#as i've not really written about it yet afaik

[thetomorrowshow]

froze in shock

empires superpowers au masterlist (incomplete)

i'm this close to dropping my title scheme

cw: angst, nightmares, seeing someone dead in ur dreams?, relationship fights

this story takes place approximately 7 months after the end of 'poisoned rats'.

~

For the most part, Scott loves Jimmy’s strange behaviors and quirks. He loves the way he knocks four times before opening any door. He loves the way he glares through slitted eyes at any sort of electronic appliance. He loves the way he never takes his wallet anywhere and tries to just waltz out of stores without paying.

Something he doesn’t exactly love is just how stiff Jimmy is all the time.

Not personality-wise, or emotionally, but physically. When they watch movies all cuddled up together, Jimmy stares at the screen without seeming to need to shift his seating position, even as Scott readjusts about a billion times. They read together and Jimmy doesn’t move an inch from where he’s curled up on the couch. They lie in bed and Scott tries to sleep, but Jimmy is absolutely motionless in his arms.

It’s just frankly weird, and too many times Scott’s poked Jimmy to make sure he’s still alive only for Jimmy to turn those big puppy-dog eyes on him, terribly wounded by a little prod. Scott always rolls his eyes and cuddles Jimmy a bit closer, putting it out of his mind. That is, until today.

It’s the weekend, and Scott wakes up this morning after a terrible nightmare (He’s too late, Jimmy’s on the ground with blood dripping from his mouth and utterly motionless, he hasn’t got a pulse and no matter how many times Scott shakes him he doesn’t rouse), but he shakes it off and slips out of bed to make pancakes, eyes lingering on the sleeping form of his boyfriend.

Ever since he was eighteen, cooking’s something he’s done to keep his mind occupied. It had taken quite a bit of work on Aeor’s part to get rid of the idea that only women cook, only women do chores, but once that particular brand of toxic masculinity had been debunked, he’d grown to love cooking. It's a safe haven, a place to stretch some mental muscles and focus solely on the task at hand. Plus he usually gets something delicious out of his labor, so while others may consider cooking a chore, Scott sees it as one of his favorite pastimes.

He’s just finished the first couple of pancakes when Jimmy shuffles out of the bedroom, pajama shirt half off and hair sticking up. He yawns, leans over Scott’s shoulder for a kiss (Scott smiles and acquiesces, taking in his boyfriend alive and safe and moving), then heads off in the direction of the bathroom.

“Love you!” Scott calls after him. He gets a faint grunt in reply.

When Jimmy exits the bathroom after half an hour, his hair is tamed and his eyes are actually open. He hasn’t showered, which isn’t exactly abnormal, but Scott’s not sure if it’s a trauma thing today or if he just wants pancakes.

Jimmy makes a beeline for the cupboard, retrieving a plate, then a fork from the drawer below. He kisses Scott on the cheek when he reaches over him for the steadily growing collection of pancakes, nabbing two before continuing to the table.

“Sleep well?” Scott asks lightly, blinking back images from his nightmare.

“Fine, I guess,” Jimmy says, and there’s still traces of sleep in his voice that make Scott grin to himself. “Thank you for breakfast.”

Scott nods, flips a pancake. He reaches up into the cupboard above the stove, pulls out the syrup and hands it to Jimmy, who is currently bent over in the fridge for butter.

“Do you have to superhero today?” Jimmy asks after a few minutes, and Scott shrugs.

“It’s not my day for patrol, but I could be called out at any time. If that happens, do you want me to ask Lizzie to come over?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine.”

Elle curls around Scott’s legs, purring softly. He knows what she wants, which is why he’s already made and set aside two tiny pancakes. One of these he dangles between his fingers, drops into Elle’s mouth when she leaps up to catch it. Norman skitters into the room as if sensing the food, gives Scott the most innocent look ever. Scott chuckles, kneels down with the other tiny pancake and holds it out to him. Norman barely takes it in time, Elle lunging forward to try and snatch it.

“You’re such a good cat dad,” Jimmy mumbles around a mouthful of pancake. “Makin’ ‘em pancakes an’ all.”

Scott rolls his eyes. “Right, because they would never whine at me until I gave them one anyways.”

He finishes up the pancakes, clicking the stove off and rinsing the mixing bowl out in the sink. Then he serves himself some pancakes, sits down next to Jimmy, stifling a yawn.

Jimmy, of course, notices, brows crinkling with concern. “Scott, dear, did you sleep last night?”

He did sleep, of course. Just not very well. Scott doesn’t need to answer, though, because Jimmy keeps speaking.

“You look exhausted. Maybe you should nap after breakfast.”

Scott shovels a bite of pancake in his mouth. Now that he’s sitting down, he really feels what Jimmy’s saying. He just wants to lean back and close his eyes for a little bit, and his bed sounds almost heavenly.

“Maybe,” he agrees. The more he thinks of it, the more appealing it sounds. It's not like it takes much convincing to get him to do something he wants to do, though. “Wake me up if the hero phone rings?”

Jimmy smiles, bounces a little in his seat. “I didn’t actually think I would convince you!” he says. “You must be really tired. Of course I will, of course! Just go rest, my love! I’ll clean this up.”

Scott chuckles, leans over for a sticky kiss. “Okay. I’ll go to bed.”

-

Scott shoots up with a gasp—Jimmy’s gone, he’s dead, he’s lying unmoving on the floor and there’s no blood but his skin has taken on a grey pallor and there’s nothing Scott can do but take his pulse over and over with no results—and Jimmy’s in front of him, hands up placatingly.

What?

“Are you awake?” Jimmy asks cautiously, and Scott glances around the blurry world only for his bedroom to come into focus. He blinks at Jimmy again, trying to reconcile the man in front of him with the one he’d just seen.

A dream. A nightmare.

The Jimmy before him—the real Jimmy, the living, breathing Jimmy—is shirtless, a towel tied around his waist. The scars that mar his torso are a shiny pink, his hair wet and flat against his head. In his hand is a flip-phone, outstretched toward Scott.

“They’re calling for you, but I can tell them you’re sleeping if you like,” Jimmy says, squinting at him. Scott takes a moment to regulate his breathing, still out of control after a repeat of last night’s dream.

“Yeah, no, I’ll go out,” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes and kicking off the tangled sheets. “Does the message say who the villain is?”

“The Oracle,”  Jimmy reads. “Apparently Joel went up against him, but you know how sensitive he is to the Oracle’s powers.”

Scott sucks in a breath, suddenly fully awake. That’s bad news. “They should’ve called me right away. Is Joel okay?”

Jimmy shrugs.

“Right, tell them I’m getting ready.” Scott rolls out of the bed, heads to the closet. “Sure you don’t want to come?”

Jimmy snorts. “Right. I’m gonna get back to my shower. Have fun out there, love you.”

“Love you,” Scott calls after his retreating back, before slipping his supersuit on. Apparently he’s got a villain to fight.

-

The Oracle is a quiet villain with haunted eyes, and Scott hates fighting him these days because of how much that reminds him of Jimmy. He scares him off anyways, helps Joel (who is tugging on his own hair, eyes squinted shut as he lies curled on the sidewalk) to Lizzie, then returns home, somehow more exhausted than he was before he took his nap.

Jimmy’s on the couch when he gets back, Norman on his lap as he watches whatever it is he’s watching. He lights up when Scott stumps through the back door, kicking off his boots and pulling off his mask.

“Hello, my love!” Jimmy says brightly, pausing his show. “I’d get up to kiss you, but Norman is asleep on me.”

Scott can’t help but smile at him. “It’s fine, Jimmy. How about I go change out of this and then we put on the next episode of Stranger Things?”

Jimmy agrees and soon enough they’re both on the couch cuddled up to each other, Norman having slunk off to some other room. Scott flips through the episodes until he finds the one they’re on, then settles in, the bowl of popcorn that Jimmy had prepared resting on his lap.

They’re barely past the title screen of the second episode when Scott feels the exhaustion start to take over. His limbs grow heavy, his eyelids flutter shut, he sighs and lets his head rest more heavily on Jimmy’s shoulder.

And then Jimmy’s dead under him, too still to be anything but that, and his heart isn’t beating under Scott’s ear and he doesn’t know how it happened—

“Scott—Scott!”

Scott’s eyes shoot open and he sees Jimmy, eyes wide, hands pushing gently against his chest. But he’s still so motionless—Scott’s hands are gripping his shoulders and he shakes him, Jimmy has to wake up he can’t be dead he just can’t be—

“Scott!” Jimmy cries out, fear flashing across his face before he fully pushes him away.

Scott blinks, takes in his surroundings.

He’s on the couch in his living room. The TV is playing something—Stranger Things—on low volume, like Jimmy had turned it down so he could rest easier. Jimmy’s on the far end of the couch from him, hands up defensively.

And maybe Scott’s just exhausted. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t been able to sleep lately without being haunted by nightmares of Jimmy dead under his fingers. Maybe the fight with the Oracle had tipped him over the edge. But instead of doing what a good partner would do, instead of apologizing and explaining his actions, instead of offering Jimmy a hug and safety, Scott lashes out.

“I thought you were dead!” he spits, hands clenched in fists. “I—I keep dreaming that you’ve died, that I was too late to save you, and then you make everything worse by how freakishly still you are all the time! It’s like cuddling with a statue, I swear! I woke up from a nightmare that you weren’t moving and you weren’t moving here, either! I just—” dread (or maybe tears) chokes him, but Scott continues— “I just wish you weren’t weird like that.”

There’s a moment of silence as all those ugly words hang in the air between them, and for a moment Scott feels viciously pleased, pleased that they’re finally out of his head. Then that moment is gone and Jimmy is rolling off the couch and running into their bedroom, the door slamming shut behind him.

Scott sits there for a moment, fuming. Oh, so he doesn’t get to be critical of anything? Jimmy’s just scared him half to death, and Scott doesn’t even get the chance to ask him to not do that?

And then his brain seems to catch up with his mouth.

Oh no.

Scott may have no idea why Jimmy doesn’t fidget. It may bother him a lot. That doesn’t mean he gets to blame Jimmy for it. It doesn’t mean he gets to be mad at Jimmy. If something about Jimmy’s actions truly bothers him, he’s meant to talk it out with his therapist and figure out the best conversation that can be had for the both of them over the issue, and remember that they both have to make concessions for this relationship to work. This is certainly something he can concede.

Not anymore. Not now that he’s ruined everything. Jimmy hates him. He’d yelled at him for something that he probably didn’t even realize that he was doing, for something that Scott had never even expressed bothers him. And now Jimmy’s going to break up with him and Scott deserves it.

Maybe he can fix things, a little bit. Or at least find a way to apologize to Jimmy before he leaves him.

Scott dashes away the tears that have begun to roll down his cheeks, kicks off the blanket that he doesn’t remember putting on and trips over the overturned popcorn bowl, knocking even more kernels all over the carpet. He sighs, crouches down, and begins picking up each piece to throw away. He could get the vacuum out—he should get the vacuum out—but this is more difficult, and he deserves more difficult.

Once he’s collected it all, he carries the bowl to the kitchen and dumps it in the trash, then puts the bowl in the sink. From there, he rinses any other various dishes and loads them into the dishwasher, then opens the fridge and gets out the ground beef he’d set to defrost the day before.

They’d planned lasagna for dinner. He sets a pan on the front right burner, plops the ground meat into it with some oil and onion flakes, then sets a pot of water to boil on the back left burner. He moves mechanically, just following step after step, repeatedly blinking back tears. This is something he knows how to do, something he knows Jimmy will enjoy eating.

As if summoned by the thought of him, the bedroom door creaks open and Jimmy sidles out, pads down the hall and into the kitchen. Scott doesn’t look at him, just wipes his nose on his sleeve and stirs the meat.

“Babe,” Jimmy says softly, stepping closer. “Baby, you’re overworking yourself. Sit down, yeah? You literally fell asleep on my shoulder earlier.”

Scott sucks in a shuddering breath, reluctantly lets Jimmy pry the spatula from his fingers. At another nudge, he falls into his chair at the kitchen table.

He hadn’t realized just how far he was pushing himself until he sits down, feels his muscles relax, soreness he hadn’t noticed resolving into relief.

He shouldn’t be feeling relief. He should still be struggling. He deserves to struggle.

“Now. We need to talk about what just happened,” Jimmy tells him, tossing the meat around. “To start off, I’m sorry.”

Scott blinks. “I—sorry for what?” he asks incredulously. “You didn’t do anything!”

“I’m sorry for running out when you were hurting,” Jimmy says simply. “I should have stayed and tried to talk you through it, but I panicked and bolted. I want to get better at staying in uncomfortable conversations, and it’s something I’m going to talk to my therapist about.”

He’s so perfect. Jimmy’s the most perfect boyfriend in existence, and that’s why Scott doesn’t deserve him. He didn’t do anything wrong, Scott was the one to freak out on him for no reason—

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Scott sniffles. “Thinkin’ about how much I don’t deserve you.”

“Okay. And what upset you earlier?”

Scott’s not sure how to say it, because now that they’re in the brightly lit kitchen and Jimmy’s tapping the spatula against the rim of the pan, it seems ridiculous. “I—” he cuts himself off, arms twitching up like he’s about to hide his head in them. Maybe he should. “I’ve been having bad dreams,” he says eventually. “Where you . . . where I’m too late. And they’ve k-killed you. And it always ends the same way—I’m listening for your heartbeat, and there’s nothing, and you’re so very very still—and I should’ve never freaked out at you about it, you—”

Jimmy snorts. “‘I should’ve never freaked out at you about it’ should be the title of my autobiography.”

“Yeah, but—” Scott’s hands are shaking, he’s not sure why— “but I had literally no reason! And you might have a reason for not fidgeting, and—” “Whoa, back it up!” Jimmy sets the spatula down, turns to him, his brows raised in concern. “Do you think I have no reason for freaking out when I have a panic attack over the door being closed?”

“I—what? No! But that’s a trauma response, it’s—” “And you think your nightmares aren’t a trauma response?”

Scott stops. Thinks. 

It’s . . . it’s certainly possible that rescuing Jimmy was a traumatic enough experience that he can’t stop dreaming about it. But. . . .

“But that’s your trauma,” Scott whispers. “I—it wasn’t bad for me. I shouldn’t be upset over it when it didn’t even happen to me.”

Silence for a moment. “Scott,” says Jimmy eventually. “After you rest, I hope you realize how stupid that just was.”

“I—what—?” Scott sputters, but Jimmy continues speaking.

“Trauma doesn’t discriminate! And secondhand trauma is a thing that exists. It doesn’t have to happen to you for you to be traumatized. Like—uh, like when Mythics accidentally flashed you that one time? I may have just been in the crowd, and I wasn’t the one who had to help him pull his pants back up, but I was certainly traumatized.”

Scott laughs in spite of himself, some of the tension oozing out of him. Jimmy’s right, and he knows it. He’s even talked to Nora about secondhand trauma and what signs to look out for. He really is just exhausted.

Still.

“I’m sorry,” he says after a minute, “for saying what I did. Sure, it could have been a trauma reaction, but that doesn’t mean I had to say all that.”

Jimmy nods. “Thank you. It sounded like it was something that’s been building up for a while.”

Scott shrugs. It has been, but he doesn’t want to say it.

“I don’t know why I’m so still all the time,” Jimmy says thoughtfully, opening a box of lasagna noodles. “I don’t remember if I used to fidget or not. If I had to guess. . . .” He pours the noodles into the boiling water, pokes at them with a wooden spoon. “Y’know, thinking back I think I did fidget a lot in school. But you’re looking at a guy who had to spend days lying frozen on an operation table.”

Guilt surges through Scott, but before he can open his mouth Jimmy continues.

“But then again, I’ve had to sleep in a lot of tight spaces over the years where there wasn’t room to move. And there was a year or so when I was younger that I was so scared of myself that I barely dared to move. And also, the education system sucks for neurodivergent kids and they might’ve just trained it out of me when I was real small. I really don’t know. I have my theories, but there’s no way to really know. In any case, I never meant to scare you.”

“If I didn’t feel like a jerk before, I definitely do now,” Scott admits. “Being tired is no excuse. I shouldn’t have been so nasty about it. I’ll talk to Nora, try to work out why I responded like that.”

“And I’ll work on moving occasionally, so you feel more comfortable!”

“What?” That’s—no— “Jimmy, no. I don’t want you to change your behavior, you haven’t done anything wrong!”

Jimmy turns the heat of the lower right burner on low, sets down the spatula. He leaves the food to sit beside Scott, takes his hands in his own.

“Petal,” he says seriously. “When you started leaving doors open for me, that was a change in your behavior to keep me safe, even though you weren’t doing anything wrong by closing them.”

“Yeah, but—”

“When I asked you to not stand over me if I’m on the floor, that was a change in your behavior that you made and you definitely didn’t have to, but you choose to crawl across rooms sometimes so that I feel safe. When I asked you not to touch my head, you immediately stopped, even though it was an instinct for you.” Jimmy kisses one of Scott’s hands, smiles softly. “This isn’t a big change for me. And it’ll help you feel safe. Let me do this for you.”

Scott bites his lip. “But what if it is a big change for you? What if you try to fidget and have a flashback?”

“Well, then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Jimmy shrugs. He stands, squeezing Scott’s hands before letting go. “Now how about I finish making this, and you hop in the shower, and then we can eat and go to bed. Sound good?”

It sounds wonderful, especially when Scott had convinced himself not long ago that he deserved to be dumped by Jimmy. Maybe his thoughts today haven’t exactly been rational.

He showers, and they eat, and they turn in early but lie in bed and finish their episode on Scott’s laptop. When it’s over and Scott puts the laptop to the side, Jimmy snuggles up to his chest and closes his eyes.

“I feel like I really messed up today,” Scott whispers.

Jimmy hums. “Maybe you did mess up. But we’ll get through it. And tomorrow we can talk about it more to really sort out the issue, okay?”

“Okay.”

Jimmy tilts his head up, presses a soft kiss to Scott’s lips. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

Scott wakes in the middle of the night, frantically reaching for Jimmy’s arm to take his pulse. Jimmy just sniffs, mumbles something in his sleep, presses himself closer to Scott.

Scott watches his chest rise and fall until he feels secure. Then he lets his eyes flutter closed and finally falls into a dreamless sleep.

#empires smp #esmp #empires smp fanfic #empires superpowers au #esh au #mas writes #flower husbands #yeah i'm sorry about this one #i just didn't like the idea that they're both perfect all the time #yk what relationships are messy and you inevitably hurt the other person sometimes #that's okay. you just have to talk about it and fix it #then move on #and i do need to make clear that jimmy messes up too #it happens. they accidentally hurt each other sometimes #i also just wanted to explore secondhand trauma a little bit #as i've not really written about it yet afaik #but lmk what you think! #love you guys

[sonicboomseason3]

a brief recap of what has been going on with the sonic movieverse in the past several months:

paramount has come out in public support of israel

keanu reeves, a man who has publicly rubbed elbows with none other than benjamin netanyahu, reportedly gets cast as shadow for the upcoming third movie

james marsden, the guy who plays tom, got exposed as having written a letter of support for a convicted pedophile

there's fucking??? zionist propaganda in the knuckles series???

kind of connected to the last point but adam pally, the guy who plays wade, is evidently pro-israel too

this is a complete and utter joke.

EDIT AS OF 4/30/24: if people see this version of the post, i'd really appreciate it if you reblog it instead of the other versions, as it's the most updated one with all the information that i want included. thank you :]

you know, it's been a few days since i've made this post, and some of you (not most) are staying determined in defending/justifying/giving the benefit of the doubt to keanu for that photo with netanyahu, whether it's because "it was a decade ago," "him being civil to someone he ran into at a party one time doesn't mean anything," "he's probably just silent because his pr managers won't allow him to speak up," etc. i've made my thoughts on the matter quite clear by directly responding to these people, but at this point, i'm tired of both seeing them in my notes and repeating myself, so take this as my final word on the issue.

i can't help it if you don't think the photo with netanyahu is damning, and i'm done engaging with everyone going out of their way to tell me that. i obviously disagree, especially after finding out that 1. the host of the party, arnon milchan, is a former israeli spy who has a history of developing israel's nuclear program and promoting apartheid in south africa (information that had broken out a few months prior to the party and thus would've been fresh news around the time keanu chose to attend) and 2. keanu has been caught hanging around at least two other weirdos, but if you don't find any of that to be cause for reasonable concern, then there really is nothing else i can say afaik.

with all that said, i'm beginning to realize how strange it is that these people's first instinct when seeing this post is to start debating about keanu's political stances without ever acknowledging any of the other bullet points. you guys realize that this isn't just about him, right? i know tumblr reading comprehension is known for being piss-poor, but like… you realize that i was trying to make a point of how there are MULTIPLE terrible things that have broken out about the people and company involved in the sonic movies, right? and yet, a lot of the people leaping to speak on keanu's behalf in my notes are completely ignoring the parts where i bring up paramount, pally, etc. all in favor of zeroing in on the singular point about keanu and making bad faith assumptions about me for holding him accountable. really makes one wonder where your priorities lie if, in a post that talks about so many other things, me accusing an a-list celebrity with, according to google, a net worth of almost $400 million is where you draw the line and apparently the only thing worth your acknowledgment.

ultimately, what i'm trying to say is that the intention of this post was just to gather up everything that i had been hearing for the past several months and put it all together in one place. there were a bunch of people who didn't know about at least one of the bullet points before seeing this post, and i'm glad that i could help inform them, that was what i was hoping to do! but as for the keanu thing, i've said pretty much all i can say for now, and i don't want to derail the original post even more than i may have already. unless something new comes up, i'm done talking about him.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic movie #.sbs3 #yeah no i WILL be annoying about this #because what the fuck

[laviejaguardia]

FIC WRITER INTERVIEW

Tagged by @energievie and @nevermindirah thank you guys!! this looks fun :)

tagging if they so wish @youssefguedira @gaal-dornick @roboticonography @cafecitowriter @zairaalbereo <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

37

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

693,923 😳

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Technical Support w 788

Double Tap w 728

Sunbeam Garden w 450

the way the night knows itself with the moon w 403

I carved out a place in this world for two w 375

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do and I enjoy it a lot, with the couple exceptions of some comments clearly done in bad faith with I've gotten once or twice

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't really do angst endings, but the closest might be per diventare immortale only bc it's "open"

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

All of them I'd say, but perhaps Technical Support bc the epilogue is super cheerful

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not really my jam, but I have done some scattered Wolf (2013) / Diabolik (2021) musings with discord friends

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Outright hate nah, just some bad faith comments yeah

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Whenever the mood (rarely) strikes, and of the kind that the mood strikes lol

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not afaik

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

just the one, the way the night knows itself with the moon but I brainstormed a few as part of events!

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

"all-time" is a tall order, I'm too much of a multishipper to settle for one. Oldest now relevant again is probably Percy/Annabeth but I was never super active online about it

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have 40k of a modern AU CarolMaria kdfic I started ages ago (last open rn is 2021 and it's older than that) and got stuck at the end bc I couldn't quite figure out the sequence of events. It has SO many scenes I love but I can never quite get back to it (the MCU's current storyline doesn't help either :/)

Another is a throwaway doc of a Monthy Python-style medieval comedy for TOG that I never sat down to brainstorm

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at creating visuals without needing suuuper lenghty detailed descriptions

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I get too wordy and over-complicate my sentence structure, it's why I usually try to get a beta that has no issues tearing my writing apart to streamline it

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I enjoy it! I routinely use different languages in my every day life so it feels natural to me. I think rendering everything to English can be flattening and strip characters of their richness sometimes, while I also understand there is a line between incorporating a character's cultural bg and making a caricature of it, so I try to get the right feedback before I hit post and I'm always open to talking it out.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Unposted Percy Jackson, posted the MCU (A Lot Of Issues)

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Don't think I have a particular craving atm, perhaps Spadeliano (Suburra: La Serie) but I have no plot for that, or maybe Kanthony (Bridgerton Netflix) bc when I went looking for fic nothing was quite was I searched for. Oh or Lupin (TV) cause I getting into Youssef's head when he's working with Assane promises to be so much fun, though it wouldn't be shippy

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I genuinely cannot pick, they all have reasons why I like them

#mmine #tag game #this was funnnn #fic writer interview #my writing #long post

[doggiewoggiez]

what is the reading list you’ve been doing

This meme. Got reposted from 4chan to Reddit to Twitter and finally to Tumblr. I'll update this post as I read each book. Here's the complete list:

1. Goosebumps #28: The Cuckoo Clock of Doom - R.L. Stine. Very middle of the road Goosebumps book not especially good but not terrible. 6/10 dead sisters.

2. Call of the Crocodile - F. Gardner. This book is a meme on /lit/ cause the dude's batshit and is constantly trying to promote his books that are extremely poorly written. He calls himself a famous author, doesn't believe gorillas or giraffes are real, and advocates chainsmoking cigarettes to help with the writing process. This book is the funniest thing I've ever read and made me so fucking angry by being so awful. 10/10 misplaced commas.

3. No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai. A semi-autobiographical story published before the author's suicide about a severely mentally ill character named Oba Yozo through his life of addiction, women, suicide attempts, and so on. An incredibly depressing read. His whole inner life is laid bare and it's disgusting and grotesque and you see yourself in him and you wish you could hold him and cry for him but even if you could you would never have the power to make anything okay. Beautiful fucking book, genuinely 100% no fucking joke changed my life. 10000/10 shitty cyberpunk adaptations.

4. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky. I cried hard as fuck dude. Another life changer for reals. Dostoevsky had such a deep understanding of human nature whether it be the lowest, most base and vile instincts or the unending capacity for love and compassion that exist in us all. All while being the blueprint for like every heady crime drama like Death Note, Breaking Bad, etc. The shit all you fags like. Most people just remember it as maybe required HS reading and definitely something people are pretentious about but it 100% deserves all the love it gets. Fan fucking tastic. 100000/10 years in Siberia.

5. Becoming - Michelle Obama. A bit too heavily ghostwritten, but when Michelle's voice shows through it's not terrible, it's kind of interesting to hear the inside scoop on White House life. It's kind of sad that Barack is the most interesting part of the book, and book-Barack seems like an extremely interesting and cool guy. But the book doesn't address all his dead civilians. 5/10 drone strikes.

6. Ulysses - James Joyce. The modernist novel, from what I understand. Half retelling of the Odyssey in 1900s Ireland, half a troll on literary critics, all around a pretty damn fun read. Not very far yet. Definitely the most difficult thing I've ever tried to read. Unfinished/10 Agenbites of inwit

7. 48 Laws of Power. This is like, THE sigma bro self help book as far as I've heard. It's pretty iconic, but I'm not especially excited for it.

8. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley. We all know it and love it, I'm interested to read the OG story.

9. Catechism of the Catholic Church 2nd Edition. Book from the Vatican that lays out what the church's official opinions, rules, shit like that are. Will be boring but interesting.

10. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins. One of the biggest atheist dude books there is and probably by far the most influential. God is bad people who believe in God are stupid etc etc. Hopefully it has something interesting to say and isn't just a jerk off. It might just be a jerk off.

11. The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood. Some booktok romance schlock afaik. People make fun of it.

12. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole. All I know is it's about a guy in New Orleans in the 60s. Might be good, people seem to really like it.

13. The Art of War - Sun Tzu. Im gonna get so good at surprising my enemy.

14. Kodomo no Jikan - Kaworu Watashiya. Pure pedoslop, I don't think there's even an official English translation so we might not read it but I'm preemptively giving it 0/10.

15. The Iliad - Homer. The story of the Trojan war. All I know is Helen, Horse, and that's about it.

16. The Odyssey - Homer. It's the Odyssey. I think it's funny that it comes after Ulysses since I don't actually know the whole story of the Odyssey itself.

17. Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer - Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth. This is that thing they made a Netflix doc about a while back.

18. The C++ Programming Language 4th edition - Bjarne Stroustrup. Exactly what it says on the tin, by the guy who wrote the language.

19. Empress Theresa - Norman Boutin. A classic, it's a weird self-published story by a guy who's extremely unwell, usually referenced in the same way Sonichu is.

20. The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner. His most difficult to read work, about a Southern family at the beginning of the 20th century.

21. Black Future #1 - Whitney Ryan. A very racist BNWO sissification porn story that was probably written as a joke. Possible skip definite 0/10.

22. The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss. You know this.

23. The Trial - Franz Kafka. One of Kafka's most famous unfinished works, about a guy who's on trial for something and he doesn't know what.

24. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis. Supposed to be way darker and more fucked up than the movie, really supposed to chill you to the bone afaik. VERY excited for this read.

25. Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon. One of those famous "Really Fucking Long And Hard Books" like Infinite Jest or Ulysses, incredibly autistic foray into WW2 rocket science. Classic Pynchonery.

26. Magick In Theory and Practice - Aleister Crowley. Thankfully it's not the entirety of Magick Liber ABA Book 4.

27. Minecraft Jokes for Kids - Steve Minecraft. Not a real book but we'll substitute Jokes For Minecrafters by the Hollow family.

28. The Jews and Their Lies - Martin Luther. One of the most notorious antisemitic texts, right up there with the Protocols. It's going to be a pretty apalling read but it has pretty damn significant historical value so it's probably worth reading.

29. Dianetics - L. Ron Hubbard. The scientology book. It's way longer than you'd expect.

30. Everyone Poops - Taro Gomi. I don't understand this because girls don't poop.

31. In His Own Write - John Lennon. His writing and art, mostly just a bunch of absurd bullshit. I want to remain neutral and not just hate the book because I hate the guy. We'll see if it deserves that.

32. Bear - Marian Engel. This is that Canadian novel where the woman has a romance with a bear.

33. How To Get A Girlfriend - Chad Scott Nellis. Some bullshit self published thing. I'm gonna be swimming in punani.

34. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - Mark Manson. Some self help schlock afaik.

35. Gabriel Dropout (vol. 3) - UKAMI. This is that cutesy manga about those angels and demons in human high school.

36. 120 Days of Sodom - Marquis De Sade. Old story of elite sex cults, I'm pretty sure it's the origin of that being like a thing that people conspiracy theory about.

37. Phenomenology of Spirit - Hegel. You probably know Hegel from either Marx or Fallout New Vegas. I know Hegel because a chick at my friend's co-op talked at me about him for like ten minutes while I was way too shit faced to know what the fuck is going on around me at all but I nodded along.

38. Star Wars: The Ultimate Sticker Collection. I bought this used for a buck fifty with half the stickers gone. All the new trilogy ones were still there.

39. The Anarchist Cookbook. Vom hard at the idea of "buying" this but I want to make sure I get the version as it appears in the meme so I guess I'll drop a few bucks on it.

40. An American Life - Ronald Reagan. Practical applications for previous book.

41. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger. Had to read this in high school, hated it, maybe it'll be better this time around.

42. Finnegan's Wake - James Joyce. An early postmodernist work about uhhh fucking whatever it was about. I'm not gonna lie if Ulysses is this hard for me this one will kill me.

43. The Charles Mingus CAT-alog for Toilet Training Your Cat. I'm not in the know when it comes to music but apparently this guy is like one of the gods of jazz. And he wrote a book on teaching your cat to shit in a people-toilet.

44. Am I Disabled? - The Simpsons S7E7. This is the book Homer reads where he learns obesity is a disability and gets really fat so he can work from home. Story of my life.

45. Serial Experiments Lain: An Omnipresence in Wired - Yoshitoshi ABe. The Lain artbook, with the short manga The Nightmare of Fabrication. Will be very expensive to get ahold of.

46. Pounded by the Pound - Chuck Tingle. We've heard enough about this guy the bit was holding onto the last molecule of funny it had like five years ago but I now had to buy a compilation paperback of his work for this.

47. Ford Capri II 2.8 & 3.0 Owners Workshop Manual 1974-1987. Had to order this from the UK couldn't find any in the US.

48. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov. We all know what this is. Of all things when my mom saw this list this was the book she pointed out as being really good, which I thought was funny.

49. Man's Life Magazine, September 1956 issue. "Weasels Ripped My Flesh." Good god it will be difficult finding the actual magazine, but the weasels story itself has been reprinted.

50. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (2nd Edition) - Harold Abelson et al. I like when people make anime girls have it :)

51. Shiver - Junji Ito. Never been a major Ito fan but a couple of his works I really liked are in this compilation.

52. Neon Genesis Evangelion (vol. 2) - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. The Eva manga was really good I've actually read it before.

53. How To Avoid Huge Ships - Captain John W. Trimmer. Classic meme because I guess the cover and premise is very funny but I don't really get the joke. It's not that ridiculous sounding of a book, it's just niche.

54. Spice and Wolf (vol. 1) - Isuna Hasekura. Light novel for that manga we've been seeing around. They put a generic cover on it and replaced the anime girl so it could sell to non-weebs.

55. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand. My sister read this in like middle school and unironically no joke started bawling crying sobbing because poor people are so evil and awful.

56. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle. Oh Boy I Sure Hope This Little Wiggly Guy Eats Something Normal! Oh no.. oh dear ...

57. Glow In The Dark - Kanye West. Very very hard to get a physical copy but we'll try. Photo book of his tour of the same name.

58. Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler. Now obviously this wasn't included on the list for the genuine important historical value this book has but that's what I'm going to be reading it for. In reading it critically afaik it really paints a picture of how pathetic and unwell he was.

59. Higurashi: When They Cry. I hear it's really good.

60. This is a naked photo of Daniel Radcliffe posed with a horse.

61. Aberration in the Heartland of the Real - Wendy S. Painting. This is a book on the life of the OKBOMB guy, Timothy McVeigh. I hate how true crime shit has become so polarized as either sensational dogshit to make women walk with their keys between their knuckles or some awful horrible thing that's not worth looking into because "they were just racist/misogynistic/etc" I think it's all very reductive so this promises to be a good read.

62. KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation. CIA document on breaking a prisoner and interrogating from the 60s.

63. The Game - Neil Strauss. The Bible for pickup artists.

64. Identifying Wood - R. Bruce Hoadley. Yep, it's wood.

65. Fresh And Fabulous Meals in Minutes - Ainsley Harriot. Lots of memes about him but this is just a regular cookbook.

66. The Turner Diaries - Andrew Macdonald. Far-right racist book that inspired terrorism and hate crimes. People who read it and didn't already agree with it going in have said it's poorly written and just blows, and in the peek I took that seems to be true. It's too influential to not read if I'm going to be reading about Timothy McVeigh. Hard to get since it got pulled from most online stores following Jan 6th.

67. The C Programming Language (2nd Edition) - Brian W. Kernighan & Dennis M. Ritchie. Gonna learn to code I guess.

68. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara. It's a story about a group of mentally ill gay men living in New York. Has been described as trauma porn written by a woman fetishizing gay men and is on there because channers like making fun of it, but it was also shortlisted for a Pulitzer.

69. The Rose of Paracelsus - William Leonard Pickard. The author was the victim of one of the largest acid busts and he wrote this in prison.

70. The Book of Mormon - Joseph Smith. Interested to learn what the fuck Mormons are actually all about.

71. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - J.K. Rowling. Like most people I read these in middle school. They were mid then and they're ass now but I'm not gonna tryhard about how bad they are because you've probably heard enough at this point.

72. A Critique of Pure Reason - Immanuel Kant. As someone who doesn't know shit about philosophy I'm excited.

73. Autobiography - Morrissey. Notorious for being published through Penguin Classics which is NOT for Morrisseys. Bad Morrissey. Go to your room.

74. Official Final Fantasy 7 Strategy Guide. I'm gonna get so good at FF7 dude.

75. My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness - Kabi Nagata. Think of the most annoying bpd she/they you know and then imagine a really mid book that she'd become way too annoying about. You've imagined this book.

76. Children of the Matrix - David Icke. The origin of the reptoids conspiracy theory.

77. Anti-Oedipus - Deleuze and Guattari. Mario and Luigi for your leftist roommate who won't do the dishes

78. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace. It's a book about a person place or thing I know that much.

79. Sonichu #0 - Gonna be near impossible to source a physical copy from its short Lulu run.

80. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe. Obviously of great historical importance but I get a sneaking suspicion that's not why they put it on the list.

81. Bronze Age Mindset - Bronze Age Pervert. This is... Well, it's sure something.

82. Drilled By My Two Cowboys - Aurora Sommers. BBW Cowboy porn 😋💦

83. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky. People say it's his best work and if it's anywhere near as good as C&P was it'll blow me away. Also the Godfather was inspired by it.

84. Spare - Prince Harry. Really unfunny inclusion I can't imagine there's much value in it.

85. Da Jesus Book. That's the Hawaiian Pidgin translation of the New Testament. So basically I'm just reading the bible with extra steps.

86. Elon Musk - Ashlee Vance. Biography on Elon Musk apparently, not especially interested cause good chance it'll just suck him off hard.

87. Where's Waldo (Deluxe) - Martin Handford. Oh god I hope I find him.

88. Dracula - Bram Stoker. Shoulda subbed to Dracula Daily......

89. Bart Simpson's Guide to Life. I'm excited to see what Bart has to say about what I need to do with myself.

90. Bakemonogatari (vol. 1) - Nisio Isin. I've heard of this in passing I don't really know anything about this light novel except there's like girls and they're monsters maybe?

91. Business Secrets of the Pharoahs - Mark Crorigan. Fake book from S8E2 of the show Peep Show, which I've never heard of. It's British.

92. Industrial Society and Its Future - Ted Kaczynski. All I really know about Ted's ideas in the end is that everyone on here says he's based. I definitely want to read him and formulate my own opinion but I will probably also end up agreeing that he's based.

93. My Twisted World - Elliot Rodger. This is the manifesto of that incel shooter, probably a pretty worthwhile read in the same way a lot of this stuff is, a look into a deeply troubled person's mind.

94. Wash Your Penis - Jordan B. Peterson. This doesn't exist so we'll just read 12 Rules for Life.

95. Andrew Tate's Exegesis of the Quran. Unfortunately he did not actually write one though I bet it would be soooo terrible and funny. But we will read the Quran.

96. Art of the Deal - Donald Trump. Time to find out why people respected this guy.

#this is long but im really excited for this list it's a great time #so much treasure so much trash...

[beardyboyzx]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by Mia @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed. Thank you <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 13

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 124,572 words

3. What fandoms do you write for? I currently write just for the 1D fandom!!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Gray hair is our forever (128 kudos) Tripping All Over (78 kudos) in my head we can love forever (71 kudos) Twenty-Eight (65 kudos) If It Makes You Feel Alive (It's Alright) (64 kudos)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do!! Idk why, I just like to let people know they made me happy with their comment!

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't really know. Maybe Twenty-Eight? But it isn't really angsty

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? The happiest... Idk. The fluffiest might be Gray hair is our forever

8. Do you get hate on fics? Afaik, I don't.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I've yet to write it for this fandom (apart from in my head we can love forever). I used to write emotional smut, kind of erotic -- based on sounds and smells, rather than actions or words

10. Do you write crossovers? What the craziest one you’ve written? I wrote a City Hunter meets the A-team fic some years ago. And I've got an HP AU in my WIPs

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes!! I've co-written several fics in Italian with a friend of mine!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? For this fandom, Ziam. If I have to think of all the fandoms I've ever written in, then... Ryo Saeba and Kaori Makimura, the very first ship I've written something about.

15. What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? If You Only Knew :) I actually want to rewrite it, so I can finish it. I've just gotta find the time

16. What are your writing strengths? Writing feelings, maybe? I've also got some good imaginaries in my writing --- or, well, that's what I'd like to think lol

17. What are your writing weaknesses? In English, it's definitely consecutio temporum. The main reason why I write everything in the present tense 😅

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? If I have to write something in a language I don't know, I triple-check that that particular dialogue is written correctly and would sound natural. I've read some dubious Italian dialogues in the English-based fandoms I've lurked in, so I try to be extra-careful 😅

19. First fandom you wrote for? City Hunter

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Either If It Makes You Feel Alive (It's Alright) or waving to the hard times (and I can't wait to go back to write its second part!!)

I'm gonna tag @chai-hat-tea, @imogenleewriter, @nooradeservedbetter, @reminiscingintherain and @larryatendoftheday (but no pressure!)

#tag game

[darthnell]

20 Questions for Writers

Oh This looks fun.. ty for the tag @wordspin-shares !!

How many works do you have on AO3? As of right now, 19 !

What is your total AO3 word count? Well.. you see.. 501,371. ..Huh I the chap I just posted cracked the 500k count ! Congrats to me ig !

What fandoms do you write for? The Hunger Games ! I have some Star Wars fics on my AO3 from years ago, but 96.2% of those words are THG so. hjvbdhvhbddfbh

What are your top five fics by kudos? Sighs really heavily. So I pretty much only write OC stuff for THG, which means that the 3.8% of Star Wars fics are taking 3/5 spots on the top 5 kudos ranking. F in the chat. So starting at the most, we've got: Lessons Unlearned (SW), Is That Really Me? (SW), True Vengeance (THG), Widow's Bite (THG), and Take My Hand (SW). None of those SW fics are over 2k while True Vengeance is probably going to hit 300k by the time it's over... Really interesting to see the statistics of what it looks like to write in a larger fandom vs a smaller fandom tbh :0

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Absolutely !! I love reading what people think about my writing. It's neat to see what sticks out to them and how they feel about my characters or plots or everything really ! :D It makes my day to see them <3 Also I love chatting about my writing and the thought processes behind it, so if you every get an essay in response to a comment u left on my fic, uh.. sorrie... bdjfvbhdb

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hm.. Maybe Reparation Clause or True Vengeance? Granted, I haven't written the ending of TrV yet but given that I've killed off all of Ven's arena friends uhh.. yeah. The Bridges We Burn could also possibly fall under this category... Turns out there is no shortage of angst when you write for the child death pageant fandom jdvvbhdf

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Now that's a harder question, rip. I do generally try to end my Victor Exchange fics on happier notes (Destined to Fall, Desiderium, The Bridges We Burn). I think Widow's Bite and No Sleep for the Wicked also end on more positive notes..? I wouldn't exactly call it Happy though.. (maybe some of my Star Wars fics would qualify, but I do not feel like talking about them LMAO)

Do you get hate on your fic? No, I'm perfect (insert sunglasses emoji here) /j I don't think I've ever gotten straight-up hate comments on my fics before though. I've gotten some criticisms (one person wasn't happy about the fact that the Games continue after the events of True Vengeance, according to the other fics on my profile hvfhvbf), but nothing that's ever put me down about my writing. ...Do affectionate death threats count as hate? (my friends are Goofy bhjdfbvhd)

Do you write smut? If I do, you'll never know BHVF. Ok for real though, it's not really my jam as a writer. Worth trying probably to step out of my comfort zone, but definitely not something I'd ever post. Sorry guys.

Do you write crossovers? Nah.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Afaik, no. Not in terms of straight-up ripping the text. I think I've had some ideas borrowed, but like. Who give a fuck LOL. As my one friend likes to say often, there are no new ideas in THG (in terms of things like arenas, quell twists, tribute concepts). What makes something unique is having different authors writing and interpreting said concepts !

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but I've thought about translating one of mine into French myself as a way of practice.. Never got around to it though, alas.

Have you ever co-written a fic? Ooh, so Technically, no... BUT. I do create tribute characters for SYOT (Submit Your Own Tribute) fics, which is more of a collaboration than co-writing. I also have three fics I've written for the Victor Exchange event in the SYOT Verses discord server where the pov victor characters were created by another author and I wrote their stories (and I received a fic for the victor character I created!) So again, not Reeeally co-writing, but. Collaboration !!! Uhh I was really into Barriss/Ahsoka in high school. FinnRey starwar is also<3

What's your all-time favorite ship? Scratches head uhhhhh.. all time favorite..? If my ocs count, I will say Maritrix (Venatrix and Mariposa) and also Oberon and Dagmara. Otherwise, uhhhhh..... I will be real, it has been a Long time since I've cared about any specific ships to the level where I need to read or write fanfiction about them LOL. I was really into Barriss/Ahsoka back in high school. Also FinnRey starwar<3

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

What are your writing strengths? Ooh I love writing dialogue, and also fight scenes!! Description is fun too c: But yeah, I have been called the fight scene queen by a friend once so I think that counts as a strength LOL.

What are your writing weaknesses? I have no weaknesses I'm perfect (sunglasses emoji). /J bvhjfvfbh.. I'm Slow. I get hung up sometimes on structure/style things while writing and it makes the process take a bit longer. I think also sometimes I tend to meander a bit... I could use a lesson in conciseness jvhhbfv.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? It seems like good practice !! Like I said, I had wanted to translate one of my fics into French as practice.. Not sure if that's what this question is asking, or more of like. A bilingual character or something..? Idk ! I think if it's something that you want to get better at, it would also be wise to get concrit from a native speaker on how natural it sounds.

First fandom you wrote for? Warriorcats ! :3c

Favorite fic you've ever written? I /gen enjoy most of my writing.. I know not all people do and I'm not trying to brag or anything, I just. I pander to myself LMAO. But my Favorite TM has gotta be True Vengeance ;-; It's the longest thing I've ever written (and probably will be for a while), and I've spent every day for the past ~3 years thinking about it, so. That is telling hbvdhbf.

Tagging: @illegalcryptid @emeraldflower25 @rivalhughs @ladyqueerfoot @justafunctionalmess @conschintz and general tag for anyone who wants to answer !!

#nell clownery here #writing stuff #tag game #true vengeance 151 #hunger games #the hunger games #fanfiction #fanfiction writing #20 questions for writers

[inaconstantstateofchange]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

thank you @hereforanepilogue for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 2!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? about 19k

3. What fandoms do you write for? baldur's gate 3

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

finirà bene [been posted longer]

hold me (like a knife) [literally posted today 😅]

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? i try to! i love talking about my thoughts and plans for the story and the background brainstorming that goes into it

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? i don't know if it's applicable because i'm incapable of writing actual angsty endings? angst, absolutely, but I can't end it that way. the closest would probably be the WIP oneshot i have exploring raphael and haarlep's dynamic? and that's less angsty ending and more just... The Way Devils Are™ y'know

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? currently it would be hold me (like a knife). the characters are still working for their happy ending in finirà bene.

8. Do you get hate on fics? not yet, but i don't get much interaction on them in general, so that mostly makes sense

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? i do! the more unusual and inhuman the better, usually. i love exploring what the lived experience of someone not standard-human would be.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? not yet!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? certainly not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no afaik

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? not unless mutual brainstorming over an unhinged wrestling!au counts

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? probably shen qingqiu/luo binghe from svsss, with a possible addendum of shen qingqiu/luo binghe/liu qingge

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? none so far! everything i want to finish right now i still very much have motivation to complete. finirà bene is going to take the longest just for its length, but so far i've been able to keep at it.

16. What are your writing strengths? from my own perspective and feedback i've received, i feel like i'm pretty strong in my descriptions and dialogue/characterization. those are two things that i used to consider my primary weaknesses so it's nice to be able to see them now as my strengths.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? i resist splitting sentences as long as i can. like are they technically correct? yes. should i please give the narrator a single moment to catch their breath? also yes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? hmm... i don't foresee a lot of cause for it? so i'm not opposed theoretically but i can't really see it happening

19. First fandom you wrote for? that i posted anywhere, naruto. that i just wrote longhand for me and my one friend in middle school, twilight and/or harry potter.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? hold me (like a knife), by a slim margin. it is so self-indulgent and everything i wanted to read myself, and the fulfillment of a scene that's been in my mind for months, since playing through bg3 the first time. i also took it from an unedited 4.5k to a fully-edited 10.5k words in a fever-dream of a long weekend, which is an absolutely unprecedented accomplishment for me.

tagging @selkie-of-sule-skerry, @edda-grenade, and @childofyuggoth, as well as anyone else who wants to participate!

#ask game #writing #my stuff #my writing #my fic #finira bene #hold person

[ccomilk]

you wanted more fic recs, right? i'll add the ones I left off last time, and I'll def keep you in mind if I find more good ones!

so idk if you've read these yet since I didn't see mention of them, but my top two, like on par with mystic malfunction, are I May Be Invisible But I Still Look Good by dandy and Dagger in the Mirror by totallynotasecretao3account. imbi is a leo fic that had me sobbing by the end. dagger in the mirror is a 2012/rise crossover that's super long and has an also long sequel, but its so worth it. afaik these two are pretty popular for good reason, I cant recommend either of them enough

sunshine in the rain by carnation_bloom is a mikey and leatherhead oneshot (in this house we love and appreciate leatherhead)

dragon_scales_and_fairy_tales has the mikey fics that are super gripping but arent really far along: are you lonely yet? and the sun is a dying star. both of which are pm mikey recovery fics. and then they also have a oneshot called it's golden hour somewhere that I so wished they turned into a series bc the family curse concept is so interesting and the way they wrote karai was so good

the bad end fic i was talking about is Promise by dysfunctional request. i hate the way they wrote leo in it, but otherwise its really good. well written and also heartbreaking, as a hurt/no comfort fic would be

and then finally i have three shellshocked fics. full disclosure I am an aroace mikey truther, but miles and Mikey are a p cute duo so i make an exception for these. murals and mutants by aslitheryprinx; spraypaint, violence, and superheroes by i_hate_sand; and rooftop mona lisa by languajix (which is also not very far along and Mikey hasn't even met miles yet but it started on such an intense note and its just really good so far you have to understand)

that's all for now!

YEASSSSS TYSM FOR THESE. OHOHOH I CAN'T WAIT TO BINGE READ ALL OF THESE <3333 i've already read through like. half the ones you recommended before, they're so good. you have excellent taste in fics!!!!

#coffee talks #asks #desterea #ONCE AGAIN VIBRATING AT AN EXTREMELY FAST SPEED. EXCITEMENT #rottmnt #fic rec

[misccy27]

Since everyone is talking about Belos' past anyway with the Hollow Mind portraits, I thought I might as well share my ideas/receipts about how Belos concealed his past when presenting himself as Emperor.

Like he's been a public figure in the Boiling Isles for a long time. So I was wondering how much others knew or suspected about the truth. Here's what I've come up with:

1. There are traces of Philip still around.

S2E4 Gwendolyn tells Luz, “Humans are rare. My great-grandmother told me about a human who once lived here. But one day he just vanished. Rumor has it he left something in the library.” 

S2E5 Luz finds an article in the library that tells her: “Hundreds of years ago, there was a human named Philip Wittebane living in Bonesborough. And he donated his diary to this library.”

The diary is so old that it’s kept in the Forbidden Stacks, only accessible by library staff members. It seems unlikely that many people have read it. But even if they did, there doesn’t seem to be anything really connecting it to Belos. Because:

2. Others think Belos is a witch

S1E18 Willow says, “the Emperor is the most skilled witch that's ever lived.”

S1E19 King says, “a mysterious witch appeared who declared that he, and he alone, could speak to the island.”

S1E19 King also says, "He's the Emperor! He's the most powerful witch alive!"

S1E19 Lilith says, "Being in the Emperor's Coven was my dream. I wanted to work alongside the most powerful witch on the Isles and make the world a better place."

I don't remember anything contradicting this. There are demons on the BI that look pretty similar to witches, and demons (like Hooty) can be immortal ig, so it matters to me that Belos was specifically presenting himself as a witch.

That said, the lifespan of witches is never officially confirmed afaik (and I do hate that thanks). Bump gets that throwaway line about 300 years until retirement or whatever. But since we are shipping witches and humans, they have to have similar lifespans. You cannot convince me otherwise lol.

So that makes it even more implausible that the human that showed up and vanished centuries ago is at all related to Belos, the ~most powerful~ witch on the Boiling Isles.

The fact that the Emperor also has a 16 year old nephew lends further credence to the idea that he's a normal witch, aging normally, with normal (if mysterious) family ties.

3. Belos’ appearance

S1E19 The Unauthorized Boiling Isles History reads, “Before he ascended to the throne, Emperor Belos gained prominence as a crusader for unity during the Savage Ages.”

S2E16 We get to see Belos during this crusade period. He definitely already looks old:

We also know that Belos has been Emperor for ~50 years:

S1E17 a Hexside teacher says, “Over 50 years ago, Emperor Belos appointed a head witch to each coven.” [Bonus fun: this means Terra could be the first head of the plant coven]

S1E18 Kikimora says, “Up until 50 years ago, witches and demons practiced wild magic during what we called the Savage Ages [...] until our great Emperor ascended to the throne, and taught witches how to use magic properly.”

So that's 50 years on top of his age when he was crusading. Hasn’t anybody noticed that Belos is unreasonably old for a witch yet? (And if so, what did they think he was?) 

I think Belos could have handled this discrepancy by carefully planning how he travels around the island and changing his name as he goes; standard secret immortality stuff. This would also serve the double benefit of making it seem like he has a broader base of support from the start, if there’s the appearance of several crusaders going around spreading the ~good word~. 

At some point, though, he did start covering his tracks. By present day (s1), Belos’ Emperor outfit makes his age much more ambiguous:

This is also how he appears in all the official, state-sanctioned portrayals of the Emperor that I remember seeing. Examples:

Which brings me to my main point:

4. History is written by Belos

Lilith is a historian and the former head of the Emperor's Coven. She didn't seem to know any truths about Belos' past. Hunter had access to and was actively reading restricted books about wild magic from the Savage Ages. We get no hint that he came across anything, either.

But they also weren't looking. So let's say you're highly suspicious of Belos and actively digging into his past. How much could you find out about him? We already have the official narrative: Belos ended the Savage Ages and united witchkind 50 years ago. So what about the unofficial narrative?

This brings us back to The Unauthorized Boiling Isles History from S1E19. This is a book owned by Eda, the most infamous wild witch on the Boiling Isles. Here's King's full narration from this scene:  

A mysterious witch appeared who declared that he, and he alone, could speak to the island. He said that we were using magic all wrong. His teachings took hold, his strength grew, and he became... Emperor Belos. Belos said that mixing magic was wrong, that only he had that right. So he created the coven system. And there, our knowledge was restricted, and our potential sealed away. Those who resist are called wild witches, and they face harsh punishment. Emperor Belos has since retreated into his castle. There are whispers that say he's planning something big. 

King's narration is different from the text on the page. Here's the page on Belos:

“He rules by fear and an iron fist, and his past remains largely unknown.” 

So it sounds like Belos has indeed done a very good job of establishing and maintaining information control. He has erased his past so thoroughly that even an unauthorized history book offers no real rumors or speculation. Both inside the castle and in pockets of dissent, we find no trace of the truth of Belos' past. It is believable to me that even highly-ranked coven officials who are suspicious of Belos and actively looking for information about his past from inside the castle still wouldn't be able to find anything at this point.

With that said: there are probably rumors. There probably are witches who remember Belos from his crusades and grew suspicious. They probably did try to spread the word and warn others.  

At the same time, I’m sure that there are plenty of witches saying plenty of things about Belos. Belos is the most influential and powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, after all. So looking at it from the perspective of someone trying to piece together the truth:

How plausible does it sound that the witch ruling the Boiling Isles is actually a human? How plausible does it sound that he’s actually 400+ years old? How do either or both of those rumors weigh up against all of the other scraps of information and official propaganda and baseless conspiracy theories that you’re also coming across?

How much are either of these rumors worth considering if your primary concern is to, say, try to figure out what’s actually going to happen on the Day of Unity?

(At what point do you decide to just go straight to the source?)

#toh belos #toh meta #jokes on you i had an ulterior motive #and that motive is always darius #and eber and raine ofc #love the rebels #i will not be putting in the HM portrait of flora d'esplora as an example of information control #solely because that portrait makes me so uncomfortable lol #but beyond that i genuinely do not care about belos' tragic backstory at all #i just hate him too much tbh

[sixstepsaway]

I want steddy hands to be endgame so bad, but I also think it'd be great if Izzy got to have a lil boyfriend who doesn't have History™ with him and thinks all of his bullshit is charming. Like he's doing the weirdest, most feral shit possible and the camera just pans over to his bf going "that's my Izzy 🥰🥰🥰"

I think if steddyhands was endgame, I would be so totally overjoyed (and shocked), but I don't think we're There™ yet as a society, we're not in a place where a TV show will really endgame a poly threesome, and that makes me very sad.

Also, I've seen a few people say it's not out of the realm of possibility because Spanish Jackie and Lucius and Pete are poly, but ehhhh. I think Jackie's husbands are played for laughs a little, a running joke written by a straight (afaik) man who didn't realize half the poly community would latch onto it and scream, because he doesn't have the Queer Community Instinct to know that, you know? (I do however think he's probably paid enough attention to the fandom and to Vico Ortiz to realize what we did get from that, so it will hopefully be played a little more serious in future, but it fully depends on how we've presented ourselves and if we've been passionate enough about it. The Blackbonnet shippers and the Izzy Hands enjoyers seem to be the loudest parts of the fandom, it's possible he doesn't hear as much from the "omg Jackie is poly i'm so happy" section of the fandom.)

And I think Lucius and Pete could be poly, but I'm not sure the throwaway line of, "We don't own each other," is exactly implying that in the text to the point we've all latched onto like feral weasels. Do I fully want to believe that is exactly what it means and if Lucius wanted to bang Fang or Izzy or whoever his little heart desires, he could, and Pete would just think it was fine/great/maybe join in? Y E S. Do I believe that's what whoever wrote that line was going for? No. Not without a lot of further canon context. In canon, that line just meant Pete doesn't own Lucius and doesn't expect him not to sketch Fang naked, which is a big difference from full polyamory/an open relationship. Sketching isn't inherently sexual, after all, but I do see that Izzy (and others!) might think Lucius was doing something wrong to do that, so the line is just letting him (and us) know Pete doesn't mind that! Lucius can sketch whoever he wants.

This turned into a little Polyamory In OFMD Essay, apologies for that, nonny.

But yes, I want Steddyhands so bad but if we can't have Steddyhands, I would really like to see Izzy find someone who thinks his bullshit is charming. I really would. He and Ed's main issue rn (imo, and I saw someone else say something similar so creds to them for that) is that Ed's enthusiastically like "Omg, Iz! The clouds look like Frankfurters! And look, a tiny model ship!" and Izzy is like "yeah that's cool honey but can we focus on this EMERGENCY WEIRDNESS?" and Izzy is like "Look, look I did all this cool shit and did these plans and I'm taking care of everything for you," and Ed's just not praising him for it anymore, he's barely even noticing Izzy is keeping the ship on the water.

They both take the other for granted right now.

So the idea of Izzy having someone who doesn't take him for granted, who sees him as gorgeous and amazing and smart and capable and being the only person except Ed who doesn't want to throw him overboard???

#ofmd #ask #anonymous #izzy hands #ofmd meta #a little #our flag means death

[gwaaaaar]

So i found MazMs yellow bricks indiegogo page last night. Link is here!

and oh boy this is a good insight on MazM.

"MazM means “forming stories” and “bearing fruits” in Korean. Our vision is to bring timeless stories to life in the form of games, a vessel that enables unparalleled immersion and engagement. When written in the English alphabet, it looks like 'a' and 'z' are stuck in between books. This means that we are a team that covers everything 'from A to Z' when it comes to creating interactive experiences based on literary classics.

Yellow Bricks is just our first game in the series. Due to the amazing feedback we received from the community when we launched in Korea, we're able to confirm that development is currently underway of classics like 'Jekyll and Hyde' and 'The Little Prince"

Note that there is no mention of Phantom of the Opera. However, they said the Little Prince is underway, this means two things.

Either:

A. It got shelved and POTO replaced it, or

B. There are blueprints and plans but they just haven't released any yet.

There is also the fact that The Wizard of Oz and The Little Prince are children's books, or at least books children could enjoy. Phantom of the Opera and Jekyll and Hyde are gothic literature. The indiegogo to raise funds for Yellow Bricks' ENG release flopped dramatically. A mere 148/10,000 dollars :(

They must have assumed that the west didn't like the cuter style of yellow bricks and shifted genres/audiences with the release of Jekyll and Hyde. Once JNH succeeded they were more set on the darker visuals.

I also noticed in some of the screenshots and clips of Yellow Bricks that it seemed alot more interactive. Yes POTO and JNH had puzzles but it was more like an interactive book, but I guess thats the point. Still it was quite boring. Pechka had the 10 endings but overall it wasn't like, too riveting, interesting story though. It's an original work and I think they were trying to experiment.

But with the release of Hyde and Seek and Thy Creature (board/fighting game and bullet hell) I think they are going back to their roots. MazM is adapting and I'd love to see Yellow Bricks and their Little Prince game get their western release. Back then MazM was a niche group, but I think now they can raise funds. They have a loyal western fanbase, as small as it is.

They also seem to have a Japanese audience. In the website, Yellow Bricks was stated to have recieved a warm welcome in JP with a 4.9 star rating. There's also the JP Thy Creature account. MazM is spreading its roots, here's to hoping Thy Creature is a success! Really, tell all your friends about MazM if you can, they are a niche company and I've heard that lately they've been having money issues. Common theories I've heard is because of poor managing of marketing. The discord server is barely moderated. HNS was definitely released to make money for Thy Creature. They only started advertising after the game's release? Definitely tied to a lack of funding.

They've won awards, and I hope that means something

Edit: I found Growing Seeds Corps Crunchbase! Along with their website! And here's some information from it:

Note that Growing Seeds is MazMs affiliate/parent company afaik

It was established on Mar 15, 2013

2. "Growing Seeds Corporation is an independent app development company focused on developing early childhood education apps for its users.The company plans to monetize on the increased popularity of mobile devices by developing smart learning apps suitable for children. The company’s products include mobile games designed to cultivatemathematical skills in elementary students."

This may be an outdated bio, but it's certainly interesting and may prove my earlier theory that they changed audiences. On their official website, there's another kids game and Yellow Bricks on it. There was also a coming soon? Definitely abandoned website.

#MazM #mazm hyde and seek #mazm jekyll and hyde #mazm phantom of the opera #mazm thy creature #Mazm pechka

[werewolfetone]

where other than wikipedia are you learning 1798 stuff from? I’ve been kinda interested in it for a while but i’m having trouble finding stuff, especially books, about it that i can easily access

Before I get into this, disclaimer I'm not the biggest expert on it yet, I'm learning too, so what I say isn't as concrete and my opinions will likely change.

And second disclaimer, most of these are pretty old. It isn't the most recent scholarship, mostly because that's difficult to get online and there isn't always a lot of it. Most of this older writing is still more or less sound, though.

That being said! Books, divided into government and rebel. The ones that I could find a way to access them for free online, I've linked.

Government:

You can't get this one online afaik but I would really recommend Castlereagh: A Life by John Bew. It isn't just about 1798 (though it does go over it in detail, specifically from the government's perspective, in the first part of the book), but I'd recommend giving it a read if you're interested in '98 because Castlereagh gets brought up a LOT and there are a lot of. hm. conflicting opinions on him, to put in mildly. so you're going to want to understand him at least vaguely, and this is the most recent/best biography of him that I know of.

William Pitt The Younger by William Hague. Pitt wasn't directly involved, exactly, but he was the PM at the time and it's good to understand him if you want to understand the wider political scene of the time. This is also good because it gives you an intro into who Charles James Fox was, and his relationship with the government and Pitt.

Rebel:

William Orr by Francis Joseph Bigger. This is just about Orr's execution, but that was a very influential event that you're definitely going to want to know about in detail. And theoretically, I would also recommend the rest of Bigger's The Northern Leaders of '98 series, but I can't actually find any of them online so I'm not sure how to read them.

RR Madden wrote a whole series on... pretty much all of the rebels, including the lesser known ones. His accounts of it are notable because to write them he actually interviewed people who knew the rebels (and McCracken's section was written by his sister Mary Ann McCracken! which is pretty cool).

DISCLAIMER I HAVEN'T STARTED READING THIS YET but I've got the book History of the Irish Insurrection of 1798 by Edward Hay, which seems promising.

Memoirs of Wolfe Tone, which was written by the man himself. I've juuust started reading this one.

I was literally reading Women of '98 by Constance Markievicz as I got this ask. It's really more of an essay but it's pretty good so far.

The Life And Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald (volumes one and two are both linked) by Thomas Moore. This is about Lord Edward specifically and I really liked it.

I should probably add just to try to be as unbiased as possible that all of what I just recommended to you on the rebels was, as far as I know, written by Republicans. If you want to read Unionist opinions on the rebels of '98... uh... go ahead... but personally I've not read any so you'll have to find those yourself.

Also, neither of them were directly involved in the rebellion and neither of them were Irish but if you're doing general research and you want to understand some of the political ideas the United Irishmen were inspired by, you ought to read Paine and Wollstonecraft, specifically Rights of Man, Common Sense, and A Vindication For The Rights of Women. And *deep sigh* I guess you might also give Burke's Reflections On The Revolution In France a read, if only to understand another major political viewpoint in Ireland at the time. Having at least a basic idea of the timeline and ideas of the French Revolution is also pretty important, Wikipedia is probably fine for that but if you're a bit more interested I would recommend Liberty Or Death by Peter McPhee.

#also feel free to ask me questions if you've got them. i love excuses to do specific research lmao #1798 rebellion #irish history #j bew #fj bigger #rr madden #c markievicz #thomas paine #edmund burke #mary wollstonecraft #books #ref #< for me. to be able to find this post again #asks #anon

[leashade]

about internet censorship

Speaking of internet censorship and such (this post was originally written in ru, september 2023)

Not so long ago (well, at this point it happened multiple times already...) there were test blocks of some VPN protocols (...and some of them are alredy blocked for good). It was clear that even though there was no announcement (and no official laws/acts passed, and it's actually illegal to block full protocols like that, but anyway), after some test runs they will start blocking VPN protocols as a whole (and they actually do that now). A lot depends on iternet providers of course: cellular operators are, as always, first to implement any blocks, then goes RosTelecom, but some smaller providers might not have the means to implement the blocks or sometimes even "forget" about the need to block anything.

But VPN as a technology wasn't really about bypassing intenet censorship, it was about virtual networks. And it seems like VPNs working fully inside of Ru and on Ru servers are not blocked. But if the node is located outside of the country, then connections will be broken: e.g. TCP OpenVPN connections will be failing after the first couple of packages sent, UDP OpenVPN fails to connect, even though outgoing packages are successfully being delivered, Wireguard and IKEv2 can't finish the handshake and hang on the last stages of initialization. (ShadowSocks seems to be blocked as well, though there are means to bypass the blocks AFAIK, but I don't know the exact ways to do that).

For me VPN was a way to securely connect to my servers' network first, then provide a safe way to connect my devices in different cities second (e.g. I used it to connect to my home PC in Moscow from Saint Petersburg, ignoring internet provider's NAT).

Lack of such secure connection to an inner network is significant issue for privacy and security. Of course, home internet providers are not the first to implement such shit, but risk of all the work halting just because some imbecile woke up thinking "yup, that's a great day to block an entire internet protocol" (or even multiple) is insanely high. So I had to start looking for ways to solve the problem -- good thing I already saw some helpful articles about the matter before.

I was using Wireguard and OpenVPN as my primary protocols before (they are widely supported and well documented), and right before the first protocol blocking tests I finished setting up IPSec/IKE. All three of these protocols are successfully being blocked (and it's not a huge surprise, none of them is designed for bypassing censorship).

Solutions were found thanks to Chinese friends: ShadowSocks and XRay/XTLS. First is basically a proxy, which is masking internet traffic and doesn't let DPI to detect it on internet provider level (well, they managed to start blocking this protocol too). XTLS is basically the same, but with a more advanced config (it actually uses SS under the hood, it seems), which can also specify, which data goes through proxy and which goes directly. Instructions can be found on GitHub, and everything in the process is more or less straight forward. There is also GoodbyeDPI, but it only helps bypassing DPI and every instruction I've seen required rooted phone.

The biggest question about ShadowSocks: is it possible to use it as a proxy for OpenVPN? The answer is actually yes. You can start SS in local proxy mode and in OpenVPN config add socks_proxy 127.0.0.1 1080, after that all traffic will go to ShadowSocks first, secure channel works perfectly, everything is great. I didn't try to do the same on PC, but in theory it works the same way so you just have to select the correct virtual network adapter.

With XTLS I didn't go that deep yet, but it's interesting for tinkering and adjusting everything for your needs. And seems like it can also work as a proxy (already used it a couple of times to be able to work in difficult conditions).

#blog #internet censorship

[nyerus]

Hey I originally followed you for YOI stuff and since that seems to be on haitus, I have seen you and a lot of people rebloing stuff about a different anime or manga (i think) with different mlm relationships? I think they're two diff shows and I've heard about mdzs before. But lately youve been reblogging stuff from a manga tagged tgcf and it looks pretty cool--so i was wondering how I could get into it and what its about? Does it have actual gay charas?

Hello! I’m sorry for the late response! This morphed from a simple answer into a beginner guide of sorts, so I hope you don’t mind! I know there’s like 500000 guides out there, but I figured I’d give it a shot too! ❤

So the stuff you’ve been seeing everywhere is indeed MDZS or related to it–including on my own blog! (I promise when YOI comes back from war, I’ll be all over that again ;o;!!!)

So these works are all by the same author, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (MXTX) and they are separate danmei (i.e. Chinese BL) novels, though they share a lot of similarities between them:

MDZS (Mó Dào Zǔ Shī) – Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

TGCF (Tiān Guān Cì Fú) – Heaven Official’s Blessing

SVSSS – Scum Villian’s Self-Saving System

All of them are complete and fan translated, and I’ll answer your last question first: yes, they have actual gay characters! In the novels, the main couples end up canonically married! \o/ In some of the adaptations, their romantic relationships are also maintained (e.g. the manhuas (Chinese graphic novel)), though censorship is present.

Links will be added below this post! Grab some popcorn, this is long!

･:*:･ﾟ’★🐇MDZS🐇★･ﾟ’･:*:･

MDZS《魔道祖师》is definitely the most popular work by MXTX, as it has the most adaptations. You’ve almost certainly been seeing gifs and photosets from its donghua (Chinese animation) or live action the most. However, it has a manhua and audio drama (in both Chinese and Japanese) as well!

Synopsis: Reviled as the infamous Yiling Laozu, Wei Wuxian harnessed the forbidden dark power of demonic cultivation. Once the cultivation world decided he was too dangerous to leave alone, he was hunted down, and a terrible battle ensued that cost Wei Wuxian his life—and the lives of many others. 13 years later, he is resurrected under mysterious circumstances into the body of the pariah Mo Xuanyu. Now with this second chance at life (and while hiding his real identity), Wei Wuxian has to uncover the truth about a powerful malevolent spirit. It may just be the key to revealing a series of heinous secrets hidden from the cultivation world for years. And while the world may still hate him for crimes he didn’t commit, there’s one person who’s on his side—the illustrious Hanguang-jun, Lan Wangji—and is willing to stand by him against all odds. The two have a long and complex history, and Wei Wuxian is unsure of Lan Wangji’s motivations for helping him. But it couldn’t be more simple: respect and love.

Scene from the donghua.

Still from the live action, called “Chén Qíng Lìng”/“CQL”/”The Untamed.”

Panel from the manhua.

Art from the Chinese audio drama.

The great thing about MDZS is that you can really pick your poison in terms of what adaptation you want to get started with. If you are absolutely brand-new to the danmei scene, then starting with the donghua or manhua may be your best bet (both are ongoing). The novel of course is the most beloved, being the source, but all the adaptations have their own charms! They’re all worth checking out, and will keep you busy for quite a while.

･:*:･ﾟ’★🌸TGCF🌸★･ﾟ’･:*:･

Now, for TGCF《天官赐福》—that’s where my photosets are coming from: the ongoing manhua that started in October. There’s a donghua planned for late this year, and a live action in talks (info about that is largely unknown, but is slated for production sometime after the donghua release). TGCF actually has the same deal structure as MDZS apparently, so we’ll be getting an audio drama as well if that’s true.

Synopsis: Talented and virtuous, Crown Prince Xie Lian first ascended to the heavens when he was only 17. Once the darling of the earth and heavens for his boundless skill and purity of heart, he ended up falling from grace—not once, but twice! Subsequently, he became the laughing stock of the three realms. Spending almost 800 years roaming the earth and collecting scraps, he becomes known as the pitiful “rubbish god” and “god of misfortune.” No one could have expected Xie Lian to ascend for a third time, but fate seems to have something in store for this disgraced yet compassionate immortal. Thankfully, he is not alone, as the widely-feared ghost king, Hua Cheng, seems to have a special interest in helping him. The two of them embark on a series of adventures that unravel the secrets of their world, and of themselves.

Panel from the manhua.

Scene from the Donghua PV.

The novel for TGCF is a great place to start, especially considering how the manhua is still in it’s early stages (just starting it’s 2nd arc as of writing this post). The novel is long, incredibly well-written, and well-translated. The manhua is absolutely stunning, and follows the novel very closely thus far.

･:*:･ﾟ’★🎋SVSSS🎋★･ﾟ’･:*:･

The underrated sibling of the three, SVSSS《人渣反派自救系統 》has only the novel to interact with for right now. A donghua is planned for this year. There was a manhua, but it was cancelled due to some problems with the publisher afaik. Word on the street is that they’re searching for a new team for it, so we’ll continue to pray!!!

Synopsis: Shen Yuan is an avid reader of the web novel Proud Immortal Demon Way. The novel revolves around the protagonist Luo Binghe, a kind child who is tormented endlessly by his Shizun (teacher/mentor) Shen Qingqiu, until he turns into a powerful demon lord and exacts his violent revenge. While initially a fan of the story, Shen Yuan hates the unsatisfactory ending. Upon dying suddenly, he finds himself transmigrated into the novel, at the behest of The System—a sci-fi interface which gives him missions and directives. Unfortunately, he ends up in the place of the cruel Shen Qingqiu out of all people! This new Shen Qingqiu now has to use his knowledge of the novel to navigate around the plot, within the restrictions that The System has implemented. He has to find a way to ensure a better ending, if he wants to keep this second chance at life. His plan for doing this is to be as kind and encouraging as possible to the innocent Luo Binghe, who quickly takes a shine to this new Shen Qingqiu. Even after forced to the dark side, and despite the tension between them after this, Luo Binghe won’t let anyone else touch his beloved Shizun.

Cover of the Thai release of the novel.

SVSSS only really has the novel to interact with as of right now. There’s currently an excellent re-translation in progress by tumblr user Faelicy! If you want to get started now, however, you can read what she’s done so far and then swap over to the old translation afterward.

･:*:･ﾟ’★NOTES★･ﾟ’･:*:･

• ALL three novels are intended for an R-18+ audience ONLY. Other adaptations are safe for minors over 16 years of age.

• Please be aware that the novels may contain potentially triggering content. Feel free to ask me for content warnings if you need them.

• All three of these are totally different from one another and only share common themes typical of the wuxia/xianxia genres.

• The original Chinese raws of MDZS and SVSSS are no longer available for purchase on JJWXC (publishing site). You can find print versions on Taobao. TGCF, however, is still available!

• If you’d like more info on anything, please reach out to me! I’m happy to help.

• LINKS WILL BE ADDED BELOW THIS POST.

#mdzs #tgcf #svsss #mo dao zu shi #tian guan ci fu #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #heaven offical's blessing #scum villain's self-saving system #guide #asks #Anonymous #nyerus.txt

[trans-cuchulainn]

Hi, sorry, I realize I've done a few asks lately, but occasionally you've mentioned Laeg having a connection to the Otherworld, or being from there. I haven't been able to really track that down (I'm having trouble finding anything on Laeg's upbringing besides him being raised or nursed alongside Cu actually), would you be able to elaborate on that/point me to where that comes from? Thank you!

the version of ‘compert con culainn’ from RIA d.iv.2 is where the ‘raised alongside cu’ comes from, and also where the otherworld thing comes from, because his family live in síd truim (a síd mound, as the name suggests). the text hasn’t been translated into english yet, only into german (by thurneysen) but there’s an article on this by kaarina hollo called ‘cu chulainn and síd truim’ (it’s on jstor if you have access)

there’s also a text called ‘fled bricrenn ocus loinges mac nduíl dermait’, not to be confused with the regular ‘fled bricrenn’ which is not the same text, in which láeg’s parents live on an island that seems to be in some way otherworldly. obviously these two texts contradict each other but that’s not uncommon (probably reflects regional variations in tradition). that one has been edited by hollo (again) but isn’t digitised afaik. láeg does basically nothing in the text tho, he doesn’t even speak, so it’s not wildly interesting from that POV other than his parents’ island retreat

these are afaik the only texts that talk about where he comes from. other than that they don’t really care. that’s possibly a social status thing (why would the texts be concerned about the backstory of a servant). could possibly be the result of loss of texts too -- maybe there were once stories about him -- but probably not as they’re not mentioned anywhere. can’t say anything on that front for sure but surviving evidence suggests probably not a widespread and detailed láeg tradition

láeg also just like. goes to the otherworld a lot and in ‘serglige con culainn’ emer makes out like this is something he’s known for -- ‘alas o son of riangabra, who often walks the síd’ -- so there’s that. he’s just ya local freak.

v few people have written anything at all about láeg tho, he gets neglected a lot, which is why @finnlongman is doing a thesis on him (also ‘cos he’s cool)

#laeg mac riangabra #compert con culainn #serglige con culainn #medieval irish #answered #ministerofturnips

[youngjustusorbust]

Dear Lucy

A Letter to Brian Michael Bendis

I really believed in you, Bendis. I've appreciated most of these issues, and the work you put into them. I appreciated the premise and how much you seemed to love and care about these characters.

And now, after issue 10, I feel like Charlie Brown.

Issue 10, Bendis. We have been reading this book for almost an entire year. We have been waiting, excited, anticipating the next adventure with our favorite characters. And I feel like we're going to keep waiting, for a very long time. Every time we get close, you're just going to take the football away.

Now don't get me wrong. I love Jinny, Keli, and Naomi. I think they're great characters. I love their backstories and I would read a book about each of them. But they're... not Young Justice. Not yet. And I don't know if you're ever going to let them be, because Young Justice feels like a vehicle for these characters, not a team.

I know that fans will never be happy. There will always be someone who doesn't like where the story is headed, but dude... to not like where the story is headed, there has to be an actual story. And you've had a good basis! You have! But every time you get close to something deep you take away the football.

I know, I know. You're busy. You're writing and producing like seven books. But really, don't start a project you can't finish dude. And I appreciate how hard you and your artists and letterers work. But really dude, the writing could be better.

Now, I could complain about a lot of things, like the entire concept of "Drake" for example, which I think is kinda stupid. Or I complain about how none of my favs have shown up, like many have. But I'm not going to whine about those specific things in this letter. Instead, I'm going to talk mainly about pacing, the writing, and how you seem to not want to answer any of our questions.

I mean, sure. You say you told us everything in the dedicated comics. And ignoring the blantent continuity error of claiming that Steph was part of YJU (she wasn't. Like... ever), I have to disagree.

Mainly When It Comes to Superboy

Sure, you told us how Kon was fighting someone or looking for something and ended up on Gemworld. How he adopted Martha and pretended to be Lophi's husband. And then you called it a day. "But Gemworld time and Earth time run at different speeds!" Really, dude? How long has Conner been missing? Why has the fact that the child he adopted, the one he raised, the woman who he acted as a husband for for some amount of time, why has he suddenly stopped thinking about them... caring about them... has made no mention to them...

"But they're busy running for their lives!" You cry. Okay, so busy that Tim had time to create a whole new costume while his new teammates were fighting evil versions of themselves? That type of busy?

And let's not forget that the panel used for Tim to remember Conner didn't actually have Conner in it. Now, like I said, I've supported you. I appreciate you. I do not think you are stupid enough not to do your research and know, or at least now that it's a theory in the fandom, ignore that. I really don't.

But you want to know something else, Bendis? Peter David would have dealt with that by now. Or hinted at it. Or roused our suspicion. Call me spoiled, but I think you're just lazy.

Pacing and Writing

I mean, really Bendis. We've had ten issues! Ten! And so far we know... what, exactly? That Keli stole a hacked Lantern, that Tim has a thing for Steph, that Cassie has a bad relationship with Zeus, that Kon has been a farmer but not anymore, I guess, and that Jinny has a trunk of tricks.

Other than Amethyst, we have had no actual character development. No lasting impacts about anything that has happened to the characters. And now, now you're adding Naomi. Naomi, who afaik had a pretty well written and selling book. Naomi, who is a great character, I'm sure, but who is just that. A character. An entirely new one.

In David's Young Justice by issue ten we already had a 1) set roster, 2) home base, 3) almost every character had done something akin to character development (Tim had gone against Batman's orders, Kon and his infamous Peter Pan freak-out, Cassie and her anxiety about being the new Wonder Girl and her crush on SB, Cissie and her abusive relationship with her mother and admitted that she would rather be in any other clothes than her uniform, Greta facing Harm and that entire storyline, and now, in issue ten we begin the Kali arc which sets up for a giant Red Tornado and Traya story (completely ignoring the heartwrenching scenes in the halloween issue)), 4) we feel like we know the characters and don't really have any pressing questions. We have a team. A plot. And we're having fun.

Your flaming mess? I read every issue and it feels like I can finish it in minutes. It's fast paced, and don't get me wrong that can be good, but it's like... watching a town go by when you're on the train. I don't feel like I'm a part of this story, I don't really have that much invested in the character development. I just feel winded and angry that I didn't get to see more.

I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. That maybe, just maybe, this time I'll get what I want. A conversation between characters. Development, perhaps.

@thattimdrakeguy wrote a great analysis of the latest issue. About how rushed it feels and things they didn't like. And I agree with most of it. Certain things, of course, annoyed me more than other issues, which is why I ended up finally writing this eloquent whine. I mean, the fact that Amethyst missed the fight, that Tim took his name from an evil version of himself, that Steph was... crying at the end? Whether or not she was actually in love with Drake or...? Why was she even good at all when every other hero wasn't? Where did Evil!Jinny's trunk go? Why is the only way that you could distinguish between the good and evil versions the fact that they had different hair colors? When did Tim have time to change?

With issue ten, you pulled away the ball. And I'm guessing, Lucy, that issue eleven will leave me planted onto the ground yet again.

#tim drake #young justice #young justice spoilers #bendis spoilers #thanks bendis #brian michael bendis #peter david #young just us #red robin #drake #robin #greta hayes #amy winston #princess amethyst #jinny hex #keli quintela #teen lantern #bart allen #impulse #kid flash #superboy #kon-el #conner kent #cassie sandsmark #wonder girl #// long post