#anyways i find it fun to explore character word choices | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

harrysonlylover · 5 months

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you're right. many blogs have expressed frustration, but i don't follow those blogs. i follow you, and your posts have been all over my feed. i’m speaking up because i don’t understand. i didn’t highlight that you’re a fan and find him unattractive. i pointed the hair post out because you’ve made numerous posts about his looks, about his silence, about the people he associates with. your post on his “lost charm” was only one piece of what i listed. it’s hardly a little detail when you spam things.

your name is harrysonlylover. whether you worship the ground he walks on or you only use his name to boost your fanfic, you still have a blog called harrysonlylover that is dedicated to harry styles. you can call it what you want. what influence exactly are you hoping he has? you’ve contradicted yourself, saying you want him to speak up because he has influence, and then simultaneously followed that up with “i can assure you that a white man’s opinion who’s a singer isn’t that relevant.” his opinion matters, or it doesn’t? you want to hear he’s not a zionist? you’ve admitted you’re not even a fan of his. it’s just very confusing. why don’t you use a different celebrity’s name if you don’t like his music, his work, or him? his name isn’t doing much to boost your fanfic anyways.

I created this blog 1 and a half fucking year ago. The reason i chose this user is probably something random because as i said “let’s normalise growing out of something.” It depends on your definition of a fan. I’m not listening to his music much anymore because guess what? We grow up, explore and become into other things. This blog is personal to me because it holds memories and mutuals that i love. If you’re so wound up go ahead and unfollow me.

His opinion is irrelevant to political matters, his influence isn’t.There’s a difference. If he posts a whole ass political statement that is out of his field of knowledge then yeah that’s not relevant. But if he posts a donation link for Gaza then it matters.

Again, unfollow me because this is more about you being concerned with me. All about what i like, dislike and my posts which is quite pathetic. Why not choose a diff user? Idk my life doesn’t really depend on it. If you think that a user name is so so significant to one’s life then you’re wrong because there are users here like @harrysass or something. It’s just for the fun of it. Not everything needs to be analysed.

Don’t twist my words. I didn’t say that i don’t like his work. I said i don’t listen to his songs as much as before. Do you want to come over, make me a playlist and tell me who i should listen to? You’re so concerned with my “fan status” like what is a fan to you? Do you want me to dedicate my life to him? You don’t choose what i get to call myself. Who are you??

Again—we can give our opinions on what a person is doing even if we love them. Giving my opinion does not mean i’m sending him hate messages, bullying him or harming him. You do know that we have something called freedom of speech right? Or do you only consider someone a fan if they shut up and agree with everything he does? Because you’re obv so concerned with the fan term.

Read the sentences in italic again^

And this whole thing about him not boosting my fics— oh sorry to disappoint you but i’ll ask him to recommend my stories to everyone next time i see him.

I’m pretty sure my fics are fine. My skills and writing style exist with or without his name. If i wake up tomorrow and write something with a character called harry styles or a whole different character, that’s up to me. Or do you want to analyse that as well?

Going back to the point i made earlier to remind you that this blog is old. The user wasn’t born yesterday, i don’t wake up everyday and light a candle for him. Understand that while i don’t listen much to his music anymore, it is my choice whether i write fanfiction or not (which btw, he is nothing but a face claim. What i write is a whole other made up character but is just called Harry)

They’re also written for fun so don’t worry about boosting them because i’m not submitting them for a nyc times best seller.

This felt like an investigation so i urge you to go out, touch some grass, connect with nature and lessen your curiosity. I’ve removed my anon option because if you wish to grace me with your presence and delightful questions, do so without hiding.

#ask

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minervas-sandwich · 1 year

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Something I find really interesting is this repeating motif in the Hatchetfield shows about “want.”

TGWDLM, “what do you want, Paul?” which is then twisted by the end of the show in Let It Out as Paul struggles with his desires, how his infected friends tell him they know this is what he really wants.

Black Friday hinges on Wiggly’s ability to hijack people’s fears and desires to frame himself in their eyes as the only solution to fulfill their wants. Wilbur gets Linda to help him by playing on her deepest desire to be worshipped. He goes on an entire anti-capitalist song rant to the President about greed.

And now in NPMD, we have the Lords in Black’s song, where Steph makes a deal to get rid of Max in exchange for “whatever they want,” and they want whatever she wants most. Grace Chasity grapples throughout the show with her desires for physical pleasure and spiritual purity. Steph and Pete continually deny their feelings for one another with the line “I never wanted you anyway.”

The Hatchetfield universe hinges on desire, and it’s a concept that works as well as it does because the characters are all written really well and very three-dimensional. They all have strengths, weaknesses, and unfulfilled desires that they’d do almost anything to achieve. And that’s why Hatchetfield is such a special place. Because every person in it has some deep, unfulfilled need that eats away at the core of their being until a being with slightly more power than they have can come along and whisper some sweet words into their heads and either puppet them into obedience or break them irrevocably.

And I know what you’re thinking, “Minerva, that’s just basic writing! Characters have to have desires to drive their actions!” and you’re right, but the difference is the way that Hatchetfield, specifically, uses want. The stories are all based around how want can twist us into completely different people. Nightmare Time isn’t putting people into conflict and letting them work it out- it’s about breaking them. It’s about taking the very core of their beings and bending it to the wills of heartless gods. Hatchetfield explores the question, over and over again, “what if we placed people right on the edge between satisfying their deepest desires and pushing them into their greatest fears? What will they do, what will they become, to ensure one option over the other?” And sometimes the story lets the protagonists find a way out of their dilemma (in Black Friday Lex frees the protagonists from Wiggly’s control, in NPMD Grace makes a sacrifice to save Steph and Pete), or they succumb to the impossible choice of their situation (TGWDLM Paul becomes part of the hive mind rather than killing himself, Black Friday Linda gives herself to Wiggly and sacrifices the world to be loved, NPMD Grace sacrifices what she treasures most after committing manslaughter to try to preserve it and we see in the ending how she’s broken and twisted into basically catfishing guys to sacrifice to the LiB).

And that’s why this world is so fun!

#this wasn't as well written or explained as i wanted it to be and i hope it makes sense #personal #starkid #hatchetfield #tgwdlm #black friday #npmd #npmd spoilers

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fearowkenya · 9 months

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Cold-blooded, ruthlessly efficient, and cruel in its methods. These are words that can be applied to an alligator, sizing up its target as it lurks beneath the surface and waits for the perfect opportunity to drag it into the depths. The same words can equally apply to Shuuji’s father, who never stops watching his every move, judging Shuuji for missteps he doesn’t even know he’s making as he tries to live up to unclear and impossible expectations.

Stressed, scared senseless, and operating entirely on adrenaline. These are words that can be applied to somebody attempting to escape from an alligator, desperate for a shred of hope. The same words can equally apply to a participant in a game of capture the flag, where one team’s lone survivor fights for their life in hopes that a singular small success will turn the tides.

Shuuji gets a weird text at the worst possible time. Ryo risks his neck for the sake of the team. There’s alligators.

yeah im not posting the entire fic under the readmore , im not prepared to spend another two hours of trial-and-error on formatting. anyway i have so much to say about digisurvive but im unfortunately not the type to talk about stuff unprompted until im much more confident n comfortable. instead i'll talk about the First Ficwriting Experience Since 2016

ive seen all four endings but i havent done what im calling my Victory Lap playthrough yet. what i mean by Victory Lap is that i got my guys at lvl 80+ and the only real purpose of going thru it all again is to see any early-game missed dialogue and take unnecessarily-meticulous character notes

im not about to claim to be a Blorbo Expert w a PhD or anything but i think ive got a pretty solid understanding of the bulk of the characters and can manage a pretty accurate portrayal . shuuji and ryo are definitely the easiest characters for me to write , and im anticipating that the same will be true for kaito. i cant say for certain tho since i havent explored his voice much yet but im more or less confident that i can do a good job

at first i was like oh god oh fuck i cant write aoi but i thought about it for 2 seconds and it turns out that uhhhhhhhh i was a lot like her when i was a teenager. the insecurities are exactly the same, it is so horrifyingly uncanny. so for me, saki is the one that i find the most difficult to characterize and i love that because it seems so deliberate. this girl DOES NOT want you to perceive her and is doing her best to ensure that you do not notice that she has anything to hide. if you are good at writing saki, i have a lot of respect for your tremendous power

but thankfully sakis presence in this is minimal so i dont have to worry about that just yet. what i AM worried about are my formatting choices. i think theres a lot of potential in fucking around with indentation, typeface, and text placement, so im taking a swing at trying to push it further than i have before. i think it can serve so well to imply when something is happening, what else is happening at the same time, and how it makes the characters feel without having to outright say so. i dont want it looking like a geronimo stilton book tho so i gotta learn to strike a balance lmao

SO much of the way i enjoy character portrayal comes from tone and nonverbal communication, especially really subtle stuff like eye movement and body language. i think it can be so challenging to write that stuff in a way that doesn't feel clunky or encumber the pacing. the thing im practicing right now is saying stuff without saying it, and also trying to improve my imagery & symbolic language. im having a lot of fun with it

mkay im actually late for work so i need to post this damn thing and move on my with my day. thanks for your time!!

#digimon survive #ryo tominaga #shuuji kayama #digimon #drops this in the digisurvive tag like roadkill . heres my offering. i havent posted fic since 2016 #under the readmore you can find me talking into the void

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kiisaes · 1 year

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Hey! So I read your post about my hero academia, the one where you talked about having a weird fatherly connections towards it and I wanted to ask you about what aspects you don’t like about the series? I share a lot of your sentiments but I do think it’s probably more than mid series? A lot of the details and writing I like and I think is considerable better than other shounen mangas. Anyways sorry for rambling. I just wanted to know what aspects you liked on the series and the ones you didn’t like.

Also complete side note: I absolutely love you’re art it’s so beautiful you’re and really skilled drawer!

sure! and thank u anon!

i want to preface this by saying that everything here is my opinion. media analysis is inherently subjective and something i think is bad might be something you think is good. considering how mha is not a shounen that's universally applauded for any or all of its writing choices, it's expected that you and i may perceive this content differently. doesn't mean i'm right and you're wrong and vice versa, it's just a different individual take on the source content.

also, even though i think mha is "mid to mid-good" (as quoted from my textpost) i don't use "mid" as either an insult or in a "it's so average it's bad" way. i know that word has been fucked over bc ppl automatically assume that something being mid means something is bad or bland or boring. it's a middle of the road series with a good share of flaws and strengths, and it doesn't particularly stand out as anything incredibly amazing or awful. just an average to decently good story, and its level of quality fluctuates throughout its run.

at the end of the day, i do like mha. despite what i think of it, it's a series i hold close to my heart and one i can enjoy even without a critical eye. if i didn't, i wouldn't have been making content for it for 2, almost 3 consistent years.

anyway, stuff i like + stuff i don't like under the cut: (warning: VERY LONG)

mha stuff i do like:

deku. he is my little boy

for the most part, horikoshi's character writing is one of his strongest abilities. characters like bakugou, shigaraki, and dabi (and honestly the todoroki family as a unit) are some of the most compelling characters in a story like this. they're allowed to be complex, dynamic and a blend of virtuous and damning traits. they match the overall themes of mha, which is that the sheer concept of "good vs evil" is surface level at best, and that placing people into strict boxes blocks them from everything else that they are. basically a complete "fuck you" to viewers who must condemn a morally grey hero/villain, for example. even less morally grey characters like ochako (imo) are still fun twists and explorations on their given character stereotypes. however i'm obligated to say "for the most part" because hori's superb character writing only matters when he gives those characters time to breathe and actually exist. i'll get into this more later

horikoshi's art is fantastic and undoubtedly his greatest attribute as a mangaka. i firmly believe that, as far as shounen art goes, there aren't any that can rival mha that are also at its global reach. there's never a single moment where i read a chapter and go "wow that art wasn't incredible" because that's not possible. he utilizes his art knowledge so effortlessly and brings out so much in every panel he makes. the manga art never feels dull. i'm so insanely jealous and in awe of him. i guess i could be biased when making this point but i find it hard to genuinely hate his art. it's so polished every time

this is a smaller point that adds to the last one but i do appreciate how he draws women. not when he's using them for uncomfortable gags, but just in general. there's like, actual meat on their bones. they have realistic body proportions (for his style). many of the women are "chubbier" than other shounen women, and a good amount of them are buff as FUCK. it feels like hori puts the same amount of effort into drawing his female characters as he does his male characters, even if he might not dignify that writing-wise

as a fellow comic artist, i absolutely love his understanding of comic language. it's small details like his onomatopoeia reminiscent of western superhero comics that really tie the presentation together. each panel is full of life, with characters and backgrounds working together in the most effective ways. i can't remember what tumblr textpost brought this up, but he also loves playing around with panel borders. he spices them up by using different subjects or objects to split up panels. and this was more of a strength earlier in the series imo, but his pacing was also pretty quick and resourceful. it shows to me that he truly loves creating manga and knows when it's the right time to visually deviate from the norm. again, i'm truly envious of how he can do this. i only hope to reach his level someday ...

this is definitely a biased point, but some of the series' arcs/storylines are some of my favorite ones in fiction. these include the tournament arc, the kamino rescue arc, the overhaul arc, twice's death, and anything relating to the todoroki family. obviously i'm only listing a handful of examples here because i think nearly every arc has its good moments that i can comment on. but when i think of good mha storylines, i think of these first

i also think that mha as a whole is a fun series that knows how to laugh at itself. there's nothing more awkward than a story that takes itself way too seriously, but the content itself is poorly written or not interesting. thankfully, horikoshi doesn't really fall into this issue

there are canon lgbt characters in this series. even if that's kind of a low bar atp (considering how only 1 out of the 3 play a consistently important role), a win is a win is a win. especially in mainstream shounen, beggars can't exactly be choosers.

mha is a story about systemic societal injustice, which is a lofty concept to tackle. thankfully the story is about powers being the norm so the whole "i'm born better than you because i have abilities" is less of a status quo rejection and more of a status quo enabler. as a story concept, it's a good basis, doesn't seem too hard to comprehend, and opens the door for nuanced storytelling and discussion. i think hori does this well at the start of the series. but as the story goes on... uhhh. i'll talk about it.

mha stuff i don't like:

man do these women have basically nothing interesting to do. i complimented how they're drawn earlier, but with the exception of a few notable ones, a lot of their characters pale in comparison to the men. it's even sadder considering that the amount of women in mha is significantly lesser than, so 5 important female characters is like, 1/4 of the female cast. 5 important male characters is like, 1/12 of the male cast. idk i didn't count the amount of characters in this series but it sincerely feels this way, especially if you remember that there are definitely more than 5 important male characters at any moment throughout this series. and when female characters do have their time to shine, there's a 50/50 chance that they die, get gravely injured, or lose limbs. which normally isn't an issue in a battle shounen like mha, but out of the important character deaths in this series, a fair amount of them are women. midnight, magne, and star and stripe have pretty anticlimactic deaths too, to add insult to injury. lady nagant talked her shit then exploded. she's still alive but like ... what? did these characters have to be treated this way? i can't really think of any important male characters who get introduced then axed from the story like this, except for maybe stain (though he's a far more important character narratively). the reason why i bring up this really lengthy point is not because i think horikoshi is actively misogynistic. i just think he falls into the trap that many shounen mangakas face, which is that male characters are more interesting to a male dominated audience. hence, female characters usually get thrown to the side. there are some important women in mha that stand toe to toe with male characters, like toga and ochako, and there are definitely certified girlbosses like mirko and yaoyorozu. but god do i wish i could add more women to this list without having to think really really hard.

and to add onto the previous, shallow, unimportant characters only gain backstories when the narrative demands for it. horikoshi used to write characters revealing their intentions and history in relatively natural ways, like with ochako and her goal to become a hero for money. it kind of came out of nowhere, but it's a valid conversation a teenager would have with other teenagers. in context, it was revealed normally. i'm not sure when these reveals turned forced, but i remember seeing kirishima's backstory and being like "well .. would this have ever been told to us if kirishima wasn't a main character in this arc?" this isn't against kirishima's character; i love the guy and i think his history was short but contextualized his personality really well. but with the recent shoji backstory reveal i could only think, "wow. horikoshi must be really glad he made a mutant character to project this theme onto, huh." it didn't feel like shoji was ever meant to have a backstory — not to mention a very depressing one — but he got one this late in the series run because it was convenient for the plot. perhaps i'm a cynic and this isn't an issue for others, idk. that being said, i think characters like shoji and even star and stripe and lady nagant could have benefited from more natural character developments, maybe with more time given so it doesn't feel like a weirdly convenient reveal.

i just really fucking wish mineta would die already. like get kicked into the sun or blown up with TNT or run over by a car or something. he's less of an openly creepy loser than he was in the beginning of the series, but i'm sure that's because he literally doesn't have the luxury to be creepy at the moment. he's one of the least appealing gag characters that never grows and changes as a person. and he got a backstory before kaminari. can you fucking believe this shit? why does horikoshi keep entertaining this bullshittery— oh yeah. i just remembered that the girls were perved on quite a bit in this series, which wasn't funny and moreso uncomfortable for a lot of readers. like, i know it's shounen, it's animanga, fanservice is kind of the unfortunate norm. but by god, do we need a series poster child for pervy, male-gaze behavior?

i commented earlier about mha's themes and that i think, at least at the start, hori had a good grasp of what he was writing. framing society's systemic flaws and failures in a wacky superheroes vs villains story is not only clever, but makes this actually serious topic accessible to those who might think social-cultural politics are too intimidating. he sets this up starting from deku and bakugou (oppressed and privileged), then adds onto it with stain (heroes who retain the status quo by seeking money and status are not true heroes, because they don't help those in need). shigaraki is thrown into the mix along the way (society fucks over the underprivileged, even those who want to do good, which breeds more villains and in the real world, more criminals) and his little league of villains all have their own stories (spinner: those who don't look like the masses are cast aside, harassed and villainized; dabi: if you don't live up to cruel expectations established by society and parroted by those in your life, you might as well be worthless; toga: any unconventional worldviews and actions are deemed scary and evil; magne: trying to conform to a rigid society as a queer person is fucking hard, man). there's also endeavor (even though you're in a position of power and respect, it doesn't automatically make you a good person). these are all GREAT, and are super compelling set-ups for mha's overall themes: that society should change somewhat, villains are a product of this flawed system, there aren't fully good people nor fully bad people, rehabilitation/growth is good, and true heroes aren't identified by title, but by actions.

these themes are quite apparent throughout mha's entire run. but i feel like the further it goes, the less horikoshi knows how to verbalize them. the latest mini arc dealt with spinner vs shoji in a strangely awkward clash of ideals. spinner is seen as a martyr who really just wants mutants to be accepted into society, and his status rallies up those who have also been hurt. shoji retaliates by... telling them to stop? by saying this isn't the right way? because he was fortunate enough to be in this position, he suddenly has the authority to tell those like him to find a better way to get their voices heard? what, should they all just become heroes? haven't we established that the society they all belong in is fucked up, and that drastic change must be made? i understand what horikoshi is trying to say but it's... off. like the point is there, but the execution is clumsy. shoji even says something like spinner's revolution setting them back 30 years, which is so fucking bizarre to say, and would certainly raise eyebrows in the real world. it sounds like villains can express their grievances with society but they can't dare revolutionize. otherwise, they'll be silenced/ignored again. it's the whole "violence breeds more violence" belief, but there's more to that that should be explored. man, i dunno.

i'm harping on this one story instance but recent mha is riddled with well-meaning but clumsy storytelling like this. and since the narrative relies on these complex, nuanced themes, it's jarring when the nuance falls through. if mha is about breaking harmful norms, why do they still dictate the execution? hori did it so right with deku and bakugou, their relationship being a definite high in the series. but i truly don't how he'll treat the villains at the end of this arc

ok tumblr's telling me to shut up anyway these are my thoughts. again, even though i've rambled so much about my dislikes, i think mha is still a fun and enjoyable series. it misses the point sometimes, but it doesn't detract from its successes. either way my opinions should not rule over how you consume the series. it's always important to form your own opinions!!!

#asks for becki #SORRY FOR THE LONG LONG LONG POST #long post #i love hearing the sound of my voice so much i end up saying nothing of value #hope ppl understand my pov. it's also ok if u don't. peace and love #bnha #mha #becki rambles about stuff

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cinnoasch · 3 months

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Persona (game of your choice depending which is more fitting) gang's reaction to the Reader using a cardboard box by hiding himself within the box and remaining inconspicuous, and also uses it to escape the notice of enemy sentries and surveillance cameras (Basically like Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid)

A/N: Hi Anon! Thanks for requesting! So so sorry this took so long! This is my first time doing a character reaction request but I hope you enjoyed it! Had a lot of fun doing this one, so please feel free to request more!

Word Count: 2765

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Akira

Akira wouldn’t be fazed at all. Maybe just a bit surprised on the inside, but on the outside, a blank stare or maybe a small smirk of amusement. He would wonder where you hid the box though. Under your coat? No, there’s no way you could hide a box of that size under your coat. How did you carry it anyways? Whenever you would hide, the box always seemed to pop out of thin air. But even though your hiding methods were peculiar, the box did serve its purpose.

Besides Futaba, Akira was the first person to join you in your box hiding shenanigans. He was always looking for new things to test out while exploring palaces and this method proved to be fun. You could see the glint of mischief in his eyes as he would pull a box out of thin air and hide under it. As a Shadow approached, Akira would stand up, letting the box fly off of him. The Shadow would notice and immediately charge at him, weapon drawn. Then just as quickly as before, Akira would pull out another box and hide himself under it. You could hear him chuckle as you watch the Shadow look around in bewilderment. The glint of mischief, the tiny glimpse of a smirk that you saw before he hid back under the box; it was just like a cat toying with a mouse.

Ryuji

He would be the one who would loudly shout “what the hell” and end up making you all retreat from the palace. But honestly Ryuji would probably get the reference. He probably never played the series before but he’s most likely seen it in memes and such.

"Oh they're doing that hiding under the box thing!" (Futaba would probably get offended by this remark.)

At first Ryuji would find the idea dumb. There’s no way that hiding under a box would actually work, right? It was huge, and stuck out like a sore thumb. Even he would be able to notice that it was out of place in the palace. But once he sees that the Shadows completely ignore the box, Ryuji would eventually use it to his advantage. Like Akira, Ryuji would also want to test his luck with the shadows. The first idea he had was to sneak up behind the Shadows, put the box over their head and ambush them from behind. A lot of extra work to do when you could just normally ambush them but it put a smile on Ryuji's face whenever he pulled it off.

Ann

Much like Ryuji, she’d probably be surprised when she sees you hide under the box, but she’d be more composed about it. Ann wouldn't normally want to hide under a box, but she would do it if it meant staying undetected and not having to leave the palace. She might complain a bit at first, since it seemed to be a hassle having to lay on the ground; but she’ll quickly get used to it.

One time while you all were taking a break in the safe room, you noticed Ann drawing faces on her box. When you asked her about it, she told you that she thought the faces would bring more life to it. You had to agree, the doodles were cute. So then you started drawing on your box too, and eventually all of the Phantom Thieves were doing it. It turned out to be a neat little stress reliever from exploring. But somehow, it ended up turning into a competition of whose box looked the best and you were appointed as the judge. As a joke, you voted for Ryuji which ended up making Yusuke snap a paintbrush in half.

Yusuke

Yusuke wouldn’t have much of a reaction to be honest. Just like his reaction to Morgana the first time, Yusuke would just see it as something normal. To him, it’d just be your way of escaping enemy surveillance. Yusuke probably would also come up with different ideas of using the box. Seeing Akira and Ryuji attempt their ideas made him curious. If he painted on the boxes would they become noticed by the Shadows? The answer was no, as the paint only added some flair. Interestingly enough this led to Yusuke collaborating with Futaba on an idea she had. With Akira’s permission and yours, you ended up being an art project. Specifically, Futaba wanted to have Yusuke paint the boxes and sculpt them in a way that could be worn like a costume.

Within a few days, you showed up at the hideout inside of a beautifully painted cardboard costume of Futaba’s favorite Featherman. Yusuke and Futaba were proud of their collaborative creation; both of them explained the details that went into it. The rest of the Phantom Thieves were impressed to say the least, that was until you all went into Mementos. The costume was meticulously detailed, the paint gave off a very metallic feel for something made out of cardboard. The only problem was that you couldn’t move very well in it. When Makoto asks how Yusuke and Futaba got you to LeBlanc, they pull out a hand trolley that they used to wheel you there. Although the use of the costume was short-lived and never got to see any action, it neatly sits in Futaba’s room for the time being. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll actually be able to use it.

Makoto

Makoto would probably tell you to stop messing around at first. Saying something along the lines of “now isn’t the time to play hide-and-seek with the Shadows.” She apologizes to you for saying such a thing once she sees that the Shadows don’t pay any attention to the box. At first, Makoto wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. While yes, the box was actually an ingenious hiding method, but she had her doubts about it. Wouldn’t it just be easier to hide like you always did? The box did seem a bit inconvenient to pull out every time, and it did make ambushing enemies a bit slower.

It wasn’t until Akira called a meeting per Futaba’s request that Makoto’s doubts were… somewhat relieved to say the least. You all sat through a 2-hour presentation about the Metal Gear Solid series, Solid Snake and the possible pros and cons of using the box to hide while in Palaces. At the end of it, everyone’s attention turned to Akira as he sat in the back of the room, his arms crossed. The only thing he said was “Okay.” as he pushed his glasses up and gave Futaba a thumbs-up. With a loud cheer from Futaba, the room filled with chatter as Makoto only sighed with a small smile. To be honest, now she was completely terrified of what this could possibly bring on. But, this should be fine for the most part right? After all, you guys were still young. You should still be allowed to have some fun while trying to change society.

Futaba

To say that Futaba was ecstatic when she saw you hide under the box, was an understatement. A very severe understatement. Like Ryuji, she lets out a loud cheer which ends up attracting the Shadows’ attention. Luckily there was a safe room right around the corner, so you and the Thieves duck into there. Once inside the safe room, Futaba would ask you a bunch of questions. Such as have you played the games and if so which was your favorite? Were you a 100% completionist or the type to play it once and be done with it? And so on and so forth. Futaba becomes a lot more invested in actual palace exploring rather than just navigating once the other Thieves start using the boxes to hide as well. She would beg Akira and Makoto to let her join in on ambushing Shadows. Even with all of the pleading from Futaba, they deny her request. This rejection ended up being futile anyway since you suggested that she join you in a Showtime Attack. And no one could stop you, not even Akira. Let’s just say that your Showtime was… too chaotic for anyone to stop you.

After that, you’d always hang out at Futaba’s place, playing different games with her. Eventually it got to the point where Futaba would end up hosting small game parties in Akira’s room. It was friendly at first, just you all playing games together. At least it was friendly, until Ryuji suggested Mario Kart. Akira jokingly refers to that night as “the night the Phantom Thieves almost broke up.” You guys don’t mention that night. Ever.

Haru

Haru’s reaction would be similar to Yusuke’s, she wouldn’t see much wrong with it. In fact Haru would find the idea very cute. Hiding under the box and then ambushing an unsuspecting Shadow? What fun! Everytime Haru would pop out from underneath the box, she’d have a bright smile on her face as she swung her axe down. She also probably played a part in trying to convince Makoto that using the boxes to your advantage was a good thing.

In any case, Haru enjoyed the box method, if anything she was one of the people who really showed the advantage of it. She’d carry Morgana in one of the boxes if neither of them were chosen to be in the team lineup for the day. Seeing as the Shadows don’t notice the box, Haru would suggest that she wanted to try something. Of course, Akira gives the okay and before Morgana can even process what’s happening, Haru tosses the box towards a Shadow, leading to a successful ambush. She apologizes to Morgana for not warning him, and promises to warn him next time. He wanted to reject the promise, never wanting to be thrown again, but he couldn't bring himself to say no to Haru. This would end up being a mistake on his part as Haru came up with new ways to ambush Shadows. One of them included sliding the box with Morgana in it across the floor like a bowling ball. This soon became his least favorite thing about Palace exploration but as long as it was only Haru that was doing it, he was fine. There was no telling what hell the rest of you would unleash if he allowed them the same permission.

Morgana

Just like Makoto, Morgana would also tell you to stop messing around. He’d tell you that you’d have time to play after you all were done exploring the Palace. Of course once he sees that the Shadows ignore the box, he doesn’t say much about it anymore. He’d actually become intrigued about how it worked. Morgana knew that the effect of cognition was strong, seeing as that the guns you all used were actually loaded when inside of Palaces. But could that effect actually extend to making a box unnoticeable by the Shadows? It was just an ordinary box, what was so special about it? He’d ask you about it, wondering if it had something to do with your cognition of the box. The first answer you provided was that you had no clue of how it worked. After you thought about it some, your 2nd answer was that it was simply the will of the game mechanic. Morgana figured it was best to just let the conversation die there after that.

Morgana is most likely one of the only members of the team who doesn’t use the box that often. Well, more like even if he wanted to, he can’t. The box was a one-size fit all type of thing, that is for humans. When Futaba and Haru tried to convince him to join them, he refused at first. He was already fast enough to ambush normally, so adding the box would just be an extra step and a waste of energy. But of course, they kept trying to convince him, saying that it was a team spirit thing. Morgana would never admit it, but he was glad that Futaba and Haru wanted to include him in it; even if it was something as silly as this. Well, he was happy until the box he pulled out was the same size as the ones you all used. It was almost as if he pulled out a comically large spoon. It didn’t help when the box fell on top of him and he popped out from underneath it and everyone simultaneously said “aww”.

Akechi

Pre-third semester Akechi would just go along with it. If he needed a place to hide, he would hide under a box. He'd be a bit confused when he first sees you hide under it and then even more perplexed when the rest of the Phantom Thieves follow your lead. But he understands that it proves to be useful when you get yourselves in a tight spot.

Now with third semester Akechi, he would absolutely loathe having to hide under the box. That would be the last thing he would resort to if he had no other choice. Even if you tried to force him under it to avoid having to retreat from the palace, he would try to brute force his way through the enemies. He’d still see the usefulness of hiding underneath it, but he much rather fight than hide at this point. To your disappointment, Akechi tends to try and avoid any situation that could possibly lead him into having to hide. However, on the rare off-chance that the situation is unavoidable, Akechi scowls when he has to pull out the box. You and the other Phantom Thieves can't help but laugh a bit when you see him throw the box off angrily as he stands up and simply continues navigating through the palace.

Sumire

Sumire’s reaction would be similar to Ann’s, surprised at first but quickly regains composure. She would ask you a lot of questions, mainly due to her wanting to do everything in her power to help the Phantom Thieves. Even if it was a bit bizarre to her at first, Sumire would just go with the flow. She didn’t question it and if anything thought it was fun. To her, it was somewhat of a team bonding sort of thing. Everyone followed your lead when the situation called for it, well some did it reluctantly, but Sumire felt as if it brought the team closer together.

Since she was a new addition to the team, Sumire was excited to learn and help out in any way possible. She’d watch you guys do different tactics to ambush the enemies, then she’d do it herself. You couldn’t help but be proud of her when she turned around after the battle asking “Senpai, did I do it correctly?” Eventually Sumire came up with her own ideas of ambushing while using the box to hide; she even pushed for Akechi to join in on the fun as well. Of course he refused, and then Sumire asked for everyone’s help in trying to convince him. She wanted him to feel like a part of the team, and also maybe show a genuine smile. In the end, he begrudgingly agreed. It was fine until Akechi started getting a bit too… creative you could say. In a sense the “jump” in creativity could be due to your convincing statement that the box ‘was just another way to strike fear into the heart of your enemies’. Yeah, not the best thing you could have said, but it sure did the trick.

Soon, Akechi was having a little too much fun with using the box to ambush that it put the whole team on edge. You were beginning to think that it was a bad idea. A very bad idea seeing that Akechi’s antics only got more violent as time went on. One day Sumire decided to copy Akechi, an idea that you, along with everyone else, advised against. But of course she reassured you all, saying that if anything this would make things less tense. And so, Sumire copied one of Akechi’s methods; it didn’t have the exact murderous intent that Akechi had but it was a good effort. Akechi only stared at Sumire when she asked if she did it correctly. It surprised all of you when he laughed and told her it was a good attempt and that he’d gladly teach her how to do it properly. Well, at least Sumire was right in that the box ambushing brought the team closer together.

#persona 5 royal #p5 #akira kurusu #ryuji sakamoto #persona5 #sumire yoshizawa #goro akechi #ann takamaki #yusuke kitagawa #makoto niijima #morgana #haru okumura

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lilflowerpot · 9 months

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hello again~

I'm here to ask a question about LoZ. so, I have a friend who plays and recommended it to me because she knows I love open world games and breath of the wild is (apparently) one of the best open world games ever and I've been hesitating ever since. she might be a little biased tho lol

and like. there's a sale going on right now for botw, so the recommendation just kind made itself known in my memory again

anyway so, basically I'm here to ask if it'll be worth it? I mean, the general consensus wherever I go seems to be 'amazing, go get it u won't regret it'

(and, this is totally optional, but if you could answer asap that would be great because idk when the sale ends, thank you)

p.s I love little blade. you're amazing

I think it's obvious by now that I am a //massive// Zelda fan so tbh I'm likely no less bias than your friend lmfao, but that being said I'm going to try and give as balanced a response as possible!

Pros

BotW is beautiful, and I mean b e a u t i f u l . The graphics have this lovely watercolour quality to them as an ode to the artstyle used in Skyward Sword, but more crisp & refined. Unlike a lot of the big open world games (looking at you skyrim) BotW doesn't sacrifice colour or try to be "gritty", but rather leans into that soft-apocalypse, studio ghibli vibe.

The narrative is equally lovely and fulfilling, and depending upon what order you collect Link's memories in you will likely have a different gameplay experience. You'll also meet a lovable cast of characters to whom you'll end up unreasonably attached, which will ultimately break your heart in the end,,, I apologise in advance, but I promise you it's worth the pain.

On that note, do it for my bitch-ass bird son. You'll know him when you meet him.

Link can jump. This will mean very little to you if you've not played a LoZ game before, but my boy can fucking JUMP.

You can also climb pretty much everything (bar like one specific material) which means if you want to get to that Cool Thing Over There, then with a mix of mix of ungodly arrogance, sheer willpower, and a lot of stamina potions, you can. If you suffer from the magpie brain (ie. you see a new shiny thing and become immediately sidetracked from your original objective) this will mean that you take about 10x as long as you should to do literally anything, but my god is it fun.

The soundtrack gives me feelings that I cannot put into words, and the voice acting is //phenomenal//. Importantly, Link himself does not have a voice actor which is the only correct choice considering he's been heavily implied throughout the entire LoZ franchise to be an elective mute, and I would have //hated// hearing him speak.

Link is also just a very sweet & funny golden retriever boy who occasionally sasses back like nobody's business. 10/10 protagonist.

If you like women, you will like them even more by the end. If you don't like women, there's a 90% chance you'll seriously reconsider it upon meeting [REDACTED].

The game has something for everyone: you like exploring? Well you're going to do a lot of that. You like collectables? There are so many outfits (that you can dye to your liking!) and a wholeass compendium to fill out. You like puzzles? You'll certainly find your fair share. You like combat? The basic mechanics are what you'd expect with there are enough different enemy types to keep it interesting, but dO NOT FIGHT A LYNEL WITHOUT MAKING SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH WEAPONS BC THEY WILL BREAK AND LEAVE YOU WITH A VERY ANGRY VERY MEAN MAN TRYING TO KILL YOU.

It is genuinely very good value for money, and even more so if you can get it on sale! Not only do you have the mainline game & all its side-quests, but there's also the expansion pass, and, of course, an entire sequel just ready and waiting!

Cons

Sometimes the open world can feel a little too open. Considering the game's context, it makes sense, but comparatively games like Skyrim feel more densely packed with Things To Do, whereas BotW has several areas of overgrown nothingness that are lovely to look at, but not especially interesting (though this is better rectified in TotK).

You can't swim underwater. This was not rectified in TotK, though I dearly wish it had been.

A lot of fans used to complain about the temple format of p much every Zelda game up until this point, so the developers essentially removed temples altogether and instead replaced them with only four (technically optional) Divine Beasts, plus Hyrule Castle itself. I... did not like this. I'm a big puzzle girlie, and though BotW has shrines scattered across the landscape—most of which are puzzle-based—I personally felt that this substitute was lacking in comparison to the original. TotK does improve on this by reintroducing temples, but I still could have gone for a few more (Skyward Sword was the opposite of this, with very linear gameplay which a lot of people hated, but I personally will stand by SS's Ancient Cistern until my dying breath, and Twilight Princess had some really innovative temples that I have replayed several times over).

On a semi-adjacent note, the final boss just... wasn't my favourite. That's not to say it was bad, only as boss fights go I've had better (I did, however, like the final segment of that fight).

You will develop an immediate fear response to the Guardian music.

Ultimately though, I absolutely do think you should buy it, and am jealous that you'll get to have that bright-eyed bushy-tailed first-time experience, because believe me, if I could erase my memories and play BotW all over again, I would.

#in short: BUY IT AND ENJOY #AND TELL ME WHEN YOU MEET MY BITCHY BIRD SON & WHAT YOU THINK OF HIM ASDJVHGVDFSK #sa screams back #the author speaks #LoZ

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tadpolesonalgae · 5 months

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i think u might be tired of getting these asks abt the writing pace and how long the fics are and etc so sorry if im just adding to the pile but 😭 honestly i thought ur pacing and focusing on different aspects of characters and reader's life inside the world of CBMTHY beyond just the relationship w azriel was really interesting and refreshing 😭😭 maybe im just used to reading 100k+ word fics on ao3 but for what it's worth, my 2 cents is that the pacing was fine and even with chapters that weren't necessarily focused on azriel or eris or bas it was fun to explore the consciousness(?) of how reader thinks and interacts with other characters and living in the acotar universe 🤷‍♀️ especially the scenes with mor, i found them the most interesting because it seemed so realistic? the way reader acts around mor made soooo much sense (like, reader is severely insecure abt herself and clearly envies mor's beauty but she also enjoys her bubbly personality but she also doesn't really know how to act around mor bc they're not that close and there's prob also the azriel thing and skdjmfhshs so many nuances that play into their interaction. they're like 2 ppl in a friend group that hang out as a whole but are kinda awkward when left alone w each other and it's fun to see reader interact with a female character that's not her sister and isn't instantly best friends or enemies like in most other fics) and the convo they had abt the meat thing just makes "reader" as a character more complex and interesting? it almost makes me forget that it's technically a self insert fic which tbh i don't mind at all.

like.. there's a reason there's a whole genre dedicated to angst and slowburn. for me, the frustration and miscommunication of it all IS the fun part. bc that means whatever is to come that is the moment of reconciliation/resolution will be that much more satisfying 🤌🤌✨️

anyways yea, just wanted to say that personally i didn't mind ur writing style/pace/storyline choices and if anything for every chapter i finish i end up being more excited for the next <3

‘i think u might be tired of getting these asks abt the writing pace and how long the fics are and etc so sorry if im just adding to the pile’

No absolutely not! Any and all feedback is always appreciated because I get to see different people’s opinions and thoughts? Also again I only get to see/read cbmthy from a writers perspective, so I know what’s going to happen, I know why there are certain details mentioned and why reader stays away from certain characters but still none of that has been touched on which can be confusing on the receiving end? What I’m saying is it’s helpful hearing your interpretations with things that I hadn’t even thought about because it helps me adjust things for the future :)

‘maybe im just used to reading 100k+ word fics on ao3’

100k+ words??? 😃

‘it was fun to explore the consciousness(?) of how reader thinks and interacts with other characters and living in the acotar universe 🤷‍♀️’

I’m glad you’ve been enjoying it and not finding it boring!! They are supposed to give a little insight and be fun but I understand sometimes you just want to know more so having downtime can come across as filler?

‘especially the scenes with mor, i found them the most interesting because it seemed so realistic?’

Those scenes were often quite difficult to write because I wanted to convey the awkwardness but then that would often stunt the conversation so it would come to a dead end, which then lead to a block so I’d have to rewrite and rework the scene so there was a clear hesitance on one side without it being boring? (I don’t know if that actually worked or if I succeeded in keeping it from being monotonous, but it was the aim at least 🫠)

‘for me, the frustration and miscommunication of it all IS the fun part. bc that means whatever is to come that is the moment of reconciliation/resolution will be that much more satisfying 🤌🤌✨️’

Oh my gosh I’m so glad you enjoy that 😭

I don’t usually read angst unless it’s by a writer I’m familiar with so I think that’s a slight deficiency on my part? Like back near the beginning of cbmthy someone mentioned enjoying the resolution and until that point I was pretty committed to making it end sadly without any reparations (which isn’t happening anymore, don’t worry🧡💛)

#anons <3 #cbmthy #feedback #🧡💛

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jkrockin · 1 year

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hi, in your opinion what are some markers / the difference between a “good” ( flattering / helpful / boundary-respecting) vs a “bad” (insulting / bad vibes / weird) ao3 comment?

i ask because, you are one of my favorite writers, and unfortunately altho i have been in fandom/s for a decade now, i still have some difficulty threading this needle.

(if this is a weird question please feel free to ignore. but i will be very happy if you decide to respond to it)

Happy April! 🌈 ♾️

Not a weird question at all! Leaving good comments is a nuanced art, and one I'm not… actually that marvelous at? I've been trying to get better at leaving comments myself.

The markers of a "good" comment, to me, are comments that are kind, enthusiastic, and specific. I love a long juicy comment, but length isn't everything (hur, hur); enthusiasm and specificity are what takes a nice comment to something to cherish.

Flailing, keysmashing and big screeds of emojis are fun (to me, anyway, a person who reads with eyes, though writers who use screen readers might feel different). "I really liked how you wrote the scene where they went to Costco to buy beans" is good. "I enjoyed how you explored her inner life through the postcards she sent home from the roadtrip" is great. I find it helpful to have Notepad or similar open while I'm reading to make notes and pick out snippets I want to tell the author I liked.

"Bad" comments come in many forms! Here are some I dislike most, top of my head:

The big obvious one: getting mad at the author for choices the characters make, or any comment that fails to meaningfully distinguish between fiction and reality. If you're asking how to leave nice comments, I'm guessing you don't do this! Don't Like Don't Read also extends to Didn't Like, Don't Comment.

Unsolicited criticism (constructive or otherwise) is EXTREMELY dicey and you can hurt people's feelings very easily, so I don't recommend it. I will go out on a limb and say I personally don't mind it when people point out typos in my work, but I'm not everyone, and even I prefer any corrections of that kind in a compliment sandwich.

Another risky swing is "I usually don't like [x] but I liked this!" comments; I've left them myself, but I try to keep that to "I usually don't like [x] but I tried your [x] because I trust you", as long as it's honest. "I liked this even though I usually hate [x]" is… ooh, maybe don't. It can so easily come off as a judgement. Words to the effect of "I didn't expect to like this"? Absolutely do not say that.

I also am personally a disliker of the single-emoji comment, but some people like those, ymmv.

Overall, I find I get better at comments the more I leave them. Find something (multiple somethings!) that spoke to you, and tell the author about them. Doesn't necessarily matter what in particular it was. I don't think you can go wrong if you focus on talking about what you liked and why.

#ask me ask me ask me #anonymouse

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notthehardtyres · 7 months

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1 and 14 for the smut asks!

(oh my god I'm sorry for sitting on this FOREVER and I know I have at least one other ask from you that I've sat on for even longer OTL I promise I am not ignoring you, my brain just doesn't work!!)

1. Share your philosophy of smut. Why do you write it, and what does it mean to you?

I would honestly love to know from anyone who has read my smut what they think my philosophy is, haha, because I'm not sure I know. Like: in general, I write it because it's fun. It low-key turns me on and/or gives me happy comforting feelings. But I'd say that the reason I would include a sex scene in a specific part of a specific fic is to explore what the characters are seeking, emotionally or psychologically? And I know there's always ~discourse~ around whether sex scenes need to serve a purpose or whatever, but for me--well, yeah, every scene needs to serve a purpose and sex scenes don't get an exception, or to frame it another way... if it's not accomplishing SOMETHING, even if that's just more characterization, it's probably not a very good sex scene, lmao. I mean we joke about 2000 word blowjobs as character studies, but IMO they should reveal a lot about the characters, from their basic preferences and what they find pleasurable to a world of emotional layers.

(Fittingly, I was just interrupted by two raccoons fucking in my back yard. GET A ROOM, YA HOOLIGANS.)

Maybe The means by which I waken and Choice in my hands are good examples to talk about because they're in the same continuity? In The means, it resolves the mutual pining so it's meant to be a release of emotion or a bit cathartic? I actually don't think it does a good job of answering what they're seeking emotionally, though, other than they both want to be loved (if I were writing it now, I'd probably say that Daniel is seeking to be valued for something other than his day job). But I definitely did not come to that fic with as strong of an idea of what I wanted to SAY, I dashed it out in a three-week-long fugue state after having been in this fandom for like a month. I plead temporary insanity. Anyway, in Choice, on the other hand, the main sex scene is in the first half of the fic, and it's very squarely about Daniel seeking security but not knowing how to ask for it.

14. What are your favorite smut tropes?

I love love love it when two people are emotionally SO GONE FOR each other, and they haven't admitted this in so many words, but it ends up being expressed in the emotional intensity of the sex (or they say it accidentally or WHATEVER). I also love it when people are surprised--like, you?? want to have sex with ME???--and this adds extra joy to it. Also how can I not mention f1blr's own "guy wakes up with a vagina and has to have sex with the person he's in mutual pining with to change back", whatever the fuck it's called? But, also, trans characters. No explanation needed, that man has a pussy, get over it. (But explanation/exploration of the concept also welcome if done competently, of course.) I'm sure there are more worth mentioning, but it's 1am and I am going to sleep!

#semperama #meta!

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cosmictapestry · 1 year

Text

five things you’ll find in my fics

i twas tagged by @mari-wrongway to attempt self-reflection and possibly die in the process

mental illness, specifically mental illness Associated With Trauma, specifically trauma Associated With Superpowers. i love this i think it is fascinating it is Fun for me and also it makes me very sad. i think the horror and the love and the compassion and the terror should all coalesce to make you go Ouch. i think the thing that makes you different/important/Special is more often than not a curse and that it’s fun to explore that. can i please get some cheers from the Insane girlies

kind of sharp, snappy language? i don’t like to slow down the narrative too much even with more verbose characters like lucienne. i get antsy about this actually if i’m reading through and Individual Words are fucking with the pace y’know. for erotica i try to let the prose get really disjointed like, it’s just base sensory input, the heat of the moment stealing all the finesse from the narration. i also use some pretty blunt, perhaps uncharacteristic language, but that’s because it’s what’s Sexy, okay.

i focus a lot on body language, especially stuff with hands and facial expressions and posture. when i write i’m, like, watching the scene in my head? and i guess that’s what i pay most attention to in conversations. if you notice me using the same fucking adjectives every two seconds no you don’t. i can get away with that in porn though there’s only so many sexy words. also i’m just…… not good at writing Things Happening and i don’t especially care to write Things Happening because Things Happen plenty in the source material i just want everybody to sit down and Talk about the Things That Have Happened. now that i say this though a whole bunch of shit happened in “i want to be well” huh? i am an unreliable narrator

dialogue is The Most Important Part to me. i THINK but i’m not CERTAIN that i have a bad habit of making characters talk like me? sometimes? in cadence and in word choice and in humor. i think. but also i’m just simply trying to make characters talk and act Like Real People and i am ostensibly a real person so. matthew’s dialogue in particular is so easy for me to write because i just decided to let him sound like me irl. based of me if i do say so myself. also i KNOW people get on me about making dream too open/nice/agreeable but i stand by literally everything i’ve ever had him say.

relationships that are very old and very deep and that are fundamental aspects of characters’ identities. i really don’t like... care, especially, about meet-cutes or whatever. i care about when two people are so Part Of Each Other that severing them is severing a major artery like <3 lol <3 and obviously this goes for familial relationships romantic relationships fraternal relationships i really don’t care as long as it’s Interesting. this is what was SO fucking funny to me about “i want to be well” because i do not care about klave. so it’s listed as a klave fic with like the least klave focus imaginable. anyway. i love love i love empathy i love Understanding and Accepting and i love when it can lead to healing and i also love when it can’t :)

@aboxthecolourofheartache @the-everqueen @pratchettfan87 @ anyone else i interact with who i can’t remember if you write or not i’m so sorry,,, you guys want to do this sooooooo bad

#me #i want to be well #we divinity

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time-to-write-and-suffer · 10 months

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Wondering if I should put the elf marriage wip up on Wattpad again ... She's so silly but I love her <3

I remember when you talked about this wip a while ago. Omg I would love to read her 💅💅

I also had to ask: what's your favourite genre for books and games/IFs? Do these genres differ from what you write or are they relatively similar in terms of its genre?

I think I'll slap it up on Wattpad again just for shits and giggles. I've written like 60k and it's probably barely halfway into the story so like. Lmao. What am I even doing???

ANYWAY.

My favorite genres of IFs? I dunno, I kinda vibe with whatever in terms of genre, my pickiness comes from writing style and story focus.

I prefer ones that are more specific in scope and focused on character development and plot progression.

So games that describe themselves as "open-world" I shy away from, as well as like big, stat-based RPGs. If I wanna play something where I can fuck around and be a rogue-mage-warrior elf, I'll just play Skyrim, not read a fuckin 100k word book about nothing at all except stats and action scenes and interchangable bit characters. I come to IFs to read something interesting and to make choices that impact the narrative in interesting ways. To me, IFs are interactive books, and to me the pleasure of reading a book is about characters, narrative, and story. Adding interaction to that means I get to influence things, but not that I get to derail it like I can in Skyrim by ignoring the main quest line and fuck about collecting cheese wheels.

I do also gravitate toward ones with romance, obviously, but it's not a requirement if the story is good enough. Generally I also prefer fantasy over sci-fi, though mainly because sci-fi tends to frontload all the exposition and wordbuilding and is generally harder to get into. I also think that shooting lightning from your fingers is objectively cooler than shooting laser guns.

As for books, it's a bit more complicated, because I read mostly romance nowadays (don't have the spoons for anything heavier because I have brainrot), but I generally dislike romance as a genre. Not because EW GIRLY FEELINGS or EW SEXY MEN, but because mainstream romances tend to be very formulaic, both in terms of characters and relationship progression. And I get why that is, and that's probably why I keep finding them so easy to read. But for someone who loves to explore weird dynamics, funky tropes, new twists, reading romance gets kinda stale. I have fun writing romance, but when I read it, I feel like the authors don't? Like they're just boxing themselves in because that's what the genre says.

I also love fantasy romance in particular, because it lets you add a bunch of different layers to your relationship dynamic, plus it's just fun with elves and fae and shit. It's fun! But I love to also put some emphasis on the stuff that's outside the romance, but also keep it relevant to the romance? Idk how to explain it. Like my dragon wip where the princess dates a dragon sounds really tropey and stupid and it is, but I also touch on like ... culture differences, and generational divides, and prejudice and cycles of violence and stuff.

People always say "If you like romance in your media but hate the genre itself, read fantasy/sci-fi/etc with romance in it!" not taking into account that 1) That shit's really hard to find unless you mind spoilers because "[genre] with romance in it" doesn't always advertise itself as such and you'll need outside sources to recommend it to you and 2) the romance sometimes is so minor in these books that it's not really worth your effort, or it's prominent but entirely disconnected from the main plot, so it feels tacked-on even if it's well-done, which it isn't always.

I want romance where the romance is the main plot, but it's not the only plot, but other plots are also relevant to the romance. I want characters who are there to be smashed with other characters, but they're also their own characters, and the plot would still happen even without the romance, but it's only happening because of the romance.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY DILEMMA?! I can't even define what it is I want, so finding it in the wild is pretty much impossible.

I have decided to call what I write "epic fairy tales" because I want that focus on romance that fairy tales have and true love wins but where everything else also matters and is impacted by the love but also impacts the love in return, where the couple are the main characters but not because they must be in love but because they fell in love. AUGH. I don't know man my brain is broken!!!!

#basically like your average dragonfucker book is 'omg he's got a huge weird lizard cock and follows weird omegaverse mating rules!'#and that's your lot for all of them #but i want the fuckin cerebral brain-fuckery of questioning and realizing that the only person you have ever been attracted to #and who has ever claimed to truly love you #is a blue man who can turn into a huge lizard and breathe fire #like yeah that's hot and cool and all but like?? isn't it FUCKED also??#that your own family hates your ass and you only found love by chance because some guy on some island was also hated by his family???#anyway #i'm insane keep scrolling

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rocicrew · 1 year

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for the questions for fic writers: 1, 42, 48, 49, 50

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

hmm that's a tough question, i feel like i've written several prompts that are an easy read so that can be a quick introduction to how i view certain characters and their dynamic. and then it kind of depends what kind of pairing they're more interested in, although the majority of them are naomi centric. i think ultimately, maybe either of the fics i've that's about naomi and filip (her life in her hands, her life's life in her hands & the way the old life haunts the new). bc they center the topics of loss and trauma and finding a way to live with it anyway and it is a theme i'm very interested in exploring with my writing.

42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?

amdnd it's one of yours actually, again we're going with her life in her hands, her life's life in her hands (i do have a soft spot for this fic despite) i was still v new to sharing my writing and it was a feat to write something that touched those themes and attempt to capture naomi's complexity in such emotions so you telling me i captured that tension really gave me a boost when i was still very unsure of my writing so thank you for that.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

i reread oh, body, be held now by whom you love today which does a lovely work of the push and pull naomi goes through between being guarded and allowing herself vulnerable, of shutting down instinctually and opening herself up again as a way to mend that gap during the preparation to go to ilus. it had this line; "It’s about building something out of loss." which is fit right into my emotions after making that last gifset. the fic also does a great job of writing the intimacy between naomi and holden and i absolutely recommend it.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

the only wip i currently have, and it's been sitting on my docs for roughly a year has been a draolden drabble that i started after 6x06 and for some reason i have been stuck on even though it's something i'm both interested in and would like for that to be the next thing i finish and upload. maybe it's because it's been there for such a long time that i'm not sure whether to scrap it and start over or just polish some details and add some small things and post it already. oh i also have another from those kissing prompts but i haven't started it yet. and actually i think i have one nolden one but that's more fleeting vibes than proper fic.

i think i've posted an excerpt before but here's a diff one:

“Mhmm, all three of us know that I’m very hot. But, mi pensa, you’re a liar,” Naomi hummed and Drummer looked almost offended at that. But Naomi’s gaze softened as it lifted to meet hers. “You can tell me the truth,” she continued.

“I don’t know if this will work.”

Naomi tried to sit up, because that needed a conversation between them. Jim grumbled slightly at her movement and tried to pull her flush to him. That meant he hadn't fallen asleep but was edging towards consciousness. Part of her hoped he would wake up so she wouldn't have to have this conversation alone. It battled with the part of her that wanted him to catch up for all the sleep he lost.

“Us? Or the negotiations?”

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

okay, so this isn't a question necessarily but something i'd like to do with my writing so im putting it here in hope i'll actually make it happen. which isn't something big, it's that i want to attempt one day to write a longer multi chapter which isn't something huge but it can be a fun challenge.

#ty for the questions 💕

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teaberrii · 1 year

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Probably gonna send more asks as you continue the series, but as a reader, I have to say, I found your fic through AO3 initially, but got sucked in. And then I found out you had a tumblr and that you updated it on tumblr too! Tumblr is the more convenient platform for me to read your works on.

Anyway, before I get off track, I wanted to say how much I love your My Boss Is A Cat! Series. Reading the series from the start to now, it's such a rollercoaster, and it's so good. I love the buildup of the relationship between Alhaitham and the reader, and I also like that you explore the additional relationships outside it too.

Especially with this latest update, that intimacy with Alhaitham and the Reader feels well-earned. They took their time getting to know each other, and you did an amazing job planting the seeds for the very satisfying intimate scene in your most recent update. It's so much fun being able to catch hints of your foreshadowing and plot points as I read through the opening chapters of the series.

As a reader, I wanted to say how much I've enjoyed and continue to enjoy this fic. This entire series reads like and feels like it's a full fledged novel, and I'm honestly gobsmacked that you write out these consistent, well-written chapters for free! I always find myself in awe of your writing - not just the word choices you use, but your character development, and pacing. It's something I admire a lot. I've never been bored reading this series, and it's become one of my go-to series to read if I want to lose myself in a story. I have read and re-read this series more times than I can count, and when I see you update, it makes me really happy.

I wanted to let you know that I'm so happy to have found this series, and I'm enjoying every minute of this journey. I do not know where it's going to end, though I have my own theories, and I'm really excited to see how the story continues and how it wraps up.

I know that writing is hard, and this very, very grateful reader wanted to say: Thank you. Thank you so much for writing. I look forward to reading more of your series and following this story until the very end.

Sincerely,

A very grateful anonymous reader

I was doing a facial mask when I read this, and I had to stop halfway or else it would've messed it up cause I was smiling too much. But ANYWAY...

Thank you so much for your kind words. This is one of the lengthiest and most heartfelt comment I ever got, so I really appreciate the time you took to write this.

I am so happy you enjoy MBIMC. It's a story that took me by surprise. I had no plan or direction. The title just came to me, and it got first on a Tumblr poll I ran. So I was iffy on whether I could actually write something substantial out of it.

But now it's a story I am constantly thinking about and determined on finishing. I know a lot of readers usually drop off before a story finishes, but knowing there are people willing on sticking it to the end is extremely motivating.

Thinking about the end makes me have mixed feelings though 😭 like I want it to end but I don't. 💀

Going off on a tangent, I do feel the story could be better. There are some things that I think should have been foreshadowed, developed, or mentioned earlier to make the story stronger.

As a very grateful author to you and all of the other loyal and friendly readers, thank you so much for reading. Before writing on Ao3/Tumblr, I got flack for my writing on another platform, so I'm incredibly grateful for the support.

#ask #my boss is my cat

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thebigbrightsun · 2 years

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MIYA POSTING

IT WOULDN’T LET ME TYPE ENOUGH TO REALLY SAY ANYTHING I WANTED TO IN THE FUCKIN. COMMENTS?? so i am just gonna make a post and tag mr. @yymiya who asked. So. INFO ON MY OCS!! specifically Miya because she is my baby and i’ve been drawing her for a year now

so these two are Miya (left) and river (right). Their pronouns are she/purr and they/he respectively. i made Miya last year in english because i was bored and remembered a conversation i had with a friend (who wears hijab)(i do not) which was basically just how would a catgirl wear a hijab? they would obviously just wrap their ears because it seems like kind of a hassle to cut out ear holes in every scarf you own and most hijabis cover their ears anyway, but if they had a tail would they wrap it? if catgirls were common enough would there be specially made clothes for them so they could cover their tail in a sleeve or something? we decided that its up to the person (like most things) but it’s probably not that common.. Anyway Miya doesn’t even have a tail in the main universe HAHA but it was an important question to answer i felt

i made River much later, in about april of this year? i thought Miya needed a skater boy friend (not boyfriend, as she is a lesbian🫶) so i made them also during class. to be honest i don’t have much of a story for either of them but they were really fun to draw messing around on my papers, i’m sure my teachers were sick of them lmao

if i were to make them into a comic of some sorts, i’d probably make their stories short and funny, while exploring themes of youth and growing up and finding your place in society as a minority/someone seen as ‘weird’. as an autistic queer poc, i didn’t really get much representation growing up, and i think seeing someone who acts and looks like me, who leads a life similarly to me, could have saved me from a lot of self-hatred when I was younger and didn’t know why I was different. a huge reason i still make art to this day is to help people who feel and look like me feel a bit better in their identities, because i know the representation i have seen, even if its few and far between, has touched me in ways i can’t even begin to explain. it means so much more than you’d think.

Anyway. the fantasy au kinda just came about one day when i was in a mood and felt like making fantasy character designs and stuff. i don’t have much of a storyline for this one either but i have a very vague idea on what it’s gonna be about, and i’m gonna develop the story as it is gonna be a big part of my Inquiry Question for Ap art this year👍👍👍

SO. these are their original fantasy au designs. i was actually pretty happy with miya’s first design, but for overall silhouette and posing issues i had to change her skirt, but i thought it looked stupid so i thought i should just rework her clothes altogether.

i’m gonna keep showing people this sheet because i am ridiculously proud of it. anyway. Even when i first started drawing Miya, way before i even thought of the fantasy Au, I had some specific design choices mind. I always wanted her to have catlike eyes, so i tried to imitate the shape of them while keeping them pretty human looking. the silhouette of her hijab is kinda exaggerated and not very realistic just so i could properly communicate the fact that she is supposed to be a cat.

in her original design, she’s supposed to be much closer to a human, with the only distinguishable traits to set her apart being her ears, her eyes, and maybe her hands. i wanted to put most of the “cat-coding” in things like the hoodie she wears, which has a tail, or the fact she paints paws onto her converse, or gives her self a dan-and-phil-style nose and whiskers (AHAHAKAHDHFKBS NOT A WORD). i also wanted her to be younger, about 15-16 in the modern universe, but that’s a difference I only made relatively recently, which you can see in the two pictures above.

with the fantasy AU, i wanted her to be honestly closer to an anthro than human. I didn’t want her to BE a furry, necessarily (no hate to furries, i am the number one furry enthusiast), but i wanted her to have much more animal-like traits. She’s very inspired by Tabaxies but i didn’t want the fantasy au to be in the 5e universe because i have several problems with racist stereotypes in DND.. anyway, miya is almost completely covered in a light layer of fur, has paw pads on her feet, almost has a muzzle, has a cat shaped nose, ears, a tail, and retractable claws. the only things keeping her from being a furry, at least in my mind, is that she has human hair and isn’t digigrade, and has much more human-like proportions, like the ratio of ear to head, head to body, torso to leg and so on.

i’ve put a lot of work and love into her design! while i can’t say everything has a concrete reason, almost every detail on her is intentional, one way or another. like, how she doesn’t have paw pads on her hands but does on her feet because she’s bipedal, and cats have paw pads to muffle the sound of their footsteps when stalking, for prey or otherwise. she also doesn’t need shoes because of her paw pads, but if it gets a little cold she might wrap something around her feet. shoes are very uncomfortable for her. (can you tell i’ve been dying to tell someone about that in particular i think its so clever)

other little details are, i made her headpiece mostly to bring more gold up by her face. it helps balance out the colors i think. the green in her eyes is inspired by my cat! and i don’t think cats can have brown eyes, but it was mostly bc i didn’t want to just give her green eyes (bc brown ppl with light eyes kinda freak me out cough cougb my sister cougb cough). the circles with smaller dots around them on her sampin songket are suppose to vaugely look like paws. i was gonna actually make them paws but that felt a bit on the nose.

i think thats all i have to say for now… i will talk more abt river when i finish their character page. there’s nothing really wrong with their current design, other than the fact that it’s kinda really boring, so i’m working on adding more character and interest! here’s the sketches i did in my sketchbook, i’m currently working on tracing n coloring them digitally

here they are!! also i said earlier that in the modern au miya is supposed to be younger but i never said how old she’s supposed to be in the fantasy au and i cant find a smooth transition to talk about that so i will say that here. She’s supposed to be like 18-19 in the fantasy au, i just think it would make more sense for what they’re supposed to be doing throughout the story (exploration, fighting, potential mortal danger, i think its a bit much for high schoolers is all). river is slightly younger but still around the same age as miya, so same thing for him too. they look really young in the sketches above bc my art style was doing something funky that day lmao

that is all!! finally!! for now at least. (if u saw me post this way earlier than i meant to No You Didn’t.)

#ocs #original characters #character design

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bookofbrokencandles · 2 years

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Will the different jobs give different tasks for you to do, like as a stat building sorta thing or maybe even plot related? ( and hi, hello, how are you?)

Hi! I'm doing good now. I think my brain broke last week from the heat and sleep deprivation. I used my two days off to decompress and catch up on sleep, the weather cooled down again, and I think I've leveled out to something normal. Mercifully, I got off work early today, too.

Anyway, with one exception, the jobs won't technically affect stats. I'll go into that in a bit, but I'd like to take this opportunity to talk a little about the stats and then answer your question.

The Book of Broken Candles has a small amount of stats. The first of which are three simple stats which will combine to change MC's speech patterns outside of choices. You will still have many opportunities to choose MC's dialogue and you will always have the choice during important moments. But I think this will inject some more variety into scenes as MC comes into themself over the course of the book.

The latter of the stats are Awareness and Coping. As per usual with all of the characters I write, the MC is Not Okay. Several months ago, they snapped, they pursued something they should have long stayed away from, they imploded their home life and, more than anything, they learned things they never should have. And yet, this new low they've landed in may very well have not extinguished their thirst for more knowledge of the realms beyond. But their mortal mind may not be able to handle what they find. In other words, if you wish to pursue eldritch knowledge, it'll be hard to balance your awareness and ability to cope. The more you learn, the more you lose. The less you'll be able to get back.

Now, with that set up:

All jobs will have their own unique storyline opportunities (meaning you can choose to not pursue these threads) and will offer unique situations. There's no Greater Plot these need to tie into, so I'm choosing to have some fun and come up with a variety of ideas that can be explored during the course of a playthrough.

The City Guard job will offer more romantic opportunities with Day and Night, but even if you choose not to pursue these, it will still open the opportunity to get a closer look at the city on a ground level. Maybe that knowledge MC had gained in the past will allow them to look at it from a new perspective, see things others don't.

The Assistant job will offer more romantic opportunities with Dominya and Myra, but even if you choose not to pursue these, it will still open the opportunity to explore the state of technology at this point in the world's era. And perhaps you can even, say... show Dominya the light, the vast world of knowledge she can take for her inventions to make them unlike anything the world has seen.

And lastly, the Mortuary job. This is the job that will affect stats. It does not offer opportunities for romance, but what it does offer is opportunities to raise your Awareness. It's also necessary to see a non-job storyline to completion.

#game info #if game #if wip #interactive fiction #choicescript #ask #the book of broken candles #tbobc

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