#Haven’t done any fanart in a Long while and probably won’t again for a bit.
Text
So I recently binged tpp
#Haven’t done any fanart in a Long while and probably won’t again for a bit.#myartworks#the penumbra podcast#juno steel#peter nureyev
1K notes
·
View notes
Note
this isn’t a malicious ask, but i’m just genuinely curious what your take on crankiplier is when you take into consideration that
1) ethan has given his fans explicit permission to ship him with people and write fanfiction as long as they don’t harass him with it
2) mark has reblogged a piece of crankiplier fanart
3) they’ve flirted or interacted in a way suggesting they’re attracted to each other purposefully for the fandom’s response,
exhibit a) when they called one of their bits “queerbaiting for charity” (mark petting ethan + calling him a good boy + feeding him fruit snacks + eskimo kissing for donations on a charity stream)
exhibit b) mark saying he thought about kissing ethan onstage during tour (i assume because the fangirls would’ve gone nuts)
exhibit c) in general, knowing that jokes about getting married, dating, implying a sexual relationship, etc. would cause fan speculation but proceeding to include them in videos regardless
i’m not big on shipping real people either, and we should all certainly do our best to keep that part of the fandom low-key, but like. the circumstances here are much different than septiplier. i wouldn’t shame anyone for this one
Ok so as I said, I’ll try to address each of your points. Thank you for being willing to talk with me, I hope you’ll take into consideration the points I’m going to make.
1) I’ve seen those posts, and while it is true that Ethan has said these things, it was (correct me if I’m wrong) a while ago and his position on this may have changed since then. I know that isn’t a real convincing point, but you also have to agree that Ethan in particular is generally very permissive towards his fandom. But his permissiveness should not be taken as a free pass to ship him whenever you want. If a parent says you can go out with friends, that doesn’t mean you can go to Junkie Jimmy’s house party. Just because you have been given permission to do something doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, or that you should.
2) Again, correct me if I’m wrong (because I haven’t seen the post), but a lot of ship fanart (especially controversial ship fanart) tends to be pretty ambiguous due to the nature of shipping. Unless said fanart was undeniably ship art, it’s very possible that Mark simply saw a cool piece of fanart and decided to reblog it without checking the context of it. If anyone knows what post this is, please tell me so I can figure out if that might have been the case.
3) This is probably the biggest point I’m going to make here, so I’m going to put it in bold. It’s never ok to ‘speculate’ on real people’s lives with regard to their interpersonal relationships. Ever. Full stop. It is not the job of content creators to tailor their content to leave out parts that would ‘cause fan speculation’. They’re real people, not characters whose every interaction is available for debate. They’re not ‘suggesting’ anything. They’re just people who live their lives and are comfortable in their friendship with each other. People do that. And it’s not the job of anyone who doesn’t know them to decide their relationship. You don’t know them. None of the shippers here or anywhere else know them. And using them for your own fulfillment, sexualizing them into lovey-dovey caricatures of themselves, is truly and simply morally repugnant.
Your points rely on suggesting that Mark and Ethan are purposely ‘riling up’ the fanbase by making content that ‘suggests’ crankiplier, but the truth is that either a. it’s a joke between friends (your own friends probably mess around with each other in the same way. I know mine sure do) or b. the shippers are reading way too far into simple interaction.
I’m not trying to be a stickler about these things, but when it comes to real people shipping, it’s not about saying ‘ohh you can’t ship that’ just because you can. I’m not saying it just to ruin anyone’s fun, or to be ableist towards people with hyperfixations (I have ADHD. I know neurodivergent people can still be ableist, but that’s beside the point), or anything like that. I’m against crankiplier, and all rpf ships, because they rely on sexualizing and purposely misconstruing interactions between people. Real people, with lives, and thoughts, and relationships with their loved ones. Real people with boundaries that must be respected.
And it’s no coincidence that most of these ships tend to be mlm. It’s a symptom of toxic masculinity that people can look at a healthy friendship between two men and say ‘they can’t be that close without being gay’. It’s not your place to interpret that.
So here’s my message to rpf shippers: leave them alone. Ironically, by being gross about their relationships, you only drive these people farther apart because they begin to believe that anything they do will be sexualized by shippers. I saw it happen 4 years ago. It can, and will, happen again.
To those with hyperfixations: I hear you. I was there, once. I learned to change my trajectory a little bit to focus only on fictional characters (by zealously reading YA novels about dragons. If it works, it works.). I know that’s waaaay easier said than done, but if you make a real commitment to yourself, you can find a way. And maybe, in a few months, your old ships won’t be so enticing anymore.
And to those who choose to harass and send death threats, on either side of the argument: stop. You’re not helping anyone. One day, the fandom will come together and say that there is no place for rpf shipping here. But every aggressive comment pushes us farther apart.
I know this sounds ironic, coming from me, but I don’t have any hate towards those who rpf ship. You are not a bad person. What you are participating in, however, is ethically wrong. You must know that. The only people in this entire circumstance that I harbor any ill will towards are the people who continue to insist that rpf shipping is right. That somehow they, as fans, get to ‘speculate’ on the relationships between others. They who continue to show disrespect towards the very content creators they claim to support so much. And I refuse to support that.
Thank you for sending this ask and allowing me to elaborate on my stance on these things. I know this is unlikely to change anyone’s minds about it, but it’s all worth it if even one person can realize that they’re supporting something they shouldn’t be supporting. And to those people: it’s ok. Trust me, we’ve all been there.
31 notes
·
View notes
Text
Rise of the Guardians: Is it as good as we remember?
(Oof! I’ve been working on this one for a long while! Buckle up buttercup, this is gonna be a long one!)
(Before I get into this, I want everyone to know that I’m not claiming anything to be fact. This is just my personal opinion).
Back in November of 2012, we were greeted with Rise of the Guardians. This movie, based on the books entitled The Guardians of Childhood, written by William Joyce, gave us a new and unique take on our favorite childhood characters. This included Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost, and more.
While it didn’t do so well at the box office, it seemed to explode in popularity. It spawned a fandom fairly quickly, even spawning a couple fandoms that branched off of it. For a long while there it seemed that, wherever you looked, you saw cosplays, fanart, tribute videos, fanfiction, etc. Loads of people seemed to absolutely love this movie, and I, as a twelve-year-old at the time and thus a part of the target audience, was no exception.
Even now eight years later, I still claim to love this movie. Even though I haven’t seen it in a long while, it left a huge impact on me as a writer and artist, which is why I am sad to see the fanbase slowly dwindling away. So I went back and watched it again, and as I sat there ready to press the ‘play’ button, I began to wonder.
Will this movie be as good as I remember it?
And the answer? Yes and no.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I still really like this movie, and I still stand by it being one of my favorites. But just like everything else in life, nothing is perfect. And while still amazing, this movie does indeed have some flaws.
And as I like to save the best for last, I’ll start off by diving into some of the movies flaws.
Flaw #1 - Pacing
The pacing in this movie can be a little awkward from time to time. Nothing super jarring, but enough to make me go, “I’m sorry, what?”.
Some scenes seemed to just jump from one to the other without much warning. Either that, or the transition from one scene to the next seemed a little off. One example of this is when North, Bunny, Sandman, and Jack Frost set off to the Tooth Palace. There was nothing inherently wrong with these scenes, but the transition between the two seemed a little awkward. One minute we were having a nice, calm moment between North and Jack, and then all of a sudden we get a quick, action-like sequence with the sleigh.
Another moment that felt awkwardly paced was the introduction of the movies villain, Pitch Black. It seemed like there should’ve been more buildup to him. We got a bit, but moments of buildup seemed quite few and far between. When he was introduced it felt almost a little random, him just appearing for a few moments and disappearing just as quick didn’t seem to work or do him justice.
There are other scenes, but I won’t go over those now, as I guess I’m probably already bugging some hardcore RotG fans.
Flaw #2 - Unexplored Questions and Backstories
Alright, before I get people shouting me down about how, “If I want backstory and questions answered I should read the books”, hear me out.
When you make a story, whether it be in the form of a movie or book, you’re going to want it to make sense. You’re going to want everything to tie together. It’s true that the original books do this, but it’s not seen in the movie. So for those who watch the movie, they may walk out confused about some aspects of it. The two parts I’m going to focus on here are Pitch Black’s backstory, and how Sandman came back to life.
Every story needs a good villain, and Pitch Black is certainly a well-defined villain. But here’s the problem. We get no backstory or explanation as to how he came to be. We do get a quick flashback to Pitch during the ‘Dark Ages’, which gives us his motivation as to why he’s doing what he’s doing. But that’s it. We get no other real backstory to how he came to be. Actually, we don’t get that for any of the other Guardians besides Jack Frost. But again, the other Guardians lack of backstory could be forgiven, as none of them are the main characters. But it’s important to tell a villains backstory because it gives the audience something to connect with.
Onto the next question. How exactly did Sandman come back to life?
This is a question that’s actually been on my mind for a while now. How exactly did Sandy come back? In the movie we clearly see him die, so how did he come back from the dead? The only lead I got is that maybe the kids somehow brought him back. During the final confrontation with Pitch, Jamie touches some of the black nightmare sand and it turns gold. It’s later on after that that he looks to the other kids and says, “I know what we have to do,” and they run offscreen for a little while, only for Sandy to show up soon after. Did Sandy come back through the kids believing in him again? Did they preform some sort of ritual to call him back from the dead? Who knows. It’s a dumb nitpick, I know, but I still wonder.
Well, now that I got that out of the way, and the RotG fandom is probably coming after my head, I’ll go over the strengths of this movie. And trust me, these really help the movie stand out.
Strength #1 - The Characters
All the characters in this movie are phenomenal! But to be honest, Jack Frost was the reason I originally wanted to watch this film when it first came out. Growing up I never really heard any stories about Jack Frost, and the only Jack Frost I ever saw in the media was of a withered old man. So seeing him portrayed as a teenager seemed pretty interesting. And the character was handled and written very well. His backstory was intriguing, he had a fun and enjoyable personality, but that’s not all.
One thing that was really great about Jack Frost’s character was his struggle throughout the story, and it’s actually a pretty relatable struggle as well. In the story, Jack Frost starts out not knowing who he really is or why he’s even alive. Not only that, but it seems that no mortals can see him, effectively making him invisible to the entire world. The story follows him as he looks for answers to his identity.
This can be a very relatable situation, especially for preteens and early teenagers who are still trying to figure themselves out. And most all of us get to this point. We reach a time in our lives, often in our youth, where we start to wonder exactly who/what kind of person we are. Along with the desire to discover ourselves, there is also the fear/feeling of being invisible and isolated, not understanding where we exactly fit in. Again, everyone reaches a place like that as well, where we feel invisible to the world. Just a passerby. Like we have something amazing to share, if only we could get someone to see it.
The other characters don’t come off as deep or complex as Jack, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Sandman were all very creatively designed and portrayed. A lot of the fun from this movie actually came from all these strong, drastically different personalities clashing with and bouncing off of one another. It made for some fun dialogue and hilarious moments which had me laughing off and on throughout the beginning of the film.
Strength #2 - The Villain
Pitch Black is, without a doubt, one of my favorite DreamWorks villains. I loved everything about this character. From the voice, the design, the aesthetic, it’s all wonderful! But the one thing that set this villain up above many others was that he straight up killed an important character onscreen.
Reminder, I was twelve when this movie came out, and up until then, I wasn’t often exposed to death scenes like this in animated films. I grew up majorly on Disney animated movies and shows, and when a character died, it was usually offscreen. And on the occasion it was onscreen? The villain only indirectly killed a character. For example, in the Lion King, Scar pushed Mufasa into a gorge where a stampede was taking place. Scar killed him indirectly, as he’s the one who put him there, but the stampede is what really did the work.
But in this case it was much different. It’s not like Pitch took Sandy off to the side and killed him there. No, we legit saw this whole scene happen and play out on screen. When I first saw it, it blew my mind! This was actually kind of new for me! We saw Pitch take that shot at Sandy, and we actually saw Sandy’s final moments as he died. When you have a villain physically kill off a beloved character on screen, it sends a message. It sends the message that this villain isn’t all talk. That this villain really does have great power of their own, and that they are serious about getting what they want. That they aren’t going to let anyone get in their way. They mean business. And that was perfectly executed in this scene. (No pun intended).
Strength #3 - The Creativity and Art
I think it goes without saying that this movie is unbelievably creative! Everything from the locations, animation, and the characters themselves in both personality and design are just bursting with creative energy! The animation is incredibly detailed, and for DreamWorks as an animation studio, I think this has to be some of their best work. The colors, textures, details, and everything in between are just so beautifully done. In terms of creativity, two of the locations I want to talk about are the Tooth Palace and Pitch Black’s lair.
When it comes to the Tooth Palace, the artists and creators were given a lot of creative freedom. In media there is no set idea of a place where the Tooth Fairy lives or operates. We all know Santa lives in a workshop, and it makes sense to think that the Easter Bunny lives in a Warren, but no one really knows what to expect when it comes to the Tooth Fairy. When we saw the Tooth Palace, we were treated to some highly detailed and stunning imagery, all with a lovely color scheme of soft pinks, purples, and blues with accents of gold. Not to mention the design of the structural design was a spectacle itself to behold.
And then we have Pitch Black’s lair. As a lowkey goth at twelve years old in the early 2010s, the aesthetic here made it one of my favorite parts of the movie. This set here is similar to the Tooth Palace in that, the creators had a greater level of creative freedom, as we never really think about where exactly the Boogeyman lives. I mean, we know he kinda lives under beds, but that doesn’t sound as cool as living in a spooky, gothic underground secret lair. (But in all honesty, I do really enjoy the detail of the entrance of his lair being under an old, broken down bedframe. It’s a very good nod to the old stories).
It’s like a maze. A labyrinth full of shadows, and looks like the interior of an old, gothic castle that’s somewhat tilting into an abyss. It’s color scheme is predominantly full of grays and blacks, and the surprisingly elegant-looking cages hanging from an invisible ceiling really helps to establish a more gothic look. And since the lair is very dark and shadowed, it fits and aids Pitch black perfectly, in that he can morph in and out of shadows as he pleases. This gives him plenty of places to hide as he’s making an effort to mess with and get into Jack’s head.
The last piece of creativity I want to touch on is how the characters are presented. And holy crap after this movie this is the only way I can view Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc.!
They take these beloved characters that we are already familiar with, and, while still somewhat showing them as we know them, present them in an entirely different way.
We all see Santa Claus as this huge, lovable man with a big belly who’s always jolly. And while that is what we get from this Santa, or North, as they call him, it’s very much flipped on its head. While still jolly, North is very eccentric, high-energy, and is strong-armed, duel broadsword wielding Russian warrior with tattoos. Seriously, who thinks of a Russian warrior when they think of Santa?! Well, now I do! Also the fact that he’s not always super happy like other incarnations of the character. We get to see that he’s very capable of getting both upset and frustrated. It’s a pretty interesting way to humanize such a beloved character.
We then have the Easter Bunny, who is played by Hugh Jackman. Say that out loud. The Easter Bunny is being played by Hugh Jackman. Growing up, me and many other kids saw the Easter Bunny as a small, cute little critter who hopped around the world leaving baskets and painting eggs. Not a tall, boomerang wielding fighter from the Australian outback. Not only that, but giving him a small rivalry with North was interesting, and snot something I ever really thought about. As well as the idea of a the Easter Bunny having somewhat of a temper.
In terms of character design, I feel like both the Tooth Fairy and Sandman had the most creative freedom. We don’t see these two characters often portrayed in media, so they were able to receive some really cool and unique-looking designs. Especially the Tooth Fairy. Did you ever think of the Tooth Fairy looking a like an elegant cross between a beautiful woman and a hummingbird? No, of course you didn’t. But Rise of the Guardians gave us just that, and it truly set its place for it’s own individual take on this childhood legend.
Pitch Black is a fairy creative villain as well. When you hear about the Boogeyman, you don’t get very scared. The name actually sounds a little silly when you say it out loud. And even then, because of the success of The Nightmare Before Christmas, you usually think of their incarnation of the character when you hear that name. But this version of the character is actually much different. He’s not this weird, in-your-face kind of monster. He’s a very subtle, yet terrifying character. When I first saw the movie in theaters, there were kids in the room crying at moments when Pitch Black came on screen. It’s also interesting the way his powers work. We all grew up knowing the Boogeyman as someone who just hid under beds. We had no idea what magical powers he may or may not have had. So giving him the ability to morph into the darkness and into shadows was a pretty cool concept, but also solidified that he had a weakness. Light.
So, In Conclusion...
As I have gotten older, I admit that this movie does look a little different to me now, versus when I saw it as a preteen. I’ve noticed some interesting flaws here and there, but I’ve also been able to remember why I fell in love with it in the first place. It’s a very different kind of movie, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun and interesting.
The characters are delightful, the villain is intimidating, the story, while awkwardly paced, is still pretty solid, and is all tied together with a great lead character. And as you get invested in the story, you’ll find yourself getting really into the all artistry that went into creating this movie.
At the end of the day, it makes me sad to see the fanbase for this movie slowly dwindling away. But I feel there are always going to be people out there who enjoy this movie. And you know what? You never know what the future holds. Perhaps there will be a movie in the distant future. Or more likely a animated series on either TV or Netflix. And for the hardcore fans, go and read the original books.
All I can say here is that, every now and again when it starts to get a little nippy outside, I’ll sit in my living room with hot chocolate and give this movie another watch.
#rotg#rotg fandom#rise of the guardians#rise of the guardians fandom#rotg review#rise of the guardians review#rotg jack frost#jack frost#rotg north#north#santa claus#rotg bunnymund#bunymund#rotg tooth fairy#tooth fairy#toothiana#rotg pitch black#pitch black
71 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hey! I'm the anon who sent in the ask on Friday or Saturday about losing AEV and going on a whole ordeal trying to find it again. I'm also the one who told you the name of Grind by abnegative. I didnt think that I'd be sending this many asks in but then I read chapter 11 of Aev and I had so many things I wanted to comment about. So here we go, this is gonna be a long one.
1. Let me know what you think of Grind when you finally get around to reading it. I love it a lot and I'm constantly re-reading it.
2. Mr. Jeon and Mingyu are so awkward together. It's so cuuuute!!! I wonder what's gonna happen to get them past that barrier. I dont want any spoilers but it's fun to imagine all the different scenarios that could happen.
3. I wonder what mingyus reaction would be if he found out that Wonwoo prepared himself in the shower and with the clothes he picked out hoping that ~things~ would happen. I like to think that he'd be sooo turned on at that tidbit of information. Also seeing wonwoo in casual clothes AND without the scent blockers! Mingyu is definitely wrecked. I'd love to see his pov for this scene.
4. Mr. Jeon telling Mingyu to call him wonwoo!!!! Yes please!!!! I've been waiting for that moment to happen! I thought it would happen the 1st time they had sex but this is better! They've finally crossed a line that was definitely there. Before it was obvious that they definitely were not just teacher and student but this has solidified that.
5. The way wonwoo smashes their lips together at the very end of the chapter! Yes!!!! I would loooove more of Wonwoo initiating things!!!! It does things to my heart ♡♡♡♡
6. I love how they're scenting each other and at 1st I was like that's fine cuz they dont go back to school for a few days but then I remembered that mingyus sister is in wonwoos class and could possibly recognize the smell. Theres definitely a chance of things going wrong there.
7. Also sims anon was so accurate! I love it. And sims anon updated their twitter!
8. The more I think about it the more I want to see a spinoff entirely in mingyus pov! That would be amazing.
9. I started drawing fanart of chapter 11... I don't know if I'll get around to finishing it. I hope I do, so you can see it. Right now the proportions between the boys and the car is all wrong
10. OMG I CANT BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THIS. The day after I 1st started reading aev I had a dream about it. Except wonwoo was a professor and mingyu was a college freshman. Wonwoo ended up going to an outside restaurant bar after school to get a drink. He thought he wouldnt see any of his students because none of them were of legal drinking age yet, but Mingyu showed up. Wonwoo sighed in disappointment that he wasnt able to get alone time but Mingyu turned to him and said "dont worry, I'm not here to bother you." Then he turned to the bartender and just said "the regular please." Wonwoo watched as Mingyu began pulling notebooks and textbooks out of his bag, along with a few worksheets. The bartender returned with a glass of ice water and Mingyu said "Thank you" with a smile to him. Minuets passed and Mingyu was working on homework while Wonwoo stole a few glances at him every now and then. After a while Wonwoo noticed that Mingyu was struggling with something, so he moved over to sit directly next to Mingyu and said "What are you stuck on?" Mingyu explained what he wasnt getting and Wonwoo was able to help him out. Eventually they both had to leave, Mingyu left 1st and then Wonwoo a little while later. But the following day, they found each other in the same position. This continued for weeks. The two of them would meet after school at the outdoor restaurant bar and wonwoo would help mingyu with his homework. Eventually the conversations would shift and become more personal. They got to know each other outside of a teacher student relationship. One day, Mingyu didnt have any homework, but he still showed up. Wonwoo bought him an alcoholic drink (the bartender let it slide becuase 1, he knew mingyu and 2, it's illegal for people underage to buy alcohol but it's not illegal for them to drink it). The two ended up having a bit too much, they let their gaurds down and one thing led to another. They ended getting a taxi back to wonwoos house.
And then I woke up... but it was very heavily implied that once they got to wonwoos house, they learned the intricate details of each others bodies.
Anyways... that's a lot... sorry. I guess if I'm gonna keep submitting things I might as well have a sign off sooo
Sincerely, 🦊anon (fox anon) (she/they)
Hi and welcome back, fox anon!
1: Yes, I will let you know if I get around to reading Grind. I had someone recommend it to me again yesterday through twitter DMs! It must be very good, but I haven’t been in much of a mood to read or write lately. But I hope other folks will check it out if they have the time and are looking for something to read.
3: “I wonder what mingyus reaction would be if he found out that Wonwoo prepared himself in the shower and with the clothes he picked out hoping that ~things~ would happen” reminded me that I FORGOT TO POST THE BONUS FOR THIS CHAPTER! Ahh thank you. It’s a small crumb that I decided to remove from the final version; I’ll get it up shortly (´ ∀ ` *). But yes, haha, Mingyu would be extremely turned on at the thought of Wonwoo preparing and pampering himself for their carpark date.
6: Yes, Wonwoo’s pheromones will be on Mingyu after all that scenting and sexy times (it probably drives Mingyu crazy, being able to smell Wonwoo’s slick on him). However, no one actually knows what Wonwoo smells like! So they won’t be able to associate the omega pheromones on Mingyu with Wonwoo.
7: Yes, simsminwon is spoiling me with AEV content omg my eyes have been blessed... IT FITS AEV TO A T (╥ω╥) (╥ω╥) (╥ω╥)
8: It would be pretty fun(ny) to see the contrast between Mingyu and Wonwoo’s point of view! The moment when he realises that he has a big fucking crush on Mr. Jeon would be so cute ;-; Like, he’s probably thinking about Mr. Jeon all the time, even when he’s with Momo! I’ve tried writing some major events in Mingyu’s POV, but I haven’t really done that lately; I haven’t been doing much reading or writing in general lately, haha.
9: GASP (♡°▽°♡) FANART?! I’m also really hoping you’ll finish it, fox anon >.<!!! I would love to see it.
10: I LOVE THIS! Lmao! What is Mingyu doing, working on assignments at a bar?! Dude, I wish I could have some minwon dreams. A pity you woke up before they banged (; ω ; )ヾ(´∀`* )
See you around!
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
Meet the Creator!
Introducing: Squido!
Commission: I haven't and don't really intend to. I don't want to take anyone's hard-earned money. Just ask me to draw things and there's a good chance I will.
Social Media:
Tumblr: @sky-squido
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_squido/pseuds/sky_squido
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
Call me Squido! I love to draw and write but I'm also super extraverted and I love interacting with humans so always feel free to chat with me! Aside from drawing and writing, I just love being outside and have a tumblr sideblog dedicated exclusively to nature photos I take. I love mountains, the ocean, the sky, and just about everything else in this beautiful world of ours! If you ever feel like having an internet stranger give you a thousand word rant, ask me why my favorite color is blue and you will not be disappointed!
What got you into creating? what inspires you to keep creating?
I've been drawing for as long as I can remember and can't seem to stop, though I take long breaks sometimes I always seem to come back to it again. I try not to have anything in mind when I draw, but to start sketching and let the drawing happen. Sometimes I find that what I'm trying to draw is not what my drawing wants to be (if that makes any sense) and change what I'm making halfway through. It makes drawing a really relaxing and carefree therapeutic experience!
Writing is different. I've always enjoyed writing, but I didn't write much and never shared my writing with anyone because I thought it was super pretentious. It wasn't until entering High School and joining the literature club and making a deal with a friend that we'd share our writing with each other that I actually gained any sort of confidence in my ability and sought to improve it. Being in that club and sharing my pieces at the open mics was a really encouraging experience! I invite everyone to share their writing, even if it's with some random internet stranger (I'm open anytime!) if they're unsure of their abilities. A little encouragement goes a long way! Now that I'm on Discord, ao3, and tumblr, I receive so much more feedback than I ever have before! It's been super encouraging!
What inspires me most is definitely nature. Even if my ideas aren't directly related to the outdoors, I get my best ideas there. Fandoms are also a great idea generator. The sheer volume of headcanons and prompts is enough to make me dizzy with ideas!
What's your creative process like?
I love sketching. My favorite thing about drawing digitally is that I can sketch as much as I like and never worry about wasting materials! Often times my sketches turn themselves into drawings without permission and other times they stubbornly remain sketches for all eternity. I always dive right in because I have no patience and the idea I started out with generally isn't that great but in the process of pursuing it, it spirals out of control and sometimes the idea gets better and sometimes it gets worse but I just kinda roll with it. Creating is a really chill process for me and while I regularly scream stuff like "I'M DRAWING ON THE WRONG LAYER NONONONONONO" or "NO HECK FRICK SHOOT IT SMUDGED HECK HECK GET THE ERASER QUICK," the creative process is a great way for me to unwind. I'm the same way about writing. I never plan or outline and just kind of roll with things. I mean I generally have the basic jist in mind, but I try to not have a plan so I can keep the story driven by the characters and not force them into acting the way I wanted them to in the outline I made hours or even days ago. Creating is my opportunity to break free so I don't really see what good a plan or outline does me. I'm a pretty spontaneous person!
What kind of mediums do you like to use?
I like to take pictures, but it's not really my main focus. I've been mostly digitally drawing—I use my iPad Pro and Procreate—but lately I've been pencil sketching with just your average everyday mechanical pencil (I'd forgotten how nice the texture of paper was! Clearly I spent too much time drawing on my iPad!). I have these Stabilio chalk pastels I love to pieces, but have also spent a great deal of time with watercolors. Digital is my primary medium currently, though.
Is there a specific scene wrote that you are particularly proud of?
"Sky’s golden scales are glowing with reflected light from the sun while beneath them, the same pulsing blue in her mane runs like a river as her very skin is alive with electricity. The sun’s beginning to dip, fading through the color wheel from yellow to deep orange to scarlet and the world is bathed in watercolor and hue shifted through the rainbow until all that was blue becomes red. This new alien world begins to darken as red fades to deep purple-pink, the clouds catching last vestiges of gold in their pillowy folds, yet Sky continues rippling with lighting, the bright blue flowing like blood through her veins and the gold shimmering in the eerie azure glow. We weave through the winds and zephyrs and I close my eyes and let the breeze caress my hair and when I reopen them, I’m standing back on the ground again in a world long since darkened by night. I place my hand over my beating heart where Sky is still laughing with joy and smile because once you’ve awakened your dragon, you don’t need wings to fly anymore."
Is there someone who inspires you and your writing or art?
Every fanartist and fanfic writer that posts their stuff online is an inspiration to me. Even if their stuff isn't very good—especially if it isn't very good—it's a huge testament to the courage of the creator and their bravery in expressing themself! I sat on fanfic and fanart for years and never shared it and here were kids half my age putting out art that was their first experiment in a new medium and a little shaky but it was still out there and they were still being supported by the community and that really inspired me to reach out and stop lurking in fandom and actually get involved!
is there something that you struggled with that made you grow as a creator?
I feel like everyone has these periods where they were just gaining confidence in their artistic ability but suddenly everything they make is trash and they're not happy with any of it and they feel so down and worthless and "where did all of my hard-earned ability go? Will I ever get it back?" I think this is a pretty common experience and when I find myself there, I find it most helpful to share what I make anyway, even if I hate it, with someone who I know will give it to me straight because they'll point out the deeper problems—the root of the issue—that I hadn't even noticed and I can use that information to grow as an artist. Bad pieces are just as valuable as good ones.
There was also a time where I had a lot of trouble developing a style. I did a lot of experimenting and never found anything I liked. What happened is I just kept drawing and whatever popped out eventually evolved into my style. I used to get frustrated that I couldn't draw anything without a reference, but after years and years of using references and drawing some of the same things over and over again, you won't need the references anymore. I mean, they're great and you should always feel free to use them, but over time, you won't need to look up a picture of every little thing you try to doodle.
What got you into writing or art?
My silly twitchy fingers can't ever seem to stop drawing! Same with writing. Words and ideas follow me around, little plot bunnies pestering me until they get written down somewhere. I was greatly inspired by the works of C.S. Lewis in my writing, especially his Cosmic Trilogy. My art style was aided by Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist, which was a valuable stepping stone in developing my own style. Other than that, it was my own insatiable desire to MAKE THINGS that spurred me onwards. I don't think I could stop if I tried!
What's your favorite part of the creative process?
After you've got that first paragraph and you've found a flow and you've got a topic and you just GO. I get into the zone and the story starts happening on its own and I'm not an author anymore, I'm just a channel between the world of the piece and the page. That's my favorite. I love watching things take shape. I love shading a sketch for these same reasons. The whole drawing comes together and becomes A Thing and it's the most exciting time to be a creator. Something else inside you has taken over and you're just along for the ride. I have no idea if my experiences are common at all but this is what it's like for me!
What's your least favorite part of the creative process?
EDITING. I HAVE ZERO PATIENCE. THE THING IS DONE. WHY DO I HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING AT IT. CAN I POST IT YET. This leaves me with a lot of holes in what I make and I can't do a very clean, super detailed drawing unless it's for an art class and I'm forced to keep working on it. I have a terrible habit of never proofreading my things!
What's your favorite type of scene to write?
AAH hard question! I love writing description and places where I can really let my inner 19th century romantic be unleashed but I also love a good emotional moment between two characters. Something tense. I like fight scenes, but I try to keep them brief and interesting. Sometimes I find scenes where I have no idea what's going on and I try to avoid that, but it's really hard sometimes.
What's the hardest for you to create?
I have so much trouble with endings. I can generally figure something out, but there's always a moment of panic before the end like "heck I wrote everything I wanted how do I wrap this up????" That's probably a byproduct of me planning nothing XD I sometimes have trouble with characterization and making sure everyone acts the way they actually would. The hardest part is continuing after you have an "oh heck what do I do now" moment that breaks you out of your zone and all of your ideas and plot threads turn invisible or evaporate or go wherever it is they go when you're looking for them.
What's your favorite genre to write?
ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST. Wellll... scratch that. I love something adventure-y and plot driven with a lot of really meaningful character interactions. I've always had trouble putting my writing into genres, but I guess that kind of speaks for itself in a way.
What fandoms do you enjoy creating for?
Linked Universe is the fandom I have created and posted the most for by a LONG SHOT. I found LU shortly after making my tumblr and I joined the Discord shortly thereafter. Since then, it has been nonstop inspiration and creativity for me! I tend to get sucked into one fandom and it consumes me for a few months before I silently drift out of it and never think about it again. LU is the fandom I've been the most active in EVER though—and it's still going—so there's a good chance I'm never getting off this ride.
What's the work you are most proud of?
AAAAAAAAAAH MY BABIES. okay um here's the first and only fanfic I've ever posted anywhere but I'm really happy with: https://sky-squido.tumblr.com/post/618964544219463680/turn-back-time-a-linked-universe-fanfic
I have a lot of other pieces kicking about, but they're not fandom so I haven't shared them yet. I probably will after I touch them up a bit.
Do you have any fics inspired by real life stories?
Not really? I don't really know where my ideas come from to be honest!
Where do you post your finished works?
my tumblr. I tag stuff #squido writes and #squido draws so you can find them easily. I also put them on the discord but they get lost in the stream of other works pretty quickly so stick to my tumblr.
I also have an ao3 now! https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_squido
If you have any fun stories about the pieces you made, please do share!
Turn Back Time was actually live written in the Discord, but entirely unplanned and in the #angst channel! It was just a headcanon but then I started describing it and like 2 hours and 5k words later I'm sitting in the Discord like "what just happened??"
33 notes
·
View notes
Note
Oh wow, you two have been friends for a long time then! I know what's that like, I've known my best friend who lives in Spain since we were 8! Definitely awesome to have someone like that in your life. Are you still going to be roommates when the baby comes? And that was really thoughtful of your ex making sure you didn't travel alone.
Canada is really cold tho, so if you're okay with that you should def move there! Ah well, I'm doing better now so that's what matters, all the horrible worries I had when I lived back home are gone atm.
Yeah, that's the spirit! you can do all US states even if it takes you 43 years, that's plenty of time! hahaha And your welcome, it's one of my favourite fics.
Your mind is great, don't worry. At least something good came out of it haha.
Oh so people make her a pisces then, I see. I've met a pisces who was kinda like Dani once so that's why I said she has that kind of energy, but she def has fire on her chart too. And yeah I can see some virgo traits in her, but she's very sensitive and a bit naive so I guess pisces makes more sense.
I had to look up what a badger was hahaha never heard of them before.
I'm sorry you had to go through that. Sounds scary. And you still have to take medication bc of it. The threat of catching covid must've made that 10x worse too. And I can only hope to learn from my mistakes at the very least.
People who made thobm are fucking savages tbh hahaha. 😂 Kinda wish they had cast Oliver as Jamie like they originally intended but then we wouldn't have our damie... don't know what's worse honestly.
Oh Yorkshire accent is pretty cool too, isn't the lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys from Yorkshire? Honestly think all the language variations and different accents that come with each region are really fascinating. And that happens with all languages, not just English. Wish I could speak all languages in the world, that would be a cool superpower! I guess it makes sense you like American accents more bc it's so different from yours. I've become desensitized to North American accents just bc I hear them all the time, but I see how it would be more appealing to you.
Oooh I love that possibility of it becoming a real fic soon hahaha. Worst part of letting it cook is that I already have the finished illustration in my head but the transferring to reality part is not working rn. Wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy tbh.
You def had a busy weekend and start of the week! I have a virgo in my life rn too I know the struggle. Her birthday is this weekend in fact. I had an okay weekend thank you! Managed to catch up with that pirate AU you recommended and I'm already planning fanart for it that will probably never see the light of day haha! Are we going to have more smut this next MoU update? (need to know for scientific purposes 🔬)
Yeah we've been friends for years we met when we were 14 and are still friends now at 27 so it's been one of my longest friendships I have a friend that I met at 4 but we're not as close as we once were still really good friends but not best friends haha!! aww that's so cool that you guys have been friends for that long!! Yeah we're still gonna live together when the baby comes- we're looking for a bigger place right now to make room for the baby and her boyfriend (he still doesn't live with us yet but will soon.... *insert gif of Monica Gellar one friends saying "And now I have to live with a boy" while crying*
Yeah my ex is a super thoughtful person and she just didn't want me travelling so far alone when I had never flown before because when I went to Paris with my college we drove there and went on the Eurostar and it took us 13 hours to get there but I had never flown before going to LA and I picked an 11 hour flight for my first one so she wanted someone to fly with me she's a very thoughtful person
I LOVE the cold weather I am so sad right now because it's bene quite warm in the north of England I can't wait until it's like -3 degrees Celsius during the winter nights again so I am sure I would love Canada
I am fine with it taking me 43 years if that's what it takes haha I just wanna hit all 50 states I think it would be so fun to do it and to be able to say I'd done it.
Haha thank you!! As long as something good comes out of it that's all I can hope for but there are times I've done things and people are like "And you're allowed to teach kids?" Like I can be really dumb sometimes haha.
Yeah I've seen a couple of fics where she has been a pisces I think with it never being said and with VP never saying what she thinks she is people have looked at her personality and matched it up to zodiac signs- a lot of the pisces I've met haven't been like Dani like I said but I do trust what people who know more about zodiac signs say because I know nothing and I just pick a random date each time so CBML she's a Leo and MoU she's a virgo and in SLS she's gonna be a Scorpio because that's just how I've done it haha but I really know nothing about zodiac signs other than what you have told me!!
There different types of badgers there are honey badgers and they're more in America here we have a different type of badger and they look so cute but they are really vicious if they feel attacked or scared so try snd avoid badgers... more than that though we just have cows, geese, ducks, swans... lots of foxes but noting dangerous like bears or anything its a very boring place to live!!
Yeah it is pretty scary but I just take everything one day at a time- I actually caught Covid last year because of how much time I was in the hospital having treatments for my condition I caught Covid and ended up in the hospital for a week while they had to give me loads of medication and blood transfusions and had to put me on a fluid drip because I was really dehydrated and that was really scary but luckily I was okay and now I am fully vaccinated so hopefully I won't catch it again.
I think you will definitely learn from your mistakes I feel like some mistakes have to be made in life so you can grow from them
Oh they were definitely savage but I love Bly Manor so much and I will watch it so many more times I can't wait for it to come out on DVD!! Like it was heart breaking but so beautiful and we got such an incredible wlw relationship from it and some great representation and I love that!! Would be interesting to see how it would've affected people had Oliver played Jamie though
Yeah Alex Turner is from Sheffield which is South Yorkshire so again we have a similar accent but it's different because I am from further North but there are things that we say in a similar way because we’re from Yorkshire just different parts of Yorkshire... there are four Yorkshires: North, East, West, and South haha and all are in the north of England
Yeah I think that’s the case every where I think accents and languages are so interesting and I would love to be able to speak any other language but I only speak English in my school it wasn’t seen as being overly important to learn a language and I have tried learning them since leaving school but I struggle now
There are some American accents I love (Southern and Midwestern) so when I heard Dani speak I was like 😍🥵🥰 because I love that type of accent I have become desensitised to some American accents that are just standard ones from watching so many movies and TV shows but there are some accents that just make me do heart eyes haha
I am hoping it can become a real fic soon but I am struggling with some stuff but keeping hopeful with it!! Awwh no I’m sorry it’s so hard for you I hope it gets better soon that you’re able to get it onto a page!!
I have had such a busy weekend and part of the week had a bit of a busy day today too and looking after my niece again tomorrow not rest for me it would seem but it’s fine I don’t mind keeping busy!! Well happy birthday to her I hope she has a great day!!
Oh yay I’m glad had an okay weekend and that you were able to catch up on the pirate AU and that you already have fan art planned for it- even if no one ever sees that fanart!! No there is no smut in this chapter of MoU some implied smut but no actual smut- there will probably be smut in chapter 9 though because y’know... it’s me haha 😂
1 note
·
View note
Note
Ok this is super embarrassing but you’re one of my favorite writers in this uh.. whatever this blogosphere is so!! I wanna try and take a crack at writing my own fanfic but.. I got no idea where to even start. Any advice?
Oh man, I feel awful about this! I didn’t know my inbox had any new messages, so some of these asks have been sitting here for . . . some time.
Anyway, first off thank you very much! Secondly, the most obvious advice is just, you know, “do it.” But that’s infinitely easier said than done. I started writing fanfic when I was around 10 years old, so overthinking it wasn’t an issue, since I thought I was the world’s greatest writer. Assuming you’re not 10 years old and as blind to the concept of literary criticism as I was . . . well, the first step is obviously getting an idea. EDIT: Holy shit, this is long. I’m gonna have to break this bad boy up with headers, like it’s a real blog post or something.
Getting Ideas/Inspiration
I don’t know if you already have something you’d like to write about or if you’re still at the “gee that looks like fun” level of fanfic ruminating, but if you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, turning to the existing fandom is a great place to start!
1: Filling in fandom gaps: I’ve found a lot of my best fic ideas by looking through what already existed and seeing where there was something missing; when I first started writing for Camp Camp, literally only @raenbowsofficial created anything for Gwenvid -- it didn’t even have a ship name yet, and I’m pretty sure the 3 people into it were still throwing “daven” and “gavid” around as well -- so there being zero other fics for it meant that if I wanted it to exist, I’d have to be the one to write it. (That’s also nice if you’re kind of insecure, because when no one else has tried the idea you’re interested in, you have no pressure to compare it to anything else.)
Also, you could take a popular/already existing concept and write it the way you’d like to see it, if the existing fanfics do something with the story or characters that you’re not thrilled with. That’s handy because it gives you a general blueprint to work off of in terms of tropes and broad story beats, while letting you explore something new. Obviously, don’t rip off someone else’s fic note-for-note, but being inspired by someone else is a great way to kickstart your creativity! If you do have a specific author or story that you’re using as a jumping-off point for your own writing, I would strongly recommend linking them in your author’s notes at the beginning or end of the fic, and maybe gifting the story to them! You don’t have to, since the creation is entirely your own, but it’s still always nice to acknowledge the people who inspire you the most.
2: Fandom inception. If you want to be a little more direct and literal, there’s always the option of writing fanfic of a fanfic or fanart that you really love, if there’s a universe or story idea that you like, and you want more of it. As long as you give credit and notify the original creator, I think you’d have no issues in terms of fanfic etiquette, and I imagine they’d be honored to have inspired your own writing. Fandom is a very collaborative experience, after all, and we’re all in this together! :)
3. For more general “I have a vague idea of what I want to do (the ship, or maybe a tiny plot bunny) but I’m not sure where to go with it,” my biggest recommendation is music. Especially folk indie-rock music, which is 90% angst and 100% haunting. And again, looking at fanfic/art is a great way to get inspired -- I have a tendency to put up a particularly good or emblematic piece of fanart/fic in another window when I’m working on something tricky to write, just for something to stare at when my ideas start running dry (shoutout to @doritofalls, @ellohcee, and the aforementioned RA for being my go-tos when I need to stare at something pretty to feel inspired; there are absolutely others, because this fandom is filled with absurdly talented people, but those 3 are my heroes of inspiration and if you SOMEHOW don’t already know them, fix that immediately).
Wow, that’s a lot and it’s literally just all about getting an idea . . . which you might already have. Yikes. For the sake of people who have to scroll past this, let’s put the rest under a cut:
Fleshing Out the Idea: An Ode to Outlines
Some people are able to just sit down and write something incredible from a vague idea, and the story just builds on itself without any sort of planning or organization to guide them along the way. These people are named Cipher/Campernetics, and we hate her for being unfairly talented.
For the rest of us, outlines are essential.
My outlines tend to be insanely specific, because I’m very afraid of letting a single idea slip through the cracks, and I build on them over time as I get increasingly sure of where the story’s going. The early outlines tend to be extremely vague, with lots of “and then something happens” connecting major plot points. An example for a current WIP I’m doing right now:
(Seriously, “Julia and everything”? Future Forest is going to be so pissed at current Forest when she reaches that point and realizes she has no idea what she’s doing)
And as the story starts to take shape and a plot eventually forms -- they tend to take at least 10 chapters to materialize, but they do generally show up! One of the great things about fanfiction is that plot is largely optional, though, so no worries if you’re starting without a full story idea -- I find myself writing more and more details down, if for no other reason than that I want to make sure I remember what I was thinking when I finally get to that scene (because I have absolutely gotten to a point in a story and forgotten what I’d had planned. It sucks). Here’s an example from another fic with pretty significant spoilers if you can figure out which one it is oops:
I’d recommend keeping your outlines pretty simple, at least to start with: words and phrases, rather than whole-ass sentences like the above. The complexity will develop as your ideas do, so no need to wrack your brain trying to write out the entire story in bullet form.
I use the bolded ideas as stepping stones, more or less; I’ll write out the piece of the story that each line represents, which can be as little as a sentence or as much as 4 or more chapters (RIP my most recent long-running fic), then delete that line and move on to the next.
Bolding them isn’t necessary, but it does make it easier to differentiate at a glance what needs to be written. If you keep everything in the same hundred-page Google Doc like I do, this is very important.
Your outline doesn’t have to be well-written, and you can 100% use fillers like “and then something happens here.” I do that all the time -- again, another completely different story:
Now, the vaguer things are, the more annoyed Future You will be when it comes time to write whatever it’s bulleting -- there’s a reason I haven’t updated this fic, and it’s because I have zero idea what the everliving fuck “Pinky-and-the-Brain-ing all over the place” means -- but it’s really good for when you’re first getting started sketching out the vague outline of your fic. The more you panic trying to figure out all the twists and details at the very start, the less likely you’re ever just going to sit down and write the damn thing.
(This might be why I don’t write plot-heavy stories, to be fair. Mystery writers very well might have to have it all planned out from the get-go, and I’d recommend chatting with someone who’s a bit less “coffeeshop AU” and a bit more Agatha Christie for that kind of advice.)
Knowing When to Post
There are people that exist, who have amazing self-control, who can wait until their entire story is written and then release it in sections, at regular intervals, until the story is completed.
I am not one of these people, though I try to be with literally every single fic I’ve ever written.
Personally, I do this until I reach a point where I get stuck and need validation, and then post what I have in a giant chunk and then don’t update it for several months. This is almost universally known as the worst way to write fanfics, both in terms of getting interaction from fans and keeping readers from wanting to kill you, and if you have the ability to write the entire thing and sit on it until it’s ready to be shared, you are a hero.
Alternatively, if you can actually stick to a set schedule of writing it as you go and still update with a new chapter every X days, you are not human and I’m terrified of you, because if you find a way to weaponize this power you will rule the world.
Honestly, a good rule of thumb? Post it when you’re ready for people to read it, whether it’s done or not. Not all works will get done, and it seems mean to deny people the delicious little stub you’ve written even if you’re not going to finish it. When you’re happy with what you have -- or are so tired of looking at it that you need to post it or you’ll throw your computer out the window -- just do it and let out a sigh of relief, then either take a few days before going back to writing or just jump in immediately like a goddamn masochist.
(I have tried to get far enough ahead that I can start posting the already-written stuff on a schedule, figuring by the time I’m caught up I’ll have completed the entire story and won’t have any awkward gaps. Ahahahahahahahahaha that has never once worked.)
If you’re not certain about your writing, get a beta! The fandom is full of talented people who’d be happy to read over your work, and if the person you ask doesn’t have the time or spoons, they probably have a few ideas of other people you could reach out to. You don’t need a beta, but it always makes me feel better to have another set of eyes look over my writing before posting, and my beta always catches things I completely missed. Plus, you get a nice taste of that sweet, sweet validation we all crave.
This . . . is a bad guide. Just in general. The advice is . . . not good, and I think it’s largely useless. But I keep trying to think of useful things to add to it and coming up empty, so I hope something in here helped, and if you’d like to bounce your ideas off of someone, feel free to shoot me a message! Talking ideas over with friends is a great way to flesh them out as well, and I am happy to be anyone’s fandom friend.
#ask forest#forestwriting#legit no one is going to read this and i'm not saying that to judge anyone#in fact i'll lowkey judge you if you DO read all of this because why#Anonymous
9 notes
·
View notes
Note
Since you mentioned being in the mood for asks: I think I like my best friend. She knows I'm not straight. But has never actually said she's not straight but has discussed possibility of her sexuality being fluid? She doesn't open up to anyone. And so it's really hard to understand her feelings and I am always afraid of crossing the line by asking her too many questions? So I just avoid asking a question twice. I know our friendship will be ruined if I let her know about my feelings ( 1/2 )
But idk what to do with all these pent up feelings :( she gets close to me but then seems to be very distant after a while. Back and forth. Idk what to do. Especially with all this time in my hand during quarantine all I do is overthink about everything in my life including her. Oh no I'm ranting. Sorry have a great day !!! Love you Katie !!! 🖤🖤🖤 :) ( 2/2 )
hello dear!! 💜💜💜 okay first and foremost never never feel like you have to apologize for sending long/multi-part asks/rambling/etc i adore getting asks and it is never something you should feel bad about!!
now, onto advice here...there are a lot of different options ofc for what you could do, and i won’t say that there’s one right answer or one thing that’s better than another. i am and always will be an advocate for communication and honesty in relationships/friendships/etc, but i think the first thing that needs to happen is you need to decide what route you want to go
the kind of key directions would ofc be to 1. explain your feelings and see if she feels the same 2. decide that you do Not want your current friendship with her to change and that you would rather move on from being interested in her without mentioning that you have feelings or 3. keep on the same path you’re currently on and sort of just...wait it out
uhhh i will say that option 3 is usually...one to avoid, if you can. specifically bc this will probably leave you feeling Bad and that’d be something that’s uhhh not good lmao
so say you want to try telling her how you feel, naturally this comes with the risk (as you mentioned) that she might not feel the same/that you might ruin the friendship by saying something about it, but unfortunately...there’s not really much of a way around that risk. that said, and keeping in mind that idk her or how she tends to act/react to certain situations, there are probably ways to go about this that mitigate some of the risks
if i were in your shoes and decided i wanted to go this route, i might genuinely try to keep it as lowkey and casual as possible, and try to avoid making it some Big Thing™. i’d probs just say smth like ‘hey y’know i think i might have feelings for u beyond just friendship, i wanted to just let you know in case you felt the same, but if not, no worries! it doesn’t change that i still want to be friends with you, and i obviously am not gonna act any differently toward you if you don’t feel the same.’ like. i would try to make it clear that 1. i wouldn’t want anything to change if she didn’t feel the same and 2. that i have no expectations of her
especially since it sounds like she’s still figuring out who she might be into, i might also add something like ‘i totally understand you’re still figuring stuff out, i don’t want you to feel any added pressure, just wanted to be open and honest with you’ (sometimes being open can help others open up too!)
now, that said, it sounds like you might be erring more on the side of wanting to move on and get over your feelings for her - which is totally valid! or, ofc, if you tell her and she’s like ‘yeah man sorry i’m just not into you!’ then u would naturally want to move on without making things uncomfy. in that event, i have one very major recommendation: distractions
i get it! it’s hard with quarantine to keep your mind occupied with other things/people/etc, but unfortunately, moving on isn’t something that can just be done, it requires practice and patience and time
one thing you can try is choosing something you already enjoy and finding an aspect of that to dive deeper into. for example, fan of a show/book? go search for fanart or fanfic if you’re into that! come up with an oc just for fun in whatever universe that piece of media is in, even if u never show it to anyone. pick a few blogs you’ve seen who post a lot and check them out, maybe follow if they seem cool! write fic or draw art, whether it be of an oc or existing characters or even just scenes or something! especially try this out even if you’ve never done either of those things before - and don’t get discouraged if those things aren’t perfect, just give them a shot and you might find something you really enjoy! grab a character or ship you usually don’t give much attention to/haven’t seen before and go check out their tag!
along this route, i speak a lot about fandom/fictional media bc that is what i personally use as an escape, but the same goes for activism/politics/languages/animals/other subjects/literally anything that is of interest to you! there is almost always an unexplored aspect of something that you can dive into. but! in the event that you can’t or don’t find anything interesting...
another thing is to find something new! a show you’ve heard about but never watched (or a show you’ve literally never heard of before but like just keeps popping up on ur netflix page), a book you’ve been putting off reading, a youtuber that seems p cool, a skill or language or craft or really, literally anything you haven’t done, and trying it. invest a bit of time and energy and just see where it takes you, let yourself think about this new thing and follow your line of curiosity. some of the best (and worst/dumbest/most cursed) ideas i’ve ever had came from just. randomly following the line of curiosity in my head and seeing where it takes me. hell, that’s what led to me writing fic in the first place!
and be forgiving of yourself too, don’t associate thoughts about this person with any kind of ‘oh shit i’m not supposed to be thinking about her’ kind of reactions, just gently redirect your thoughts to that one episode you just watched, or the question you have about the universe it exists in, or what crocheting pattern you want to try out first, etc etc etc. again, this kind of thing takes time and patience and won’t happen overnight, but you absolutely can get there!
the last ‘distraction’ i tend to go for is revisiting old interests! that fic or book you read a long time ago but still have/still have bookmarked as a fave? pick it back up and give it a reread - the cool thing about stories is that, over time, our perspectives change, and the way we experience the story and the emotions we feel over it change as well. same goes for old shows, esp if it’s been a minute! you can even do this in tandem with the first distraction type and dig back into fandoms you haven’t seen in a while!
it can be hard to remember sometimes - esp while we’re in quarantine! - that worlds exist outside our current interests and spheres of influence. whatever you decide to do, dear, just remember that things will be okay in the end (even if they’re not okay at first) so long as you try to do what’s right for you and be thoughtful and caring along the way. i hope this helped at least a little!
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
finished season two of the magnus archives! here is my s2 livetweet thread and here are my reflections/predictions from season one.
jon:
you are so fucking stupid. so incomprehensibly dumb. it is absolutely incredible how you lack any brain cells at all.
if jon was a dnd character he’d have a plus three to intelligence and a negative two to wisdom. i’m right.
[jon voice] people care about me? Must Be A Manipulation Tactic!
[jon voice, continued] literally everyone except for me is a) a murderer, b) using me, or c) hiding something. i, however, am totally fine and also sane and if you imply otherwise you are definitely Hiding Something and i need to stalk you.
seriously it’s a goddamn miracle he wasn’t fired or didn’t just like....explode on the spot
that awkward moment when you befriend a cop and get tapes that may lead to your successor’s cold murder case being solved but in the process you learn that you and your place of employment are actually owned by The Great, All-Powerful [REDACTED]
it’s so interesting listening to a man’s mental health and sanity decline in real time!
martin: do u want some tea? jon: you’re going to kill me huh?
[jon voice] it is a good idea for me to enter these dangerous tunnels alone on multiple occasions. i am fine.
his fatal flaw is still pursuit of knowledge. love that for him.
baby please you work for an entity that probably literally thrives off knowledge.......please grow some brain cells in season three before you literally die doing something stupid
i literally can’t say anything more about s2 jon that isn’t me just repeating “stupid dumb paranoid baby” over and over again
martin:
martin [shaking hands emoji] me
playing the mediator as our family loses their minds around us
martin blackwell recieves everything he has ever wanted and needed challenge!!!
baby i love you
HE CARES SO MUCH AND NOBODY CARES ABOUT HIM.......
martin’s job this season is literally the concerned husband but we’re not ready to talk about that yet
my dude really stepped up at the end! he was gonna fight michael in hand to hand combat for jon and sasha and i’m so proud of him!
martin went from baby to hold my flower
martin saw some shit in season one and now he’s a badass
his poetry.....i cried i literally love him so much
when he was talking to tim in the tunnels and he just breaks. and yells. and says he wants to get out of here and save jon and help sasha and be happy and you know what if everything DID turn out in the end that would be kind of nice actually!!!!
we didn’t see much of him this season but from what we did, especially at the end......the character development.......he’s so much braver now, so much more ready to confront the horrors of the world around him. martin is one of those special people that runs on love and uses love as a driving force to fight for the things he needs.
i hope someday martin gets to sit down in a nice little cottage in the middle of nowhere with someone who loves him and just. relax. it’s what he deserves.
tim
you are the only bitch in this house i ever respected
literally just trying his best
so incredibly valid
GIVE HIM A BREAK
as someone who is the least confrontational person on the planet i really respect and admire tim calling jon out on his bullshit
that scene was so cathartic.....god.....
@ THE ELDRICH BEING RUNNING THE ARCHIVES CAN YOU PLEASE LET HIM GO HE JUST WANTS TO LEAVE
tim at the beginning of s2: hey jon you okay? you’re acting weird and it’s kind of freaking us out
tim at the end of s2: fuck archivist lives and jon in particular,
and you know what? he’s right
i hope tim gets to go home. it won’t happen but i can dream.
are we just gonna brush over that part in the finale where michael just???? bamfed them to another dimension or something????? because neither tim nor martin seemed the least bit phased
honestly tim/jon has rights. i enjoy it.
he’s just so angry and hurt and done. he’s reached his limit. goodbye
get tim out of the archives s3!!! do it!!!
gertrude
wow i love you
every time i hear gertrude’s voice i just go [one thousand teary-eyes emojis]
there’s a lot we don’t know and there’s a lot that she knows. i wish we could like. raise her from the dead or something. altho honestly with a horror podcast who the hell knows
jon listening to/hyperfixating on gertrude is just a fancy way of him claiming her as his new mother figure
GOD I LOVE HER I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT HER CAN WE GET A SPINOFF PLEASE
basira and daisy
the only cops with rights
that part where tim thought basira was jon’s girlfriend and they both dissolved into gay panic.....priceless
daisy step on me challenge. i’ve met her twice and i love her.
honestly basira is such a badass. stealing from the cops while being a cop? that takes guts and i really respect her lack of respect toward cops while being one
not to mention that entire business with that sentient cult darkness shit. she killed it in there (no pun intended). give her like a purple heart or something idk how cops work
daisy.....please tell me your secrets. what have you seen. what do you know.
melanie
please work for the archives i am BEGGING you
my ghost hunter girlfriend
i love her and jon’s relationship. just pure loathing. tension between the hunter and the archivist. i live for that shit.
but under that it’s like Oh Shit I Actually Care A Lot???? like their loathing comes from their businesses being judgemental enemies, but personally they actually have a lot in common and care for each others’ wellbeing.
i really hope melanie sticks around so we can learn more about her and see her friendship with jon grow into....an actual friendship
shes also a total badass and both her research and deducing skills are so good. she’s just a great archive candidate overall.
michael
[REDACTED]
what the fuck are you
what the fuck do you want
why do i like you so much.
okay there’s a lot more going on here but i’m putting my predictions under the cut!
okay lets check out my predictions from last time.
okay this one was partially right! “entities” rule the world apparently, and the archive is run by one of them. sort of got that!
.....yeah that didn’t happen.
hell yeah! i’m proud of myself for this one, even though the time loop part wasn’t true. i thought “time loop” because her voice started echoing when she hit the table, but turns out that was just her crazy long copy taking over. oh well!
nope. gertrude was killed by elias, apparently. fucker.
WELL.........
okay. this one is complicated because i was sort of correct but there’s still a lot of information i don’t know. gonna give myself half credit for this one i think.
REMEMBER IN THE FINALE WHEN MARTIN THOUGHT HE SAW SASHA AND TIM HAD TO STOP HIM FROM RUNNING IN TO SAVE HER? YEAH.
okay, season three predictions. let's go.
(disclaimer: while i haven’t been actively looking up spoilers or engaging in the tma tag, i also haven’t muted the tag or anything associated with it. i have ideas of what’s to come but they’re vague and mostly come from fanart on my dash/timeline).
jon just gives up. he’s having to much of a crisis to do anything other than his job.
jonmartin endgame still
michael becomes a sort of??? constant presence??? at the archive. everyone just kind of accepts it.
the books and the entities make a lot more things make sense. that’s really vague i know but like.
predictions for the entities:
fire/destruction
knowledge (jon stans rise up)
empty/alone (these stories always get to me the most. the ones where you’re endlessly falling or trapped in a cave or can’t sleep or stuck in space. shit scares me more than anything else)
chaos (i think michael is with this one. the doors also fit into this category, and maybe that shipping company)
death/id (brings out the bareness of human instinct. the meat, the bloodlust, and the death. maybe even the bugs go here, but they’re confusing. i don’t know where they fit.)
each entity represents a deep-set human fear. they were created to either teach us lessons or keep us in line.
sometimes they have devoted followers. sometimes they have disciples or avatars. you can lose yourself to them if you aren’t careful. jane was probably an avatar, that girl with the heat powers on hilltop road was an avatar, that guy with the lightning powers was an avatar, etc.
the books can teach you how to connect with the entities, but you have to be actually insane to try it. (if you aren’t already, you certainly will by the time you finish the reading/ritual. if you even survive)
anyway back to actual plot.
jon learns more from gertrude’s tapes about elias and the archives. maybe even the entities. he doesn’t want to know, but as we’ve learned, he Just Can’t Not Know.
jon finally grows a brain cell and lets people (martin) take care of him. a little.
tim is just there. he hates it but he can’t leave. (someone please get him out this is so sad)
melanie and basira join up with the archive, but for different reasons. melanie because jon asks her to, basira because despite her best interest she couldn’t stay away.
at the end of the season we’ll either meet a powerful avatar person of one of the entities themselves. that will be.....interesting.
elias gets hit by a bus. won’t happen but i can dream.
what ever happened to that one man from season one who had the dreams about death? i loved his statement. is there anyone out there like him? will jon receive a message like gertrude did?
WHAT IS THE LIGHTER FOR. i completely forgot about it until i looked at my last predictions and saw it mentioned.
martin is more active in tapes (again unlikely but i can dream. i love him)
that’s about all i got! i’m going to post this and immediately start season three. wish me luck :)
#tma#the magnus archives#tma season 2#jonathan sims#i love any cryptic laughter but please no actual spoilers!
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
Yugioh S3 Ep 36-37: Local Mom-Friend’s Weird Trick, Doctors Hate Him
Hey y’all it’s a surprise midweek post because I’m in Canada this weekend woo. Surprised I even got this post done, TBH, I finally get some time where I’m not commuting around to and from San Francisco or corralling small children and I can just sit at my computer and focus and have some peace and quiet and I got--a mysterious sickness from all those kids! *yay* So, since I can’t really focus on anything, I’ll type in here and see if any of my words make any sense at all and hopefully I won’t go on some weird ass tangent like I tend to do like every other post.
So Yugi is still dueling Kaiba, much like he has for the past like...it feels like 4 years. I know I’ve only seen 3 seasons but this is...this is a really long duel. Maybe because there was a month-long break for me in the middle, (during which I watched the entirety of Evangelion, 2 Seasons of Gotham, Stranger Things S3, and the disappointing season of One Punch Man so like...I’ve had some time away from Yugioh) or maybe...maybe it’s because they’re actually playing card mechanics that go more in depth...
But yeah, despite everything, they’re still dueling.
And honestly, I’m looking at that episode number above me and it’s like...so there’s this Kaiba and Yugi Duel and then...only one more duel, right? Is it going to be a ten episode duel? Like unless Rebecca comes back for a weird cameo like...how...?
Whatever, we’ll get there when we get there.
Anyways, everyone who’s been avoiding this duel like the plague is down with the plague victims in the hospital. That’s where Tristan gets a bright idea and it’s one of his dumber ones, believe it or not.
Man, I forgot that comatose Joey Wheeler is still wearing that duel disk Pharaoh slapped on him during all this too, haha.
Also, why does he have to have all these pectoral suction cups while they just kinda...gave up on Mai? I mean I know they can’t show boobies on a Y7 show but like...it really feels like the doctor just kinda shrugged at Mai and was like “I only have one set of boob suction cups, I really didn’t think I’d need more than that, if at all.”
(read more under the cut)
And so Tristan decides that if Joey is at the window which is like...600 ft below Yugi Muto’s duel, a duel you can’t...really see from the ground...then Joey Wheeler will arise.
I mean, it’s gonna work, it’s just also kind of laughable that Joey wasn’t able to hear any of this nonsense from the bed that is two feet away from the window.
But wtv, it’s very dramatic and Tristan gets to cry some more and feel useful I guess.
The haunted underwear mannequin plot-thread was dumped between that episode and this one, and I’m kinda bummed out that more things haven’t turned into haunted underwear mannequins.
Instead of horrific underwear mannequins, Joey’s dream has gone back to the standard fare of Joey picking on middle schoolers and wearing a much better outfit than he has for most of this show.
I will super miss Joey in a fitted suit. Like, soak it allll in horny preteens, because pretty soon, Joey Wheeler will be back in that scruffy oversized T-shirt just like...well, just like how a teenager would be. I mean there’s some REASONS Mai can’t date Joey, but the fact he has a fitted suit he refuses to ever wear is one of the top reasons right under, youknow, the fact he’d need a fake ID to ever go out with her.
It’s kind of amazing actually, how my whole life I kinda just figured this was a show of insane character designs, only to find out when I actually watch the show that there is like a ... REALLY horny line just going all the way through it.
Honestly, me trying to figure out how and when this kid’s show got so damn horny has been a very big mystery I’ve been trying to solve in the background this entire time. Like, I was told “yeah the Yugioh boys get very attractive.” and I was like “ehhhhhhhh I don’t even know what you’re talking about” but, little by little over the past 3 seasons, these animators are starting to draw these boys just waaaaaaay older than these kids actually are. I’m starting to see what people are saying. It’s still not my thing, personally, but uh yeah I can see how this spawned all that fanart now.
Anyways, speaking of, the other day a friend of mine’s sister was talking about how she, as a millennial, has been wired to love very tall skinny boys in skinny pants and very long coats with popped collars and I immediately was like “Lol are you admitting to Seto Kaiba?”
And she meant Cumberbatch Sherlock, LOLOLOLOL.
And so, back on the duel field we got Seto Kaiba, who’s a lot like Sherlock except a Sherlock who is suffering from both short term and long term memory loss. And, who does cards instead of heroin.
They probably both play violin.
Kaiba, despite having arc after arc where his little brother is his main motivation, has decided to just ditch Mokuba and it’s like...either he’s psyching Yugi out or Seto Kaiba forgot he had a brother for a little bit. He might...he might have forgotten. Mokuba is standing behind him, after all.
And so, because Joey is facing Yugi at just the right moment and at just the right time, somehow he can do his little force ability again and just do this:
Thanks, hallucination!Joey.
And out he goes, drawn like a romance anime character lol.
Anyways, he’s back to being a slob so...welcome back, wrinkle shirt, it’s been a while.
And then Joey looks around and actually said this:
“Did someone get hurt?” He asks, after being burned, electrocuted AND drowned just yesterday.
I was kinda very much hoping Tristan would deck him out.
Glad that, as predicted, the moment Mai doesn’t need to be Joey’s main motivation anymore, the moment he puts the cards away, she may as well not even exist. This show and the way they write straight romances.
Please admire the matching lace up boots on the Kaiba Corp’s Emergency Squad. This would be the most obscure Cosplay on earth but maybe the most wearable Yugioh cosplay outside of Bandit Keith because you wouldn’t need a 400 dollar wig.
And then for some reason Tea just loses her mind and has a complete breakdown. She’s been kind of a mess since Yugi walked out like 2 episodes ago, which seems kind of...I dunno, both out of character but very much in character at the same time. I mean we’re assuming they “have” a relationship it’s just never actually say that they do, so her acting like her man is dead is kinda like...it still feels like it comes out of freakin nowhere.
Anyways, Tea who is strong enough to lift this entire plane and who is, in fact, possessed by at least 2 powerful ghosts (remember Shadi did spends some time there and he did NOT like it), is now a seeping crying mess that refuses to lose any more of her hospital-prone boys.
I mean they were going to go anyway, but they let Tea pretend she had any control over that and kind of glazed over this.
Back in this game that no one else is really watching anymore, Seto Kaiba is still monologuing about his entire life story that he’s never gotten any therapy for, except for that time his evil step brother accidentally gave him therapy.
Quite upset we never see the color of Mokuba’s little tuxedo.
Course...didn’t...Noah wear a little tuxedo in that same exact shape? I mean it’s a silly headcanon but youknow...it could be a yellow tuxedo they just happened to find in the back of the closet.
And it’s at this point that Mokuba just lost his lid. I’m so used to Mokuba unconditionally supporting his crazy brother that this would have been the biggest anime betrayal of the whole series, if Mokuba had said any of this outloud (which he wisely did not).
It was like...damn Mokuba. He actually said something along the lines of “I liked you better when you were poor” and it was like. Holy cow, Mokuba. Damn.
Anyway, a bunch of card stuff happens, and Pharaoh has decided that Seto has too much anger in his heart, and that’s why he will lose. Then, Pharaoh played the card proof for how angry Seto is, and if I actually payed any attention to cards, it would have been very meaningful.
But anyways, kudos to Pharaoh on not mind-wiping Seto Kaiba this time or launching him directly off this very tall tower like he attempted to do last time. They actually played a game start to finish with eachother and nothing exploded except for every television in Domino. Progress.
and then Mokuba started crying and initially I thought...wouldn’t he have WANTED his brother to lose but then I kind of remembered oh yeah now Mokuba has to deal with this oncoming aftermath.
RIP Mokuba, I guess.
Anyway, I’m out of town for the rest of the weekend, escaping to the far North to get away from the weather. I should be back next weekend, but if I’m not, I was probably eaten by a bear. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, if you just got here, this is a link to my Yugioh recaps in Chrono order from the beginning.
#ygo#yugioh#episode recap#photo recap#yugioh recap#S3 Ep36#S3 Ep37#Mokuba#Seto Kaiba#Yugi Muto#the return of the orphanage that shows up every three episodes because Seto just can't#He has to tell his life story every 3 episodes or he himself will forget#so I guess the rest of the cast just has to deal with it#Tea Gardner#Joey Wheeler#Is No longer in a Coma congrats welcome to hell#Tristan Taylor#A couple of confused Doctors#some of which are in hard hats#Mai Valentine#Who is still in the refridgerator RIP#Serenity Wheeler#Guest Appearance by Grandpa
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
Month Hiatus
Starting on June 9th, this Sunday, I’ll be taking a month long vacation from Tumblr and from my creative projects. While there’ll be no new content (audios, drabbles, etc…) posted on the blog, the queue will be running so there’ll be daily content throughout the day. I’m taking some personal time off to recharge, get some much needed rest after all the work I’ve done so far, and to do a bit of traveling. It’d be rather difficult to juggle audios, fanfic, and Tumblr while I’m on the road so this hiatus was very much needed to alleviate some stress on my end.
Although I’ll be on my hiatus, I’ll occasionally check-in on Tumblr every few days to answer any messages, asks, inquiries, or of the alike and just to make sure that my queue is running smoothly. While I’m sure there won’t be any problems, worries get the best of me at times.
I should be actively on Tumblr again by July 1st, or a little earlier depending on how plans go. :Dc
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the weekly audio posts…?
I’ll most likely be three episodes behind on Bungou Stray Dogs when I come back, so my plan is just to make an audio for one of the episodes or create an audio that’s an amalgamation of all three just to make things easier on myself.
Where are you traveling?
I’ll be in the southeastern region of Asia, climbing mountains and tracking down jungle chickens, and hopefully catching up on a good book or two that I haven’t read in a long time.
Is there anything we can do while you’re on hiatus?
Just be yourselves, be good and kind people, and help make the world a better place. I’m going going to be behind on my dashboard, so it would be nice if y’all could message me chicken posts, cool fanfics and fanarts, writing posts, and/or anything that would probably make me laugh. Although it isn’t much, it’ll help me out a lot.
33 notes
·
View notes
Text
I made a post yesterday asking if you would be interested in hearing my thoughts on Sherlock and the Sherlock fandom in light of the recent influx of Good Omens-stuff, which has made some people in the Sherlock fandom afraid that the fandom is dying. I received nothing but positive responses, which both surprised and delighted me to no end, so here we are.
This is going to be a bit of a long and rambling one, so strap in.
First of all, I need to talk about some personal stuff that I haven’t really talked about on this tumblr before. That is my Asperger’s (I was diagnosed less than a year ago, I’m still processing it and I haven’t received an “official diagnosis”, just the word of a psychologist specialising in girls and young women with Asperger’s – just putting that out there). I know a lot of people in the fandom have similar problems, so I’m not sure how much I need to explain. But I do want to say that the way Asperger’s is generally written about and portrayed online (on sites like Wikipedia or the like) is, in my opinion, often very negatively worded and gives an exaggerated idea of what Asperger’s is, at least when it comes to milder cases such as me.
A characteristic of Asperger’s is what’s known in English as “restricted and repetitive interests”, which I find to be a very negative term. I much prefer the Danish term særinteresser (“special” or “peculiar” interests). Basically, it means that a lot of people with Asperger’s develop a keen and often very intense interest in a certain quite niche subject – if you’ve heard Cabin Pressure, think of the way Martin obsesses over planes and memorises an enormous amount of plane trivia.
For me, it’s always been an abnormally strong obsession with various media. I’ve obsessed about various franchises through the years, but Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes has been the one and only for at least 4-5 years now. It doesn’t necessarily mean that my interest is stronger than other people in the fandom who spend a lot of time and get a lot of enjoyment out of Sherlock, but it certainly is stronger than the average fan and it has some, shall we say, specific expressions. I LOVE talking about Sherlock – I find it really difficult to describe the kind of excitement and positive energy I get from talking Sherlock, but think of the way children get excited when they do something they love and the excitement is just bursting out of them. I don’t need something new to talk about either. I write meta when I get a good idea or I get inspired by other people’s meta and throw in my two cents, but generally speaking, I don’t need something new to discuss in order to discuss Sherlock. I just want to talk about it! I try to keep it to a minimum on here because I think people… wouldn’t really… care…, but I’d love to discuss things like what I think characterises Sherlock and John, what I look for when I watch a Sherlock adaptation in the characters and in the relationship between the characters, my top ten Sherlocks, my top ten Johns and my top ten adaptations (side note: if anyone is interested in that, PLEASE drop me a comment or an ask, I’d be absolutely delighted).
So… all that to say that I consume Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes and participate in the Sherlock fandom because it gives me an immense sense of satisfaction as well as an outlet for my excitement that doesn’t bother my surroundings. That is what I think the core of fandom is and always should be: enjoying and celebrating what you love unapologetically in a safe, supporting environment, where you don’t have to rein in your feelings in fear of negative social consequences. And I think that’s always very, very important to keep in mind – it’s all about enjoying what you enjoy.
In my opinion, all fandoms should aim to promote that enjoyment and reduce negativity. Of course it’s the internet – negativity is hard to get rid of completely. But, speaking only for myself, I’m here to have fun.
That is why it will always be my opinion that no matter what you ship, that should be met with acceptance and respect. I don’t ship Adlock or Sherlolly (just to mention two prominent ships in my fandom that I am not a part of), but I would never ever argue that shipping Johnlock is “better” or “more correct” than shipping anything else. Shipping Johnlock is simply my preference and, frankly, I don’t consider it my business what other people enjoy. I can join them in loving the show as a whole and then we may go our separate ways when we want to talk shipping. I hope and believe that Johnlock might be made canon someday. But even if it does, I don’t think that matters much when it comes to shipping. Johnlock becoming canon matters for representational reasons and for the people who already ship Johnlock, but shipping is separate from and can live without “the canon stamp of approval”. What’s canon and what’s not doesn’t legitimise some ships relative to others because, again, shipping is about enjoyment and I think everyone ought to be free to enjoy whatever the heck they want to enjoy.
That applies to other fandoms as well.
As a quick disclaimer, I haven’t watched Good Omens. I probably will at some point, it looks really good (but I’m not gonna lie: I’m mainly interested because of Benedict, Mark and the setting).
So… Good Omens. You can probably guess what I’m going to say: people may enjoy whatever they enjoy. Some might leave Sherlock behind and make a full transition to Good Omens. Some might be really into Good Omens now and return to Sherlock in a while. Some might just be experiencing a short crush on another fandom and return to Sherlock very soon. Some might just be dipping their toes into it. As Moriarty would say: It’s all good.
I’m fully familiar with crushes on other fandoms. I go through such phases too every once in a while. I recently went through an intense The Lord of the Rings-phase after watching the Extended Editions and all (yes, ALL) of the additional material.
However, I’m also fully familiar with the fear that you yourself or other people in a fandom are moving on. Whenever I go through one of these phases where I get really into another fandom for a while, I get really upset because I think I might be leaving Sherlock behind. And our fandom is in a very precarious position at the moment. It’s been two and a half years since we last had any new content and that content was… uhm… a mixed bag. We don’t know if we’ll ever get more and, if we will, we don’t know when. And if we won’t get new content, somehow we’ll have to reconcile ourselves with S4, which is really hard. Fandoms tend to stagnate after a while if no new content is added, and I think that’s what a lot of people fear is happening. And it’s a very natural fear, whether you fear you yourself losing your interest in a fandom or the fandom itself shutting down: you don’t want something that has given you so much enjoyment to end.
But I don’t think we’re there. There’s still so much to do and talk about and analyse and create in this fandom. People post new fanfics and upload new fanart every single day. I’m able to reblog tonnes and tonnes of great content from other people in the fandom on a daily basis. I have nearly 1000 followers on here (as a side note, it is absolutely crazy and I am so blessed and thankful to all of you!). Of course, many of them might not actually check out what I post anymore, but seeing as I almost exclusively post Sherlock stuff and have done since the very beginning, clearly there’s still a lot of people who are interested in this content. Heck, even the creators are still desperately trying to keep everyone invested by trying to get us all drunk on themed cocktails.
So my final comments are these: I understand both the appeal of a new fandom (especially a fandom with a cast and crew as supportive of their fans as GO seems to have) and the fear that you or others might be moving on. But I want to stress the importance of having a fandom driven by excitement and enjoyment. So those who are really into GO at the moment should absolutely not be made to feel bad about that. People should be free to post and enjoy whatever the heck they want and that goes for everyone. I, for one, don’t think our fandom is anywhere near done and I will continue to post all Sherlock-Sherlock-Sherlock for the foreseeable future while we wait for S5.
Tagging the people who asked for this: @colourfulwatson @anchored-in-high-tide @catwillowtree @gelos @johnlockedinwarstan @why-are-you-cryingg (your username will not link for me for some reason, I’m sorry, I hope you see this) @cherylbombshellofthegay @royalworldtraveler @flowery222 @ebaeschnbliah @sherlockslove112
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Title: A Storm is coming (Chapter 9)
Fandom: Dark Souls
Characters: Chosen Undead/Dragon Slayer Ornstein
Word Count: 4.546
AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603610/chapters/45222490
Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/184919958639/title-a-storm-is-coming-chapter-8-fandom-dark
Summary: Tempest's training continues. He tries to talk to Ornstein. He learns some interesting facts about Seath.
(Author's note: A fair warning, this chapter contains a few very special headcanons about Seath and it could give you weird mental images in your head.
Also, please look at this wonderful fanart the amazing @velvialines made me.)
“Your stance is all wrong.”
Their swords clung at each other while Ornstein was forcing Tempest against the wall.
“Unnecessary movement.”, Ornstein shouted while Tempest tried to lift his sword for a counter attack when Ornstein had removed his own for the next strike.
“And dead again.”, Ornstein finished, when he had managed to force Tempest on the ground, sword on his throat. The Undead slowly got up, growling.
“It would be easier when you would let me dodge.”, he complained.
“I am teaching you correct swordplay, little storm. I never said it would be easy.” Ornstein picked up the sword and tossed it to Tempest. “Again.”
Tempest mindlessly caught the sword and got into stance. Since they had left the archives around four days had passed and Ornstein gave his all to train Tempest, drilling everything into the mind of the small Undead.
“How much longer do we have to do this?”, Tempest asked and watched as his sword was sent flying.
“Now would have been the time to evade, you are unarmed.”, Ornstein hissed. “And dead.”, he said when once again his sword touched a vital point of Tempest. Tempest himself was grateful that Ornstein didn't actually kill him, even though he would come back to life. Ornstein probably preferred training someone who didn't look like a dried out raisin all the time.
“And for your question, how long we have to do this, as long as it takes.”, Ornstein continued. “The more you try, the faster we are done.”
Tempest sighed and picked up his sword again, turning around and countering the first attack of Ornstein, because in the meantime he had learned that Ornstein wouldn't wait for him to declare that he's ready.
“Oh, little storm, you are learning.” Tempest was sure Ornstein had a grin under this helmet of his and actually felt a little bit of pride swelling up in his chest, which got into panic quickly when the next attack of the dragon slayer hit and ripped a large wound.
Even though Ornstein wasn't killing Tempest, he wasn't holding back when it came to attacking and so Tempest Estus was constantly used during this training sessions.
“In a real fight you won't have time to fumble for this thing to drink. You need to wait for the right moment when you have something like a healing potion.”, Ornstein explained, while he waited for the wound to heal. Tempest had the assumption in the future Ornstein wouldn't let him drink the Estus freely anymore, but would apply more pressure on him.
Tempest fell onto the ground after the wound healed, panting. “I am done for. Can we stop for now?”, he begged.
“Hmph, it isn't even dark yet.”, Ornstein said, but a loud growling of his stomach betrayed the dragon slayer. Tempest couldn't help but grin at the sound, it showed that the dragon slayer was very much a living person and not some kind of unreachable legend from the histories.
“You haven't heard anything.”, Ornstein growled and Tempest was sure the face of the dragon slayer was as red as his hair under his helmet. He got awfully easy embarrassed. That was the first thing Tempest had learned about Ornstein in this few days.
“Let's call it a day and continue tomorrow.” Ornstein collected the swords and brought them to a nearby weapons stand, then turned around to head for the cathedral.
“It is boring training with swords all the time, can't we train with spears tomorrow?”, Tempest casually asked as they went back to the cathedral.
“You haven't even mastered the sword yet.”
“Maybe I am just suited for spears better, who knows?”
“If you insist. But you are gonna regret this.”
This time, Tempest was sure that a grin had washed over the dragon slayer's face.
---
At first when Tempest had made the meals for Ornstein, he had retreated and watched from the kitchen door, which had annoyed the dragon slayer and so he had stepped to the side so that he wasn't in sight anymore, but still tried to watch Ornstein. Which hadn't worked, because the dragon slayer had come to the door and just stared him down with crossed arms and then said, if Tempest wanted company, he should just come sit at the table.
This was when Tempest assumed that Ornstein maybe was the one who wanted the company, but of course the dragon slayer wouldn't admit it. And so it had become common for Tempest to accompany the dragon slayer during his meals. Tempest himself couldn't taste anything anymore and he also was never feeling hungry since he became Undead, but he very much enjoyed the reactions the dragon slayer had about his meals. Also, meal time was a good opportunity for some small talk.
“It is amazing that you have so many supplies left even after several hundreds year.”, Tempest had said one day while cooking.
“Gwyndolin has their methods.”, Ornstein replied to this, watching from the kitchen door.
Today, also, Ornstein was standing in the kitchen door, watching as Tempest prepared the meal. And that after Ornstein himself had gotten annoyed when Tempest had done this.
“You can come in, you know.”, Tempest said while cutting vegetables.
“I can't.”, Ornstein simply replied. “It's to soon.”, he added, very quietly. Tempest shrugged. Ornstein seemed to have his reason. The small Undead was already contempt with Ornstein being much more accommodating these last few days. The dragon slayer genuinely seemed to enjoy training Tempest, even though he acted like it was the most annoying thing during training sessions. Tempest felt that he already had looked through the thick shell of armour the dragon slayer wore. The man behind this armour was much softer than anyone would think and Tempest felt determined to get this shell to crack one day.
“We are going to be friends.. and maybe.. more than that...”, Tempest murmured into the pot and dreamily stirred the contents.
“What are you murmuring about?”, Ornstein asked from the door, startling Tempest who managed to knock the pot down. With a flash, Ornstein was at his side and caught the pot, saying: “Be more careful. You are only making a mess like this.”
“Thank you.”, Tempest said, flabbergasted, the spoon that he used to stir high up in the air. Even though any injuries he had could be healed with a few sips from his estus flask, getting a pot of scalding hot soup over him would have hurt a lot.
“I didn't save you, I just didn't want to waste the food.”, Ornstein murmured, setting the pot back down on the stove, averting his gaze. “Also, I didn't want to clean up a mess.”, he added, wanderin back to stand in the kitchen door.
“Don't worry, you can leave any mess to me. I am quite good at houseworks.”, Tempest cheerfully said and put the prepared spices into the soup. He then put the lid onto the pot, jumped down from the footstool and wandered over to the table.
“It will need to cook a while before it is ready.”
Reluctantly Ornstein came in and seated himself down opposite from Tempest.
“So.”, Tempest started. Ornstein rarely ever started a conversation. “I know you are still training me and I am already thankful for that, but one day we have to go back and eventually slay this dragon, Seath, right?”
Tempest saw how Ornstein's green eyes locked on him, very good, he had his attention.
“Yes? That is the task you have been assigned to. Collecting the fragments of the lord soul and Seath has one of them.”
“Yes, I know, we have gone over this already. It is just... you know a lot more about this world and the lords than me or any history book could tell me. What can you tell me about Seath?”
Ornstein seemed to consider a short while, before crossing his arms and speaking: “The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Seath is, that he was a traitor to his own race. Granted, with his information we were able to win the dragon war and that was also the reason he was granted dukedom and the archives.”
“I know, that is in every history book.”, Tempest said, glancing back to the pot to see if he would need to intervene.
“I never liked Seath.”, Ornstein continued. “I don't know everything he did in these archives, but it were surely some atrocious things. Sometimes maiden vanished and we could never proof it, but I am sure Seath took them. When we asked him to hoard Undead before they got send to the asylum, I am sure we got less back then we originally handed over. Oh sorry, that must be a sour spot.”
Tempest had looked at Ornstein with a blank look. Being undead himself and having brought to the asylum, it was indeed a sore spot. But it wasn't like Tempest couldn't understand their reasons. Seeing what a dangerous land Lordran was, now that it was swarmed with hollows... “Don't worry about it, please continue.”
“Seath misses scales, I am sure you have seen this when you barged into his study room.”, Ornstein said and glared at Tempest before adding a “little storm.”
“I have seen that he was covered by crystals .”, Tempest answered. “That was before I got killed by his crystal breath.”
“This information is new.”, Ornstein murmured. “He must have tried to replace his scales with twinkling titanite. Seath kind of obsessed over it. The crystal golem we fought must have been a side effect of his studies, as well as all the crystallized hollows.”
Tempest grew impatient: “These are all hard facts. What about Seath's character? Like he acts or what he does? Is there something we can use against him?”
“Seath is a cautious one.”, Ornstein continued. “I once heard him say that he finally has found the way to immortality, but that has been long ago. I have to assume that he has an item or something hidden somewhere tied to it.”
Tempest nodded. “Anything else?”
Ornstein stayed silent for a while before opening his mouth again: “Seath did had almost everyone in Anor Londo inside him or was inside them, but I don't know how we should use this against him.”
Tempest jaw dropped. “What?!”, he started, face flushing to red. From all the things he would have expected, this was the least and even more, the least words he would have expected out of the mouth of the dragon slayer. Still trying to process this information, Tempest continued: “Have you...?”
“No.”, Ornstein shut him off before he could even finish the question. “I said almost everyone. I wasn't one of them.”, he huffed, crossed his arms and turned away. “What do you take for me, seeking to share the bed with a dragon?”
“I am sorry.”, Tempest shrunk down, but then curiosity take over again. “Just how?”
Ornstein deeply sighed. “I shouldn't have said anything, but I have brought this about myself, so I will explain it to you.
Seath invented a magic that made his form closer to that of a god or a divine. This is how he did it.”
“A magic like this exists?!”, Tempest asked excitedly. “And Seath used it to...”
“Yes.”, Ornstein nodded before Tempest could even finish the sentence.
“...How did you find out?”
“When your silver knights flock to the archives every evening, you are starting to get suspicious.”, Ornstein started to tell. “So one day I followed them silently and when I finally had my turn to speak with Seath, the dragon was far too delighted. As if he wasn't expecting to see me at all. Well, I hadn't any intention to go there normally, he is still a dragon and playing chess with him was just awful.”
Tempest now hung on the lips of the dragon slayer. A story from his time in an age where Anor Londo was still in bloom and even though the content was... questionable to say the least.. Tempest already was invested in it. And it was rare to get the dragon slayer so talkative.
“And then he asked me how I preferred it and that was when I understood.”, Ornstein continued. “Of course I denied. Seath still tried to persuade me, but he didn't succeed. He stopped when I threatened to put my spear between his eyes.” Ornstein briefly paused. “Of course Seath was under Lord Gwyn's protection but the threat still worked. Seath probably knew that I would have done it even when it would have meant punishment.
And thus I found out what it was my silver knights were doing in the archives.” He averted his eyes and Tempest could see the hue of red on his cheeks. Of course it had been embarrassing for Ornstein to speak about this.
“It is kind of impressive for him to run a one-dragon-brothel.”, Tempest dropped without thinking and caught Ornstein's glare, shrinking down again, quickly hurrying to the pot to check the temperature.
“I would like to give you a knock for this, but sadly you are right. In short, Seath was one thirsty dragon.”, Ornstein said. “But like I said, how should we use this against him? I for sure, won't strip my armour in front of him and lie lascivious on the ground.”
The thought of Ornstein lying lascivious on the ground without his armour almost gave Tempest a nose bleed and he quickly stirred the soup while pressing a hand against his nose, trying to get the hotness in his head away.
“That is the least bit of facts about Seath I would have expected.”, Tempest said, preparing a plate to put the soup in.
“You asked for it, now don't blame me when you can't get the mental image out of your head.”, Ornstein said. Tempest came over and put the soup down in front of Ornstein. “Enjoy your meal.”, he said and sat down at the opposite of Ornstein again.
After a while of silent eating, Ornstein suddenly spoke: “What's wrong? Your face looks kind of cramped.”
“Huh?”, Tempest hadn't even noticed that he had made a face. “Oh, I am just processing the fact you told me that Seath is basically a hoe.”
“Yes, you can call him that, in a blunt way.”, Ornstein said, taking another sip of the soup. “There were rumours he did it to make Lord Gwyn jealous. Seath had this very obvious, large crush on our Lord and he was the only one to not notice it.”
Tempest was glad that he didn't eat or drink anything, because he would have spat it out otherwise: “Excuse me?!”
“Seath had a crush on Lord Gwyn, how hard is that to understand?”, Ornstein said, an annoying glance fell into Tempest's direction. “Or have you never heard that a men could be attracted to another men?”
“No, that's not it.” Far from it actually, Tempest very well knew how it was to feel attracted to another men. After all, it had been like this for him his entire life. Also, it was more a dragon having a crush on a god, but Tempest felt like he shouldn't point this out.
“It is just, Gw.. Lord Gwyn had children and a wife. That is very well known.”
“Correct and this is the reason why Gwyn never spared another glance at Seath. He was heartbroken after his wife died and never wanted to enter another relationship.”
“.... Also, Seath probably wouldn't have been the best choice. With him, you know...” Tempest made a respective gesture.
“Now you are getting the gist of it.”, Ornstein grinned.
---
Tempest had gotten a room and a bed assigned by Ornstein, but since he was undead, he didn't need sleep. The dragon slayer however, still very much needed his sleep. Tempest found it excruciating boring to just wait the night lying on the bed, so he made it his habit to explore the cathedral in the nights.
The cathedral looked so much smaller when Tempest had searched his way to the great hall, to fight Ornstein and Smough. He hadn't even noticed how many hallways there have been, how large this building actually was. Or maybe he shouldn't have find them, maybe it was the doing of Dark Sun Gwyndolin and they simply had hidden every hallway he shouldn't find behind an illusion. After all, going through Anor Londo and receiving the lord vessel had been a mere test.
Thinking about this, while Tempest wandered the hallways, he started to feel incredible sorry for Ornstein. He must have been aware about this and was still tasked with fighting a battle he eventually had to lose. He probably had already found peace in dying at this place and then Tempest came and failed to give him the kill he desired. Tempest suddenly understood why the dragon slayer had been so mad at him.
After all, Tempest knew very well how it was not being able to die properly.
While Tempest was lost in his thoughts, he crossed a door that he hadn't seen before. Curiously, he opened it and slipped into the room.
Tempest gaze fell on a large table with a set of chairs next to it, one of them being particular large. A stack of paperwork was put down on the table, next to it were laying a few scattered pieces of paper, looking like notes, reminding Tempest of the orange soap stone messages Undeads from another world would carve into the ground.
But what was the most notable thing where the big wooden boards that stood around the table, along where the chairs where and when Tempest went to investigate, what stared at him were awesome accurate depictions of the knights of Gwyn.
Lord's Blade Ciaran, Artorias the Abysswalker and Hawkeye Gough were all staring at him, carefully painted, each stroke seemed to carry the weight of a thousand memories. Tempest slowly walked around them, taking them in. There wasn't a wooden board that depicted a painting of Ornstein.
“I wonder if he uses this room when he feels lonely.”, Tempest mused, sitting down on the table and scanning the messages, taking one of them and folding it open to see the contents.
It were encouraging messages. Each and every one of them signed with a different name. Each and every one of them addressing the recipient as captain. Tempest flipped through a few more of them until he came to ones which weren't signed anymore. Instead, the handwriting was always the same and it were little messages and notes that encouraged the dragon slayer to partake in a certain activity.
Ornstein had mentioned that he and the executioner had been in a relationship, so Tempest assumed that these were from Smough. He quickly laid the notes back on the table, feeling a bit bad for having seen something that intimidate and quickly left the room.
Tempest continued his trek through the cathedral and stopped once he came at a place which probably had been used for the roll call, near the silver knights quarters. There was a big blackboard and a table with a wooden box on it, which had a slit, as if someone could put something into it. Tempest wondered if the notes he had found originated from this box.
It wasn't really important right now though and so he shrugged and decided to get a book to read until Ornstein awoke. The library of the cathedral paled in comparison to the dukes's archives, but there were still quite a few books there. Tempest mostly enjoyed reading the history books, totally intending to ask Ornstein about what was true and what was exaggerated .
The next day at breakfast, when Tempest had sat down at his usual position opposite from Ornstein, he asked the question he was the most curious about: “You were once the knight of the sunfirstborn, right? What was he like? He isn't mentioned in any book anymore. I wonder how people even knew he ever existed.”
When Ornstein visibly froze, Tempest knew he had made a mistake.
“We don't talk about the master here.”, Ornstein replied coldly. “And don't ever ask me about him again.”
That must have been a touchy subject. Tempest muttered an apology and spent the rest of the breakfast half hidden under the table. He started to wonder if there had been something more between them. Ornstein was around a thousand years old, Tempest hardly could believe that he had only one partner. On the other hand, looking at Ornstein, Tempest could very well believe that this guy would stay abstinent for hundreds of years. He just eradicated that aura of correctness, mostly when in armour. His composure only seemed to crack a tiny little bit when he was outside or when he thought that nobody watched him.
“It is as if dragon slayer Ornstein is a persona...”, Tempest muttered, unaware, that he had said it out aloud when he felt Ornstein's piercing gaze on him.
“You better leave now.”, Ornstein said and Tempest knew that he had screwed up, again. With another muttered apology, Tempest left and decided to wait at the training grounds, sighing internally, because he expected that Ornstein would be particular hard to him today.
When the dragon slayer arrived a little bit later, Tempest was surprised to see that he actually had brought spears instead of swords. Ornstein tossed a spear to Tempest which the little Undead caught and nearly lost balance, quickly using the long shaft of the spear to readjust himself.
“So.”, Ornstein started. “Even though I think it would be better to continue training with swords instead, I must admit, that it is a good idea to branch out to other weapons and see if you have a knack for them.” He presented his own spear. Not the dragon slayer spear, a regular silver knight spear. Tempest noticed that he had been given a silver knightspear too.
“When it comes to spears, you lose some of the versatility of a sword.”, Ornstein explained further. “But you gain a lot of range. And when you use a shield, it is easy to continue fighting even when you raise your shield.” Ornstein stopped for a short while. “I don't use shields though, I always found them to be restricting. And instead of only talking, let me demonstrate what you can do with a spear.”
“Yes, sir.”, Tempest answered enthusiastically.
“Thrust attacks are the most common type of attacks with spears.”, Ornstein said and thrusted his spear forward. “It is especially useful to get a mounted foe on the ground. It was also especially useful to stab a dragon in the eye with it.”
“Next, you can also swipe with your spear.”, Ornstein demonstrated the mentioned motion with a wide swing. “With swords, swipe attacks are more for cutting. With spears, it depends if you use the shaft or the blade. Either way, it is guaranteed to get your foe off balance.
When I think about it, in short, you can say that wielding a spear must feel like your arm has extended. You just need to use that extra range wisely. In my opinion, spears were the most useful weapon to fight dragons. While swords often recoiled at their leftover stone scales, a spear could could bore deep into their flesh and finish them off.”
Ornstein finished the demonstration with a combo attack and a leap, things Tempest had seen him done in their battle.
“I don't expect you to be able to jump like that.”, Ornstein said and faced Tempest, attacking without warning like usual.
Ornstein had been right. Tempest regretted proposing spears for training. When Ornstein was skilled with a sword, so had he reached absolute mastery with a spear. It only took the dragon slayer a few seconds to force the Undead on the ground and after a short while, Tempest Estus was already emptied and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. The next thing he knew, he awakened at the bonfire. Ornstein sat next to him.
“That has been too harsh of me, I am too used fighting with spears, so I accidentally inflicted a mortal wound.”, Ornstein said, head to the side, as if he wasn't able to look Tempest in the eyes. It actually felt like he was sorry.
“I am used to the pain of dying now.”, Tempest smiled. “Besides, I still have humanity left. I won't go hollow that quick anymore. At least for a while...”
“Still, we should get back to swords tomorrow.”, Ornstein said. Apparently, the training session was already over. It didn't surprise Tempest. Appearing fully at the bonfire could take a good few hours. He was unconscious when it happened, but the ash his body turned into, probably needed some time to put it together again. Tempest wondered, if it was possible to observe this process from the outside.
After he had reversed his hollowing, the both of them ventured back to the cathedral where Tempest fulfilled his role of cooking a meal for Ornstein. The dragon slayer still hadn't showed any curiosity for why Tempest was able to cook so well. Whatever, Tempest was sure that he would ask eventually. Or maybe not. The dragon slayer was more willing to talk to Tempest nowadays, but he still didn't showed any interest in him at all besides making him into a warrior.
“Of course it is like this.”, Tempest talked to himself while wandering the hallways after dinner was over. “In his eyes, you are just this puny Undead, nonetheless the one who killed his lover, failed to properly end his life and then came stumbling to him, asking for help.”, Tempest sighed. “And still you wish it would be different, that you had his attention and that he would hold you. Why should he even fall in love with you? I am just a mess! I am not even a real soldier.”
Tempest was far too frustrated to continue his trek through the cathedral right now and since Ornstein had given him his first bath in what had been probably month, Tempest realized how much he had missed that comfort. So he got a towel and soap, things he had found in the guest room, and walked into the changing room, where he got rid of his clothes and folded them neatly, laying his estus flask on top of them, before walking into the area with the public pool.
Tempest carefully entered the water and sat down, sighing when the hot water engulfed his sore muscles.
“Little storm?”, a voice suddenly asked and Tempest jumped up in surprise, turning his head to see that Ornstein had been in the bath all along.
Next chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/185656340374/title-a-storm-is-coming-chapter-10-fandom-dark
#dark souls#fanfiction#dragon slayer ornstein#chosen undead#orndead#oc tempest#multichapter#littlewritesstuff
5 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi! OMG just arrived on this blog and has all the stuff I love 😭 you're such an AMAZING artist OMG. Your art is stunning girl! Your Ososan and TS drawings give me doki dokis ❤️❤️ And Karamatsu it's your Favorite Matsu too? 😭😭💙💙💙 OH GOD. The question, gosh, almost forgot >.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! MYYY EMOOOTIOOONSSS!!!! UGH I’M SO SORRY FOR THIS LATE REPLY!!!! AHHHH AND YOUR WORDS JUST FILL ME WITH HAPPINESS HOLY SHIT!!!! MY HEAAAART!!! AHHHHHHHH I’M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!!
God i feel like a jerk! i’m soooo sorry this is probably so late! i haven’t logged in in forever!!!! I just happened to log in today cause i just needed to get a little fic idea out of my chest (is a new fandom tho, not oso san or SS, sorry :C), so i’m really sorry for taking so long! and you have nooo idea how happy you just made me! ugh i had so many asks and they’re all making me so happy!! i had actually forgotten how it felt to be logged in again!!!
And HELL YEAH Kara is my fave!! have you seen him?!?!?! ugh. i love him. And i have so many ideaaaaas for him!!! but still it will all come once the year is over, so if you send an ask (you or anyone who is reading this) i wont be ignoring you, it’s just that i won’t be logging in for a long time, i WILL answer, ALLWAYS, but it might take me months until i do so.
Oh no sweetie don’t worry! I wouldn’t have been able to tell at all! besides my mother lenguage is Spanish and i haven’t written anything in ages so my english is kind of rusty!
Hmm, let’s se, I learnt about Oso san through a friend, se watched anime like i did and she introduced me to the fandom. It was hilarious cause i’m really picky about drawing quality when it comes to anime. Like, the plot can be freaking amazing, but if i don’t like the drawing style it’s reaaaally hard it to get my vote hahaha. So she showed it to me and another friend, and seeing as it hardly has any continuous plot, she made sure to show us the funniest episodes first. I could be wrong, but i think it was the one when the hearter goes out, and maybeeee we saw the saw parodies as well (could be wrong tho) (also whoa this will get real long real fast, hope you don’t mind!) Now, up till that point i had heard and seen stuff about them, and i was one more person who was like “the hell are people suddenly fanart-ing several Nobitas all of a sudden?” and i never liked nobita (because of the drawing most of all actually).
And the FIRST thing that happened when i watched it was (besides having no fucking idea who was talking at any given time, like they are all the fucking same drawing! and they were together all the time so i couldn’t even get time enough to relate one color (cause that was the only way my mind could at least try to separate them) to one specific voice) was Karamatsu. He was SO FUCKING CRINGEY (PAINFUUUUUULLLLL) (and see, my brother and i actually have always been embarrased very easily by stuff, like since we were kids whenever something really, REALLY cringey was happening we actually turned to another channel while we waited for the embarrassing bit to pass, so it was freaking TORTURE to me), BUT!!! HE WAS SO FREAKING SWEET!!!! (i think we also watched the letters for the fish bit too but i’m not sure) AND EVERYONE TREATED HIM SO BADDLY!!! And i could see he was a big brother type from the start, which is always my favourite trait (i’m an older sister, guess it just gets to me, dont know).
So, anyway, i was hooked. I got home and started watching them even tho i hated the drawing style on principle, and this was on the weekend (he had had a sleepover at my friend’s place), but it was so fucking HILARIOUS! just so freaking clever, i couldn’t stop laughing, i just couldn’t! And Kara actually made me more resilient to cringeyness, like now we’re watching movies with my brother i can actually watch the embarrassing parts while he leaves the room XD; and by monday i was already practising drawing them in class with my friend watching with a smug look hahahaha . I think the first i started to draw was Jyushi actually. I just loved him! But it was Kara the one that stuck.
Ahh... this actually made me really happy, good times and good memories *wipes tear*
And sander sides... actually i found it through vine videos on youtube. I would watch compilations to laugh on my free time and then through recomendations i found the video with Virgil and Roman talking Disney movies and i was hooked. I mean, Thomas is just a wonderful being, cute, sweet, and hilarious af, and this was DISNEY MOVIES CONSPIRACIES, and i have anxiety, so it caught me right away and went to look for other videos with Anxiety there and well. It made my like happier. Seriously.
Just like the rest of fandoms i havent seen any of it in a long time! I know there’s a new video, it’s been out fora while, but i never got around to watch it, and to be honest, i’m actually avoiding all these things, cause i want to truly enjoy them and be able to draw and write and just be around everything and i know i won’t be until i’m done with this year, so i’d rather get up to date with everything once i feel at ease enough to do so.
Anyway, sorry for the long reply hahaha, and thank you sooo much for your ask, it actually just made my day!
3 notes
·
View notes
Note
hey sorry to bother you but do you think you could possibly tag your campaign one reaction posts?? i don’t mean to be an asshole, it’s just that you’re like a couple of episodes ahead of me and i’ve been pretty good about avoiding endgame spoilers. sorry for the trouble!
Hey! You’re not bothering me at all!
The short answer (for you): I’ll try my best to tag “vecna arc spoilers” for you, but
I can’t 100% guarantee cause I have a horrible memory, so if it’s super important to you, feel free to unfollow/block me so you won’t see my posts.
I’d appreciate if you messaged me when you’re done so I can stop tagging it :)
The long answer (for all my followers!): I’ve been thinking about the spoiler-issue in general for a while and trying to decide what to do. Apologies that this is long-winded.
I haven’t been tagging any spoilers so far because:
I’m really bad at remembering to tag things beyond fandom names, and I wouldn’t want to lull anyone into a false sense of security by following me then blast a spoiler. I often make 10+ liveblogging posts on Thursdays and probably 50 more about a new episode before the next Thursday. Many of the posts are on my phone, and knowing myself, I’m bound to slip up on one of them.
It’s hard remembering/deciding what constitutes a spoiler for what episode, particularly when it comes to fanart. Is Vax wearing raven-feather wings a spoiler for campaign 1, episode 44, for example? Is Yasha looking sad about flowers a spoiler for the newest episode? I legit don’t know, and again, I don’t want to be an asshole and not tag something that someone would consider a spoiler. Honestly, even contemplating this makes me SUPER anxious.
Critical Role is super long, so the vast majority of it is spoilers for somebody or another. Molly’s amnesia is a spoiler. Caduceus’s entire existence is a spoiler. The very fact that there’s an arc called the “Briarwood arc” spoils the fact that Vox Machina fights them. I would have to tag pretty much every Critical Role post as some kind of spoiler, and that’s a LOT.
I don’t mind if people unfollow, I don’t mind if people block me, because if I was trying to absolutely avoid spoilers then that’s what I would do too. So I kind of figured that if people didn’t like me not tagging stuff, they’d do that.
This last bit is sort of selfish, but I’m just like... trying to have fun. I’m not trying to be methodical at all. Committing to tagging beyond fandom name is something that will bring me anxiety, frustration, and difficulty in an environment where I just want to shout about something I like.
BUT! All this being said! I also do understand why people would ask, and again, I don’t wanna be an asshole. So I’m going to say for now — if you need me to tag spoilers for a limited amount of time and for a very specific arc AND you are okay with the possibility of me slipping up, then I’ll try my best to tag them for you specifically. I can’t absolutely commit to not making mistakes cause that is way too much for my forgetful, anxious self.
If this isn’t cool for you, it’s really really really okay to unfollow or block me — for a short period or forever! I really, really don’t mind.
ANYWAYS sorry that was so long. Just trying to explain where I’m coming from, especially for future reference. Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions.
10 notes
·
View notes
Note
Sorry if this is rude or controversial but personally I don't feel inspired to write a long review documenting what I liked and how I felt when an author doesn't respond to it. I know you say that you read them but it's very similar to your issue in that if there's no acknowledgement then you're not inspired. I don't feel inspired to comment anymore. This goes to you and plenty of other authors out there.
It -is- rude, anon (I appreciate your politeness, but this is a huge problem with fandoms as a whole and it is rude af). And not just controversial– it’s mean, unfair, entitled, and selfish. You’re definitely not putting yourself in a writer’s shoes or seeing it from the side of the creator who is putting the work out there for you to freely consume. Have you ever in your life spent eight hours to write a comment to someone on something they wrote? Yeah, no one has. But that’s how long it can take to get a chapter said and done that you enjoyed. You think that’s a fair distribution of work? Fair by any means?
Me: Spends 8-12hrs of my collective free time writing an 8-10k words chapter update, hopes for a few sentences of what someone likes.
You: Before I even consider writing what I liked, I’m just not gonna do it because the writer won’t acknowledge me for me leaving them a comment.
Also you: why hasn’t this fic updated yet wtf?
Let me see if I can get this straight by what facts have been presented: you want fic which you enjoy reading, which writers spend hours and hours putting work into, and the writer wants 60 seconds of a reader’s time back to say what they enjoyed (not 60 straight seconds of typing mind– that’s quite a lot- but more than a quick “thanks loved it”), and you consider it -unfair- that -you- should spend the time to let the writer know you liked stuff, if the writer doesn’t reply back to you after they’ve already spent hours producing content you probably spent less than 1hr consuming (average reading speed being about ~200wpm).
So it’s not worth it to you to support your writer or let them know the content you’re consuming– again, for -free-, and shared by the writer who already knows the story in their mind and has no other incentive to share it publicly with others except for the incentive of getting comments from others– was enjoyed by you unless they personally get back to you (and by that merit, every other person who comments, which takes away from other time that could be spent writing) so therefore you don’t leave a nice comment? Writers aren’t mind readers, if you want to engage in conversation, go for it! Have a question? Chances are they’ll answer it!
If someone leaves me a question or wants some clarification on something (or is inviting conversation of ‘hey is this happening in this au?’ or proposing something or whatever), I end up answering the comment. If there’s no question, I put what free time I have -back- into producing more content I post online for others to read for free, and when they comment, I flip my shit and typity type type up a storm.
Commenting is like tipping someone for their service. “Hey thanks for the service, I really enjoyed my meal, here’s your tip.” But you only tip if I’m tipping you -back-, anon? What? Like I’m not even sure what you expect back from a writer (if it’s a question answered, yeah, that’s something) but like, do you want accolades back just for commenting? o_O?
And let’s just drop the service/meal analogy all together (cuz you didn’t pay for the fic in the first place, yeah?), and say, you really think you’re entitled to read work without giving back? Aaaaall these choices online, you get to read what you enjoy, and you don’t think you owe someone the courtesy to leave something nice? Or are you feeling guilty and don’t like that I’m calling that shit out? It’s not cool, dude. It’s not nice, nor is it at all a fair thing for you to say or take exception to. It’s WRONG that people stop commenting. That shouldn’t even be controversial jfc like are you aware a lot of writers fully delete their shit because they think people don’t care? You think you’re not part of the problem?
I want to take a second to say I appreciate you being polite, and if you’ve been on my blog for a while you know how fucking ornery shit like this makes me, I don’t know your situation (some folks don’t have the spoons and that’s fair; but this is not your stated case) and it just REALLY pisses me off that it can come off as me, a writer, being seen as some raging bitch just because I think writers should be given their fair due for the massive amounts of work out in. Did you see the post earlier on “just how long is this fanfic?” and it compares them to books? No one is getting paid to write and publish the shit you enjoy (some fic writers do patreon but that’s a minority, and some folks are cool and buy kofis for their writers but it’s not required to read the work).
I'ts a thankless fucking job putting up fic. The best we hope for is a nice comment back about how someone is enjoying the piece. Artsy folks contribute sometimes not in commenting, but drawing art of your shit, because your work inspired them– and thusly added to more stuff for the community to enjoy, which is just fucking RAD. Commenting is GOOD and a productive thing, but I’m still lost over how you think you need a reply back when the writer already gave you so much.
Being on both sides of the argument myself– as someone who -does- leave longer comments and also writes a fuckton– and i’m nearly at 1million words in 3years anon so you don’t have a leg to stand on here unless you expose your identity and have something comparable that you’ve provided free of charge to the fandom at large- I will say this: leaving the longer, documenting comments as you call it -can- take a bit more effort, yes. I’ve got panic disorder, and wanting to leave writers something nice for the effort they put in can make me anxious, yes. It’s more work and can be daunting. But it is SO worth it for the payoff (I.e. Fueling the writer which has them create even MORE).
But seeing the rate at which writers get -discouraged- cuz of lack of feedback on truly awesome work (and a LOT of us creative types are somewhere on the depressive spectrum, comments mean more to a writer than you think) I can stand to put in a little extra effort for how much the relief of escape of reading their freely-available work gives me. I don’t need to ego-pat, but letting them know I appreciate their command of language or little things I haven’t seen before in fic can make SUCH a difference.
And sometimes I just don’t have the time for a documenting-type comment (esp. as a lot of us read in bed when we’re already exhausted; I understand that), and as someone with a busy life outside of the internet, I’ll still leave a nice comment with general impressions and let them know I’m anxious for the next update and I’m loving what they’re doing with characters/storyline/whatever stood out after reading 8,000+ words. Hell anon, there are enough super-popular posts floating around this hellsite about how much a goddamn -keysmash- comment means to someone. There’s a lot of emotion in one of those is the silly thing, but it communicates a LOT.
I can leave writers more than a 1% word tip, if you will, for what they give me. 8 well-meant words on an 8k fic is still better than “thanks I loved it”. And I don’t expect writers to have to thank me profusely for leaving them a comment. They ALREADY did me a favor by putting so much work and time into an enjoyable story for me. They didn’t get revenue from me buying their book. But I sure as hell read it. And they definitely don’t need to waste their time with a generic “thank you” reply when I already know they’ve gotten the notification that the comment is there, and they will see it. They should enjoy the comment I left as much as I enjoyed the story, in my opinion, and sometimes I think my comments fall short, but I still leave several nice sentences for them.
Fandom as a whole does NOT do right by its content creators. No, no one can be 100% on all the damn time, let alone have the spoons to do it. I’m a prime example of fandom burnout.
But to feel justified not giving back? That is some fucked up shit, and people with those mindsets don’t deserve the access they have to so much awesome fanart/fanfic out there, and yes, you should feel ashamed.
#poisonjack answers#sorry about the text wall im on mobile and our internet here is still down so its hard to get access#not commenting isnt fucking cool and acting like its the norm is also not fucking cool. youre cutting off your nose to spite your face#you wanna kill my drive to post anything for others at all anon? cuz youre doin a bang-up job there
21 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
relatablecyclists
The Relatable Cyclist
neangmakara
វត្តពន្លឺវាសា
merlins-house
Merlin Mack
adventure-mary
A little adventure
kokonuzz
Kokonuzz @ Tumblr