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iwanthermidnightz · 6 months

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When I was 24 I sat in a backstage dressing room in London, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle.Scissors emerged and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does. But I had a secret. For me. It was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24. I decided to completely reinvent myself.

How does a person reinvent herself, you ask? In any way I could think of. Musically, geographically, aesthetically, behaviorally, motivationally. And I did so joyfully. The curiosity I had felt the first murmurs of while making red had amplified into a pulsing heartbeat of restlessness in my bars. The risks I took when I toyed with pop sounds and sensibilities on red? I wanted to push it further. The sense of freedom I felt when traveling to big bustling cities? I wanted to live in one. The voices that had begun to shame me in new ways for dating like a normal young woman? I wanted to silence them.

You see, in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming, the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth. And my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that, right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in New York and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had Max Martin and Shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. I had a new friend named Jack Antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989. And we would reference big 80's synths and write sky high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by right kind of naïveté, a hunger for adventure. And a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naïveté, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say. But they always will. I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried to… don't say it don't say it. I'm sorry, I have to say it. Shake it off.

I’ll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "blank space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "Welcome to New York". You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989. Reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the magic you would sprinkle on my life for so long. This moment is a reflection of the woods we've wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It’s been waiting for you.

#taylor swift #1989 taylor's version #1989 tv #1989 tv prologue

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greenerteacups · 4 months

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Hi! Just wanted to say the latest chapter is lovely & amazing & sweet & had me smiling the whole time! I absolutely love your characterisation of everyone, especially Draco, so it was so so lovely to return to this world & to his thoughts!! with his best friend and crush at malfoy manor no less! All the yearning is already off to a great start hehe I am so excited for the rest of book 5!

Wanted to ask you how has it been for you to write this new book and volume? Has your writing process changed since when you’d first begun taking on a long form project like this?

& also are there any moments or surprises in this book that you’re especially excited about?

sending so much love & gratitude for you and your incredible works 💓

Thank you so much! This is really encouraging, I so appreciate it.

Inasmuch as I can use this metaphor without having kids myself, I sort of see each of the books as a different child. The first one flew out in basically a few weeks of very intensive writing, and it was a total dream — plot, pacing, symbolism, major beats, all fell into place basically without effort. The character stuff was the hardest, as I've written about before, but even then, the glorious part of writing beginnings is it's the most energy you'll ever have for a project, so the lows were pretty soft lows. Book 2, in contrast, I had to drag kicking and screaming by its ankle from under the bottommost mattress of my brain. It's one of my least favorite books (tone problem; COS has killer plot/setting/ingredients for a YA novel, but it's stuck in the doldrums of Harry Potter's well-documented Early-Installment Weirdness, before Cedric Diggory slams the gas and upshifts the whole series into its correct age bracket). More specifically, once I'd gone through and picked out everything in the book that happened because of Lucius, I didn't have a plot — hey alexa how do you rewrite Chamber of Secrets when We Got No Fucking Chamber Of Secrets — and oh by the way, even if you want to do a moody tone/political setup book, remember that your protagonists are still twelve, so if you go too dark or too intense, you'll risk torpedoing your readers' suspension of disbelief. Good luck, Charlie.

Book 3 felt the most like its own novel, if that makes sense? It's the last truly feel-good book of the series; it's a great stand-alone mystery novel with relatively low stakes. Plus you get a bunch of the big series icons: patronuses, dementors, werewolves, Hogsmeade, the Marauders' Map, and time turners arithmancy. It just felt like a good old-fashioned motherfucking romp of a mystery/adventure story, before any of the complex character work and major stakes of the late books come in.

Book 4 was the most fun I've had writing anything maybe ever. I don't even know what it was. Maybe the tournament arc, honestly? Love me a tournament arc. But in any case, I opened every new chapter feeling a tingle of excitement for what I was gonna get to do. Oh, and the romance started, finally, Jesus God (if it feels like a slow burn reading, just imagine what it felt like writing it, when everything takes ten times as long, and you have to figure out how to word the fucker.)

Book 5, in contrast, has felt much less like that tingle of "here we go!" and more like "oh, man, this is gonna be cool." Because this is the arc of the story that composed the original idea for Lionheart, literally years ago, and to be honest, I didn't think I'd get this far! If you'd asked me "do you know that it's going to take you 500,000 words of backstory before you can start writing that concept you're thinking about, and you're going to do it anyway?" I would have said: "absolutely not, strange mind-reader!" But like... I'm here! Finally! And it's... real now? Like, this isn't just a bunch of clips of scenes in my head anymore! That's rad!

That being said, it's definitely been slower than Book 4, because I kept switching back to my outline document to make sure that certain things were set up properly, and that I hadn't lost any of the plot threads or forgotten a minor beat that was vitally important for the story three chapters later. And I had a minor crisis about three months ago when I ripped out about 8 chapters in the first third of the book — basically everything from September to December — because I'd done a readthrough to check pacing (big mistake! never edit while drafting, that's satan talking) and realized I had a missing storyline. Like, there was a whole layer of the story that was just. Missing. Not there. And the existing text really couldn't fit another thread, so instead of taking weeks to pore through and try to sift out what I could save, I needed to factory reset and start over. And I didn't want to! I vividly remember sitting there with my head in my hands, trying not to weep, because I'd decimated 90,000 words of work in a single edit. But it had to be done. Because the story wasn't going to work. And now (hopefully) it will.

And of course, there's still that sense of excitement and exhilaration from before. Always. But whereas Book 4 felt like a delicious chocolate pudding, Book 5 is a medium-rare steak.

(Book 6, so far, is four shots of espresso and a whiskey chaser. FWIW.)

#greenteacup asks #lionheart #lionheart spoilers #dramione

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ratlesshonret · 5 months

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Song Analysis - And Then is Heard No More

Part 0 - The Part You Skip if You Just Want the Analysis

Hi! Its me again! Last time I analyzed Children of the City, and someone requested an analysis of And Then is Heard No More, which I've actually already written in the past.

With that said, this entire analysis was posted on Reddit about a month ago, and I'm simply reposting it here for a new audience. If there's any formatting errors from the copy-paste action, please let me know.

Part 1 - Analysis of Lyrics

If you don't already know, this song is about Philip from Library of Ruina. Its his Character Song. I assume you did know, but this is just so we're all on the same page.

Do the candles look forward to being used? Enjoy bidding adieu, adieu? Every word I have saved for you came out wrong Afterwards, so I spoke no more

(credit to tumblr user tearychildren for helping me analyze this verse)

In the first two lines of the song, Philip is wanting to be reassured. He's looking for solace, for comfort, attempting to convince himself that his life was worth it. The metaphor, with candles looking forward to being used, is meant to represent humanity. If I were to translate, I'd say he's asking, "Do people look forward to burning out and doing nothing, before dying?"

Philip wants to know he didn't waste his life. He wants to be told that all there is to life is burning out immediately. Because if he was told there's more to life, he might not be able to handle it. He wants reassurance, to be told that this is the fate of everyone.

The latter two lines refer to Philip's co-worker Yuna. In the Unstable Book of the Crying Children, Philip details a failed love confession to Yuna, which is almost certainly what this verse is about. When his confession didn't work, he likely internalized it as him just saying something wrong, and thus he decided to "speak no evil."

Would you say That someone who had every intention to be brave Was a coward?

This line speaks to several things. The first, and most obvious, is that Philip wants to know if he has been a coward. He wants to know if all his fleeing and denying of the facts makes him cowardly, even if he intended to be brave.

And this details a theme of his whole arc: Philip wants to be a hero, but he can't be one.

The second thing this line speaks about is the Project Moon universe's general question of, "Do the thoughts/intentions behind your actions matter, or the actions themselves?" Is it enough to have just wanted to be brave? Or do you need to act the part, as well?

In my opinion, Philip was a coward. He made attempts not to be, but they all fell short, sometimes for reasons in his control and sometimes for not. And I don't think his "intention to be brave" is enough to absolve him of that.

Must be great being you Power comes as second nature Must feel amazing to be longed for, longed for

Philip has this trend of blaming everything but himself. This verse starts the detailing of the dichotomy in his mind, which leads to immense hypocrisy. Philip sees himself as inherently weak, and due to this, he doesn't feel like he can be held to the same standards as everyone else. He can deflect people's criticisms of him by just playing the, "I'm weak, I couldn't have done anything" card.

It also appears Philip believes in "inherent ability." That someone can be born better than another person. But he doesn't take this idea to its logical extreme.

If other people are born better than him, and thus Philip is the only one doing the noble climb to be strong, then why isn't he strong? If he thought it through, he'd know the answer: he isn't trying hard enough. He just expects his heroic opportunity to be handed to him.

Philip almost seems to think he's the only one who has to work for his success, despite him being basically given a position that many people could only dream of.

But there's a reason he doesn't take this idea to its extreme. Because in its current state, it acts as a shield. If other people are inherently better than him, then he doesn't need to be held to their standards. He enjoys having the ability to just block out blame by using weaponized incompetence.

(I opened my eyes) Cemented excuses to my lash-line So I could see no more

At the very least, in the end, Philip seems to admit that he's just making excuses. At every turn, he finds reasons that he couldn't have done more. In every situation, he manages to blame someone other than himself for what happened. But deep down, he knows that his friend's deaths and the killing of three other people he went to for help is his fault.

In Philip's foolish quest for vengeance and heroism, he got three innocent people killed.

And this is where I want to detail the second part of this dichotomy. Philip claims everyone is better than him, sure, but he also thinks he's some legendary hero. He uses this idea that he's some heroic figure to ignore the guilt for his actions.

If he's able to go into the Library with Wedge Office and strike down the ones who killed his colleagues, then it'd all be worth it. That was probably his rationale for dragging those three into the library with him. If he can get vengeance, he'll be the hero. And if the people of Wedge Office have to die, then he'll make that sacrifice if he can get his epic final battle.

And in this battle... if he dies, he doesn't need to worry anymore. And if he wins, he'll be a hero.

Which is why he gets neither.

Philip has to face reality. He isn't a hero. He isn't just some unfairly tortured soul, waiting for his chance to be written down as a legend in the history books. At the end of the day... he's just Philip.

Not to say he doesn't try! In the Philip fight during the Wedge Office Reception, he is very powerful, and fully intends to destroy the Library or die trying. For once in his life, he is determined to do something, which is why he's able to manifest EGO. His desire to be a hero, his desire to win, creates a sword and wings with which to fight with.

As one last aside, let's talk about Philip's EGO. He has a flaming sword, which is very traditional for heroes. The knight holding a flaming sword over a dragon's head, that kind of thing. But he also has burning, melting wings. Which calls back to the tale of Icarus, who in his excitement to finally fly, went to close to the sun and had his wings melted.

Just like Icarus, Philip, in his excitement to finally be the hero, brought three people to their deaths and compounded his own guilt because of some selfish desire to avenge his friends. That was his, "fly too close to the sun."

So which home should someone as weak as I go? (And which sky should I aim for when I've only been low?) I have only been low

Yet again, Philip is pointing out how weak he is. He wants a place to belong, a place to go, now that his friends are all dead. And he also seems to be continuing to avoid blame. He can't aim very high, because he's so pathetic that he'd just fail anything too hard. He doesn't need to try and aim higher, because he has already decided he isn't capable of anything. It shields him from the guilt of not doing enough.

Day and night, your ghosts continue to haunt me Tell me who to be

This references the scene at the 8 o'Clock Circus, where Philip distorts. When he is shown his own visions of his colleagues, they do nothing but blame him for his actions, and in some cases, his inaction.

We get a front-seat look into what Philip thinks they'd say to him.

Both of them are cruel. But he doesn't want to hear it. As they criticize him, he covers his ears and closes his eyes, not wanting to confront the fact that he made the wrong choice.

But he has to confront it. It's impossible not to. Which is why he ends up distorting.

If I went with you, will there be happily ever afters? Sipping on tea I steeped together, together

At this point, Philip seems to wish he had just died with his friends. He wants to know if he'd be happier in whatever afterlife that exists if he hadn't just continued to make a fool out of himself. Its definitely sad, how Philip just seems resigned to the idea of death at this point.

He just wants to have tea with them again.

(Read me a story of a hero born knowing the all) Read me a book of me So I could hear no more

Finally, we get to the last verse. Philip wants to know what his book says. Or, more accurately, he wants to think that when he dies, his book will be about how heroic he was. About how he was born as some tragic figure, who overcame all the negativity in his life and became a legend.

But of course, his actual book is mostly just about the times he was a coward and refused to face reality.

Not only does he want to think his book would be about his heroism, he doesn't want to hear different. He wants someone to tell him how amazing he was, until he can't hear any of the negative things other people have to say. He wants to ignore reality for his petty hero fantasy.

Philip is a hypocrite.

He's simultaneously too weak to try anything, and too heroic to be criticized.

He admits how cowardly he is, and then desires to be told he's a brave hero.

Philip is maybe a prime example of cognitive dissonance.

Part 2 - Summary

Despite all of this... I can't bring myself to hate Philip. He's cowardly, hypocritical, ignores any criticism, hides in his own fantasies, and uses his incompetence as a shield to block anything he doesn't want to hear. But I don't hate him.

Honestly, I think most people would act how he did in his situation.

I understand running for your life. And I understand the survivor's guilt that comes with that.

And revenge is just a natural human desire.

In terms of his actions, which I think is what matters, his gravest sin is dragging three innocent people into his revenge quest.

And Then Is Heard No More is, in essence, both Philip explaining how he got to where he is, and wanting to be told he didn't make any mistakes. Even in the end, he's too cowardly to own up to them.

Because that's who Philip is.

Part 3 - Final Part

So yeah, that's And Then is Heard No More. I like this song, and I like Philip. I hope you all enjoyed this copy-pasted analysis.

#project mili #mili #library of ruina #philip lor #and then is heard no more

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the-forgotten-lily · 6 months

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Why do I have a feeling that this was meant for the fans, all the people who supported her during that time, herself AND for Harry?!

The text:-

Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s version) full prologue on the album booklet:

When I was 24 I sat in a backstage dressing room in london, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle. Scissors emerged and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does.

But I had a secret. For me. It was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24. I decided to completely reinvent myself.

You see-in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming -the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth. And my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that-right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in new york and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had max martin and shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. had a new friend named jack antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989. And we would reference big 80's synths and write sky high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by right kind of naiveté, a hunger for adventure. And a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naivete, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say. But they always will.

I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried to...don't say it don't say it. I'm sorry, I have to say it. Shake it off.

I'll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "blank space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "welcome to new york". You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989. Reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It's been waiting for you.

#taylor swift #harry styles #1989 (taylor's version)#1989 vibes #haylor #i love their dynamic #fandom #swifties assemble

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mask131 · 2 months

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I'm going to really quickly drop something I have been thinking for a very long time - and I don't think I have made a post about it?

It is one of the reasons I kind of cut ties with fandoms on the Internet as a whole, and why I originally strongly disliked the way "headcanons" were used, and why I often roll my eyes with the way people behave on the Internet... And I don't know if it is because I was old enough to have lived in a time when I enjoyed series and movies and cartoons without the Internet - or better, with an Internet that was without the "fandoms" as we know them today.

The main thing that irritates me with the way "fans" act on the Internet is how they think because they are fans of a piece of media, it "belongs to them". I fully understand the idea of fanfiction-positive and I am ALL for fan-art and AUs and the like, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy what fandoms were for - sharing a common passion, bring fan-made content based on a loved piece of media, have fun with it all... But the way this positivity has been framed and formulated, and the way it got interpreted has been irking me a lot.

Because in effect, a lot and lot of people have gotten into their brain, somehow, that a fandom "owns" a piece of media. That a television series was made first and foremost for the fans, and not for anyone else, and thus that it must cater to their every whims and desire. More and more people take fan theories and headcanons as actual guidelines, or solid fact, or in general confuse "canon" and "headcanon". More and more people believe the idea that "If we are strong enough, we can change this piece of media" or that "The creator of this piece of media owes us things because we are fans".

I am not very old, and yet I still lived in a time when we understood that published books and the shows on TV and the movies in theater were not... "ours". Yes a fandom is a way to allow fans to toy and play with a piece of fiction, and thus in a way make it "theirs". BUT THAT'S METAPHORIC NOT LITERAL! It certainly does not help that recently more and more tv shows and cartoons and whatnot have been explicitely interacting with or refering to their fandoms, even sometimes letting the fans drive the course of the story. Which is great, and is fun - but should be remembered as something not "natural" and a bit exceptional.

It reminds me of how recently there have been more and more incidents in theaters where musical plays were interrupted by audience members who thought they just could do anything they wanted - because somehow they thought a musical was an interactive play or a karaoke night. Again, these kind of interactions do exist (The Rocky Horror Picture Show was built upon these experiences) - but they were unique and out-there.

Art, fiction and media can and will live on without fandoms. Fandoms are not a needed ingredient of a piece of fiction, they are something that at best develops a healthy co-dependency with the piece of fiction it selects, at worst acts like a parasite to its host. But the fandom can be destroyed and obliterated and die - the fiction will still live on, and the media will still exist. And yet, so many fandoms seem to believe that somehow, they are the movers and shakers of industry and fiction, and that somehow they are the ones in control? So many fans treat creators like commissioned artists or pals they can ask favors from or victims they can bully freely without consequence.

Again, I don't know how to properly express my thoughts but... I lived in a world without fandoms, and now I can't stand it when people make it seem as if art and fiction and media was all about fandoms. And I mean fandom in the modern, Internet-sense of the term. Fandoms have went from enthusiastic pupils and eager to learn students and symposiums of fair critics to just... whining, entitled, over-spoiled little brats that kick their feet in anger, give orders to everybody and try to run away with the painting that is hanging on a museum's wall.

Yes fanfiction can "correct" a badly written plot, in one's opinion. It doesn't mean the author has to stick to your corrections, or that other people can't actually enjoy the badly written plot.

Yes fanart can be much cooler than the actual design. It does not mean you suddenly know the movie better than the movie-maker themselves, or that your fan-art will have to influence the aesthetic of a cartoon's next season.

Yes headcanons are wonderful. It does not make them canon, and you cannot enforce them on anything.

I repeat myself like a broken record - but originally fandoms where a place of enjoyment and appreciation and theorizing and complaining, but solely as an audience, and as people gathered by similar interests. Now? Now they became places of control and influence and demands that don't understand that an audience member isn't supposed to jump on stage to point out "No you are saying it wrong, here is how you should say the line."

#fandoms #i have a lot to say about fandoms #well I have a second post to make about fandoms #fandom #headcanon #fans #media #fiction

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ultra-raging-ghost · 22 days

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Idea for a little Cucuhalo fic/au. Ok hear me out:

Roommates/Office au

So, I haven't fully fleshed out the details yet, but Cucurucho as a rich boss that owns some kind of company and Bad is an employee that just moved from somewhere and started working in his company not too long ago. They try to get along... well enough in the office, albeit there's some tension and passive aggression between them.

Their co-workers love to gossip about them because it looks like there's something going on between the two, but it's all speculation for them. What they don't know is Bad and Cucurucho are actually secretly roommates, and they "hate" each other even more outside of the office.

Cucurucho has a cat that Bad wasn't initially fond of named Emotional Support (they're actually raising that cat like it's their baby lols) because Bad is more a dog person, but Cucurucho insisted on getting a cat as a pet. That's only one of their roommate quarrels. Most of the time they are extremely passive aggressive, and do things like, idk, not washing the other person's dishes lmao.

Despite how much they claim to hate each other, neither want to leave because "it's easier to share rent" or "no one would take care of Emotional Support when the other person is busy", some kind of excuse like that. But really, it's because they do enjoy having each other around, and sometimes, they have nice dinners and movie nights together. Then they fall asleep on their couch and wake up entangled, but neither wants to admit they were literally cuddling the night before. They are so attached to each other, but no one wants to say it out loud.

Basically this au is me wanting Cucuhalo office and roommate drama with a dash of sexual tension and long-term denial, romantic comedy sitcom style.

- alchemicaladarna

WAITTTT REAL

I love them living together and making up excuses to do so....

"Its expensive to live alone" "Emotional support is already so attached to him itd be mean to take her away from him" "We bought the furniture in a way that would make it weird for us to move out" (bad bought both the beds, or the one bed hayoooo, cucurucho bought like 20% of the spices and condiments, they dont feel like splitting up the furniture is what im getting at) "Theres no available housing in any areas id want to live in" etc. etc. any excuse to stay together even though to everyone else it seems like theyre at eachothers throats all the time!!

I think the way the workers would find out is a couple of them getting invited over. Like after a night out, one of them cant find a ride home so bad (resident guy who doesnt drink) offers to let them sleep on his couch for the night, and the next morning they wake up to arguing. They sit up on the couch and over the back of it who should they see in the kitchen together but CUCURUCHO and BADBOYHALO who are arguing because bad didnt ask before inviting said coworker over!! They kiss and make up (either metaphorically or literally) and cucurucho lets it go for now and sneaks off back to his (possibly their) room so he isnt caught and has bad send the coworker out as soon as they wake up. The coworker doesnt say anything about seeing cucurucho right then... but later on cucurucho and bad hear a lot of whispering that gets suddenly quiet when they walk by, and then it continues when they walk past.... more so than usual!!! And they dont think too much of it, but then someone comes up to bad's desk one day or approaches him in the hallway or by the water cooler and goes "so.. you and cucurucho, huh??"

(and then they realize bad's not the one to approach because hes very aloof and wouldnt pick up on the implications that the coworker would be dropping.. but theyre too afraid to go ask cucurucho about it for fear of getting chainsaw'd LMAO)

SHOUT OUT TO THE "ONLY ONE BED" TROPE, WE COULD DO SO MUCH WITH IT!!!

#qsmp #cucuhalo #officemates au #<- in case we talk more about it #asks #fav

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recurring-polynya · 1 year

Note

Okay, I love how you write Yumichika and Ikkaku, they're so like, comfortable and, not quite co-dependent, but something like that but healthier ?? I love them. BECAUSE of this, it makes me think violently about the Yumichikia Zanpaukto Reveal, the one where he's like Oh God I've Got A Kido Zanpakuto, I'm Going to Be Hated, because i love that fic trope ?? idea ??? so so much, and I've seen many from it, but I ! want to know how you think it would go ? because based on the relationship that they have, it's like ! It wouldn't break them apart obvi, but they trust each other a Lot, and, tbh, i don't think it's gonna be the zanpakuto being kido that's the problem but that Yumichika thought he couldn't trust Ikkaku with it, when Ikkaku trusts him with something of equivalent nature (his bankai's existence) ?

i dunno i just like my guys and want more thoughts of them and like your world building so. sits in your inbox quietly aslkdjfaskdfj

So, uh, the thing is, I think Ikkaku knows.

Long-ass explanation with many pictures under the cut

Let's start out by looking at the two scenes where Yumichika beats people up with his shikai and then swears them to secrecy.

First, Hisagi:

And secondly, Charlotte:

There are a couple of things to note here:

He pointedly uses "we" to refer to Eleventh Company.

He doesn't say it's wrong to have a kidou-based zanpakutou, he says it's wrong to use it.

The speech is almost the word-for-word the same, both times. Almost like it's practiced.

He doesn't seem scared or nervous or desperate. He's cheeky. "Ha ha," he says, "I beat you using this sad, weak, little kidou move that I'm ashamed of. Gross, right?"

As an addition to 4, consider that this isn't even the only misdirection Yumichika uses. Let's back up a little in the Hisagi fight:

He also pulls this schtick where he's publicly the Fifth Seat, except there is no Fourth Seat.

[An aside: it's interesting that he tells Hisagi that another of the principles of the Eleventh is that it's better to go down swinging than to surrender. So, assuming that his zanpakutou is permitted, as long as he uses it as a pointy thing and not as a reishi-sucker, that puts him in a Catch-22-- when the chips are down, does he go down, even though he has a secret trump card, or does he use his shameful kidou attack? The evidence suggests that he values fighting to the bitter end, even at the risk of exposing himself.

This is particularly interesting because Ikkaku himself is in the same situation with regards to his bankai, and as we see in the fight for the pillars, he makes the opposite decision. ]

So what gives?

The fact is, Yumichika doesn't belong in the Eleventh. I just made the point that he's a fake Fourth Seat, in a scene where he takes down a vice-captain, even with a terrible relationship with zanpakutou (and he probably doesn't get as much practice with them as he should, either). Not only does he have to worry about Zaraki kicking him out if his powers were publicly known, but Yamamoto would probably jerk him out of Squad 11 and make him go to a captain who would make him work to his full potential.

But he wants to be in Squad 11. He wants to be with Ikkaku. So not only does he follow the rules, he vocally enforces them.

There is a lot about Yumichika as a character that is a metaphor for homosexuality (and often not in a very nice way), and he's very much in a don't-ask-don't-tell situation here. It's not just in an official, he'll-get-kicked-out-of-Squad 11 sense, but I think that he doesn't talk about his kidou zanpakutou and Ikkaku pretends not to see it, and they live in harmony. The reason he swears people to secrecy is not because he doesn't want Ikkaku to know, it's because if someone confronted Ikkaku or Zaraki about it, they would be forced to take action about it or have some sort of response to it.

I don't actually have any evidence that Ikkaku knows, this is just how I feel in my heart. I am not going to tell anyone how to enjoy a romance, but to me, the essence of a shinigami partnership is knowing each other. I like this in all kinds of romances, tbh, but Bleach has all these additional metaphors-made-spirit flesh, in terms of fighting with an expression of your soul. If I could accept the idea that Ikkaku somehow doesn't know that Yumichika has hidden talents, even if he doesn't know the scope of them, their love story falls apart for me.

There are certain kinds of lying in relationships that is truly unforgivable: questions of fidelity, financial stuff, etc. But there is also a different kind of lying that both parties are aware of and allow the fiction to persist, because it's important to one of them, or it keeps the relationship together or it's just nice. As a counterexample, you will occasionally see a particular flavor of Gross Dude on r/RedPill who finds out what his girlfriend looks like out of her make-up and is absolutely incensed about it. Yumichika's secret is a little more intense than make-up, but the idea is that he wants to present himself as a Squad Eleven Guy with a Melee Zanpakutou and Ikkaku says "Sure, pal, of course" even though it's obviously untrue. Like, super obviously untrue.

Now, does Zaraki know? That's a different story. I am personally of the opinion that Zaraki prefers to take the things people tell him at face value, and also that he's dumb as a bag of rocks, so I think it's highly possible that Yumichika actually is pulling one over on him, especially because Ikkaku says Yumichika has a melee-zanpakutou, and who would know better than Ikkaku? For people who prefer a smarter Zaraki, I can still see him figuring that as long as Yumichika plays by the rules and can hang with the crew, who cares, right?

The other problem with Yumichika's zanpakutou, though, is that it's strong. It's real strong. If you're comparing the rank-and-file, yeah, an unseated officer from the Eleventh is better than an unseated officer of nearly any other squad. On the other hand, every other super-strong character in Bleach uses kidou or has some kidou-related zanpakutou technique. @troius pointed out that kidou proved to be incredibly effective against Arrancar during the Winter War, particularly for the mid-strength, Vice-Captain level characters. Renji is famously bad at kidou (altho this is exaggerated in the anime), and yet has saved his own ass with it on multiple occasions. Iba, an alumni of Squad 11, lectures Ikkaku that he should be more well-rounded. The problem is that Zaraki, who made up the dumb Squad 11 rules, may be the strongest guy in Soul Society, but he's also a tremendous outlier. It's all well and good if he wants to wear a reiatsu-sucking eyepatch, but the fact is, the Squad 11 rules make them weaker.

I think it's a pretty common headcanon that when they met, Ikkaku was significantly stronger than Yumichika. I'm...not sure that's still true. That, to me, is the the meatier conflict of Yumichika keeping his powers secret. Ikkaku's strength is so, so important to him. Would Ikkaku still love him if Yumichika were the stronger one? Further, if Yumichika flaunted his powers, would it break the entire illusion of The Squad 11 Way?

So, you asked how I think it would go, and the answer is that a) I think it happened during the 17-mo timeskip and b) it was more of wider ranging conversation about facing certain truths and living more authentically to themselves, and c) we have to do this, for the pride of Squad 11, all of the other vice captains are nerds and if we don't up our game they are going to surpass us and that is unacceptable.

Bleach is not a romance manga, so we didn't get to see any of this on-panel, but I think there is strong evidence that they got it figured out.

#yumichika ayasegawa #ikkaku madarame #ikkayumi #they are married your honor #shout out to tumblr's autosave feature #i crashed the editor when i was *very close to the end* of writing this and i hadn't manually saved in a while #but thankfully a tumblr function functioned for once

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lynxindisguise · 7 months

Text

20 asks for fic writers

ty for the tag @plecotusauritus and @wanderingdonut <333

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

300,242 (damn)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

hp, have considered branching into black sails and good omens

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Hot Cocoa Incident of '77

shorn and scarred and yours

A Dog in Stag's Clothing

Sarcastic Truths and Lies By Omission

exes, horcruxes, and other reasons to panic

conclusion: bitches love hogwarts fluff, slytherin sirius, and divorce!!

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

Yes! I love comments!

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending

Uhhh I guess the corndog fic?? all my wolfstar fics currently end happily, though Of Monsters and Cowards has more of an open ending

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

They're all happy honestly, but The Hut of the Mistold is probably the most neatly wrapped up, all the warm and fuzzies, happily ever after ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nothing directly mean, but I'll get comments that make me go, "why did you feel the need to say that?" Like ranting a little too enthusiastically about the main character's choices or commenting on how they wanted more of xyz in a chapter (especially when the fic isn't even finished!) Oh and I got one the other day from a guest on a reply I made to someone else that was clearly trying to start an argument about something that had nothing to do with the fic??? I don't respond to those comments.

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

Typically I write a little smooching that fades into a vague description, but I wrote six different versions of smut for don't cover our tracks

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I write a lot of AU's based in other worlds, but not crossovers. (Unless @impishtubist and I make the ineffable wolfstar crossover happen!)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. And hot take—I genuinely think a lot of cases of "fic stealing" are just coincidence. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I do believe we're all collectively tossing around one brain cell, and we're bound to have similar ideas.

I once read a fic that shared a lot of themes/ideas/details with one of my fics, and upon discovering this, I plotted to trick the writer into becoming my deeply beloved mutual.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had people ask if they could translate my fics before a few times, but I don't think anything has come of it?

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

Not currently... (refer to 10)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Wolfstar

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

... probably the ATLA AU :/

The idea possessed me back in January of last year, and I plotted out the entire thing, but I've had no motivation to actually write it. I think the problem is that it's too cinematic, and I can't translate it to prose.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Probably world-building, in the way that I can look at one world and say "how would this translate to another?" "what little details and references can I pull from and play with?" "how do I adjust my writing style to make this feel like the genre I'm replicating?"

Also unusual metaphors, zingy little commentary, and comedic timing in dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I really struggle with prose. Which sounds silly, but like, I'm not writing prose—I'm translating the screenplay in my brain to prose, which is weird. And I think it can make my writing really jarring because it's lacking that slow, immersive reflection that is just so delicious when done well.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Dude I put a few Welsh words in hotm and panicked that even those would be wrong. If it was ever important for the story, I'd find someone who spoke the language to help me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Please Don't See Me

tagging @kaaaaaaarf @spindrifters @impishtubist @soloorganaas @femme--de--lettres @fruityindividual @worldenough-and-time

#tag game

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liesmyth · 7 days

Note

I'm nearly done with ACOWAR and like. I'm trying to care about Cassian and Nesta but honestly my most recurring Nesta ship thought is Nesta/Elain.

NESTA/ELAIN I love your brain so much! unfortunately I'm cold to negative on Cassian/Nesta, mostly because I think that Nesta is way too cool for the story SJM stuck her in, and everyone she interacts with does her dirty, and the romance is shoehorned... I'm a hater. Rescue my girl from that book and take her to warrior lesbians island

also this ask made me go look for all my goodreads updates while I was reading the Nesta book (court of silver flames) and here's all of them in order. I really was in the trenches. I remember I finished it & immediately went to look for fic and I found @flowerflamestars's ao3

July 8, 2022 - 1.0%

I must confess I have finished 3 of these books now and I still have no idea of what that Cauldron even IS. A real physical object, a metaphor for creation, a pocket alternate dimension, a TARDIS? Who knows bc I sure don't

July 8, 2022 - 5.0%

July 10, 2022 – 15.0%

Look, I love Nesta. I came into this book Very excited and all primed to have a good time, hyped up and ready to go!!

and then 3 chapters in I remembered that I don't really trust Sarah with the characters I like so picture me reading this book like a kid peeking through their fingers watching a scary movie, nervous af but needing TO KNOW

July 11, 2022 – 20.0%

I desperately want to like this more but STAPH @ all this bloated political drama about people I don't care about

gimme more Nesta or give me death

FINALLY things are happening that I care about

July 11, 2022 – 27.0%

Cassian saying "core" and meaning "abs" vs. Nesta hearing "core" and thinking about romance smut is exactly what goes through my head every time I listen to these audiobooks while working out

July 12, 2022 – 30.0%

everytime rhys gets mentioned in this book i roll my eyes the same way nesta does

July 12, 2022 – 32.0%

July 13, 2022 – 46.0%

Sabrina was so right about Amren and I hate it

(Sabrina being my friend who said to me early on: you won't like Amren's arc in this book)

Cassian sexing up (?) Nesta to bring her out of her trance, in front of all his friends whom Nesta doesn't like very much, is... aggressively Not my kink, wow

July 14, 2022 – 54.0%

I just think Nesta is really neat

July 14, 2022 – 60.0%

getting pretty tired of rhys & co arbitrarily deciding is cool to keep potentially life-threatening information from the women in their lives

July 14, 2022 – 60.0%

Rhys: she could literally die but let's not tell her FOR HER OWN GOOD

everyone else: you're such a good boss. saviour of everything. guiding light of this circle. sure let's do that!

July 14, 2022 – 61.0%

"Amren: dictatorship is sexy actually" — WTF is going on with everyone's characterization in this book?

July 14, 2022 – 60.0%

anyway, like. i'm sure as hell not reading this smutty supernatural fantasy romance with my critical brain turned on, but the way this book keeps trying to Make A Point about Trauma and Misogyny and Feminist Empowerment while being riddled with misogynistic implications is sure fascinating to behold. sarah janet. honey. have some self awareness i'm begging you

July 15, 2022 – 65.0%

Literally Rhys: Nesta saw fit to inform Feyre of the very real risk to her actual life, how absolutely dare, I'm scary murderous and I want her gone before I fucking kill her

All those absolute tools: This seems like a totally normal reaction to have! Rhys should be highest king, what a great dude

Me: actually do get Nesta out of the city she deserves better

July 15, 2022 – 66.0%

ok but seriously why is this book trying to make it seem like making someone aware of a potentially life-threatening medical condition is "an unforgivable thing". why sarah. why

July 16, 2022 – 78.0%

Death Queen Nesta is just really hot, methinks

July 16, 2022 – 80.0%

I unapologetically AM very, very into Eris/Nesta, actually

July 18, 2022 – 80.0%

“I want to take that road.” Her voice thickened. “I want to take the road that no one dares travel, and I want to travel it with you two.” — AWWW GWYN!!!!! 😍😭❤️"

July 19, 2022 – 98.0%

this is so predictable and underwhelming :))

#gloriadenton #ask #acotar #book talk

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noir-renard · 1 year

Note

batburger AU is an absolute masterpiece, and I was wondering, if you don't mind sharing, what is your process like for coming up with these incredible plotlines? It's a skill I want to work on, and you, my friend. mmmmMMMMM

ougghhh thank you so much!! ❤️🥰🥰🥰This is a delightful and very flattering question, so I'll do my best to answer it.

I, like many writers, enjoy rotating things in my mind like a rotisserie chicken. (I say "enjoy", but I don't have much say in the matter. These thoughts be roasting and turning 24/7 Costco Style and I'm helplessly standing in front of the chicken rack, warming myself up with the oven heat because I got cold going into the giant refrigerator room to get some berries)(this is a metaphor but it also happens literally to me pretty often. Costco cold. Rotisserie chimken warm.)

Sometimes something good will result from this; sometimes during the more productive sessions of "rotate that thought like a tether ball", neat sentences will form from the ether in my brain.

IYGABAB, for example, was birthed from the randomly generated mind-typewriter paragraph: In a way, it was almost funny. It certainly sounded like a joke—Batman, Bruce Wayne, and Red Hood walk into a bar. Only it wasn't a bar, it was the Iceberg Lounge, and Batman swooped down from the skylight rather than walking in. You might recognize that as the first sentence of the story.

Because I was and continue to suffer from incurable DP x DC Brainrot, my first thought about this paragraph was, heh, that sounds like something Danny would say.

My second thought was, wait, why is Danny at the Iceberg Lounge? And what are Jason and Bruce doing there? And who is wearing the batsuit, and why?

I thought about this scenario for most of the day, coming up with possible answers. When I'd been thinking about it long enough that it was clear Iceberg Lounge Time wasn't going anywhere and the daydream plot was actually kind of interesting and Hey, I'd love to read that story, I started writing it down and kept writing.

The first scene I actually wrote down in full was the one where Sal asks Danny to cover for him at work. Of all the possible answers I came up with for "Why is Danny at the Iceberg Lounge?" the answer I liked the best was "He's covering for a co-worker/friend from his actual job".

Which generated a new question: what's his actual job? Does he work at a coffee shop? At a diner? At a grocery store?

And then I realized the chaos, the beauty, the delightful mayhem that having him work at Bat Burger would be. Like yeah yeah we all know Danny looks like all the Robins already, but to actually make him dress as a Robin for work? I couldn't pass that up.

That's when I knew this story had legs. There was a place for it to start and a place for it to go.

Returning to that initial paragraph helped me generate a lot more questions that needed answering if I wanted to continue the story. Why is Red Hood at the Iceberg Lounge (other than looking for Danny)? What is Bruce doing there (and why does he need to be there as Bruce and not Batman)? Who is wearing the Batsuit (and why are they wearing the Batsuit instead of their regular suit)?

Answering those questions generated a lot of the plot threads, after which I had a general idea of what Bruce, Jason, and Dick were up to (Duke's presence at the Iceberg Lounge came later).

I could have left it at that, but like Marie Kondo I love messes, so I made up some problems for the rest of the batfam and found ways to link them together in obvious and not-so-obvious ways. (If you come back and ask me again after the story is over, I can give a more in-depth answer about this, but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone!)

side note: I wrote the story out of order; when scenes came to me, I wrote them down, even if I didn't know where exactly they fit into the story. Keeping momentum up was more important to me than having a story that made perfect sense right from the start. (I did have to put it in order eventually, and I chose to do this by making a calendar of events as well as document with all the characters and what they were up to at any given point in the story. Was this the best way of doing it? Probably not. But it worked so I'm not going to question it too much)

In this way, I kept building and building the story, layer by layer. I think this method is technically called the "snowflake method", but because I did it kind of haphazardly it didn't really feel like a method 😅

In short, the answer to "what's my process" is this: I find a question so interesting that answering it generates countless other questions that demand an answer, and in the process of answering them all hopefully a story will fall into place.

I hope this is helpful! My mind is a chaotic place that's hard to parse (even for me), but I did my best to describe it in a way that's informative.

#batburger au #answered asks #iygabab #writing ref #i think some important context you should also have is that I wrote/outlined most of IYGABAB over the summer #when i was stuck in a series of cabins with limited internet access and not much else to do #not by choice either #so I can't recommend doing that but I suppose that's why I had so much time for mental rotisserie chicken

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neitherlightnordark · 10 months

Note

mettaton and children. now

BUT OF COURSE I LOVE CHILDREN!! WHY WOULDN’T I? THEY'RE SOME OF THE TELEVISION’S MOST DEVOTED FANS! WITH SO MUCH FREE TIME AND WHIMSY ON THEIR HANDS, IT'S NO WONDER THAT EVERY DAY, RIGHT ON THE DOT, THEY TUNE IN TO MY SHOW... FOR FAMILY-FRIENDLY, AMUSING, AND BLOODTHIRSTY TIMES! DON’T BELIEVE ME? JUST ASK... ANY ONE OF THEM!

...That’s a camera! Yo, am I on... TV?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Yo, that's so cool!! Everyone can see me! Hi, mom! ... Oh, man, I forgot I’m not supposed to be out... Maybe I can get a ski mask somewhere? Uh, hey, do you have any ski masks?

SKI MASKS? IN SNOWDIN? WHY?

My mom told me I had to be back quick after my errand... She’s gonna be mad if she sees the paparazzi swarmed me first! You better be careful or she’ll have your hide, ha ha!

MY, MY. A FAN SUCH AS YOURSELF... OR AT LEAST, SOMEONE IN MY SHOW’S TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC... FAILS TO RECOGNIZE MY METALLIC FORM OUT IN THE LIGHT? ALTHOUGH I SUPPOSE THE SNOW'S SHEEN... MAKES IT HARDER TO LOOK AT ME. SURELY YOU CAN AT LEAST RECOGNIZE MY SILHOUETTE! I'M THE SQUARE THAT APPEARS IN YOUR TV SOMETIMES. WITH FLASHING LIGHTS AS A FACE AND A WHEELY THING UNDERNEATH. SOUND FAMILIAR?

Uh... Either way, you look super cool, mister!

THAT'S RIGHT! DON’T WORRY ABOUT NOT HAVING WATCHED MY SHOW, DARLING. NOT ONLY DOES IT PLAY EVERY DAY, AT THE SAME TIME, FOREVER... BUT, THERE'S NO OTHER SHOWS ON MY CHANNEL. SO I GOT THE EMPTY SPACES TO BE FILLED WITH MY SHOW’S RERUNS. NOW YOU CAN WATCH MTT TV ON THE GO, NO MATTER WHAT TELEVISION SET YOUR JOURNEYS TAKE YOU TO!

That's cool! Can I go now, mister MTT TV?

WHAT?? HEY, NO--- *COUGHS* *ROBOTICALLY* ERR, WHERE’RE YOU HEADING TODAY?

Miss QC’s Shop! That’s, uh, on the west-most part of Snowdin Town. If I help dust Miss QC’s shelves today, I get a free bicicle!

HOW FINE AND DANDY! A LOCAL BUSINESS!I MIND IF I TAG ALONG?

Sure! Why not?

THAT'S RIGHT, YOUR LOCAL DAZZLING STAR LOVES EATING OUT AT PLACES THAT ARE PRIVATELY OWNED! AND TODAY I’LL BRING TO YOU AN EVEN SPECIAL-ER OFFER! PURCHASE A BICICLE AT MISS QC’S SHOP... AND GET A FREE STARFAIT AT MTT-BRAND BURGER EMPORIUM IN RETURN! MAKE SURE TO TAKE THE ELEVATORS SO YOU’RE NOT TOO STARVING... BUT EVEN THEN, I’M SURE YOU’LL STILL BE TEMPTED BY OUR GLAMOUROUS, SEQUIN-SPECKLED FOODS... WHEN YOU STAGGER UP TO OUR SLIGHTLY DAMP DOUBLE DOORS! YOU CAN'T GET THESE DEALS ANYWHERE ELSE! (STAMPS VERIFYING PURCHASE AVAILABLE AT QC’S SHOP UPON REQUEST)

I don't know Miss QC very well, but... I dunno if she’ll appreciate the free advertising...

DON’T BE RIDICULOUS. EVERYBODY LOVES BEING SHOUTED OUT BY FAMOUS PEOPLE.

You’re famous?

OH COME ON.

Ha ha! Yo, I was just joking!

HA HA HA. IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL BEING A LITTLE SCAMP? AH, YOUTH. (IF ONLY I COULD RECALL BEING SO PRECOCIOUS...)

...?

HERE’S ANOTHER DEAL. I BUY THE BICICLE FOR YOU. YOU WATCH MY SHOW! HOW’S THAT SOUND.

I don’t need you to buy me an excuse to watch more television, sir!

(MTT TV DOES NOT CONDONE MINDLESS CONSUMPTION OF ENTERTAINMENT, LEST IT BECOME ADDICTIVE, ESPECIALLY YOUTH. THIS IS WHY ALL METTATON COMMERCIAL BREAKS INVOLVE THIRTY MINUTES OF METTATON SCAMPERING THROUGH FIELDS OF GRASS, SPONSORED BY METTATON.)

Hey, are you listening to me! (whispering) I said, as long as you edit out my face! And make my voice really deep.

(WHISPERING) SURE! WHAT DO YOU WANT TO LOOK LIKE INSTEAD?

... Have you heard of this cool person named Captain Undyne?

WHY, YES I HAVE, DARLING! IN FACT... AFTER I BUY YOU THIS BICICLE, I THINK I’VE GOT A KEY RIGHT TO HER HOUSE! METAPHORICALLY.

REALLY?!

YEP, SHE LOVES ME. I’M SURE SHE’D ALSO LOVE CO-STARRING WITH YOU!

Well--- I--- *coughs* *lizardly* ...Maybe someday soon, yo! For now... I’ve got to bring groceries back home. The reason Captain Undyne’s so great... is because she never breaks promises! She’d do the same if she were me.

THAT’S FINE BY ME! I DON’T NEED ANY EXCUSES TO CONVINCE HER TO PLAY MORE TOTALLY TRIVIA! THANKS FOR THE GREAT IDEA, UH...

Haha, you’re welcome, mister...

METTATON. JUST METTATON, NO TV. THAT’S MY COMPANY.

Okay! See you!

AND SEE YOU IN FIVE MINUTES AFTER I’M DONE BEING VIRTUOUS IN THIS SHOP, VIEWERS~

#BAJA BLAST #safeutdr #personal #if captain undyne was in mks shoes shed challenge mettaton to a fight #or something #i havent reached her hangout yet so i wouldnt know

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kabbal · 5 months

Text

@belphegor1982 tagged me and I don't want to work so I'm going to spend a whole half hour on this. this is a flawless plan

How many works do you have on AO3?

162. That's what doing two fictobers will do to you. The other 100ish fics i have no explanation for

What's your total AO3 word count?

521,423. Almost as long as War & Peace. Take that, Tolstoy.

What fandoms do you write for?

The whole list is awfully long because I like to drop one fic and then never come back again. But so far the fandom I've really been involved in writing fic for have been Fairy Tail, Batman, Kaamelott, Call of Duty, MCU and Supernatural.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Ok let's go

O happy dagger! This is thy sheath (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)) aka that bard REALLY wanted to handle that paladdin's sword if you know what I mean

The House of Denial (Call of Duty) When I got obsessed by two secondary characters and learned more about Mexico in 2 weeks than in 20 years of my life

My lover stands on golden sands (Call of Duty) i had seen many tiktoks about selkie aus and i wanted to write one so bad

Karpman Triangle (Call of Duty) somehow inspired by the three ghosts of christmas story. also gruelling coming to terms with trauma

I think love is something that happens to other people (Batman) man i just love a good time travel AU

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to every comment I get, because I like engaging with readers. The best feeling in the world is when a reader replies back<3

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Not considering that extremely unsubtle Fairy Tail fic on my FFnet I wrote at 13 with the idea that I was mature enough to talk about suicide (I wasn't), I think my angstiest fics were the two fics I had written for a friend building on one of his fics, where I was trying to out-angst him.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I've written some fluffy pieces but finding the happiest ending one is complicated. I'm gonna say The Dead are All Living even though its not exactly a fluff ending. It's very cathartic tho so that counts

Do you get hate on fics?

No. Except for that one person in my Ffnet days who accused me of plagiarism because my fic had been destroyed by the automatic translator on my phone that had made the text look like a very bad translation. They got very heated about it... its funny in retrospective but 14yo me was not amusedTM

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I try. I really like writing hate sex, it makes for really interesting scenes with juicy conficted feelings. The rest of the time I try to mix it up.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No. I should try to though, that would be funny

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! I've translated a few of my fics into English, and I've got some fics translated into Russian and Ukrainian. Someone asked me a few months ago to translate another fic into Mandarin but I've not heard of them since

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Le Bon, la Brute et le Friand, a western au with @kaantt for the Kaamelott series. I'm ashamed to say i've stopped working on it, but I've just not been into the fandom lately

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don't have one because I tend to jump from fandom to fandom. At the moment I'm really into Soap/Ghost from Call of Duty and Zoro/Sanji from One Piece, but I stay loyal to my dear Arthur/Venec from Kaamelott and the fuckton of other ships I've been into before

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

My Kaamelott fic Atropos. I love the fic but i'm not in the fandom that much anymore, so unless I get back into it it's going to stay asleep for a while.

What are your writing strengths?

I can write good metaphors. Also I'm pretty good at research and that helps me at not going for the most obvious thing every time, which I think makes some of the things I write stand out a little more.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Man I cannot write a pwp for the life of me. I always start with relatively kinky ideas and then i feel like I inevitably water it down or the plot takes too much space. One day I promise i'll drop a 33k nasty dubcon orgy fic but that day is far away

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I love sneaking in some French into my English fics, but that's because it's my first langage. I wouldn't do it in langages I'm not fluent on, because i've seen some truly awful French in other fics and that took me out of some good stories. I don't want to do that to others, so when i use words from other langages I limit it to a few words i can be pretty sure of.

First fandom you wrote for?

Fairy Tail. That manga was my introduction to online fandom and it'll always have a special place in my heart (both the manga and the fandom)

Favorite fic you've ever written?

Oh no don't make me choose between my babies uh. I have a few I'm extremely proud of and these are

Figures troubles (Kaamelott) Mehgan's pov on a lot of the events of the series and movie

The House of Denial (Call of Duty) so much personal extrapolation poured into this one

Counting Heads (Call of Duty) John Price being an awfully complicated man

κυνώπιδος (Greek Mythology) my take on Helen of Sparta

Hypothèses d'Hyménée (Kaamelott) me playing around with OCs and different scenarios around Arthur's other potential wives

tagging @kaantt @suzhhou @garnetrena to do this

#kabbal writes #fic writer asks

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genuinehues · 6 months

Text

Prologue - 1989 Taylor's Version

"When I was 24, I sat in a backstage dressing room in London, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle, scissors emerged, and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button-down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does. But I had a secret. For me, it was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24, I decided to completely reinvent myself.

How does a person reinvent herself, you ask? In any way I could think of. Musically, geographically, aesthetically, behaviorally, motivationally. And I did so joyfully. The curiosity I had felt the first murmurs of while making Red had amplified into a pulsing heartbeat of restlessness in my ears. The risks I took when I toyed with pop sounds and sensibilities on Red? I wanted to push it further. The sense of freedom I felt when traveling to big bustling cities? I wanted to live in one. The voices that had begun to shame me in new ways for dating like a normal young woman? I wanted to silence them.

You see, in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut-shaming—the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends, the trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy-crazy psychopath, the media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

It became clear to me that for me, there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so, I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that, right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in New York, and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had Max Martin and Shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. I had a new friend named Jack Antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989, and we would reference big '80s synths and write sky-high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith, and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back, I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by the right kind of naiveté, a hunger for adventure, and a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naiveté, hunger for adventure, and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course, everyone had something to say, but they always will. I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried not to say it, don't say it... I'm sorry. I have to say it. Shake it off.

I'll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zigzag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "Blank Space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "Welcome to New York." You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical bot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989, reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the magic you would sprinkle on my life for so long.

This moment is a reflection of the woods we've wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It's been waiting for you."

— Taylor

#1989 taylor's version

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dalekaiken · 11 months

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how did u come up with the initial ideas for ur fics ?? :3

I'll reply with my current multichapter fics bc my oneshots are mostly... Sudden ideas I get, such as Keeping Promises being a fic I wrote in one sitting after finishing Unleashed bc I was inspired. XD (Or I wrote the first draft in one sitting but you know-)

DNA Collision: I absolutely adore when people draw Shadow with more alien-like features, such as giving him yellow scleras, tiny scales, or a third eye! But the fanart made me think... What if there was a reason Shadow looked like that/more alien, especially considering that he didn't originally even know he's half alien. My original idea was that Eggman would do something that would make him mutate, but then I thought it might be a bit of a lazy choice, plus then fixing it would be a lot easier because they'd already know the cause. My bestie came up with the idea that it would happen suddenly while Shadow was racing/using Chaos Control, and I liked that idea. (I can't tell how/why it happens since that's a spoiler, but you'll find out eventually ehehe). I like aliens, sci-fi, and body horror (although I don't wanna make the body horror parts too graphic in the fic but still. It's a part of it), but there's also metaphors etc. in it. I'll probably talk more about those once I finish the fic, because for now I want readers to make their own interpretations and speculations >:3

Prophecy of Chaos: The ship I was super obsessed with before Sonadow was Catradora, and since I tend to like certain types of dynamics, I kinda noticed lots of similarities between them XDD (I mean, they're a snarky hero with a heart of gold and their former enemy with a traumatic backstory) I think I also saw a tumblr post where someone pointed out that the way Boom!Shadow acts is like a bitter ex/former childhood best friend, and that made me think... What would Sonic and Shadow be like if they had been childhood best friends who had a falling out? I think I jokingly told my friends like "what if I made an AU that's kinda like the premise of She-Ra but with Sonadow" but then I actually got invested in it. It just works so well with Sonic characters and Sonic lore, with the whole chosen one thing and friendship being a big theme in both series. My bestie @tillytilli had lots of suggestions for the AU, and then I asked if they'd like to be a co-creator. Plus with two people working on it made it possible for us to make several illustrations for each chapter; usually three art pieces for each chapter, one by me, one by Tilli and one being a collab between us. So yeah, the premise and some elements are inspired by She-Ra, but the plot will differ a lot since we didn't want it to just be a retelling of that story, we wanted to also make it our own story. Plus we haven't really assigned the characters certain roles (except the obvious ones, like Sonic having Adora's role, Shadow Catra's, Infinite Shadow Weaver's, and Eggman Hordak's. But even some of those are a bit mixed, especially between Sonic and Shadow) because we felt like it would limit the characters too much, and we wanted them to be themselves first and foremost if that makes sense? (So like. You don't need any knowledge of She-Ra to read the fic. Sonic knowledge is more important since there's lore and references XD)

Impactful Skip: I came up with the idea around the time the sneak peek of Sonic and Nine in Sonic Prime came out. Since Nine was a traumatized child because he never met Sonic, it made me think... How would Tails turn out if he had had Sonic, and then lost him? Because he would know what he was missing. Sonic and Tails are so close that I feel like neither of them would be the same if they lost each other. I think I was also subconsciously inspired by that one episode of Futurama where Fry has to test the time machine with Bender and the Professor so he's late from his date with Leela, but the time travel goes wrong and Leela thinks he's dead. (This scene especially always BREAKS me) I didn't like... Actively think about that episode while thinking about the premise, but then I remembered it after a while and was like OH. Another inspiration for it was that one tumblr post I can't find sadly but it was like... "Why would you tell a post-apocalyptic story if not to show the kindness of humanity?" And it's a big part of Impactful Skip, because while Tails has turned against all his friends, his friends still stick together and try to find hope and kindness towards one another even in a world with barely any hope left.

Thank you for asking! I'm really enthusiactic about these stories so I'm always happy to explain about them! ✨✨

#Everyone is always welcome to ask about my fics >:3c #You can send the asks here or to my art blog pajulammas #both are fine!#t4twerehog #Thanks for asking!

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actualbird · 2 years

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So as someone who got into Tears of Themis partially because it reminded me of Ace Attorney, I hope you and anon don't mind if I toss my own ideas into this!

If mc and Artem were in Ace Attorney, they'd pretty obviously be the young female and older male dynamic in pretty much every game except mc isn't a teen like everyone else. Also following Ace Attorney's rules this would be Artem Wing Ace Attorney with mc as the sidekick but I find the role reversal more fun so mc remains the main character this time. Artem's already her co-counsel in tot anyway.

I think it'd be hilarious if mc was like the other protags giving snarky commentary on the absurdity of the setting while Artem is completely accepting of all of this and that's why he can remain serious and not pull funny faces all the time. Artem operates within Ace Attorney logic while mc operates on ours. Yes mc, I do think it's normal that Luke's myna bird is the size of a human, why do you ask?

This would also keep the humour present in the mc-Artem dynamic I feel since most of the humour in the dynamic is the peppy sidekick making zany comments which isn't in character for Artem. So instead, make him comically serious!

Mild spoilers for a game mechanic of the Great Ace Attorney here in case anyone reading this is playing, but I think the gimmick of this particular au could be something similar to the Dance of Deduction. It'd be less humorous because Artem wouldn't be making ridiculously wrong assumptions for mc to correct like an actual Dance of Deduction, but the rest of what makes the Dances fun like the dramatic spotlights on characters and important items as well as the visual presentation of filling in the details of what happened in the case could very easily be kept. Even the ending of the Dance of Deduction could probably be made to fit in a tot modern setting by making it a report typed into the NXX database. (I know this is not a good description of what the Dance of Deductions are like so I highly recommend watching one for reference. They're very fun to watch!) The questions the boys ask mc during cases that she has to answer in tot's chapters could easily be repurposed Dance of Deduction too. Besides if we really need the dancing around I think Marius as a guest assistant would be more than happy to mess around a bit sfjdif

Mostly the Ace Attorney characters tend to remain fairly unaffiliated with any organisations but I don't see a way tot's story could be carried out without joining NXX so I'll make an exception and say that happens anyway. It would be interesting to have Artem hide his involvement with NXX from mc and have a "is he trustworthy" story beat though...

This is my very barebones structure for how mc and Artem would be like in Ace Attorney. As a bonus, here's what everyone's gimmicks would be if they were the main characters! Spoilers for...nearly all mechanics in the Ace Attorney games here.

Artem would have Logic, pretty straightforward here. It functions the same as it does in the actual games, join two logic statements that are related to each other together to discover more about the case.

Luke is a little trickier, but I think he could have Psyche Locks. This is mostly from the many scenes in tot where he's getting information out from people and also because his key necklace makes for some neat symbolism. In this case the locks aren't actually something he can see, it's a visual metaphor, and also he isn't threatening people for information. Well, maybe he still does that a little but mostly he relies on evidence.

Vyn was a tossup between Perceive and Mood Matrix for a while, but ultimately I think Perceive fits him better because of the moments in his personal story where he catches someone averting their eyes or something and deeming them suspicious as a result. Mood Matrix isn't quite his specialty. Just like Luke, Vyn doesn't need a physical trinket to use his ability, it's just a built in thing. Something different about Vyn's Perceive is that sometimes the lack of a nervous tic when someone should be nervous is what clues him into something. In this way a little bit of Mood Matrix is mixed in since the lack of a certain emotion was sometimes what you needed to point out to proceed unlike Perceive where you Had to find a tic.

Finally, Marius gets Logic Chess. It was very, very difficult to find a gimmick that fitted Marius, but I think Logic Chess does the job reasonably well. It requires you to know when to hold back and when to be aggressive to get information, which is something Marius has displayed in I think main story chapter 5 when he meets with Stellis News' editor-in-chief. He starts out pretty polite but goes on the aggressive after a certain point. Just like Luke, Marius' Logic Chess is a visual metaphor though in this case it's always been one.

And that's about it for my thoughts on an Ace Attorney tot au! This was a lot of fun to write fgidiy

🌌

irt my fever dream aa/tot edit that i almost forgot i made

first off, milkyway, i need to tell you this is all WONDERFUL however i have no idea what any of it means or have forgotten all about them sans the Psyche Locks jjhjVKJ it has been...so long since ive played aa...that being said, i love your rationales for everyone oh my gosh, it's all so well thought out even and it all fits SO WELL if i havent experienced/remember the mechanics!!!

secondly, the aa player to tot player pipeline is such an entertaining demographic. i partly also got into tot for that reason (while it's been years since ive played any aa game, the Core Memories at 12 years old still shine brightly) and when coworkers ask me what this game im so obsessed with is about my go-to is always "do you know ace attorney? it's like that but you can kiss the characters. also it's nothing like ace attorney." jkHVKSJHDFVKJSHDGKS

thank u for all of this it's DELIGHTFUL :DDD

#milkyway!anon #asks #aa and prof layton were absolutely cornerstone games in my growing up experience. and yet. i remember nearly nothing JHGVKSJHF #IT'S ABOUT THE VIBES!!!!

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