lead his gang after his dad and brother and focusing on Skye who doesn't care about the mage gangs and their types until her being different from Zephyr starts to be a problem and so she decides to build her own. So it varies between focusing on Zephyr and then in turn on Skye, growing into their power and rivalry.

Season of my enemy has an interesting setting and focuses mainly on Zephyr building a somewhat reluctant conflicted friendship with an enemy, played by Leander. This story focuses mainly on their bond, differences and what makes them resonate together so well. Skye plays here a secondary role as Zephyr's wife and royal advisor, being a source of steady comfort with a flat character arc.

Where the sky ends is special because the story is ready to go in my mind, fully outlined. Combining my Tears of Iron cast with the Stormkeeper one is exciting and there are many very clear scenes for me, dealing with themes like outcasts, being torn between worlds and cultures, peace and war, etc. It focuses more on Zephyr dealing with his growing understanding of an enemy he is supposed to hate and serving as the middle way between three very different kingdoms. Skye represents one of those viewpoints, but it's Zephyr who combines them together.

How black stars rise is nearest to me right now, cause I have been writing it and daydreaming it the most XD. I have made it into a self-indulgent experimental no pressure if this is tropy and cliche to the death story with a very dark tragic start. It's my first ever try at tragedy and sadness and character death and various grief reactions. I'm usually very much against reading and writing these kinds of stories, I want happy edings and major characters to have safe plot armor. Maybe this is me avoiding all these feelings getting a release that makes it special. It's new and weird and easy to write and a challenge all at once. I was a little lost after first 5 scenes (and having written 3 of those), thinking of ending it, but now I got some more ideas where this could go. Skye takes centre stage here as royal advisor and princesses with incredible skill in politics who gains alliances by teaching a foreign princess the ropes. It's all very tense, in the middle of ongoing war, though more about the thoughts and feelings than the actual violent acts.

Anyway, I'm treating all of these as short stories without pressure and to experiment and get to know the characters better. Each story is inspired by a different existing story I wanted to fix by inserting my characters inside, so that's where the new scenes come from before they get integrated into a new and hopefully original enough world and storylines.

This has always been my process, which you probably know XD, but I have never been this open and bold about writing them out, making them public and "official" and actually writing them out. So this is unsteady territory, but also very fun.

I need to get back into writing before getting to the main canon story of Tears of Iron after the exams in june, so these AUs seem like a good warm up at worst, and lots of fun at best.

Thank you for the ask!^^

#writeblr #sts #storyteller saturday #this was an excellent question #thank you^^ #you got a rumble from me today XD

[lady-harrowhark]

tamsyn muir really said "knowing who's narrating is a privilege, not a right"

#my friend is in the middle of gtn and asked who nona was #excellent question bestie #the locked tomb #tamsyn muir #tlt #greatest hits

[facethesuns]

17 IS RIGHT HERE (2024) / insp.

#seventeen #svtsource #dailymusicians #kpopedit #usergif #svtedit #userzaynab #alitracks #heyteo #maddieblr #userfairy #userhornet #vivitual #tuserflora #mygifs #svt #the vision? excellent. the final product? questionable....

[buddygrouse]

my pacific rim uprising rewrite

#pacific rim #newmann #hermann gottlieb #newton geizler #pacific rim uprising #newt geizler #fanart #comic #cw emetophobia #why am i thinking about uprising in 2024 u ask? #excellent question. please help me

[deathlessathanasia]

Tip: If you claim that you like a particular figure from Greek mythology, but you feel the need to change almost everything about them, rewrite their personality, ignore those aspects of them that you find uncomfortable, , and in short turn them into your original character, consider that you probably don't actually like that figure from Greek mythology.

#ramblings #greek mythology #greek myths #greek gods #of course this goes for all characters in general not just mythological ones #but I find it particularly insufferable when deities receive this treatment #imagine me saying that Hera is my favourite goddess #but then it turns out that the version of her I like is one that loves all of Zeus's kids and is happy to play mommy to them #is BFFs with his side chicks and is an excellent mother to her own children and has never done anything questionable ever #I'd sound pretty damn ridiculous and people would be right to question why on earth I pretend to like this goddess when II so clearly don't

[muffinlance]

Wait, what’s going on with Embers???? That fic has been on my read later list since 2021, what’s happened with it???

Brief overview, then I'm likely never touching this topic again, because this is not a Drama Blog:

Context: Embers is a super old AtLA fic that was written during the early fandom days, read widely at the time, and was the origin of the widely-used fanon name of "Wani" for Zuko's ship (kind of by default that it was one of the first popular fics to give his ship a name, I think?), even though most fic writers don't seem to realize it's from there anymore.

"What's Going On": I used to include a link in all my stories to it, because I believe in crediting other writers for borrowed elements, and I was using "Wani" in all my fics. But BOY did I not want to be sending readers that way anymore, so I've adopted a new name for Zuko's ship, and removed all Embers links.

None of the criticisms about Embers itself are new; I'm assuming they date back to when the fic was being written, because this isn't an "it aged badly" thing, this is an "actually yeah this gets worse the longer you think about it and I shouldn't have ignored my bad feelings just because some of the worldbuilding was interesting" thing.

An Incomplete List of Why I Made the Change:

I don't actually like the story that much anymore, and don't want to rec it

I tried to re-read it recently to see if some things were as bad as I remembered and it turns out they were So Much Worse Oh Yikes. More specifically, the treatment of Katara and Aang and their respective cultures has... rather a lot going on. One example: The Fire Nation and Air Nomads are both given multiple backstory elements in an attempt to make the average Fire Nation soldier's participation in the genocide/war in large part the fault of the Avatar and the Air Nomads themselves, and also fully justified from the Fire Nation perspective. And I do mean fully. One of its core tenants is "People from the Fire Nation (and only people from the Fire Nation) who don't follow orders Literally Die, therefore murdering pacifists and babies and continuing the war (and their regularly scheduled war crimes) is the only thing it is physically possible for them to do". I cannot emphasize enough how literal that is.

Also the name "Wani" means "Alligator" and is... objectively a pretty lame name for Zuko's ship? Where's the personality, where's the deeper meaning, where's the resonance with Zuko's themes? @tuktukpodfics initially thought I was calling the ship "Wanyi", and that's what I've switched to, because it is Objectively So Much Better. In their words: “Wànyī (萬一): Literally ‘one in ten thousand,’ ‘perchance.’ Used grammatically in Chinese to mean ‘what if’ or ‘just in case.’ I think a ship called ‘The Perchance’ is perfect for a boy clinging to false hope.”

TL:DR; I don't rec Embers anymore, because I don't actually like the story anymore, and there are things about it that get worse the more I think on them. I've removed links to it and renamed Zuko's ship to "Wanyi" ("The Perchance") because our boy deserves a ship name that reflects his character arc.

#for the record if you ever find something kind of rancid in my fics #do please let me know #EX: I've rewritten scenes to be better Actual Blind Rep for Toph based on blind reader feedback #and I'm debating how hard it would be to ignore/re-write the canon issues of Water Tribe sexism (for the Southern Tribe at the least) #because that is a common complaint I see from the people who's RL cultures the Water Tribes was based on #probably I can do more interesting things with that going forward #in other words justice for Hama and Hahn #at least the show itself made Hama excellently complex #anyways back to doing actual writing #please no follow up questions #though I will say anyone who wants to update their own fics to use Wanyi (or any other name): go for it! #all you need to do is plop your chapters in a word editor and find/replace the ship name! it took about 40 minutes to do literally #all of my fics and I had some other editing to do besides! it'll be even quicker for you! #let's sink the Wani #avatar the last airbender #atla #Zuko

[velidewrites]

What is Lucien reaching for?

a) A glass of faerie wine

b) A book

c) Elain’s face

#‘hey velide are you ever going to post anything that’s not a half assed sketch?’ you ask #‘excellent question’ I nod then disappear into the void for the next 1000 years #lucien vanserra #lucien acotar #elucien #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #myart #velidedraws

[jeeaark]

I have something that my brain is like "Hey, this is an Ask!" So let's do this! Did Greygold ever encounter Ansur? How would they respond to him making his very (very) messy breakup their problem? Especially with most of the pre-fight being Ansur and Emps using the inside of their head to bicker like an old (very bitterly divorced) married couple.

Hell yeah they did! Had this Ansur of a question (hweh) pre-prepared~

And bonus:

Greygold had one million questions for the Emperor.

Now Greygold has two million!

#bg3 spoilers #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #the emperor bg3 #bg3 emperor #bg3 ansur #greygold #bg3 fanart #bg3 comic #I had a mighty need to exaggerate I hope y'all don't mind #I coulda had Greyg floating motionless but where's the fun in thaaaaat #ALSO I LOVE HOW YOU WORDED YOUR QUESTION : bitter divorce couple indeed <8'D AN EXCELLENT ASK-inspired a few more panels even OHO #Greygold....had a lot to process! But was trying to make the most of it! #like in a lemonade stand getting rocket-launchered by life's limes way #I think Emps was very done that day #Like in a Greygold-was-absolutely-not-helping way

[thequeenofthewinter]

I think all of the "Piping Hot OC Asks" have already been asked, so my ask is - top 3 of fun stuff to do together as a couple for Dahlia c:

Hi Crys! ❤️ Thank you so much for the ask!

1. Reading. My idiots have a “book club” together where most nights they read before going to bed. (Depending on how much work Ulfric has he either stays or goes back to work, but he never misses book club.)

2. Go on walks. Dahlia tries to take him out of the Palace (with mixed success) to see what’s going on in the city. They normally always find some cool new shop or new person to talk to. (Or some mischief to get into.)

3. Talk. They’re rather fond of just sitting around and spending time together. (Sometimes Ulfric can talk her into playing a game of chess, but she always loses.)

#this was an excellent question #thank for so much friend ❤️ #dahlia wintersnow #winter answers asks

[bacchuschucklefuck]

okay unironically I love so much that porter is like this world SUCKS its BAD here and it HURTS you why do you care abt it!!! and literally every single bad kid is like ngl we just hate ur ass it does not matter what ur philosophy is

#dimension 20 #fantasy high junior year #not art #fhjy spoilers #its!!! gods I will Be My Ass in the tags rn. but thats so like. deliciously setting typical #like porter's desire is to transcend and his contempt for the world he's in feels. idk Real #like he plays the game bc he wants to win and be done with it. how do I word this #yknow. being a god would like. be his win state. when he gets that happening thats it his story is done he checks out #meanwhile the bad kids do actually just like playing the game lmao. like they love adventuring! #theyre so solidly Of This World. they carry the values that can only be born of it and they like having mastery over it #its a meta angle that I think is very fun specifically for d20 being in such a unique position in the zeitgeist when it first started #the rat grinders are from DnD Writ Large. porter wants to escape. but this is the bad kids' home its Their Actual Play Show #which makes it so fucking excellent to me that porter's question is somewhat of merit! its their show and it tries very hard to punish them #and they just straight up dont listen to him here lmao bc they hate him but! since the moment the academic track ended its been clear #that they save the world bc they Like Playing. With Each Others #thats what riz thinks the core of adventuring is! thats why fig stayed! and I also think thats why this hovers over elmville now and #a dead god is coming back in the school gym. porter is a shit evangelist but even if hes a good one I dont think it wouldve worked like he #wants it to. the only way he couldve escaped is if he'd not involved elmville at all. thats where the bad kids met dude #its a shitty place that fucks with them but they all come back here bc they wanna play with each others #and in that regard I think thats what the stress tokens ultimately means. Is This Game Still Fun To Play. ITS A RAGEQUIT LIMIT #Im literally running from one end to another of this conspiracy board Ive pulled out of nowhere #Ill draw after this I just wanna get this out. gods this episode has done nothing but furthering my delusion of grandeur actually #Im the hottest smartest manthing on earth Im king fucking midas over here. anyways uh! great ep!

[scatterbrainedbot]

Hello :D

You're so cool

Anyway have you thought that in your rat sons au Splinter might outlive the boys?

You're very cool :D love your stuff dude

(tw for some blood, light gore, implied overdose (kinda??))

hi copper!!! this is a fantastic question!

so obviously typical irl rats have far shorter lifespans than the average irl tortoise. according to google (yes, be awed by my spectacularly in-depth wealth of research) the average pet rat lives between 2-4 years ish, and the oldest on record lived to be about 7. meanwhile, an African spurred tortoise (Splinter's species) averages more around a 50ish year lifespan in captivity, tho is suspected to possibly exceed 75 or more in the wild.

Now, the mutation does give us a lot of wiggle room for playing with these numbers. For the rat sons boys, id say their natural lifespan probably clocks in at about 45-55 years old? definitely not old by human standards, but not young young either. (though, its also important to note that the boys were exposed to the mutagen just days after being born.)

For Splinter, meanwhile, aging is slightly more complicated. He lived the vast majority of his life as a regular normal African spurred tortoise (well, non-mutated at least. there were perhaps some shenanigans of a more mystical variety going on before he was mutated, but thats a separate matter) He was about 70ish i think? when the boys were born and they were all exposed to the mutagen. so he is already distinctly an old man turtle papa. id guess he'd probably still have another eh lets say 25-30 years after his mutation. he could probably push it a little farther even with some mystic nonsense, but when push comes to shove id say his 'natural' post-mutation lifespan would put his death like a solid decade or two before his sons.

of course, the tricky part of the matter is that theres no way for Splinter to know any of this. theres no way for him to know how the mutation affected them all, or if it even affected them all in the same way. especially since the boys dont show many physical signs of mutation for the first few years, and just kinda look like normal rats, (albeit with a more human sort of intelligence) — what sort of health standard do you hold them to? what if they simply dont show external signs of sickness or old age anymore? how do you actually know if something is wrong?

for a while there Splinter is very worried that one of his babies will just essentially reach the end of their normal rat lifespan, fall and not get up again.

so mostly, he just tries to live in the moment, enjoying whatever time he does have with his little ones, taking each day as a gift <3

still,

that fear

never

really

goes

away.....

#cue the 2003 tmnt dramatic Shredder sound effect TM #my art #rat sons #tmnt au #ask reply #TOOK ME A FULL MONTH TO ANSWER AND IM STILL NOT SUPER PLEASED WITH THE RESULTS BUT #also apologies if shits incohierent im v sick rn #but thank you so much for the question copper!! #a parents grief and terror at the thought of outliving their children #always gets me #and boy howdy these rat babies do Not make that shit easy for ol Splinter #all of them have brushed too close to death too many times #tbh thats probably why he started teaching them ninjutsu etc #like yeah yeah discpline and routine and practice all excellent lessons #but also #yall squishy babies and ur father is Stressed please learn to fight good so its one less thing he has to worry about #sorry splints theyre hamatos now theyre destined for danger #cw blood #cw gore

[rocketbirdie]

malfestio, the hypnotic owl of nightmares

#hey capcom quick question uhhhhh. why tf are the backs of malfestio's wings made of SOLID FUCKING STEEL?!???!! #i got a great idea for a monster! #it scrambles the controls. in a game that requires EXTREMELY COMPLICATED CONTROLS. lol #and also it knocks you unconscious with massive status ailment AOEs and nigh unavoidable sleep ray attacks. #and then thwacks your helpless little body into the nearest loading zone. #let's make players fight it uhhhh i dunno like 6 times if they want to progress. lmao #masterclass in excellent design and horrible execution. oh malfestio my beloathed...... #monster hunter #monhun #mh #malfestio #my art <3

[winepresswrath]

taking a moment to remember how much i love cql. best cast most delightful budget allocation choices. was it perfect? no. did the script enable every single actor as they jointly pretend that their character is the protagonist and we just happen to be watching the wangxian cut? yes. future adaptations should maintain this energy it works so well. also i think it has my favourite nhs. he tried to stage manage wei wuxian's reintegration into the cultivation world! the scene where he crashes the jiang reunion is so good.

#my most controversial opinion is that every single mxtx adaptation would be best as an ensemble and this is in fact a compliment to mxtx #and her reliably excellent side characters #my second most controversial opinion is that cql doesn't actually dumb down mdzs that much it's just interested in different questions