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dayseternal-blog · 2 years

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Why don’t you update your fanfic recs? Its‘s not that you need to do it but i really miss them. Don’t you get enough asks or sum??

So...there's... a lot...of rec asks...actually...

It's only been 2.5 weeks since my last fanfic rec post, so it hasn't been that long?

I'm still reading NaruHina fanfic updates, but it's the same as you guys probably, on AO3, so I haven't felt the same urgency to share as before? Like, I've recommended so many fics for....something like almost 2 years now maybe, that I feel like whatever I know, you guys probably already know, too? I've been getting responses like that, where people are saying that they've read all of my recommendations, soooo..... yeah, it's like I've already emptied my pockets and people are popping up thinking that I have other, hidden pockets.

And a lot of the rec asks are asking for the same tropes that I've answered in the past. Once in awhile the requested tropes feel entirely too pointed, like there's some kind of passive-aggressive hidden agenda, and I'm starting to worry that my rec asks are being used to see if a fic is "popular" or "good." I'm starting to worry that my recs are excluding people or that people are going to be hurt if I don't recommend their fic. I'm worrying that people are judging me on what I recommend or what I'm not recommending.

Last, another part of my brain is like, I'm just imagining all of that and I just need to chill.

So there's like.... a bunch of tiny stresses that have arisen over the past several months, and answering rec asks are slowly becoming not fun. like...a tiny bit of pressure.....and less "I'm just sharing what I've read."

One thing about me is that on my down-time, I want NO STRESS.

Yes, I've slowed down on my rec lists, but I tend to work on a few lists all at the same time, and then post them all at once. Also yeah, like you said, I haven't been forcing myself to do them. Just when I want to. And I haven't felt like it in the past two and a half weeks, I guess.

because meanwhile, my friends and I have fallen off the deep end back into the Johnny's fandom (Japanese talent agency equivalent to kpop's big name JYP, YG, or SM Entertainment). It's like being 13 years old again, only this time, we can understand Japanese, and new content is wayyyyy more accessible than in 2005. My friends are huge fans of Snow Man (famous for their personalities, acrobatics, and synchronized dance talent). I'm a fan of SixTONES (best vocals Johnny's Jimusho has had in years) and a huge fan of the juniors (trainee group) Travis Japan. Almost all my free time is devoted to watching TraJa's Los Angeles dance videos over and over and over and over and over again like a nutcase.

Anyway!!! I'm touched that you MISS my fanfic rec lists???? I didn't know that was a feeling anyone could have. Perhaps I will get back to the lists sometime soon :)

but actually I've been wanting to update my own fics. I have the last chapter of "Last Chance" THIIIIS close to being done. I have the second chapter of "Genghis Khan" almost ready to go. And I have a new fic that I wrote two short chapters for, but I'm worried I won't feel inspired to continue it, so it's just sitting for now.

#anon #thank you for the check-in #tl;dr lists getting a little stressful so didn't feel like updating and i was working on my own fanfics and also i'm a jpop fangirl #oh and of course as it is for everyone #life is busy

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fairytale-poll · 6 months

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ROUND 1D, MATCH 2 OUT OF 16!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Linh Cinder:

Her glass slipper is her prosthetic foot. She's a cool badass mechanic queen. She's named Cinder because her aunt set her on fire as a toddler but she survived. She's a a cool cyborg with psychic powers, and she's also a really good mechanic.

She's a cyborg and she's from the Moon

She is a badass mechanic who is also a cyborg and did not intend to get dragged into this mess. She becomes a fugitive of the law, running from the prince who is also her romantic interest and is just objectively the best.

I love a sarcastic character and I love a good confrontation scene and she's great with both

she's a cyborg she's a mechanic she's a princess she's a fugitive she's the best.

She's a mechanic she's the lunar princess she has two prosthetic limbs she's supposed to be dead. Her best friend is an android who's a fangirl of her boyfriend (Kai, the emperor). Her ball was actually her showing up to keep Kai from getting seduced by her aunt (who's queen of the moon) and then killed. Instead of losing her slipper she just lost her entire foot. (That's all just in the first book.)

look man, if you've read tlc you know why but if not: cinder here goes through a lot, from living in a shitty household to leading a rebellion and witnessing what's practically a massacre (TWICE), getting stabbed in the mc'freaking heart and surviving, being a wanted fugitive, Oh, and also, she loses her goddamn FOOT instead of a glass slipper lol (albeit the foot is a prosthetic, which i might've forgotten to add, her left arm and (i think) leg are metal due to getting BURNED as a toddler by her somewhat power hungry aunt)

She's SO cool she's a mechanic and really clever and also an amputee and her prosthetics are very cool and she has fun space adventures with her little gang of found family and is also the heir to the crown on the moon and is trying to get control of it from her aunt (who's a dictator) so she can help the moon people be less oppressed! tl;dr she's a girlboss

She literally got set on fire. Shes a cyborg. Shes such a girl boss that her love interest kept her severed prosthetic foot as a memento. She is a revolutionary [against her will] and a politician [also against her will]. Shes a skilled mechanic, and called the queen of a super-powerful alien race with the ability to manipulate people’s perceptions of reality ugly TO HER FACE. Queen does not give a shit and just wants to hang out with her robot bestie and her dork ass boyfriend who is also the leader of an entire country. Shes iconic, she is the moment.

she's a teenage cyborg who works as a mechanic and is secretly royalty - a badass and i love her!!

Kickbutt cyborg Cinderella princess

Cyborg and mechanic is a fun new twist on classic Cinderella! (At least when I read it and it was new). Plus she’s got her Prince/Emperor all wrapped around her fingers before the ball!

she's cool as fuck that's why!! cyborg cinderella in a cool-ass future sci-fi world, she doesn't have glass slippers so she loses her ill-fitted cybernetic foot, she has a gun in her cyborg hand (mostly uses nonlethal projectiles), she has cool sci-fi magic mind powers, she's from the moon, she's a mechanic & she's smart as hell, she literally forms a ragtag team of other fairytale inspired characters & dethrones the evil queen of the lunar monarchy. also her prince charming is cool & funny & they're so sickeningly in love their feelings could power the sun. anyway vote Cinder ✨️

cinder is a mixed cyborg mechanic who has acquired beef with both her stepmother (adopted) and her bio aunt (tyrant queen levanna) and manages to escape their attempts to keep her down (including arson when she was like. 3 years old) and ultimately overthrows her aunt in a revolution lead by her and the other fairytale retellings (red riding hood and wolf, rapunzel and her ‘prince’, and her cousin snow white and her prince) and establishes a democracy! i enjoyed the series growing up and i personally think that cinder is very cool :]

The first book in The Lunar Chronicles is a retelling of cinderella, and my gosh it’s amazing. Cinder is a cyborg and faces a lot of prejudice, and it’s interesting to see that even in the future, where the book is set, there’s still so much discrimination, and Cinder faces it so well. She’s smart and snarky, and has such character growth and cares so much and akhjfqwthbj

shes cinderella if cinderella was a cyborg and also secretly an alien moon princess. fucking amazing series everyone should read it. It's very common for Cinderella retelling that "girlboss" her end up sending the weird message that victims of abuse should simply stand up for themselves <3 I really like Cinder because she's spunky and snaps at her stepmother, but it doesn't. do her any good? It just makes her stepmother worse. Also one of her stepsisters is nice, I love Peony.

Cyborg Cinderella, long-lost princess of the moon, revolutionary against the evil queen.

she’s a cyborg! instead of losing her shoe on the steps of the palace her entire foot comes off 👍 thats hard as fuck she’s so cool

Cinderella:

Because she is so cute in this, I love her outfits before and after the transformation, and this movie is just such a good adaptation of Cinderella

the 1997 cinderella movie is the best one ever to me like. you have whitney houston as the fairy godmother and brandy is so so so pretty and she's such an amazing cinderella. 10 minutes ago the best cinderella song of all time ever she sounded so good<3

does this movie even NEED propaganda?

Brandy Cinderella with Whitney Houston! Need I say more?

Brandy plays one of the best iterations of Cinderella actually

I just think she's neat. Also she looked the best in the ball gown

One of the most iconic Cinderellas of all time, Brandy brought tenderness, earnestness, and heartfelt poignancy that transformed the story and emphasized its humanity and themes of dreaming for the future. Her voice is celestial! The power of her performance is undeniable! As a lifelong Cinderella fan she was always one of my favorites.

A lot of children grew up watching this movie around the holidays.

This is my favorite version of Cinderella and Brandy absolutely KILLS IT as Cinderella!! Her voice is so sweet and beautiful. And her dress!! I love her peplum. ALSO HER BRAIDS MAKE A BUN AND ITS SO ADORABLE. just look up the soundtrack for this movie PLEASE

#cinderpoll #round 1 #round 1d #rodgers & hammerstein's cinderella #rodgers and hammerstein's cinderella #rodgers and hammerstein #rodgers & hammerstein #brandy #cinderella #linh cinder #princess selene blackburn #selene blackburn #the lunar chronicles #marissa meyer #poll tournament #poll bracket #character polls #polls #fairytale

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ecoterrorist-katara · 2 months

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Hey bestie any zutara fic recs. I feel like I’ve read all the classics.

Hello anon! Oh boy have you come to the right place because I have read several million words of these two dorks falling in love and though I plan to read several million more, I am always down to screech about talented fanfic writers!!! Here are most of my faves, some of which you’ve probably read but my enthusiasm simply needs an outlet. No WIPs to minimize heartbreak.

In the spirit of not recommending too many classics, I’m not including anything from the first page of the Katara/Zuko tag on AO3 sorted by kudos, with one exception. Same rule does not apply to FF.net because nobody visits that site anymore, yet we mustn’t forget our roots!!!

TL;DR of my Zutara Fic Recs:

Half Asleep for a Miyazaki-esque adventure romance

Southern Lights for a sweeping epic where A Song of Ice and Fire meets Middlemarch

Refraction for a swoon-worthy post-war political romance ft. Katara learning how to politick in a patriarchal world

Stormbenders for a fun undercover romance that is a ZK classic for a very good reason

Another Word for Alchemy and The Slow Path for hilarious yet emotionally compelling adventures with found family themes

The Undying Fire for world-building, more Gaang shenanigans, and super satisfying slow canon divergence

Katara Alone for our fave girl’s post-war Bildungsroman/travelogue/heroic tour

Simple Misunderstanding for a hilarious rendition of Ponytail Zuko capturing Katara and trying to not be a creep

Clothe Me in Seasons, Dress Me in Snow for a mostly canon-compliant (so, v angsty) story about the different ways that love can evolve

And some one-shots and modern AUs I feel like deserve some more love

Summaries, reviews, and general fangirling under the cut because holy shit this post is long lmao

Long fics / series:

Half Asleep, by crushinator | Rating: T | Word Count: 82,335

Summary: Five years after the Hundred-Year War, Fire Lord Zuko is hit with an assassin's dart, and falls into a coma from which he cannot wake. A week passes, and his prognosis is grim. But Katara could swear she hears him in her dreams.

My thoughts: this fic, in many ways, is novel quality. The pacing? Immaculate. The action scenes? Exciting and interesting yet super easy to visualize. The characterization? On point. Katara is peak Miyazaki heroine in this, setting out on a quest to the Spirit World to save her boy (who’s not really her boy) from whichever Eldritch horror has him in its clutches. I love the little glimpses we have of the mutual pining between Katara and Zuko, and there are no words to describe how much I love the resolution of Katara and Aang’s relationship in this story. And oh boy, is the climax of the fic super romantic. This is just a really well written, emotionally compelling, tight fic. Deserves to be a fandom classic.

Southern Lights, by colourwhirled | Rating: M | Word Count: 769,274

Summary: A world where the Avatar has disappeared from memory. Where Sozin’s Conquest was successful. Where the unsteady order of the empire is threatened as members of the royal family are picked off one by one and lines are slowly drawn in the sand One last chance for peace forces an unlikely alliance between a homesick waterbender, a carefree Air Nomad, a runaway Earth Kingdom heiress, and the fire lord's inscrutable son. Together they must learn to shed old enmities and become the balance they seek to restore to the world.

OR:

The avatar has four heads.

My thoughts: Is it a Bildungsroman? Is it a war story? Is it a politics story? Is it a love story? Is it a friendship story? Is it a story about colonial violence and well-meaning complicity and finding justice in a world where it simply doesn’t seem to exist? Yes to all of the above, because at 700k+ words YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL. You know how Virginia Woolf once said that Middlemarch is one of the few novels written for grownups? Well, Southern Lights feels adult, not because of violence or sex or general grimness (looking at you, HBO), but because it’s fundamentally about having the courage to make choices, live with the consequences, and make more choices, and repeat that over and over again. If Katara is a Miyazaki heroine in Half Asleep, she is full on Daenarys (pre-character assassination) in Southern Lights, a heroine who gets put through her paces yet retains her unwavering resilience to find her place in the world. Katara can be pretty frustrating in this and I know a lot of the commenters on this fic wanted to smack her up the head halfway through, but I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs and her decisions make sense to me even when I also want to smack her for them, and isn’t that a symptom of good writing? I count my lucky stars that I joined the ATLA fandom after this fic is finished (which was only last year!) because I got to binge it in a few days and I have not been the same person since. Deserves classic status.

Refraction, by caroe3725 | Rating: E | Word Count: 215,249

Summary: Making choices after the war was supposed to be the easy part. Her future decided and neatly packaged based on what everyone else wanted for her, what she should want, too. But Katara’s destiny had a funny way of being exactly what she wanted to run from. (As if anyone needed another Zutara post-finale slow burn after 15 years.)

My thoughts: YES WE DEFINITELY NEEDED ANOTHER POST-WAR ZK SLOWBURN OF SUCH IMMACULATE QUALITY. Both Katara and Zuko’s internal monologues are excellent in this, but I particularly love Zuko’s. The writer is so good at capturing his resolve, his earnestness, and his awkwardness. This is a very restrained fic — no great histrionics — but also incredibly romantic. The first kiss scene made me want to both sigh and screech. I’m also just a huge sucker for “Katara learns politics” which this fic has in spades, with a bonus of very thoughtful gender dynamics. Anyway, if you liked AJ Lenoire’s The Summit or andromeda13’s such selfish prayers, you’d probably like Refraction. Zuko and Katara are very much dumb teens in the beginning portions of this fic, which I personally like because it makes me nostalgic. Oh, and Katara is low key chaotic good in this, which is super in-character and hilarious.

Stormbenders, by Fandomme | Rating: T | Word Count: 171,000+

Summary: S3 AU from FBM. Deep in the Fire Nation jungle, the Gaang meets a group of rogue water ninja who send Zuko and Katara on a mission to retrieve Ozai's secret battle plans.

My thoughts: I’m aware that if you asked the average ZK shipper ten years ago what the ship classics are, the answers are probably Stormbenders, His Majesty Prefers Blue, and the Sparrowkeet series. The other classics are good (classics for a reason!), but Stormbenders remains my favourite. It’s funny. It’s exciting. It’s WELL PACED. The ZK relationship grows so organically, which is a huge feat considering this fic was started before we even got The Southern Raiders. The events are a little more adult than the show, but the tone remains very ATLA. There’s a lovely little animatic of the beginning of the scene on YouTube to show you exactly what I mean about the tone and the humour. I am always weak for a well-structured adventure romance, and Stormbenders stands the test of time because it’s just such a well-written fic.

The Undying Fire, by Boogum | Rating: T | Word Count: 534,665

Summary: "He has the eyes, Princess Ursa." They were half-forgotten words, a whisper of fears never explained. Zuko had dismissed it all as nothing to worry about—until he somehow healed the Avatar. Fire healers weren't meant to exist, except he did. He'd saved the kid's life. Naturally, he wanted answers. Too bad finding them wasn't so simple...

My thoughts: This fic is mostly Gen, and Zutara shows up in the latter half of the series. Despite being a ZK shipper I like plenty of Gen fics too, and The Undying Fire gives me the best of both worlds. I love the world building, the humour, and the slow ramp up of the Gaang friendships. I absolutely love how the canon divergence is so subtle at first and gradually unfurls into something super different, yet retains much of its ATLA charm. Boogum’s written some other bangers too, and I have to give honorable mention to Zuko’s Tiny Dilemma (where a spirit transforms ponytail Zuko into his six-year-old self, and Uncle into a teapot, and somehow it becomes an emotionally compelling 100k word saga) and Following Blue (season 2 canon divergent Bluetara with a bigger focus on romance).

Katara Alone & associated fics by cablesscutie | Rating: T | Word Count: 86,890

Summary: The war is over, and with it goes the only life she has ever known. In this era of love and peace, the world is becoming new, and Katara is unsure of her place in it. That's okay though. Katara has rebuilt her life from scratch before, and she will do it again.

My thoughts: I love post-war “Katara sets out to find herself and also finds Zuko” fics. Katara Alone is a fabulous coming-of-age story with some good old fashioned letter flirting during Katara’s solo travels. The sequel, Lady of the Tides, has some very thoughtful depictions of Katara’s place within the post-war Fire Nation, and the accompanying story from Zuko’s POV, The Fire Lord at Home, hits all my buttons. Like…Zuko is Fire Lord Good Boy! He passes legislation! There is political optimism! Swoon.

Another Word for Alchemy, by FanPanda 13 | Rating: T | Word Count: 108,000+

Summary: Five years have passed since the Avatar defeated Fire Lord Ozai, and the members of the Gaang have all gone in their own direction. But when Aang invites them all to a Peace Summit at the North Pole and tells them of his new project, for which he will need their support, the group comes together again for adventure, fun and romance. AU. Zutara. COMPLETE.

My thoughts: Now this is a fic that thoroughly crept up on me. The first 3/4 is good old fashioned fluffy, funny, fourth wall-breaking Gaang shenanigans with plenty of Zutara. But the last quarter? Oh boy does it come right at you and slam you in the solar plexus with the platonic love and found family feels and the complexities of those feelings when you’re a teenager. The impact of Aang’s loss of the Air Nomads is treated very thoughtfully here, way more so than in the show.

The Slow Path, by TazmainianDevil | Rating: T | Word Count: 125,723

Summary: Eight years after the fall of Ozai, Aang returns to the friends he left behind.

My thoughts: This is actually a Taang story with a great ZK subplot. But what I love about it is that the whole Gaang (including Suki ALWAYS INCLUDING SUKI) is superbly characterized. The ZK banter is top notch. I could actually hear their voices in my head in some of the scenes. Their relationship is playful but has plenty of emotional heft. And the plot is exciting and well-developed. My favourite thing, though, is how the author treats Toph’s POV: it’s very thoughtfully written, with consideration towards how she perceives the world.

Simple Misunderstanding, by ShamelessLiar | Rating: T | Word Count: 80,965

Summary: Katara was captured by Zuko, but there was a lapse in communication. Takes place after The Fortuneteller. Fierce Katara, honorable Zuko, and meddlesome Iroh. Also, music night

My thoughts: Generally I don’t love fics where Katara gets captured, especially by Zuko (just a personal preference, not here to judge). But! I love this one, because…well, the circumstances of Katara’s capture by Ponytail Zuko are simply hilarious. Katara is suspicious and stubborn; Zuko has a one-track mind and doesn’t understand why Iroh is treating his prisoner so nicely; oh, and Aang gets into an amazing side quest with some spiritual animals. The only thing about this story is that it ends a little abruptly since the author was considering a sequel, but it still reads as a standalone fic. The author also wrote His Majesty Prefers Blue and Call Me Katto, two ZK classics, but Simple Misunderstanding is far and away my favourite work.

Clothe Me in Seasons, Dress Me in Snow, by sadladybug | Rating: T | Word Count: 62,026

Summary: It is not the memorial she deserves, nor the one she would want. But it can't be helped. He owns no property in the other nations, and he needed to keep her close. Closer than she was in life, anyway. Zuko's reflections on a life lived and a life that could have been.

Review: sadladybug lives up to the username by creating a sadness so contagious that I have yet to recover from it, and I cope by recommending this fic to other Zutara shippers so that more may suffer like I did. (Stop the cycle? No.) Look — I think there’s something extremely beautiful and poetic about a love that changes in nature and form and expression, but not in intensity and devotion, and that’s what this fic is about. Loved it. Never reading it again.

One shots:

There’s a category of canon-compliant Zutara one-shots that are all extremely painful, and I cannot get enough of them: in the next life by we-were-angels, taking place right before Katara’s wedding to Aang; water can heal, water can break by crazyache, about why Katara didn’t attend Yakone’s trial.

To combat the above, here’s a few funny, fluffy ones that make me cackle: i am older now by ama (who wrote the banger that is The Blackfish and the Dragon), an old!ZK fic that I read to counteract the emotional damage inflicted by psychedelic_aya’s we hold our hearts in silence; all good things start with tea by yodalorian, where Zuko’s hapless Disney sidekick-esque advisors try to get him a wife; And Half at One Another’s Throats by songofhopeandhonor (whose account is deleted), about Zuko’s harebrained proposals to Katara; The Dragon of the West’s Guide to Flirting by bluesunflower44, which is exactly what it says on the tin and the awkward disaster you’d expect. Waiting on a Steady Sun, by nire, is a long version of my favourite tropes: fake marriage + idiots to lovers ft. pining for your spouse.

I generally don’t love modern AUs, but akaiiko’s talk is cheap (and i’ve got expensive taste), where Katara meets Zuko at a frat party, is a whole damn delight; my old aches become new again by jamesstruttingpotter is a wonderfully indulgent modern AU based on Our Beloved Summer.

And finally, some season 3 character studies: don’t tell me how to feel by paintingcranes, ft Katara at the Western Air Temple being increasingly incensed at both Zuko trying to be helpful and how other people react to his helpfulness; the other side of mercy by crazyache, where Sokka calls Katara “high-strung and crazy” and that really makes Zuko think; The Silent Garden by romilley (whose WIP The Horizon is also fabulous), where Katara and Zuko avoid their feelings through a reluctant-allies-with-benefits arrangement (ft a way of depicting intimacy and sex that makes me think of Normal People); a deep delight of the blood by eruthros, where Zuko asks Katara to practice bloodbending on him out of pragmatism but also a little bit of guilt (it’s unrated, but that “Kink Without Sex” tag is there for a reason).

Thank you for asking me for my recs, anon, because I needed an outlet to rave about fanfiction and my irl friends have heard enough. Feel free to ask me questions about specific fics that aren’t on this list: I always love talking to people about fic and I’m always looking for new ones to read!

#Zutara Fic Recs #This post is brought to you by my autism #Which demanded that I swap out my last special interest for ZK fanfiction #zutara fanfiction #Zutara fanfic #Zutara #can i ask you a question?

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castielslostwings · 1 year

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Please help me tell people about my book!

Hi! I'm publishing a book! It's HERE, just in time for Christmas!! It's GAY!! It's romantic!!! It's HOT! It has firefighters and background sapphic romance, and is exciting AF!!!

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"Fire & Ice": The flaming hot queer romance novel where a foray into BDSM helps two best friends find themselves, each other, and what it really means to burn. Summary: "Firefighter Tripp Truett has somehow tumbled into a whole new kind of relationship with his quirky paramedic best friend, Lee, but mutual relief from their high-stress jobs quickly develops into something more. With all the missed signals and crossed wires, can these two ever figure out that they're so much closer to being on the same page than they think?"

**************************************** About the author (info dump ahoy!!!!) :

I'm Robin, sometimes known as Wings! I'm a 36-year-old, queer, autistic, disabled mom of 2 humans and 5 senior rescue dogs, former R.N. & paramedic. I'm a hardcore fangirl and a proud fanfic writer (and reader), and while I know some people will judge me for that, I am not ashamed! I started writing as a hobby after becoming physically disabled and unable to work as an RN. Fanfic gave me an audience and an outlet, gifted me purpose and hope again. Transformative fiction is FUN! It fosters creativity and passion, heals wounds, and makes people happy. If someone wants to discredit me for that, then perhaps they aren't the audience I'm seeking.

Ultimately, I know I'm taking a risk, but since people seem to enjoy my fics, this book is my attempt to try and make ends meet through original fiction! I know some people WILL discredit me. But I'm always about being myself and speaking on what I feel matters: Fanfic should be legitimized as a creative medium. I assure you, friends—the thousands of hours I've spent on my fanworks are as REAL as it gets. The intersection of disparaging fanfic + sexism/misogyny can't be overstated—women (esp queer women)'s unpaid work is often treated as a "hobby," not worthy of uplifting. I'm here to uplift! The risk is worth it—I would have nothing without fanfic & I'm proud. Younger creators shouldn't feel shame about writing/reading fanfic. We should ALL approach it as a legitimate medium. In fact, MOST new media these days is transformative "fanwork" of SOME kind, whether it's inspired by, based on, or outright rebooting existing worlds.

Plus, we queer folk simply deserve to see our stories in the mainstream media and to see the characters we fall in love, identify with, and root for to get their happily ever afters.

TL;DR: I'm keeping my name and history. Hopefully, I'll be successful in original fiction, but if not, I'll still be a fangirl. Please consider supporting me + other creators attempting to dip into original works. Follow or subscribe to my ko-fi for previews, updates, access to my discord community where I share exclusive content, and more: https://ko-fi.com/castielslostwings FIRE & ICE IS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH MULTIPLE PLATFORMS! Ko-Fi subscribers will have the option to buy signed copies & merch bundles! The link to purchase will also be posted there first.

A MAJOR thank you to my friends, editors, and to everyone who in my server for supporting and encouraging me to put myself out there and try something new. Love you guys so much. <3 Thank you to @chaoticdean for the beautiful cover. Many more thank yous to come. P.S. If you are reading this and know anyone with a platform who might be interested in receiving a free copy in exchange for promo (only if they enjoy, ofc), please holler at me, I can use all the help I can get!

<3 Wings

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brakingpoint · 5 months

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Adding onto the point you made about rpf and I just wanna mention the video that Mercedes released of George reacting to his 'meme' scenes and imo you can clearly tell that at one point he was just so uncomfortable? And how that is not okay because at the end of the day thay are the ones providing the content and if they all are made to feel like that, than i wouldn't be suprised if they just stopped sharing personal stuff?

i checked this video out after seeing this ask and it was certainly just... a choice to have him react to one girl's extended tiktok that was just thirsting over his photoshoot. like it wasn't actually a "meme" there was no real humour to it there was nothing for him to really say about it (which i think at least partially contributes to his awkwardness in that section)... like the person who made that tiktok is in the comments and she's chill about it seemingly but it's such a weird decision. i know "celebrities read thirst tweets" has been a thing for years but that's normally quick, snappy, slightly absurd statements that actually are funny enough to get a reaction, plus they usually blur out the author's handle & photo and often their display name too. to just make you look at one young woman's actual face and listen to her actual voice for a minute straight as she talks (fairly blandly, no offence to this woman, she was just trying to generically thirst in peace i presume) about how good you look in a photoshoot is just... so strange and i can't figure out what the person who planned that video thought the appeal of that section would be or what george would possibly have to say about it?

imo that definitely comes into the same category as admins using ship names etc in that they're taking things that are definitely intended for intra-community conversation and, because in the current age of social media (and especially on hyper-algorithmic platforms like tiktok) fan spaces and official spaces are exactly the same thing, decide that they can get more attention from the younger fangirl [theoretically gender neutral, though i'd guarantee marketing teams aren't viewing it that way] demographic by acknowledging them and leaning into the lack of separation between church and state (blorbocedes, 2023).

then people who are new to fandom & don't know the etiquette, especially in rpf fandoms, think - quite understandably, if this is the way admins are acting - oh cool, well in that case it's okay and normal for me to talk about ships/thirst/my y/n fantasies to the drivers and teams, and if that gets engagement the admins will continue blurring those lines and pandering to the shipper demographic as far as they can without actually getting into inappropriate territory, and this will make the existence of the rpf side of f1 fandom even more noticeable & something of a curiosity attraction to other types of fan. and as has already been discussed all this almost certainly won't lead to a "George and Lewis Read Your Fanfictions" video posted by mercedes-amg petronas f1 team's official youtube channel. but it could more realistically lead to one of like lando or max's mates namedropping everything changes or whatever in a twitch stream as a gag. which, i must stress, we also do not want

really tl;dr i guess it's. as people have been saying, a lot of the drivers are probably aware that rpf (slash fics or x reader) exists. we live in a post-larry world after all. but that does not mean they need to be privy to the details or have it shoved in their faces or have open discussion around it encouraged by their own social media teams

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jerevision · 4 months

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Allowing myself to get sappy after reading the messages on the virtual Christmas tree and before the little one wakes up...

Year after year I follow Eurovision and come to tumblr to rant and fangirl for some time and it fizzles out, except that this year I'm still here posting away and interacting. These two wonderful artists and their teams have allowed me to meet some of the most equally wonderful people around the world. I feel so blessed to have you all close to my heart (and close to my ass too, as I always tend to keep my phone in the back pocket of my jeans 🤣), blessed to always feel a smile creeping across my face each time I unlock my phone. I wish all you all the health, happiness and whatever you wish for, be it something little like a chocolate biscuit, or a big dream of achieving world domination (or something like that). Never in a million years would I have guessed that a little Finnish green man and five Slovenian musicians would be the rainbow to the pot of gold that is this fandom!

TL;DR: came for Käärijä and Joker Out, stayed for the fandom and all the friends I made!

I love you all ❤️💚

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate 🎄

#käärijä #joker out #christmas wishes #i'm in my feels this morning sorry

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willowisapillow · 6 months

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🍭🍬 Candy Collecting 🍬 🍭

🎃 Hope you guys had a great Halloween! 🎃

How did your Halloween go? For me, it was honestly a whole lotta fun. Yeah, it did get kinda boring after a while once 9 o’clock rolled around, because a lot of people either went home or to a different part of my neighborhood.

I had a blast, though, I was the one passing out candy, and if you didn’t see my previous post on here, I dressed up as Tiffany AKA, the Bride of Chucky, and I had my talking Chucky doll on my lap while I was passing out candy. A lot of people really loved my Chucky doll and costume, I even met someone who was also dressed up as Chucky, and we both just started fangirling 😭

Though there were some little kids who were absolutely terrified of my Chucky doll that they didn’t even want to get the candy, so I just passed it off to their parents instead, so they could give it to their kids. Honestly, I don’t blame those kids at all whatsoever, if I was their age, I would have been scared too 💀

Speaking of costumes, I saw a lot of really cool horror costumes, I saw some Wednesdays, Moritias, Chuckys, Jasons, and a lot of Freddy Kruegers and Michael Myers. Though funnily enough, I didn’t see any Ghostfaces or Megans. I also saw a lot of cool non-horror costumes, I saw some Disney Princesses, Marios, and Sonics, and I even saw a few dressed people dressed up as Glamrock Freddy, Huggy Wuggy, Patrick, and motherfreaking Barney, so uh yeah that was a thing lol

And there was this one family that was all dressed up as Demon Slayer characters, and it was pretty wholesome 💕

As for my art, this is a follow-up of my silly little AU that I posted a while ago, and if you haven’t seen it, here’s the TL;DR version of it; it’s an AU that takes place in the very first Child’s Play movie, Chucky is not a serial killer (but he’s still a major douchebag), and still lives with the Barclays (Andy and his mom, Karen).

This picture was also made as a (belated) birthday gift to one of my closest online friends, RobTheAlien on Amino, Deviantart, and Twitter. I made her a Chucky-related gift for her last year, so why not make another one for her, we both really love the series <3

For the context of the art, Halloween started rolling around, and both Andy and Chucky were super hyped to dress up and get some candy, mostly Chucky because he had a little plan up his sleeve. Basically, since Chucky is well, y’know… a doll, he looked to be around the average height of a toddler.

So, his plan was that while they were trick-or-treating, he could get Andy to tell the neighbors that he was bringing along his, “baby brother, Tommy”, and that it was his first time going trick-or-treating. The neighbors would give the both of them candy, thinking that Chucky was his, “brother”, and thus, they would get double the candy (and double the diabetes as well 😋).

At first, Andy was against the idea, since it didn’t feel right to trick the neighbors in a selfish way to get some sweets, but Chucky managed to convince him that they could have the biggest candy collection in the entire neighborhood, with all of the candy a kid his age could ever want and eventually gave in to the idea. He also decided to dress Chucky up as a ghost to make the whole thing look more convincing.

Oh Chuck, such a good role model and influence on little Andy/j

At first, I wanted to draw Andy alongside Chucky but didn’t feel like it because A. I wanted to make the art less time-consuming, and B. I ain’t very good at drawing little kid characters. But I will say that he did dress up as a vampire, complete with fake fangs and everything, and maybe I might make fanart with the both of them together in their costumes in the future.

As for the art itself, I really loved how it turned out. I was farting around with the filters on IbisPaint X, and I eventually chose the exclusion filter, and I felt like it was perfect for this art, ‘cause I wanted to go for an indie kidcore-type vibe for it. And as for the candies I chose for the picture, I basically just googled, “What types of candy were popular in the 80s?”, and I eventually went with the three candies you’re currently seeing in the picture.

Honestly, the only candy I really like out of the three are Skittles, I don’t think I’ve ever tried a Charleston Chew or Baby Ruth before. But what’s your guys' favorite candy? 👀

🍭 🍬 👻

#chucky #childs play #childs play fanart #childs play franchise #chucky movies #chucky the killer doll #chucky fanart #au #alternative universe #alternate universe #slasher movie #slasher fanart #horror villain #horror fanart #happy halloween #halloween 2023 #ghost costume #trick or treating #spooktober

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dbfandom · 7 days

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hi! Sorry if this has been asked already! But I notice with some Japanese artists on twitter, they will retweet someone's art and then comment about it in a separate tweet rather than replying directly to the post. Do you know if this is an etiquette thing? Is it obnoxious if I'm the only person commenting directly on a post? When I see art I love with no comments it makes me sad so I try to leave a comment, but I'm not sure if I should sometimes. Sorry if you've already addressed this, or if this is more of a twitter-specific thing and you're not concerned with that! Thanks for what you do!!

Ayo!!

I actually asked a few of my JPN tweet moots about this practice like, two years ago and basically it's a "I don't want to be a burden on OP" situation.

The idea is that for many of them, "commenting directly" is like, coming directly to their table and fangirl "in front of them", which means they (as the commenters) embarrass themselves in front of the author/artist and "impose" themselves on their (the OP's) space (OP might feel obligated to respond, which is a burden)

By RTing and then doing a LRT (or LRP for those who switched to "repost" instead of "retweet" because musk made it all confusing <_<), they get to "fangirl" in their own space and not embarrass themselves all while still inviting their followers to check out the original work (which was RT'd just previously).

Note that this also happens even if the OP and commenter are friends / mutuals / collab / part of the same circle (aka they published together).

60% of them told me they actually like it when people directly comment. The rest said they "don't mind" (whatever that means lol).

I generally comment 90% of my japanese TL, either in English, with some basic Japanese, or with just emojis (think of it as keysmashing lol).

What's important is be positive and kind, not use any slang or acronyms if possible, and keep sentence structure super simple (no subordinates, no relative pronouns, no possessives) so there's no room for error in the translation (esp automatic twitter translation).

Something like "the colors are really beautiful!", or "amazing" or "pretty!" (simple adjectives), "the wind effects are powerful!" translates well, but "i love how you did the colors, they bang!" might not due to the subordinates and pronouns and other pronouns that the translator might not know what it refers to (that and homonyms haha).

Don't hesitate to use the names of the characters instead of the pronouns ("Gohan's hair is very pretty!") then replace Gohan with the rice emoji (unless the OP uses the character names, in general they tend to not use character names because they don't want to be indexed...).

When in doubt, drop your comment in DeepL or google translate, copy the result, and then run it again the other away around (or through a third language you know, like Spanish, German, etc...). And beware of homonyms that can mean many things (I've made mistakes haha)

Much love to you!

#japanese to english

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xhanisai · 2 years

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What I really love about ML is that despite Marinette knowing that she’s in love with Adrien and aiming for him as a civilian and that despite Adrien knowing that he’s in love with Ladybug and aiming for her as Chat Noir, it’s that they hold the alter-egos of their lovers on a standard just as high and aren’t afraid to treasure them when they can.

Marinette feels very comfortable in showing her weaknesses and vulnerabilities to Chat Noir when she’s Ladybug (and the few times he’s met with her when she’s a civilian). She can do the most dumbest and stupidest things, even unintentionally hurt her own partner BUT she can always count on him to set her back on the right path and stay by her side! The person who loves her so damn much has seen her at her worst and yet all he does is fall deeper in love and that’s just so delicious!

And Marinette isn’t afraid to give him casual affection as Ladybug, be it treating him like a cat with pets or giving him adorable nicknames (which I googled and saw that couples like to use the same names >,’:D). Whether she’s aware that she’s romantically into him or not, the platonic way she treats him is so sweet and fun!

With Adrien, the way he’s been Marinette’s supporter from day one? Ugh, I just absolutely love that. He isn’t afraid to tell her how much he admires her and how amazing he finds her- even calling her his everyday Ladybug! The very same girl he’s head over heels for! He visibly brightens up whenever she’s around and he’s always takes opportunities to talk to her or interact and someone hold her be it a hand on the shoulder or you know, dancing with her.

Although Risk’s powers came to play, the fact that he chose to share his vulnerabilities with Marinette of all people? That he felt safe enough to open up to her about things he hasn’t told anyone else? She brings out deeper emotions within him and helps him strive for the best and she doesn’t even know it.

Marinette doesn’t even fully comprehend just how important she is to Adrien. Just how Chat Noir doesn’t fully comprehend how important he is to Ladybug.

Oh and let’s not forget how Adrien had a role to bringing Ladybug back to her feet during Strike Back~ Despite the misunderstandings and maelstrom of feelings bubbling within him, he wasted no time in helping his Lady through her panic attack just as a civilian and gave her a little push!

These two make me insane!

I could fangirl forever but I have work to do so tl;dr- the dynamics of Marinette and Adrien with each other as well as their alter-egos makes my stone cold heart beat once in a while.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chat noir #ladybug #ladynoir #adrinette #marichat #ladrien #this is why i fell for this show hard #i just love malewives simping for their girlbosses #and sure these dumbass teens do stupid shit that hurts each other but they always bounce back #anyways i should stop right here cos my little bro just tore apart a casette like a fucking cat #and there's tape everywhere ughhh

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whaletailradio · 2 years

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I've always credited Seven of Nine with being the first seed of my queer awakening back when I was just a kid watching Star Trek with my mom. It was always innocent and I didn't know what I was feeling exactly, I just knew that I was drawn to this character. I didn't know if I wanted to be her friend, to be her, or to be more than that, or what that even meant. I'm still not really sure what it is to this day. I've just always been enamored with her.

Watching her return in Star Trek Picard has been so fun and enjoyable and I've loved seeing how she's grown and who she's become. (And she's still growing and has so much more to offer!) Seven of Nine grew up and so did I.

And witnessing Seven of Nine kiss another woman was somehow more validating than I ever thought it was going to be. She's smiling, she's badass, she's middle aged, she's complex, and she likes women! She kissed Raffi on the mouth!

And can I fangirl over Raffi for a second?? She instantly became a new favorite of mine back in season 1. Her character adds so much to the show. She can be so chaotic at times but always pulls it together when she needs to. She gets to be angry and emotional and stubborn but also maternal and caring. We need more characters like Raffi.

The way these two women find each other. The way they just understand each other. The way they know they could make each other so happy if not for *waves hands rigorously in all directions* all the things. The way they simply refuse to not be together at the end of the day. After all they've been through, why not choose a little happiness with each other (after saving the world of course).

I've always loved Star Trek and related to so many of these characters, but watching Seven's return and being introduced to Raffi and watching them come together, feels like it was made for me. For the little gay kid who loved escaping into this universe but didn't always see how she would fit in it. I see it now.

tl;dr: Seven of Nine kissed a girl and now my life is complete.

#personal #seven of nine #star trek picard #saffi #raffi musiker #seven x raffi #raffi x seven #picard spoilers #okay tangent for the tags #this feels like when korra and asami walked into the spirit portal together #on december 19th 2014 #that felt like *insert gif of captain holt from b99 screaming vindication!*#moments like that and moments like this dont come around often for me #and it just got me thinking back to where i was seven and a half years ago #and where i am now #sapphics being canonized really makes me introspective huh #maybe May 5th 2022 will go down in lesbian history #happy saffi kiss day yall

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fitzrove · 1 year

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☕️ + Rudolf Affaire Mayerling’s vs Mayerling Ballet’s depiction of the story!

I still haven't watched the ballet in its entirety so I'm going off of the Wikipedia summary and scattered clips 😳😁

Affaire Mayerling, in my opinion, completely fails in depicting the story in a thoughtful way and there's no good reason for it to exist as a musical except as a cash grab after Elisabeth's success. XD I think the problems mostly lie in

- The show being conceived of as a grand life-changing love story between Rudolf and Mary (historically they only knew each other for a very short time & it was 17yo Mary being basically a fangirl and throwing herself at him & Rudolf being a toxic adult man and seeing nothing wrong with this lol. It feels inappropriate to speculate about historical figures' relationships but I shall just say that I don't think it was a grand love story. I think it was two depressed people making bad choices and enabling each other with no grander agenda than self-destruction.)

- The thematic wonkiness that results from this approach - ie. their "love" is special and super romantic because they take their own lives together. Gross! I can't watch the finale scene because it makes me want to throw things every time. They also added Mary being interested in Rudolf's politics to portray her as more of a girlboss, which is also historically very eh to me (one of Rudolf's main tragedies imo was that so many people dismissed his political views, which made him feel like his life had no meaning).

- Why is Taaffe here LOL. The show tries to shoehorn in some wider political context but I feel like the way it does it is unrealistic & playing into conspiracy theories 😭 This is also why I dislike the song 'Conspiracy' in Elisabeth. There's no solid historical evidence for Rudolf conspiring with Hungarians, especially not to crown himself King of Hungary. Same goes for Taaffe trying to bribe Mary to leave Rudolf. I get that they want to add drama but it gets super iffy when it plays into conspiracy theories (Hungarian nationalist ones in the case of the conspiracy & Mayerling assassination theories re: the Mary thing).

Now for the ballet :D

I think that it's less messy for sure - more female characters whose relationships with Rudolf are rendered in more detail. (Elisabeth is there & more Mizzi & more Stephanie & Mary's unrealistic idolisation of Rudolf is actually shown). It does have historical inaccuracies that annoy me - Mary being introduced to Rudolf soon after he married Stephanie (she was actually 10 years old at the time of Rudolf's wedding...), Rudolf and Steph's marriage being unhappy from the start, and most egregiously, Mizzi betraying Rudolf and running off with Taaffe (???? Slander??? Mizzi Kaspar did not try to single-handedly save Rudolf's life & protect his memory after his death for the rest of her life for this. Also I feel like this is playing into the treacherous courtesan trope).

But I feel like the ballet has more reason to exist than the musical does, and considering that it was made in 1978, it kind of baffles me how it managed to be a more complex and fair portrayal than a musical made in the 2000s. It does still simplify things for the sake of storytelling (a direct confrontation between Rudolf and Taaffe, Rudolf never having positive relationships with any women ever lol), but it doesn't actively play into conspiracy theories in its portrayal of the incident or romanticise Rudolf and Mary's relationship to the same degree. Most Mayerling adaptations (and even most media discourses about the event in stuff like newspapers) do really emphasise the connection between violence and mental illness, and I'm not quite sure where the ballet stands on that... in any case, I'm really happy that Elisabeth exists, because it means there's at least one adaptation where Rudolf's mental illness is portrayed as chiefly hurting him emotionally (and his loved ones, eventually, considering Totenklage).

So yeah, TL;DR - Ballet is better for having more female characters with more complex relationships with Rudolf and less invented political drama. (Oh, the ballet also has Bratfisch, Hoyos and Loscheck gjldkf so I would also consider that a win).

#thank you so much for asking! >:]#mayerling #kronprinz rudolf #musicals #theatre #ballet #asks #analysis

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masonscig · 1 year

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AAAAH can I just say I am so soft that you remembered me and zuri🥺

I completely get why Sofia would feel pressured to say yes, it's a loaded question. Especially with her feelings about her mortality (which I'd love to hear about btw if you're down to share👀👀).

Zuri ends up saying that she's curious when she's asked about the blood drinking. She's always been a big supernatural fangirl so her answer would usually be a yes lol, but she's worried that she's only valuable to people now (ub, the chamber, rebecca - especially rebecca) because of her blood. After the brief conversation with her LI (i still have her romancing everyone💀) about her blood and them being tempted by it, she isn't keen on the possibility of having those thoughts confirmed.

Also, re: the chamber. How did Sofia feel about them before and after meeting them? And how does she feel about not being a detective anymore?

Which just sooo...uuuuaaah. I feel like it's WAY too soon for that, I don't don't have words to express how bummed I was when I read that. Especially since the detective can't say no. They've only had that title for a couple of months. I get that they're so involved that it makes sense for them to eventually be a full on agent, but in the 3rd book of a 7 book series? With the detective barely getting a chance to think about it?🧍🏽‍♀️

YES OF COURSE !!!! <333 oh my gosh there are so many wayhaven oc's that just float around in my brain – even if i'm not active, i'll think about them sometimes and be like "hmm i wonder if (insert mutual) is working on something (insert oc) related right now :)" i love zuri !!!!!!!

ok this is probably gonna be long so i'm preemptively putting the rest under the cut

AH !!!! i love mortality talk hehe okay so i've written this in fic form before more fleshed out than this but here's a tl;dr version <3 so sofía's whole thing is that she struggles letting go of who she thought she was going to be and reconciling with what her life is – she's always wondering what her life could've been if she'd done a, b, or c. and with mason, it's the first time she's really able to let go, because there aren't any expectations – except for turning. sofía knows if she chose to turn, it wouldn't be her choice. she'd be turning for mason. and a huge part of her character is the fact that she's taking her own agency back by not turning – truthfully, i still don't know if she ever will! if she made the decision it'd be in old age (okay time to laugh about mis/hka's whole 'de-aging' thing, because she's afraid of being 40 years old i guess) TY FOR ASKING I LOVE TALKING AB THIS STUFF

also ZURI !!!!!! i just want to hug her and tell her she's worth more than her blood UGH also all of ub needs to give her a smooch and tell her everything is okay </3 she's precious 2 me !!!!!! i really hope that by the time that we get blood drinking in canon, she's more comfortable with it <333 she deserves a lil bitey bite KFMKDKMDF

OOF THE CHAMBER.......... so many thoughts. so so so many. none of them good honestly LMAO so i think sofía was nervous/scared to meet them at first, because although she's able to woo over most people with her trademark friendly/genuine approach – the whole thing just made her very uneasy. afterwards, she felt even worse – a lot of her discomfort comes from her feeling like overall she has a lack of agency in any situation relating to her job, and meeting an even more authoritative, what-we-say-always-goes-no-matter-what group that's expecting her to kneel at their feet and blindly serve them, is fucking with her mind. she was accepting of the existence of supernaturals in book 1, but truthfully, the more she learns, the more i think internally she's starting to freak out.

also! i think that she's deeply upset about not being a detective – not because she ever wanted to be a cop in the first place, but because for years, she's held onto the idea that this year is the year she'll go to med school. "i can leave this job at anytime. this is just temporary." but the more that she gets sucked into the supernatural world, the more she's having to divorce herself from the version of herself that she's always wanted to be. (she wants to be a person who helps people, even though she already is, but she never thinks what she's doing is enough)

SORRY FOR THE DUMP ABOVE DKMFMKDFMKD i just love talking about her so much ugh im sorry

ALSO YES TO THE LAST PARAGRAPH !!! dude. it's SOOOOO soon. and i know from the stuff mis/hka has said, i highly doubt that this is a setup for something later – like even the idea that mc joins the agency and is immediately terrible at the position for narrative purposes – or even the idea of mc being forced to join for surveillance purposes – i just don't trust her with those types of complexities

#TY FOR THE ASK <33333 MWAH this was so fun to read and respond to !!!#im sorry i took so long i wanted to wait until i was settled and ready to type out a thoughtful response #but also !!! i love zuri !!! she is so great !!! idk how you feel about me going through your oc tag but –#i think i will have to scroll through your zuri tag to get more content of our girl <333 #i can't stop thinking about this book and all the discussions its posed but like. how i don't think any of these –#ideas are going to come back in the end ?? so much of this book throws shit out the window #maybe its a set up for book 4 but... i dont know if i trust that #asks #twc book 3 #twc book 3 spoilers #twc spoilers #oc: sofía olmos #<- i'm tagging my girl bc i talk about her quite a bit in this ask <333

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angel-armed · 1 year

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I wasn't really going to post on this because I feel like every time I try to speak up it just ends in in-fighting, but then I thought about how much this sentiment makes ME feel othered in my own spaces so. I know I'm not the only one.

There's a post going around with thousands of notes talking about how top/bottom dynamics are not personality traits, and the tone implies that only like... clueless fandom/online people think that.

And I'm just blown away because it makes me think: Have y'all ever installed grindr on your phone or gone to an irl gay meet up? Do you spend time with meatspace gays??

The idea that top/bottom is a personality trait is yes, an overstating of something but what it comes down to is that historically people have used their presentation to communicate things to other gay people without words. Why is that? Because the more we would talk about these things, the more likely someone would snitch, we'd get snatched up or reported to police or what have you.

And who gets hurt by the "BUT THESE ARE STEREOTYPES" the most? Same people as always. The femmes. Suddenly, what has been our signal to other gays, NOT TO PEOPLE OUTSIDE of the community necessarily fuck them-- is considered a bad stereotype assigned to like, fangirls writing fanfic badly, haha, look at those poor sad misinformed girls. Shut up lmao

The fact of the matter is, that top/bottom/vers -- whatever term you identify with, is often exactly that. A personal identifier that you want other people IN YOUR COMMUNITY to be able to pick up on. This is why we have shit like the hanky code. I'm not sitting here telling you that every man who likes to perform drag or is just gender-non-conforming is a bottom. But many, and I mean MANY do use that as a way to signal it. For every 'bad stereotype' you point at, there are a thousand gay men who are just like that stereotype. No matter how much you personally do not like it. Get your no fats no femmes shit out of my face lol.

Every time you try to 'educate' people as if the norm in the IRL meatspace gay community is supposedly 'vers' as some neutral default, you open the door for more intense policing of gender non conforming men even if that is not your intention. This issue is not something that you can paint with a wide brush. Your personal experience is NOT my personal experience. Maybe you happen to have come up in a gay community where vers was a neutral default. However that is not even close to the common experience out there in the world for gay folk.

I need to go on to say that even in gay communities where this is the norm, we deal with grindr profiles that regularly include "No femmes, no fats, no Asians" etc. and-- maybe you're saying "this is proof my neutral defalt vers thing is better/right" well. Okay maybe yeah on paper! But that doesn't change that gays who are not terminally online are not. some neutral state of vers by default.

Tl;dr: hard immutable top/bottom preferences that inform a person's gender presentation, manner of speech, mode of dress etc. Are. Very common. In fact, in my lived experience in gay bars and gay spaces IRL away from the internet, I'd say they're the norm. Calling femme gay men who speak with a lisp bad stereotypes harms all gay men.

Stop saying I'm a 'bad stereotype' because someone shipped your preferred pairing in a way that wasn't ~~subversive~~ enough for you. You preferring the tall masculine dude in lingerie getting topped by the twink is not progressive. It's your preference. You liking it doesn't make it somehow better. Y'all need the word heteronormative taken away from you too. A gay couple cannot be heteronormative. That's not what the word was coined for. Stop acting like your preference is somehow morally prescriptive and stop acting like that's some kind of activism. End of.

#auguries #*takes a deep breath*#I am an angry gay man #lol #like bro stop lying to ppl about the gay community in the name of fandom shit lol

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veeeffvee · 1 year

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Alright cool here’s that post about what’s been going on while I’ve been gone

(A bit of a warning: none of this is happy)

TL;DR - bad brain stuff and burnout

Hey everyone, looks like I’m back! Not sure for how long, but I sure am online right now!

...Man, I’ve been going over how I was going to write this post a million times in my head, and every version that I imagined just sounded really sad and made me cry just thinking about it, so I’m just gonna try to be more succinct than I originally planned.

So right after finals week, I did try to get back into drawing the stuff I had planned to post, and I maybe got like... one idea done. There were a few more but the majority of them are still in the rough/sketch phase. I don’t know why, but as soon as I got off of school, I just lost all motivation to draw.

Okay, that’s a lie---I know why I couldn’t draw anything. See, I’ve been in the GHOST fandom since... late 2018? So that’s three, almost four years now. And I’ve pretty much been posting exclusively GHOST content since then, with hardly a break. As much as it’s helped with gaining the following that I have (thank you all for that, of course!) you’ve gotta understand that posting about literally ONE fandom for four years straight is?? Fucking exhausting???

And yeah I know that no one was FORCING me to do that, this is all my fault don’t get me wrong! But just... being someone who isn’t at all confident in anything that I make, it felt like GHOST content was pretty much the only thing I was good at? And you know, that’s what you people followed me for, so obviously the moment I stopped posting it people would leave! And I didn’t want that at all!

That’s why I tried my damnedest to keep myself interested in this fandom, with my stupid AUs. Mainly the DSAU and Karaoke AU. I was so embarrassed about them because they’re clearly just me desperately trying to make something GHOST-related, even when I had literally no steam left for it.

And you know, it’s not really that I’m tired of the characters or songs themselves, I’m just... tired of doing the same thing for four years, haha. I’m not gonna stop, especially since everyone keeps saying that I’m one of the few people keeping this fandom alive?? (Like haha no pressure right?) And I do want to finish COLOR-TV, and keep writing for MWTM, and I want to eventually tell you guys the story I’ve come up with for the Role Swap AU, and much more! I still have so many ideas, it’s not like I’ve ever run out!

I’ve just come to a point where it’s like... have I done enough yet? I’ve made mashups, I’ve drawn so much art, I’ve written stories, I’ve written over a hundred in-character posts, and I’ve gotten into making some videos. Have I come to a point where I can take a break without losing my following? I can never tell, really. I don’t want to take a break and come back with no one remembering who I am or what I’ve done, that thought terrifies me more than anything haha. I’ve always felt like I have to keep making things to stay relevant in this fandom, or else I risk people completely forgetting about me. And if that happens, then what was even the point of me being here, right?

That’s another thing. Since I wasn’t able to make even a scrap of GHOST content after finals week, I figured... that there wasn’t a point to me being here anymore. “veeeffvee” has sorta just become mainly a Ghost and Pals fan blog, rather than a blog that I can use to fangirl over all sorts of things. And you know that even then, I’ve felt guilty over talking about or drawing things that aren’t GHOST-related.

So if I couldn’t post what didn’t make me feel guilty, then I figured I shouldn’t even be here. Anything else that I would post would be just a fucking waste of time. Not only personal posts---even reblogs without any GHOST content interspersed made me feel awful. And I’ve already made it clear that I hate talking too much on personal posts (oh the irony right now), and I think I should shut up more, so... yeah. Why should I be here if I can’t give you guys anything good?

Emphasis on good, of course. It wasn’t like I wasn’t doing anything while I was gone. Unfortunately I’ve started developing my O.Cs and drawing them more during my absence. I don’t think I have to reiterate just how much I loathe my own content, and how much I think that all of it is awful garbage no matter what I do. So that’s even more wastes of time, how terrible! I really hate myself for this in particular.

...Okay, here’s the part I didn’t want to talk about, ever, but I don’t think I can avoid it anymore. There’s another reason why I’ve been making less and less GHOST content, and it has to do with GHOST themselves. I won’t get into specifics, because gog knows there’s enough drama within the nooks and crannies of this fandom and I really don’t any trouble, but here it is.

I had a personal interaction with GHOST sometime two years ago where I needed to talk to them about something I needed help with. It was very important, and---for lack of better phrasing---they were a huge dick about it. Just, a complete fucking asshole. And I don’t mean this lightly; I don’t like being negative or talking negatively about anyone (I mean look how much of this I haven’t talked about until now!), but I cannot stress this enough.

That interaction was such a far cry from how I expected them to be, as someone I had looked up to and made so much content for, it really soured everything in this fandom for me afterwards. I’m not saying that GHOST owed me anything just because I’ve made a bunch of fan content, that’s just absurd, but I didn’t expect them to be that bad. And now, as you can imagine, it’s been really difficult continuing to make fanmade stuff when I really, really despise the creator.

And I just want reiterate that I’m not saying this to make people hate them too---I’m the last person who would want to spread negativity in this fandom, after how much fun I’ve had in it all these years. And I’m not some demon who’s going to go out of my way to bully them, that’s literally not who I am. I just needed to get this out here to further explain why it’s be hard for me to continue making GHOST content. Because hey, if there truly wasn’t a problem between me and them, why would I stop?

I guess it also doesn’t help... that all of their recent music has just sounded like utter shit to me? Haha. Maybe I’m a bit biased because of that interaction and stuff, but their instrumentals have just sounded lazier (and WORSE with every STUPID GLITCH SOUND EFFECT THEY PUT IN making my EARS BLEED), and their lyrics have just sounded like word salad. Like cripes, tone it down with the distortion and reverse reverb, it’s getting repetitive and boring and hard to listen to. Plus I’m really not a fan of their current art style. It looks like DeviantArt bases and wikiHow art to me.

(This last part wasn’t supposed to be a dunk on their current stuff, but I thought I would add it in as even more reasons for my lack of content. Again, I don’t like being hateful, so I’ll try to stop here.)

Anyway yeah, I think that’s everything? Man I hope I won’t regret being honest about all this. It’s been hard trying to keep all of this in, since I prefer to appear as cheerful and happy as my icon! As far as I can tell, no one likes negative people, and negativity drives people away. And I wouldn’t want that! Plus, I really do fear backlash or something for even daring to say anything bad about GHOST. Fans can be cruel, you know?

I cannot apologize enough for my absence, and I really am sorry for not making anything good while I was gone. I swear that I tried my best, but a lot of this stopped being fun a while ago. It’s just become work now. I promise that I’ll keep trying of course, because what else am I good for, but... can I say for once that I’ll make GHOST content when I can again? It’ll be made when it’s made.

...Ahh, no, I still feel guilty. Hopefully I’ll get hit with a wave of inspiration, however brief it may be, like I usually do. That typically happens. I just hope that you all can be patient with me for however long that will take. And again, I’m sorry for not working fast enough. I swear on my life I’ve been trying.

#personal #vent-ish?#Believe me this was gonna lean more towards being a vent but I held off haha

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