Tumgik
#i also wanted to tag other cc's but so many of them have gone through url changes and i cant remember the new ones :(
yutaslaugh · 4 months
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every month of 2023 challenge!
thank you friends @bethereforme @jsuh and @honeydewtual for the tags!!
rules: link your favourite and/or most popular post from each month from 2023 and tag some CCs you love!
JANUARY: ⭐ most popular: yuta in ay-yo mv 💕 favourite: gfx of phantom (i think this is the set i'm most proud of)
FEBRUARY: ⭐ most popular: ending fairy yuta in ay-yo 💕 favourite: stage comp of yuta in ay-yo
MARCH: ⭐ most popular and 💕 favourite: stage comp of yuta in DJ (unfortunately my only set from march)
APRIL: ⭐ most popular: yuta in ep 1 of cool doji danshi 💕 favourite: jaehyun in perfume mv
MAY: ⭐ most popular and 💕 favourite: jaehyun in 230504 perfume stage (only set from may)
JUNE: ⭐ most popular: taeyong in shalala mv 💕 favourite: ahhh compilation for cute to hot taeyong and blonde jaehyun sets for my bestie @/stepmom but also dsc being the cutest with linabell
JULY: ⭐ most popular and 💕 favourite: sweet games trailer (watch dsc's drama!!) (only set for the month again)
AUGUST: ⭐ most popular: yuta performing alley oop at nct nation 💕 favourite: dsc in sweet games ep 1 and new axis live at nct nation
SEPTEMBER: ⭐ most popular: yuta stage comp at SMCU 💕 favourite: blonde ww and jaehyun stage comps at SMCU, dsc's WEDDING in the sweet games finale and dsc in alley oop and wayv stages at nct nation (clearly going through the motions as a dsc idol and actor bias)
OCTOBER: ⭐ most popular: yuta in fact check mv (honourary mention to yangyang's XD bday set) 💕 favourite: yuta's bday set and yangyang stage comp at SMCU
NOVEMBER: ⭐ most popular: winwin on play colour for on my youth 💕 favourite: fave music show outfits on yuta
aaaand no december gifs bc i've been offline </3
tagging: @rainbowrenjun @tyongsies @awek-s @pookiez @renjunniez @lloveorloved @soonhoonsol @sunghanbin @possession1981 and anyone else who would like to do it!
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shuttershocky · 2 years
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So I have a couple 5 and 6 stars who I’ve e2’d, but It’s been burning through my resources (especially sanity to farm the chip packs) to get them up to snuff. That said I’m wondering what 4 stars you recommend e2ing? Doesn’t have to be an exhaustive list, just your top picks or essentials so I don’t have to break the bank so much to keep fleshing out my endgame options.
You did remember to raise your low stars first right? A fully operational base and squad can make farming for these higher rarities much easier.
Now, for five 4 stars I'd recommend raising:
1. Jaye - A no-brainer, Jaye is hilariously overpowered and one of the best assassins in the game with his high damage and lifesteal. Some wish to keep him E0 as his trading post skill is jaw-droppingly good and raising him actually makes it harder to use, but if you also have Gnosis, even this drawback is gone. E2L70 him, get S2M3, enjoy dropping him on enemies and turning them into sushi if they cannot kill him in one hit.
2. May - Nanoda is a Decel-binder disguised as a Marksman. A Sniper with a truly disgusting amount of CC and good damage, May especially shines in IS2 where she has incredible synergy with many collectible buffs. Seriously, get ASPD buffs, Spinach, and any SP regen for skills that charge by attacking, and watch her S1 keep someone permanently slowed while getting bursted down.
3. Cutter - Cutter earns her nuker tag. This Swordmaster eats drones and shits damage, doing a truly ridiculous amount of burst for her low rarity and cheap costs. Her S1 has her throw four throwing knives at random targets in front of her, but if only one enemy exists they can eat all four knives, letting her take a chunk out of many elite enemies. Her S2 on the other hand, is an AOE strike around her with very high numbers that also deals double damage to flying enemies, oneshotting most drones from the ground.
4. Podenco - A Decel Binder that can become a Medic with Skill 1, or throw a poison cloud that slows + silences enemies with Skill 2 for 6 seconds. What's that? You can just get a real healer any time you want and silence is a useless debuff? You won't be so dismissive when she carries you all the way to floor five of Integrated Strategies.
5. Utage - If you see anyone you don't like, you equip Utage with S2 then drop her right on their head. She'll fuck them up. You may be wondering "But she can only be deployed at half HP! Surely she won't win this fight?" She will win. She will Fuck. Them. Up.
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watchyourbuck · 6 months
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20 questions for fic writers!
tagged by @wikiangela @thewolvesof1998 & @lover-of-mine thank you guys!!!🥺🫶🏼
How many works do you have on AO3?
I have 14, although it certainly feels like more bc i have compilations of drabbles
2. What's your total AO3 word count?
I have 111.881 words.
3. What fandoms do you write for?
As of right now, I'm only writing for 911, but I used to write for spn, suits and the mcu. the only one of those i see myself going back to is spn, the others are long gone obsessions.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
(the ones that arent linked are bc i dont really like them anymore). Louis' Little Word Play (Pair: Marvey form Suits). Dangerous Posession (MCU). To fall for a stark (MCU). A Night to Remember (Pair: Marvey from Suits). I'll Guide You Through (Buddie).
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Yes, I respond to them all! Im pretty sure ive missed some along the years tho.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
i feel like i have only one with an angsty ending and its bc i used to think they all had to have a happy ending dfghjjhgfg anyway, its my latest one Not your fault (but mine)
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Its an MCU one, they end up getting married lmao.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
sometimes but its not a lot. sometimes id write something unrealistic within the rules of the AU and they would criticize me but i usually just took it as cc.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
Yes ma'am, a lot LMAOO. I have written pretty much anything, including watersports (which are not my thing but i had it as a request). Only thing ive never written is r*pe or cnc, and skat. no thank uuu.
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
i dont believe i have. i wrote a foursome once but they were all from the same world.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not a fic per se, but an idea.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yes! One time to russian and one time to spanish. i felt really authory FGHJHGH. literally felt like i had made it lmaoo.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
I had a big project with one of my mcu friends from back in the day but we never did it.
14. What's your all time favorite ship?
i think destiel and buddie. they’ve been my roman empire.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
It was a high school AU for the mcu. i loved it so, but i dont really enjoy the mcu anymore and i just dont have it in me.
16. What are your writing strengths?
I think im very good at descriptions of both place and thoughts. i feel like i used to be really good at smut bc i would write so much of it lmao. i hope i still got it.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Finishing something, for once. wrapping up is also really hard. happy endings that dont feel like a low budget romantic movie (im a rejection-aro bro lmao).
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
Well spanish is quite easy bc its my mother language. other than that, if its not one of the 8 i speak, then i wouldnt feel comfortable unless i have someone fluent helping me (not google).
19. First fandom you ever wrote for?
i wanna say spn (destiel) but i never posted it bc it wasnt very good (i was 15 and my english wasnt as good as it is rn), but i did end up posting a destiel fic this year (my first!): The way it should've been
20. Favorite fic you've ever written?
okay so my favorite fic so far is the Prince AU (buddie), which i havent finished nor posted. i literally have written 2 chapters of it but its just... my baby. now posted posted i think its the one i just linked in the prior question. i just love the way i portrayed each of the character's thoughts.
tags! (no pressure tho): @housewifebuck @eddiebabygirldiaz @eddiediaztho @forthewolves @fortheloveofbuddie @butraura @honestlydarkprincess @hippolotamus @fionaswhvre @wildlife4life @disasterbuckdiaz 💗✨
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waitingforeddyneddy · 7 months
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Hello love your account! I have a couple questions if you don’t mind.
The way simone used to talk about bridgerton and her co stars is different than how she talks about them now I agree and I feel like you have to be delusional to not see that…I remember you said you received a DM on twitter about some of the stuff she probably experienced and it wasn’t great so things happened for sure do you have some theories? Also I read so many different opinions about her relationship with cc and I wonder where you stand on that I personally think they were never friends even during s2 (I could be completely wrong) but maybe you think differently. Do you think simone will be in s4 and who do you think will be the couple?
Hi, I can only reply to some of the things you asked because I’m not really in the mood to start another war or get anon hate.
I did receive a couple of dms from people who were in the fandom before s2 even came out. I don’t know if these things are true 100%, all I can tell you is that in all these months I have developed my opinions on them, based on some sort of evidence and things that have happened. I specifically said these are MY opinions, i’m not passing anything as universal truth lmao.
From what I know and from what I’ve seen Simone was graceful and professional during that little promotion Shondaland made her do. She talked so warmly about Kanthony and her fellow cast mates. She continued to be supportive of the show and the new leads months after, whenever somebody asked her about it. She is the only one who gave us Kanthony crumbs after all. She truly is the only captain of the ship 🤗 apart from that, she doesn’t seem to be close with any of the other cast members and honestly there’s nothing wrong with that. Good for her.
I remember there was an interview in which she said she had to dim her light for others and she didn’t wish to do that anymore. I’m not really sure if she was talking about her experience on Bridgeton but considering a lot of weird stuff happened, it could be.
I can’t really talk about CC freely here because I would get harassed. I don’t think they are/were friends. All I know is that she threw a temper tantrum cause somebody was fed up over that lack of Kanthony promotion and decided to edit the official poster by making Edwina disappear. She got offended and blocked people. Mind you the person who edited the poster didn’t even tag her. Then she deleted her twitter account and people got mad at kanthony shippers. There’s also the fact that she really could have used a media trainer cause since she was in every interview people started to notice that her answers were really out of touch. She said something about wishing Edwina had gone all Jack the Ripper on Kate or that she didn’t want to be a plot device. Good for her honestly. Such a shame that the writers decided to take on her request at the expense of Kate and Simone though. There is also another rumor about what happened with CC and the rest of the cast but since people get triggered and I don’t know if it’s true 100% I won’t post it here, I’m sorry.
I don’t think Simone will be in s4. I don’t think they care about Kate at all so her story will be wrapped up in s3 with two or three family scenes. I hope I’m right cause as much I will be sad to let Kate go I also want Simone to get away from those people quickly and do other stuff. She is the only cast member who answered “I don’t know”when asked about s4 so…
I’m sorry if this answer is all over the place, English is not my first language and it’s kind of a prickly subject in this fandom. Also there are things i’m not comfortable enough to share publicly. If you want we can chat through dm someday ☺️
Also the couple will be Benophie or Eloise and that plant guy. I bet on Benophie tho.
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unfoundhoney · 3 years
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little blade ; part two ↠
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↠ p!philza , p!tommyinnit , p!tubbo , p!ranboo , p!nihachu , p!hannahxxrose , p!captainpuffy , p!badboyhalo x fem!reader ; fluff
↠ masterlist
↠ read part one first!
↠ @ochabby @kiritokunuwu @pyrotechnics84
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when you first joined the server you were almost immediately thrown into lore with techno’s (attempted) execution & all that
but out of canon, you became friends with a lot of people
of course phil is your internet father
what world would we be living in if he didn’t adopt you?
ever since mcc4 he’s kept tabs on you
then when you & techno really became good friends phil tried to become friends as well
in a “any friend of techno’s is a friend of mine” kind of way
phil thinks you deserve the world (you do btw) & does not deal with anyone talking shit about you
he has gone on many a rants about how the internet treats you- & other teenaged girls
he’s a mod in your chat & is fucking ruthless
mans has 0 mercy for anyone doing weird shit
he goes through ban appeals & it’s banned forever, banned forever, banned forever
he has no patience for anyone being weird about you or being mean to you
tbh you & tommy never really talked much one on one prior to the raccooninnit arc
in & out of canon you got a lot closer
tommy is a comically bad influence on you
but it’s funny bc you’re just like “no?” whenever he tries to get up to mischief with you
or you just tag along & he’ll try to pin the blame on you
(phil) stop bullying y/n, you fucking child
(tommy) Y/N IS ALSO A CHILD THIS IS DISCRIMINATION AND I’M NOT BULLYING HER IT’S HER FAULT
you & tommy are actually really good friends
when ranboo & tubbo started hanging out a lot more, tommy turned to you as another kid on the smp to be friends with
he hops in a vc w/ you during your streams & just chills
privately, you two have had many hours long calls just talking about stuff
cancel culture, the pressure of being a popular teenaged cc, how the hate you get is affecting you
y’all are really close & understand e/o really well
n e way
you’re part of the bench trio quartet
alright?
i don’t make the rules
you four are an unstoppable force of chaos
you & tubbo are wholesome in the least wholesome way possible
no i cannot describe your friendship any better than that it’s complicated everyone is confused
(tubbo) i’m going to burn down your house
(you) oh :(
(tubbo) with love :D
(you) :)
(tubbo) i am going to burn down your house tho
(you) D:
he teases you a lot & you’re just like “oh no ;(” but he would never actually do anything to upset you
he would feel so awful if he ever did & would apologize over & over for it
part of the reason he teases you so much is bc you let him
like you could easily just kill him anytime & totally own him but you don’t & that gives him a lot of power be careful
your & ranboo’s relationship consists of him being super gen z & you being concerned
(ranboo) haha bullying’s fun. i would know. i had a great childhood
(you) …you doing okay?
(ranboo) haha no *audible finger guns*
you really care about ranboo & do not let anyone speak badly about him
tommy & tubbo are too, but ranboo is such a genuinely good person & he’s open & vulnerable about it
you don’t want him getting hurt :(
you’d fight the sun for him okay :((((
& he’s super appreciative of you & is protective of you back
bc you’re so kind & soft for someone w/ such a big following & he just hates people hating on you for nothing
he has popped off on stream ranting about your antis
(ranboo) and i’d do it again
(you) boo, please, you’re gonna get canceled
(ranboo) AND I’D DO IT AGAIN
fans started doing the 3/4, 4/4 thing they do for sbi for you guys
you four are so chaotic together not even phil’s supervision can stop it
it’s mostly tommy or tubbo taking the lead w/ you & ranboo like “yay friends :D” & just doing whatever
ex.: tubbo joking that he’s going to burn down the bamboo forest, tommy agreeing to helping, them accidentally lighting some on fire, it spreading, y’all panicking, putting it out, then fleeing the scene of the crime
long distance friendship at it’s finest
& the final minor of the smp: purpled
you’re actually really good friends w/ purp
you’re comfortable w/ him & y’all can just chill & have fun & joke around whenever
he really enjoys playing bed wars w/ you
he’s made at least two bed wars youtube videos w/ you because you two play all the time together
you two are a criminally underrated duo
he would also totally brag about being friends w/ you to tiredtwt just saying
of course i can’t not mention hannah, niki, & puffy
you’re one of the girls of the smp & you will be included in the group chat where they make fun of the boys
they’re all super protective of you
like, even more than phil
if that’s possible
there was a brief period in time where nsfw mcyttwt stepped out of line with you specifically
& like yeah it’s all online, it’s all just drawings or videos or whatever, but there was just some really disturbing stuff written about you
you shouldn’t have but you read a little more than you should of & just got so scared
you called niki halfway to a panic attack just crying & scared
she calmed you down & comforted you, grounded you
let’s just say she was not pleased
“it’s one thing to sexualize me or other adults, even after they’ve said they don’t like it. it’s another to do that to a literal child. it’s disgusting. y/n called me sobbing bc she was so scared & didn’t know what to do. she is a sixteen-year-old girl; she shouldn’t have to worry about things like this!”
lots of other cc’s spoke up in your defense & those twitter users were quickly banned
now onto the most wholesome internet father-daughter duo to ever come into existence:
i’m talking about you & badboyhalo of course!
bad absolutely loves you
you don’t curse (on stream) & you just have a really wholesome vibe
you two are the same person, different fonts & it’s great
(bonus lore angst: you become good friends w/ bad in canon as well but he invites you to the red banquet where he plans to kill you, betraying you & making you join the pro-omelette side)
you become like the entire smp’s little sister
where tommy is the annoying little brother, you’re the baby sister who must be protected at all costs
seriously, even the members you’ve talked to maybe once adore you
(connor(eatspants)) y/n is so sweet. i’ve never really spoken with her but she is such a nice girl
or
(george(notfound)) she was popping off last stream. y/n was. she had like 100k viewers at one point. that’s incredible
or
((the)eret) “don’t steal from y/n, you don’t want her coming after you.” guys, i know how good y/n is at minecraft but she’s too sweet to actually canonically kill anyone
you also came to the uk when ranboo did so that’s fun
bench quartet meetup arc pog?
tommy’s been super hyped to meet you irl but he pretends it’s because he wants to prove he’s taller than you
it’s totally not because you’re like his best friend or whatever
imagine the chaos with you four streaming in one room together oh lord
the world ain’t ready for y’all to meet irl but it’s happening anyway
watch out world
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miss-may-i · 2 years
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Check in Tag!
I was tagged by @crazykissim and thank you so much!
Why did you choose your URL?
MY URL was something different when I first started, but I changed it because Sian is my writing pen name and I wanted all my social media to be the same for when I start publishing my books.
How long have you been on tumblr?
I think it’s been four years. Geez, where has the time gone?
Do you have a queue tag?
I don’t know what this means, but I have tags for Miss May I.
Why did you start your blog in the first place?
I stated when I first got into using poses and wanted a reason to use them. Then my story telling side took over, which is cool because it definitely requires poses and a lot of them I have to make myself.
Why did you choose your icon/pfp?
Julian is the current main character of Miss May I. I’ll be changing my PFP through the generations. 
Why did you choose your header?
I like to imagine it as a poster for Miss May I. I’ll also be changing it through the seasons. 
What’s your post with the most notes?
Probably my pinned one.
How many mutuals do you have?
A whole bunch. Lately I’ve been making an effort to follow back all Sims blogs unless they’re Sims 4 or 2 cc since I don’t play those. 
How many followers do you have?
I don’t like to talk about my follower count, but it’s certainly much more than I ever thought I would get.
How many people do you follow?
565 but unfortunately a lot of them are inactive. I just keep following them in case they ever come back.
Have you ever made a shitpost?
I’m sure I have lol
How often do you use tumblr every day?
I try to use it at least once a day because I like to keep up with my feed and show support for other blogs, but sometimes I just forget.
Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?
Nope. I mostly keep to myself.
How do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?
They remind me of those old posts on Facebook that are like “share if you love jesus, ignore if you love satan.”
Do you like tag games?
Yes I love them! Always get excited when someone tags me.
Do you like ask memes?
Yep! They’re lots of fun and I’ve been hoarding some in my inbox for a while so I can use them when Miss May I finally starts introducing some new characters.
Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?
Definitely @treason-and-plot
Do you have a crush on a mutual?
No lol
Ill tag: @igglemouse @chilliv-88 @dandylion240 @bool-prop @expirisims @medleymisty @bakersimmer @simmingshrimp @ktarsims @wannabecatwriter @sweet-berry-sims @kimbr3 @short-sim-wayz @desimetto @ktarsims
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vyeoh · 3 years
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this is your chance: wax poetic about an Empires or DSMP character of your choice to a fan who is new to both. Explain why I should love them. I need guidance in this new and meme-populated land.
okok this is a lot of pressure haha. Spoilers for EmpiresSMP and DreamSMP below, obviously. I wrote a lot so prepare yourself, anon
I watch a lot of empires POVs but the ones I most anticipate every week are Scott and Sausage.
c!Scott (I'll call him Smajor for the sake of simplicity) starts off the series chilling, not really getting involved with the rest of the server, and staying aggressively neutral. After all, he's an elf. He has lived far longer than most of the other rulers already, and will most likely outlive them for many years. So, the best thing is to stick to his mountains and not get invested in the dealings of mortal affairs, maybe sometimes causing problems on purpose and dipping because what's life without a little spice right.
But then, this demon comes to the server, Xornoth. He's going around causing havoc and wants to send the world into an eternal winter, but he doesn't bother the kingdom of Rivendell much so Smajor stays tentatively cautious but ultimately unbothered. But then, the puzzle pieces start falling together. The first thing that the audience noticed was was Xornoth sounded like Smajor, but we mostly thought that this was just due to cc!Scott voicing both of them and there was nothing more to it. However, then, the people the demon starts possessing start chanting in elvish. The demon hates mortals, and the elves are conveniently one of the two confirmed not fully mortal races in Empires.
This culminates when Smajor stumbles across a cave that contains the backstory of the patron god of Rivendell, Aeor. Basically, there's two opposing forces, Aeor and Exor, and both have a champion. In a previous life, those champions were two brothers, where Aeor eventually prevailed and banished Exor. In this life though, the champions are - you guessed it - Smajor, and the demon Xornoth.
So now Smajor is like. Well fuck. It's my literal god-given destiny to be responsible for defeating this demon who is technically my brother, and if I fail the server gets plunged into an eternal winter. And I have no fucking clue what is happening because I've just been here on this mountain actively trying to stay out of the issues outside my kingdom. We watch him panic and teeter on the verge of spiraling for an entire episode, and when the followers of Xornoth go to the End to kill the dragon, releasing Xornoth's full powers, he fails to stop him. Smajor is a character who was used to being the smart one, the prepared one, the one who has the least deaths on the server. But he's also a character who runs away from his problems and ignores them. Before and during the dragon fight, we hear the desperation in his voice, as he's thrown into a situation he is wholly unprepared for, and it's bigger than him going to the Cod Empire to kill their king, or assisting in other people's plans to kill the codfather. He can't run from this. cc!Scott plays this scene so well as well, as I've said before, one of the best parts of Scott's acting is how he's never super dramatic, but he's so effective in the little things like inflection to make you feel, viscerally, the panic and dread.
So after the dragon fight, Smajor realizes, I can't do this on my own. I've tried and failed. So he gets allies. We watch him, someone who has so strongly been an isolationist, learn the benefits of allies and watch him learn to trust others and watch him learn how to get that trust in return.
My favorite thing about Smajor's characterization is that he's an incompetent protagonist, but not in the way of the "plucky young adventurer". He's capable skill-wise, and fairly jaded and very pessimistic. However, his issue is that up until recently, he did not care about the rest of the server at all, and by the time he learned to, it was way too late.
Also, in 3rd Life, cc!Scott and cc!Jimmy were canonically married and they reference it sometimes in Empires. Like, Scott goes over to the Cod Empire every so often both in and out of character to kill and/or flirt with Jimmy, the ruler of the Cod Empire, which may develop as a secondary plot into the future who knows. So ty Scott for giving the gays what they want o7
Now onto Sausage: his is a story of Icarus, his hubris and ambition being his downfall. He's one of the two followers of Xornoth, who promised him endless power in exchange for his servitude. He started the series being eccentric, but not outright unhinged, but slowly gets more and more extreme as the series progresses, as he gets brought more and more to Xornoth's side.
One of the best parts of Sausage's character, in my opinion, is how his gradual corruption affects the people around him. Initially, he got into a conflict with the Cod Empire and was allied with two other people in the Witherrose alliance. They were allies, but also close friends. The fandom liked to joke that the three had sibling energy, and I'm pretty sure the ccs played to that even more lol.
It was painful to watch the other two members, Gem and fWhip, watch Sausage get corrupted right in front of them, and see them desperately clinging on to this old idea of Sausage in their head because if they faced the truth, it would mean that their friend was gone. Eventually, they do finally cut him out of the alliance, leading him to fully commit to the side of the demon. Sausage felt very clearly betrayed by this, and declared the remaining two Witherrose alliance members to be enemies.
He gets more and more possessed, and we even see the other Empires, his enemies even, slowly realize that something is very wrong with the ruler of Mythland. He starts doing more and more evil things, like killing people more, making sacrifices to the demon, and eventually helping to kill the dragon to free Xornoth. So things are good for Sausage, for a bit. He won, and is more powerful than ever. Then he finds out: he's going to die. Xornoth's possession is slowly killing his soul, and eventually, his body going to be fully taken over and he himself is going to be trapped in the spirit realm. So how do you react to this? Over the next few episodes, we watch Sausage struggle between "the demon is literally killing me" and "the demon has given me so much, and I love it", all while Xornoth takes over more and more of him. We hear him exclaim that "don't worry!! I'm still about 15% there!" while trying to downplay every time Xornoth completely takes over his body. We watch him willingly oppose anyone who is trying to end the thing that is killing him.
My favorite thing about Sausage is that he is undoubtedly evil and proud of it, but he's also undoubtedly human. If you like to watch evil characters go absolutely feral, he's the guy for you. He makes the deal with Xornoth in the beginning, knowing and fully embracing the evilness of the demon, but at the same time he knows what he's doing is detrimental to both himself and everyone around him, but he's gotten in way too deep at this point, and to be fair the demon has held up its end fo the bargain, right?
Also, I would be damned if I don't talk about cc!Sausage's editing. Every one of his videos is like a movie. The way he does camera angles and uses music is so skillful- every lore scene feels like something out of a high fantasy action saga (think: LotR). Every big lore event I always wait in anticipation for Sausage's ep because his editing truly takes lore to another level.
I'm just generally very excited to see where this series goes. Empires is such a good mix of talented builders and good lore. Part of the reason why the series is so immersive for me, beyond any other lore smp, is that they have the settings to back it up. There is a certain charm to the DreamSMP's objectively terrible builds (with a few exceptions) but in Empires, the settings help sell the plot so much.
Another part of why I love EmpiresSMP is how much the ccs are involved with the fan community. I'm sure you've seen the memes about Scott being on tumblr, and Sausage regularly goes through the EmpiresSMP fanart tag on Twitter and likes art, even ones not related to Mythland. Most of the ccs, in fact, have brought up tumblr content on stream at some point or another. Like, several ccs have said that they read tumblr lore theories and hcs and stuff and sometimes take inspiration from them. Fun fact: Rivendell's church was inspired by my pinned drawing; confirmed by Scott Smajor himself. It's just such a good cycle of ccs and fans being excited about each other.
As for DreamSMP, I'm gonna be honest here, the only person I really am invested in in Technoblade. I started watching when he joined the server, and he's the only person whose lore I keep up to date with.
Techno's fun to watch because he's like the Deadpool of DreamSMP. Virtually unkillable, very skilled and scary, but consistently cracks jokes and breaks the 4th wall during plot. His POV is just fun. Like, he does wild plans and gives speeches and some of the stuff that happens to him should be called deus ex machine if it wasn't for the fact that Technoblade is the one who's doing it, and all the stuff is grounded in the fact that cc!Techno is just that good at the game.
However, the fact that he rarely takes anything seriously makes the few times Techno is 100% serious so much more impactful. His whole character has a basis in being perceived as inhuman and being treated as such, and therefore in return trying to hide his humanity. So, when he shows that humanity, whether that's fear, anger, or genuine love for his friends, it really makes you go "oh shit."
Techno's often said not to have character development, but I'd argue that while he remains steadfast in his moral code, he develops leaps and bounds as a person. Like, at the beginning, he's brought onto the server to help Wilbur and Tommy overthrow a government; them knowing he's 1) an anarchist and 2) very very powerful. His character was more of a plot device at that point and was treated as such in the canon. Wilbur and Tommy straight-up lie to him about their plans to establish another government after they overthrow the current one, while he was led on to believe that they were abolishing all governments in the area. But he isn't a plot device. He's a person, as much as he only shows the terrifying, blood god side of himself.
After the establishment of New Lmanburg (the new government its a long story), his friend Phil joins. And for the first time, we see him be fully human with someone and we see someone treat him like a human. Like, we saw glimpses before, with Wilbur and Tommy in Pogtopia, but Phil is the first person we noticeably see he trusts 100%. Then Doomsday happens, and Techno essentially retires to the tundra. During this time, we see Techno learn to be more human, first with Ranboo, then Niki when he establishes the Syndicate. In fact, the two of them, along with Phil, canonically throw him a birthday party, which is a far cry from his treatment in Pogtopia.
Techno's development is one of a god learning to be human, and I just think he <3
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thesmpisonfire · 3 years
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C!Ranboo and his hypocrisy
- This is just about his character, cc!Ranboo is an angel and doing a great job building this stupid half-enderman boy <3 -
- p.s.: This has some stings towards c!Phil and c!Techno but not enough to be tagged as critical, so be warned -
So, we need to talk about Ranboo and his stance on sides.
Is he right about the need to abolish sides? Yes, he is so fucking right
Does he know the right way to explain it to the other people? No
Does he, Ranboo himself, have the moral backbone to follow his own philosophy? No. In so many ways, no. 
The problem is: Ranboo can’t do it. He says he has no sides but he is clearly taking one. He doesn’t forgive Niki and Fundy, but then he goes and makes mental stunts in order to explain Philza and Techno’s behavior about a topic neither of those 3 have the rights to speak about.
The only ones that had the right to decide the fate of L’manberg were Tommy, Tubbo, Fundy, Niki, Jack Manifold, and, to a certain extent, Eret and Quackity. They fought for it, they lived there. Tommy, Tubbo and Fundy were there since the beginning, Niki and Jack lived there since it got its independence, Eret miss the old times and want to redeem themself, Quackity saw L’manburg at a terrible time but still understood its value and fought for his newfound home. Techno ignored the sentimental value and only saw it as a corrupted government, Philza (I am using what he said at Doomsday, so don’t come after me saying I’m wrong) only saw L’manberg as the place that took his son’s life (a so fucking wrong take but this is not the topic)...
Then, we have Ranboo.
Ranboo was  received by the L’manberg people with open arms, he befriended almost everyone there immediately, he saw that place as home. If needed, he would have fought in L’manberg side during that time.
Yes, I said side, bc it was there where his friends were.
Tommy then got exiled, and Ranboo started to share his time between L’manberg and Logstedshire. It wasn’t a problem at first, because everyone wanted to bring Tommy back, but it got worse after Techno’s Execution. Tommy went to live with Techno, the Enemy, and, since Ranboo was Tommy’s friend and Techno also was Tommy’s friend, Ranboo helped them.
This is where things got shaky. This is where he started to panic. THIS was the moment he started to say “people over sides”, because he had betrayed L’manberg. He didn’t need to panic about this before he became a ‘traitor’, but he was worried now, he knew the mess he made at the moment his diary was gone. He starts to blackout more often after this day too, after the day they threatened Dream.
Ranboo said “Friends before sides” that day, but he didn’t stick to this until the end.
Techno and Phil were his friends, but mostly because of Tommy and because one favor Phil did to him. Niki, Fundy, Tubbo…. They all were high up and, by his morals, THEY should be first. Ranboo should have looked OVER sides and only at his friends. But Ranboo did exactly what he said it was wrong, he only saw sides.
When Tommy was accused, after the Community House explosion and after Tommy’s speech, it was supposed to Ranboo, the guy who covered Tommy until the end, would stand and defend Tommy, because it was his FRIEND, but no. Ranboo argued about people preparing for a war that was certain to happen. He goes and says that taking sides is wrong and Tommy and Tubbo shouldn’t be making a side for war, meanwhile Tubbo saw over Ranboo’s treason, he only looked at his friendship, and defended him from Quackity. Tubbo saw Ranboo as a friend, Ranboo saw Tubbo as a side.
His speech makes something break inside Niki and Fundy, and they take it at heart. No sides, only people. No L’manberg, only the people that took care of you. Niki and Fundy team up briefly, Eret joining them for a while. The three that were always together beyond treasons and countries. No sides, only friends. Quackity was about to leave before reading Ranboo’s diary and seeing what really mattered was the feeling that L’manberg and its people made Quackty had. He goes back to help Tommy and Tubbo, his friends. People over sides.
Right before Doomsday, Niki goes to Ranboo and talks to him. She says she will do whatever Ranboo does, because she trusts him. She puts Ranboo over L’manberg. Ranboo says she would fight for L’manberg, because that was what Ranboo said he would do but, when it happened, Ranboo did nothing, so she also stayed and watched. Niki burns L’mantree because she has the right to. She burnt down the last piece of her land and she mourns it. She doesn’t let it blow up by Dream, she does it just like a funeral, because she knows L’manburg was gone, and the girl that loved it the most was the one with the right to burn it. Ranboo would never understand this because he never saw L’manberg at its peak and never had the time to see it peak again. Ranboo doesn’t know how it was to Niki, how it was to be hopeful and full of love, to feel pride and then see it all crash and burn, to see the place you called home die, to mourn over and over. She is trying to heal but she doesn’t know to. She burns the tree and explodes her bakery trying to cut the ties because she doesn’t want it to hurt anymore, not because she is taking a side.
Fundy and Ranboo are certainly a topic we all talked over and over, and we all know that Fundy is spiraling and needing help. He chooses Ranboo over sides again and again, but Ranboo only sees it as him trying to make another side. Fundy just doesn’t wanna feel alone anymore. He lost it and snapped due to it, and Ranboo knows it. Ranboo said it himself that Fundy is passing through something but he is scared of what Fundy has become after being so hurt, and still he does nothing. Ranboo has the right to be scared, but, as someone who said people were the most important thing, he isn’t seeing them as people anymore.
Phil and Techno destroyed everything, and after it they were kind to Ranboo. Ranboo, who said hours prior that the most important thing was his friends, left them all behind for a thing he saw as not a side because Techno and Phil were loyal only to each other. He saw it as them doesn’t making a side and staying out of it. But Techno and Phil always were a side, and Ranboo chose them. Because of this, he excuses everything they did, Ranboo doesn’t want to see himself as the wrong one. Ranboo even changes his morals and stances, before Doomsday he said L’manberg deserved to be fought for, after being housed by Techno and Phil he says L’manberg was destroyed for good. That’s why Dream’s voice talks to him and points out his mistakes, the voice is trying to point out what is wrong, and he says it: “You betrayed everyone”, “You exploded the house”, “You helped Dream”. Ranboo said he doesn’t want to remember bad things he did or that happened, but everything is coming back to him. His ‘other state’ is not neutral. He has a side. Normal Ranboo choose Techno and Phil, Other Ranboo choose Dream (as far as we know) and, coincidentally, Techno, Phill and Dream have some kind of alliance. Ranboo was biased from the beginning. 
Seeing only from Ranboo’s pov makes it look like everyone chooses a side but Phil and Techno, seeing from outside we notice this is not true.
There’s no reliable narrators in the Dream SMP
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Can we get some CC Batch (Cody, Wolffe, Fox, Bly, and then whoever else you want if any) just having a boys night and being bros? Good natured teasing and trash talk, maybe some roughhousing, but they're just having a good time and enjoying a break. Your choice on whether or not to include background ships, but if you do I'll request Cody be with Rex. The rest is up to you. Thank you!
(Oooooooh nice! Love me some bros interactions)
It feels surreal having to thank the Seppies for something, but the fact that they aren’t doing much means that, after who knows how long, the entirety of Cody’s batch has been able to meet up and spend some time together on Coruscant, far from the frontlines.
They could’ve gone to 79’s, but for the occasion Fox has invited them to his personal apartment so that they wouldn’t be bothered by loud music and other vode being dumb.
 “Fox, you lucky asshole, of course you’d get the nice apartment,” Wolffe grumbles before finishing his fifth - is it fifth already? - glass of wine. At least Fox has had the decency to bring out the good stuff for the occasion.
“Listen, I have to deal with Senators all day, I get the apartment,” Fox retorts, and well, nobody has it in themselves to deny that.
“Yeah, I think I’d rather shoot droids than exchange even just one conversation with a Senator,” Ponds states. He looks drowsy already, though it’s also true that, out of them, he’s the one with the worst alcohol tolerance.
“So, Fox…” Bly interjects before the conversation gets derailed. “Any hot gossip?” He usually isn’t the gossip type, none of them are, but it’s nice indulging once in a while. Besides, Fox always has the best information to share, which can make the evening even more entertaining.
“Well, I know for a fact that someone in this room finally gathered the courage to ask out a certain Captain…” Fox drawls, purposefully leaving the sentence open-ended.
 Silence falls.
Slowly, one by one, they all turn to look to a certain Marshal Commander who’s being suspiciously quiet right now, as he drinks his wine pretending that this isn’t about him…
Then chaos erupts.
Screams, questions, hands, everything gets thrown at Cody who, in that moment, is really close to murdering his brother. Not that he wasn’t going to tell them eventually, but he would’ve done it at his own time!
Damn it, Fox.
 Before he can react, Ponds has slung his arm around his shoulders. “Cody! When were you going to tell us?!” he exclaims.
Cody pretends to laugh, though it’s obvious that he doesn’t really mean it. “When I damn pleased, Ponds,” he replies in fact, though his annoyed tone doesn’t seem to make the others back down. If anything, it provokes their general hilarity.
“Aw, little Kote thinks he can play the part of the big boy now…” Wolffe mocks him, reaching with his hand to pinch his cheek. He gets his fingers bitten in response. “Ow! You dick!”
Cody smirks, proud of having gotten Wolffe using his own methods against him, though unfortunately, that pisses Wolffe enough that he almost jumps at him, if not for the fact that Fox, who always somehow seem to know what their next move his, holds him back by the shoulder.
“Come now,” Bly says, trying to placate him. “We should congratulate Cody, not trying to kill him…”
“He bit me!” Wolffe retorts.
“And it was funny,” Bly says back, completely unbothered by Wolffe’s anger - it’s nothing far from the usual.
 Cody and Wolffe glare at each other just for another while before peace is restored.
Once things have calmed down, Cody turns to Fox. “How did you even know me and Rex are together now?”
Fox doesn’t even bat an eye at that question. “I saw you.”
“You saw me?!”
“Well, not directly, but one of my probe droids caught you confessing to Rex,” Fox explains. “Gotta say, Coruscant’s roofs during twilight, soft drinks in hand? That was so cheesy…”
There are many things that Cody would like to say, but they all get covered up by the others who begin to either laugh at him - he swears he’s going to beat Wolffe’s ass - and others that instead say that it’s cute. Still… “Do you have probes stalking us, Fox?” he can’t help but to ask. Talk about creepy…
The other rolls his eyes at that accusation, sipping some wine before replying. “It was just a coincidence that they caught you. I have probes through the entire city. How am I supposed to know if something happens then?”
Oh, well, that makes sense. Still, it’s quite curious that he managed to find out just out of luck, though it’s not like Cody can make an accusation without any proof. Maybe it was truly just a huge coincidence.
 Take it to Ponds to get the pleasant evening back on track before it degenerates into a brawl. “Well, at this point, why don’t we toast?”
“And to what?” Wolffe asks, while Fox already motions to fill everyone’s glass - he doesn’t really need an excuse to drink some more, so he doesn’t even wait for Ponds to reply.
“To Cody and Rex of course,” Ponds explains, taking his glass and raising it towards Cody. “May you two be happy forever and ever.”
One by one the others raised their glasses towards Cody as well, who can only stare at them with a surprised look on his face. What the hell are they doing? This is such a cheesy thing… and yet, it’s also heartwarming. Not that he doubted the fact that, deep down, his brothers love him - that’s how things are between them - but to have them genuinely wishing him and Rex the best is just…
 Damn it Cody, don’t cry for this dumb thing, or everyone will be on your case!
 Still, he can’t help but to smile as well, as he wordlessly raises his glass as well.
“To Cody and Rex!” Ponds exclaims then.
“To Cody and Rex!” the others all reply, while Cody is barely able to thank them. It’s a small thing, in the end, but those are what truly matters the most, at least that’s what Cody thinks.
 He’s well aware that soon they’ll get back to banter and insulting each other, but at least for now he can enjoy a soft moment between him and the people he loves the most.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
Tag list: @maulusque​ @snap-p​ @menac-ika @captainrexwouldnever  If you want to be added feel free to let me know! Just know that if you are a minor you’ll be tagged only for the sfw fics.
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(we follow from another account
with a pink dolly parton pfp)
fronting: Kaz
pronouns: they/them
cc:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sapphic/WLW/NBLW only blogs will be left alone when non-Sapphic headmates are fronting. MLM/NBLM only blogs will be left alone when non M/NBLM headmates are fronting.
NEED TO KNOW, BOUNDARIES, & GENERAL INFO BELOW
• polyfragmented diagnosed DID system of [number redacted bc it’s none of your business].
• we’re cagey with personal details & will not be showing the body’s face at any point. we avoid sharing face claims & headmate picrews. we’ve got toxic & abusive people chomping at the bit to find my online presence we do not wish to be identifiable. if lack of any personal info spooks you you’re free to leave but also… learn some internet safety basics
• we have a history of substance abuse and may talk about it from time to time. we are currently sober, in recovery, and doing so so much better. tagging isn’t always consistent on these things - we try to trigger warm but just a heads up.
• we have a history of substance abuse and may talk about it from time to time. we are currently sober, in recovery, and doing so so much better. tagging isn’t always consistent on these things - we try to trigger warm but just a heads up.
• if this is still the same paragraph like five times i’m sorry. no matter how many times i delete it it returns. it’s haunting me.
• if this is still the same paragraph like five times i’m sorry. no matter how many times i delete it it returns. it’s haunting me.
We Block:
racists
antisemites
TERFs & SWERFs
transmed/truscum
queerphobes
bi/pan/etc “lesbians” & supporters. lesbian is an inherently mspec orientation and overlaps heavily with other mspec orientations. the addition of other mspec labels to the term is rooted in TERF ideology.
anti non-binary/anti-binary/genderqueer/transmasc/gnc lesbians
transandrophobia truthers. the body (and most headmates) are intersex, many of us are transmasc, and some of us are trans men. the talking points and language used makes us (transmasc headmates) ridiculously uncomfortable and we do not want to be involved with it in any way.
maps/nomaps/p*dos
pro-ed blogs
discourse blogs
endo systems, non-traumagenic systems, pro-endo, & pro-non-traumagenic. esp pro-endo syscourse blogs.
autism $peaks supporters, firm believers of functioning labels, & people who think cringe culture exists
disability porn blogs
disability/queer/trans/fat/native fetishists
wh*rephobes
blood quantum bootlickers
Boundaries:
Christians, Neo-Pagans, & Wiccans please ask before following. I block liberally.
please use the terms headmate or systemmate to refer to individuals in this system. anyone who refers to us as alters, parts, etc will be blocked. it makes us extremely uncomfortable.
we do not consent to any interaction with members of other systems who are BIPOC, Jewish, Disabled, Autistic/Neurodivergent, Deaf/HoH, Chronically ill when the body is not. i don’t want to talk about cultural topics, community experiences, individual experiences, mobility aids, sign/ASL, access barriers, or anything else. Jewish headmates in a non-Jewish body who have gone through the conversion process in the outerworld are the exception to this.
we are not your litmus test, your DIY 23 and me, your emotional dumping ground, your guilt pit, or your personal wikipedia page. don’t ask me if you’re Native or not, Jewish or not, Disabled or not, Autistic or not, etc. I don’t know you! i’m not here to make you feel better for wearing a headdress 10 years ago, or saying a slur in the first grade. please don’t dump that on me.
Blog Structure:
There really isn’t one. Some of us tag special interests, others don’t. We do our best to tag common triggers. Headmates won’t usually be tagged individually when reblogging or posting unless deemed relevant.
Current Interests:
Animal Crossing
Supernatural (i know)
Our Flag Means Death (i KNOW)
Squishmallows
Mushrooms/Mycology
Medical Science
Bee & Puppycat
Star Wars
The Simon Snow Series
the House of Romanov
Cows
Jewish History & Culture
Indigenous Culture & Practice (particularly SE Turtle Island)
Indigenous Art & Art forms
Meteorology (esp the April 2011 Super Outbreak)
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criscura · 3 years
Text
Tagged by @rayadraws! thhHANK ////<3<3 1) How many works do you have on AO3? 28 2) What’s your total AO3 word count? 604,733 3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? JUST OPM //// 4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos? "Tumbling Down," "Lemongrass and Sleep," "Love Me, Love Me Not," "Extracurricular," and "What a Deal" 5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I WISH I WAS BETTER AT ANSWERING BUT I GET SO OVERWHELMED. I fucking LOVE every comment I get, i gobble it up and reread it a billion times, but...it takes me like ten, fifteen minutes to respond to just one a lot of the time and then i get anxious and distracted.... >< 6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I won't publish the angstiest thing I've written on AO3 'cause it's bad end "what if Genos died before either of them ever confessed" and it is TOO sad. So the closest to sad right now is "Suck Me Off" (It would be "Risky Business," but I'm in the process of writing the next part and it will immediately rescind that title XD) 7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? I mean Tumbling Down, but they do all end about the same--the boys together forever, and generally with at least one little girl 8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? I don't TooT 9) Have you ever received hate on a fic? ...No? I mean I'm sure I'd remember 10) Do you write smut? If so what kind? BOY HOWDY. Yes. Very much of it. It's also very, very feelsy and story-driven/dictating. I know PWP exists but I think I'm physically incapable of writing it. 11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? They're the only ones who know, if they did XD 12) Have you ever had a fic translated? I think!! Yes!! One! 13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have not, and I'm a little nervous to. I like complete control of what I make >/////< 14) What’s your all time favorite ship? EGG AND TOASTERRR, that's my OTP T~~~~T Akuroku behind that, then Touya and Yuki from CCS behind that. 15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Technically none, I end my fics on spots where they could stand on their own on purpose so I never have the weight of a fic on my shoulders...except for "Risky Business," which was stressing me out, but I'm back to work on that. When it comes to writing it REALLY fucking pisses me off having things half-finished (moreso with drawn or constructed art, I'm not sure why), so I only take on things that I'm absolutely positive I can finish 16) What are your writing strengths? I think I'm good at speaking through a character and depicting what's going on through their POV to a really intimate level. I'm proud of the kind of really close third person voice I've built up over time. I think....I think I do pretty okay at showing and *only* telling when nothing else will hit the same way. I try really, really hard to tell a story the exact same way someone might experience it IRL, with all the interplay between external forces and internal voices. 17) What are your writing weaknesses? iiiii let the characters talk all they want. I know it's not good but BOY is it fun XD i also think i just....i really write a lot. like a LOT. it's easier for me, but I worry that i'm diluting the punch of what i'm doing because of it. 18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Sure! Why not! If it fits, it fits--even if you need to do some remodeling before you get there. 19) What was the first fandom you wrote for? Technically Kingdom Hearts, but it's been looooong gone XD 20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? how dare you ask this question, i have no idea. Of course "Tumbling Down" is my giant, massive, enormous child, but like........I love "Risky Business" because of how fucking dumb Saitama is and how bitchy Genos acts, i love "Lemongrass and Sleep" because THE YEARNING (and i really like world-building that way///), i love "Dog Days, Summer Nights" because that's the closest thing to my natural writing voice, I LOOOOVE "Pinocchio" because I genuinely
do not think I will ever make a better character study of Genos than that fic, like......man, pick a limb for me to lose, I can't take just one
THIS WAS FUN RAYA THANK YOU!!! aah.... i'll tag @paperficwriter @bloodsbane @anonymousedward
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20 years a blogger
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It's been twenty years, to the day, since I published my first blog-post.
I'm a blogger.
Blogging - publicly breaking down the things that seem significant, then synthesizing them in longer pieces - is the defining activity of my days.
https://boingboing.net/2001/01/13/hey-mark-made-me-a.html
Over the years, I've been lauded, threatened, sued (more than once). I've met many people who read my work and have made connections with many more whose work  I wrote about. Combing through my old posts every morning is a journey through my intellectual development.
It's been almost exactly a year I left Boing Boing, after 19 years. It wasn't planned, and it wasn't fun, but it was definitely time. I still own a chunk of the business and wish them well. But after 19 years, it was time for a change.
A few weeks after I quit Boing Boing, I started a solo project. It's called Pluralistic: it's a blog that is published simultaneously on Twitter, Mastodon, Tumblr, a newsletter and the web. It's got no tracking or ads. Here's the very first edition:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/02/19/pluralist-19-feb-2020/
I don't often do "process posts" but this merits it. Here's how I built Pluralistic and here's how it works today, after nearly a year.
I get up at 5AM and make coffee. Then I sit down on the sofa and open a huge tab-group, and scroll through my RSS feeds using Newsblur.
I spend the next 1-2 hours winnowing through all the stuff that seems important. I have a chronic pain problem and I really shouldn't sit on the sofa for more than 10 minutes, so I use a timer and get up every 10 minutes and do one minute of physio.
After a couple hours, I'm left with 3-4 tabs that I want to write articles about that day. When I started writing Pluralistic, I had a text file on my desktop with some blank HTML I'd tinkered with to generate a layout; now I have an XML file (more on that later).
First I go through these tabs and think up metadata tags I want to use for each; I type these into the template using my text-editor (gedit), like this:
   <xtags>
process, blogging, pluralistic, recursion, navel-gazing
   </xtags>
Each post has its own little template. It needs an anchor tag (for this post, that's "hfbd"), a title ("20 years a blogger") and a slug ("Reflections on a lifetime of reflecting"). I fill these in for each post.
Then I come up with a graphic for each post: I've got a giant folder of public domain clip-art, and I'm good at using all the search tools for open-licensed art: the Library of Congress, Wikimedia, Creative Commons, Flickr Commons, and, ofc, Google Image Search.
I am neither an artist nor a shooper, but I've been editing clip art since I created pixel-art versions of the Frankie Goes to Hollywood glyphs using Bannermaker for the Apple //c in 1985 and printed them out on enough fan-fold paper to form a border around my bedroom.
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As I create the graphics, I pre-compose Creative Commons attribution strings to go in the post; there's two versions, one for the blog/newsletter and one for Mastodon/Twitter/Tumblr. I compose these manually.
Here's a recent one:
Blog/Newsletter:
(<i>Image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:QAnon_in_red_shirt_(48555421111).jpg">Marc Nozell</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">CC BY</a>, modified</i>)
Twitter/Masto/Tumblr:
Image: Marc Nozell (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:QAnon_in_red_shirt_(48555421111).jpg
CC BY
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
This is purely manual work, but I've been composing these CC attribution strings since CC launched in 2003, and they're just muscle-memory now. Reflex.
These attribution strings, as well as anything else I'll need to go from Twitter to the web (for example, the names of people whose Twitter handles I use in posts, or images I drop in, go into the text file). Here's how the post looks at this point in the composition.
<hr>
<a name="hfbd"></a>
<img src="https://craphound.com/images/20yrs.jpg">
<h1>20 years a blogger</h1><xtagline>Reflections on a lifetime of reflecting.</xtagline>
<img src="https://craphound.com/images/frnklogo.jpg">
See that <img> tag in there for frnklogo.jpg? I snuck that in while I was composing this in Twitter. When I locate an image on the web I want to use in a post, I save it to a dir on my desktop that syncs every 60 seconds to the /images/ dir on my webserver.
As I save it, I copy the filename to my clipboard, flip over to gedit, and type in the <img> tag, pasting the filename. I've typed <img src="https://craphound.com/images/ CTRL-V"> tens of thousands of times - muscle memory.
Once the thread is complete, I copy each tweet back into gedit, tabbing back and forth, replacing Twitter handles and hashtags with non-Twitter versions, changing the ALL CAPS EMPHASIS to the extra-character-consuming *asterisk-bracketed emphasis*.
My composition is greatly aided both 20 years' worth of mnemonic slurry of semi-remembered posts and the ability to search memex.craphound.com (the site where I've mirrored all my Boing Boing posts) easily.
A huge, searchable database of decades of thoughts really simplifies the process of synthesis.
Next I port the posts to other media. I copy the headline and paste it into a new Tumblr compose tab, then import the image and tag the post "pluralistic."
Then I paste the text of the post into Tumblr and manually select, cut, and re-paste every URL in the post (because Tumblr's automatic URL-to-clickable-link tool's been broken for 10+ months).
Next I past the whole post into a Mastodon compose field. Working by trial and error, I cut it down to <500 characters, breaking at a para-break and putting the rest on my clipboard. I post, reply, and add the next item in the thread until it's all done.
*Then* I hit publish on my Twitter thread. Composing in Twitter is the most unforgiving medium I've ever worked in. You have to keep each stanza below 280 chars. You can't save a thread as a draft, so as you edit it, you have to pray your browser doesn't crash.
And once you hit publish, you can't edit it. Forever. So you want to publish Twitter threads LAST, because the process of mirroring them to Tumblr and Mastodon reveals typos and mistakes (but there's no way to save the thread while you work!).
Now I create a draft Wordpress post on pluralistic.net, and create a custom slug for the page (today's is "two-decades"). Saving the draft generates the URL for the page, which I add to the XML file.
Once all the day's posts are done, I make sure to credit all my sources in another part of that master XML file, and then I flip to the command line and run a bunch of python scripts that do MAGIC: formatting the master file as a newsletter, a blog post, and a master thread.
Those python scripts saved my ASS. For the first two months of Pluralistic, i did all the reformatting by hand. It was a lot of search-replace (I used a checklist) and I ALWAYS screwed it up and had to debug, sometimes taking hours.
Then, out of the blue, a reader - Loren Kohnfelder - wrote to me to point out bugs in the site's RSS. He offered to help with text automation and we embarked on a month of intensive back-and-forth as he wrote a custom suite for me.
Those programs take my XML file and spit out all the files I need to publish my site, newsletter and master thread (which I pin to my profile). They've saved me more time than I can say. I probably couldn't kept this up without Loren's generous help (thank you, Loren!).
I open up the output from the scripts in gedit. I paste the blog post into the Wordpress draft and copy-paste the metadata tags into WP's "tags" field. I preview the post, tweak as necessary, and publish.
(And now I write this, I realize I forgot to mention that while I'm doing the graphics, I also create a square header image that makes a grid-collage out of the day's post images, using the Gimp's "alignment" tool)
(because I'm composing this in Twitter, it would be a LOT of work to insert that information further up in the post, where it would make sense to have it - see what I mean about an unforgiving medium?)
(While I'm on the subject: putting the "add tweet to thread" and "publish the whole thread" buttons next to each other is a cruel joke that has caused me to repeatedly publish before I was done, and deleting a thread after you publish it is a nightmare)
Now I paste the newsletter file into a new mail message, address it to my Mailman server, and create a custom subject for the day, send it, open the Mailman admin interface in a browser, and approve the message.
Now it's time to create that anthology post you can see pinned to my Mastodon and Twitter accounts. Loren's script uses a template to produce all the tweets for the day, but it's not easy to get that pre-written thread into Twitter and Mastodon.
Part of the problem is that each day's Twitter master thread has a tweet with a link to the day's Mastodon master thread ("Are you trying to wean yourself off Big Tech? Follow these threads on the #fediverse at @[email protected]. Here's today's edition: LINK").
So the first order of business is to create the Mastodon thread, pin it, copy the link to it, and paste it into the template for the Twitter thread, then create and pin the Twitter thread.
Now it's time to get ready for tomorrow. I open up the master XML template file and overwrite my daily working file with its contents. I edit the file's header with tomorrow's date, trim away any "Upcoming appearances" that have gone by, etc.
Then I compose tomorrow's retrospective links. I open tabs for this day a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and (now) 20 years ago:
http://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/14
http://memex.craphound.com/2016/01/14
http://memex.craphound.com/2011/01/14
http://memex.craphound.com/2006/01/14
http://memex.craphound.com/2001/01/14
I go through each day, and open anything I want to republish in its own tab, then open the OP link in the next tab (finding it in the @internetarchive if necessary). Then I copy my original headline and the link to the article into tomorrow's XML file, like so:
#10yrsago Disney World’s awful Tiki Room catches fire <a href="https://thedisneyblog.com/2011/01/12/fire-reported-at-magic-kingdom-tiki-room/">https://thedisneyblog.com/2011/01/12/fire-reported-at-magic-kingdom-tiki-room/</a>
And NOW my day is done.
So, why do I do all this?
First and foremost, I do it for ME. The memex I've created by thinking about and then describing every interesting thing I've encountered is hugely important for how I understand the world. It's the raw material of every novel, article, story and speech I write.
And I do it for the causes I believe in. There's stuff in this world I want to change for the better. Explaining what I think is wrong, and how it can be improved, is the best way I know for nudging it in a direction I want to see it move.
The more people I reach, the more it moves.
When I left Boing Boing, I lost access to a freestanding way of communicating. Though I had popular Twitter and Tumblr accounts, they are at the mercy of giant companies with itchy banhammers and arbitrary moderation policies.
I'd long been a fan of the POSSE - Post Own Site, Share Everywhere - ethic, the idea that your work lives on platforms you control, but that it travels to meet your readers wherever they are.
Pluralistic posts start out as Twitter threads because that's the most constrained medium I work in, but their permalinks (each with multiple hidden messages in their slugs) are anchored to a server I control.
When my threads get popular, I make a point of appending the pluralistic.net permalink to them.
When I started blogging, 20 years ago, blogger.com had few amenities. None of the familiar utilities of today's media came with the package.
Back then, I'd manually create my headlines with <h2> tags. I'd manually create discussion links for each post on Quicktopic. I'd manually paste each post into a Yahoo Groups email. All the guff I do today to publish Pluralistic is, in some way, nothing new.
20 years in, blogging is still a curious mix of both technical, literary and graphic bodgery, with each day's work demanding the kind of technical minutuae we were told would disappear with WYSIWYG desktop publishing.
I grew up in the back-rooms of print shops where my dad and his friends published radical newspapers, laying out editions with a razor-blade and rubber cement on a light table. Today, I spend hours slicing up ASCII with a cursor.
I go through my old posts every day. I know that much - most? - of them are not for the ages. But some of them are good. Some, I think, are great. They define who I am. They're my outboard brain.
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halzore · 3 years
Note
Cody + 16??
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Snippets of Time
Characters: Cody x Reader
Note: Thankyou nonny for this request, I was having a little bit of trouble of how to encapsulate the kinda vibe i wanted to go for, not sure if it landed. But i decided to do a few snippets of a little friendship with our lovely commander and a reader throughout the Clone Wars. Let me know what you think! I love when people do that! Also, fair warning, kinda gets a bit sad, but thats chill.
Prompt 16: “That you will be by my side to see me through” ~ You and I, Jacob Collier
A little bit about this song: This is some classic Jacob Collier arranging, very spooky, also uplifting and got them good jazz chords. Listen to it here
Tags: @a-lil-perspective @thegoodbatch @leias-left-hair-bun
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Introductions
Cody had met Obi-wan proceeding the battle of Geonosis, easily getting along, Obi-wan’s cool quick wit complimenting Cody’s serious but loyal nature. Obi-wan and Cody got along well, but the Marshall Commander had a softer spot for his own Jedi Commander.
He remembered the time that Obi-wan had brought you with him for the first time, a strong senior Padawan, who had already lost one master, but still seemed jovial and effervescent. He watched with skepticism as you gazed at the vastness of the the hangar bay of the Negotiator, looking around as if you had never been outside the temple. Obi-wan was quick and cool, but you seemed different, somewhat of a mystery to the Clone.
In the beginning, Cody stayed out of your way. After all what would a Jedi want with the likes of him. Plus he had a quarter of an army to run, but your paths crossed every now and then, each time more of the mystery of your character unfogging.
The light of the holo-table cast a blue hue over your stern features. Cody could see the stern lines deepen as the council outlined the battle strategy. Cody did not much like it, the plan was too risky, but he let it go. This was not his time to speak. Master Mundi finished speaking, opening the up the floor for questions. There was a slight pause as the heads, both real and holographic panned around the room. You took the slightest step forward.
“This plan, while it would achieve our goal is irresponsible” You voice was matter-of-fact, leaving no room for doubt.
“Is that so?” Master Windu turned to you, dissatisfaction clear. “And why would that be?”
“Too many lives lost, lives we have a duty to protect.” You put it simply
“But the civilians would be saf—“
“Clone lives” you clarified.
The silence spreading throughout the briefing room was deafening. Obi-Wan took a deep breath and pinched his nose, the council members looked at each other in irritation, their nonchalance being called out. Cody smiled inwardly. A Jedi commander who would go to bat for his boys. Maybe you were something he could get behind.
Medical Mischief
He was beaten, he was bruised. Yet he limped with resolve to the one place he could hurt in comfort: His quarters. One foot in front of the other, the commander’s attempt to look uninjured was laughable. He heard giggling from behind him and the Marshall Commander turned back to see you, hand over mouth, trying to cover you snickering. Cody groaned.
“What’re you laughing at?”
You tried to regain your composure. “You.”
“No shit.” Cody was not impressed, bothered at the interuption to his escape plans.
“You see the boys had mentioned something,” You began to stroll over casually, mischief in your eye. “You know, I didn’t believe them when they told me, I always thought you were such a good example for your men.” You had Cody’s undivided attention now, “They said you hated the medbay, never go when you’re supposed to. And I thought to myself, ‘Hmmm not on my watch.’”
Cody hadn’t noticed that you had slipped an arm around his and had began to shepherd him in the direction of his favourite place on the ship.
“Hey, stop! Let go!” He tried to wriggle out of your grip, but you ploughed on, resolute in your gait, easily overcoming the poor limping man.
“No can do Commander, you have an image to uphold.”
Interlude
Time went on, the war continued to wage in the furthest corners of the galaxy and you and Cody found your rhythm. You became an inseparable team on and off the battlefield. Both leading from the front, you managed to get the 501st through some of the most risky of assaults.
You balanced each other out.
You learnt a lot from Cody over the years. How to punch a droid sucessfully, how to patch up a bruise after you had punched a droid. He showed you how to be a good leader and helped you grow in your confidence as a Commander. But you, in turn, showed him things.
He always made sure that you were okay after a campaign, and so you developed a little ritual. You taught Cody how to meditate. You would bring him into your quarters and practice your deep breathing together, centring yourself in the moment. It became a staple in both of your routines and it was the way you both aired out your grievances and let them go to the universe.
You grew close, everyone could see it.
You were like family to Cody, and maker help the galaxy if anything ever happened to you.
Knighting
He wasn’t allowed to go to the ceremony. It was for Jedi only. You had been so nervous leading up to your trials. He knew you could do it, and he was not surprised in the slightest when you came bounding into his quarters, barreling him over in a bear hug, screaming that you’d passed.
But he couldn’t go to the ceremony.
He sat staring at his boring grey walls, wondering what was going on. Was Obi-Wan there? What were you thinking about right now? What things happened in a Jedi Knighting ceremony? His contemplation on these questions was half-baked at best, his mind wandering to the future.
The war was at a critical point, the senate’s order for new clones was ready, Cody knew they needed more Jedi Generals, and none came with better credentials than you. You would be a credit to any battalion, they would be lucky troopers. But they were not Cody’s troopers.
He didn’t hear his door open.
“Cody?” Your face cast in shadow as you were outlined by the glow of the ship light. You voiced pulled Cody from his questionings.
“Hmm?” He looked up. “Ah, how did it go?”
“Good,” You walked into his room and sat down next to him on his bed. “I have something to say to you.”
“I know.”
“I’m gonna miss you.” The emotion cracking the edges of your voice. Cody  wrapped an arm around you. “You’ll never be too far away.” Cody managed to give you a bit of a half-smile. You sat there together taking in each other’s presence for what you knew would be for the last time for a long time.
“I have something for you.” You broke the silence by reaching back around to grab at something. It was a small wooden box. You shoved it at the Marshall Commander and he opened it.
“Your padawan braid?” Cody looked at you, a mixture of confusion and awe.
“Something to remember me by, you’ll always have a little piece of me with you no matter how many light years apart we are.”
Cody smiled, and pulled you into a hug.
Aftermath.
You couldn’t remember the name of the planet you were on when you felt it. It was like all the energy in your body being forcibly pushed out of you. Your ears rang with the screams and it was almost as if the ground began to lilt under you feet.
Something was wrong, but you didn’t know what.
You hadn’t clued to the first signs, comms going unanswered, whispers around the native colonies. It was when you saw the Holonet report of the Jedi betraying the Republic when you knew you were in trouble.
At first it wasn’t so bad, you kept a low profile and no one really bothered you, you looked like any other traveller passing through. But then the troopers started to show up, but not in the armour you were used to. Similar enough to go unnoticed by most people, but strange enough to send your survival instincts into overdrive.
But it wasn’t safe.
Especially on the day you saw your picture, a smiling Jedi Knight, plastered on the wall of an unassuming business, labelling you as a traitor and offering a reward.
That’s when you began your new life, with a new appearance, a new name, never staying in one place for more than a few weeks. It was tiring, but it was what needed to be done.
….
You had been watching the holo waves weeks now. Imperial propaganda rife. Disgust had made its home in the back of your throat as you looked upon the force fed narratives on the web. But everyday you checked it religiously, looking for information about what happened at the end of the clone wars, why you were being hunted down.
Talk of a legendary clone wars commander coming to your planet to recruit piqued you interest.
It was dangerous, if it was the man you thought it would be, if the empire found out you were there. But you had to go.
You kept your distance from him. But you knew, without a doubt it was him, his scar, his gait. But the warmth was gone from his eyes. You tailed him, following him away from the carnival and back to his room before you confronted him.
“Cody.”
His shoulders stiffened. He slowly turned around to see who was in the door.
“CC-2224 now” His voice was proper, like when he gave an order. You brow furrowed in confusion, you didn’t quite know what has happening.
“Cody, what’s happening?” You were desperate and confused, in front of the one person who could help you make send of the mess. You moved to hug him around the middle as you dissolved into tears.
You didn’t register it in time.
The hard barrel of Cody’s pistol pressing into you side. You felt the heat of the blaster bolt and looked up at your Best friend, your brother, with pathetically wide eyes.
“I’m sorry Y/N, but good soldiers follow orders.” There was no remorse in his voice, almost the slightest hint of pleasure.
It was the last thing you heard, before your vision frayed, the pounding in your ears became too much and your world faded to black.
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hearttoshu · 3 years
Text
check in tag ✅
tagged by @shuaway (thanks for the tag lee ! <3) and @hongminchy (ik you tagged me on my side bom :o but i did one over there so i thought i’d do it on this blog i hope you don’t mind ;-;/ <3 thenk you for the tag lovely ^~^) 
why did you choose your url?
“heart to you” but it’s a cheesy pun and it’s “heart to shu(a)” LOL 
do you have any sideblogs?
@haknew for the boyz ! i use it the most often so it’s kinda more like my main blog than here haha :p i make gifs and rb stuff ^^ 
@getawaymp3 for verivery / personal ! i make gifs and dump multi group rbs and personal posts there loool it’s super messy tho :’))) (i’m so sorry to anyone who follows me there hhh </3) 
@sunnhoon​ for enhypen ! more gifs and rbs :] 
how long have you been on Tumblr?
on the kp0p side ... about 4 ? or 5 years :o ! 
do you have a queue tag?
yep ! here’s it’s “i adore queue🌷” after adore u ! and on getawaymp3 it’s “invitation just for queue” after gyehyeon’s line in get away ^^ 
why did you start the blog in the first place?
i had no carat friends at the time so i really made it to get to know other carats ! and then later on i eventually learned how to make gifs and i turned this blog into only svt and made getawaymp3 for multi group stuff (that wasn’t the original url lol it’s gone through a few changes ^^)
why did you choose this pfp?
i think shua and dongheon are neat ... my 95z loves <3 so yea :o ! shua cute selca icon for here and heoni sprout icon for getawaymp3 
why did you choose your header?
i made this one a long time ago :o ! and i just really wanted a retro-y windows / vaporwave pastel pink header with shua ^^ for getawaymp3 it’s a group shot from the get away mv but with sparkles :’)) bc i have no personality outside of being a get away enthusiast  
what’s your post with most notes?
for this blog i have no idea it’s probably that random oty in la recoloring i did HAHA i think ?? it has 3k notes or smth for some reason and on getawaymp3 it’s this jaehyun poetic beauty set i posted randomly for fun and somehow got 1.6k notes bc ... jaehyun pretty 
how many mutuals do you have?
a lot on here but a good portion of them are probably inactive ..? and only a handful on getawaymp3 i have a lot of moots on haknew but i don’t really keep track :’)) if i rb from you regularly i consider us moots LMAO 
how many followers do you have ?
like two...
following?
285 ? yea ... 
do you make shit post?
if tag rants count then yes on all my blogs </3 i’m pretty annoying :D, but yea i will on getawaymp3 but only bc the least amount of people follow me there (excluding my enha blog bc it’s like a week old) and i brain dump my sadness there sometimes LOL 
how long do you use Tumblr each day?
an unheathy amount </3 
did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?
hmm i don’t really indulge in drama usually so no >.< there was that one time deobiblr boolied me into admitting i bias kevin moon if that counts u.u (and i lost obviously) 
how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?
they’re my blogs, my safe spaces ;;;; so i ask people understand i rb what i want to... (even tho i feel guilt every time i rb anything that’s not content content... lmaooooo) 
do you like tag games?
i do bc i really love hearing from moots / friends ! but i always feel bad about them bc a.) i get tagged in a lot and sometimes i just forget and leave them in my drafts, b.) don’t want to spam too many personal posts (bc people follow me for content ?? i think so spamming personal posts makes me feel bad T-T) and c.) idk which mutuals to tag bc i don’t want to be annoying (and i’m too scaredkjfgdkj) so i sometimes don’t do tags bc of that 
do you like ask games?
yes ! but same logic as above point b.) LOL tho i really like rambling / talking and interacting with people i think a good portion of my followers just don’t care for that so i keep it to a minimum where i can ;;;; s*dly 
which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?
a lot of them actually fdkjgkdfg i always consider myself a small blog or outsider in the communities i claim to be a part of ;;; but i get really lucky and people like my gifs ! like on my enha blog even tho it’s like 9 days old there are some what i would consider “big enha blogs” that follow me ^^ (and then of course tumblr users @ shuaway and hongminchy are so famous i’m honored to be moots with them :p) 
do you have a crush on a mutual?
did you mean all of them :p ? no but i do have ... like ;;;; cc or friend crushes ... people i really like content / tags from and want to be friends with but i’m just too s0cially anxi0us to initiate conversations so i end up just admiring from afar <3
tags?
i’ll tag @minatual @bloomblooms and @baejoonyoung ! (only if you want to do this tho no obligations feel free to ignore !) (OH ALSO pls no one feel obligated to follow any of my other side blogs ;-; i am not joking when i say i am a bit of a nuisance u.u HAHA) 
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chelsfic · 4 years
Text
The Hot List, in which the NYC Familiar Discord Ranks their Masters - Nandor x Guillermo Fanfic (one-shot, crack!)
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Summary: The familiars of New York City use Discord to connect and blow off steam...and also to rank their masters’ hotness. Nandor discovers this impertinence and throws an internet fit.
Tags: Crack with a touch of angst
A/N: I don’t know. 
---
NYC Familiar Chat #thirsty
Celeste-is-Best: nngh, have you guys seen Mr. 50ss’s’s’ss instagram story????
Celeste-is-Best: He’s so pretty! it’s like turn me, already!
Imurdad | colby: I know, right? I can’t believe he’s only 7 on the hot list…
[Gigi the great and sam teh pretty like this]
Gigi the great: Don’t forget to vote on this month’s poll!!
Best Hair!
We’re the ones who make them look pretty--but who’s the prettiest one of all? This month we’re voting on the NYC vampire with the best hair. Cast your vote!
A. Simon the Devious
B. Nandor the Relentless
C. Tilda
D. Evan
E. Houston
F. Nancy the Relentless
---
Guillermo locked his phone with a little smile. If he could he’d vote a hundred times for Nandor’s hair. It was unlikely that his master would win against the likes of Evan, Tilda and Nancy. He’d thrown Simon on there as a joke and was kind of horrified by how many familiars seemed to be into the limp mullet look. To each their own, he guessed.
On that note, it was almost nightfall and Nandor’s hair wasn’t going to brush itself. Guillermo made his way into the crypt, lighting candles and gathering the soft brush, comb, detangler spray and hair oils. Nandor was what he lovingly referred to as “high maintenance.” He was also surprisingly pitiful for a 750-year old warlord. It took Guillermo ages every night to carefully tease out and brush the knots from his hair without hurting him. It should’ve been annoying after so many years, but the chore remained one of the highlights of Guillermo’s day. 
For one thing, he got to touch his master without being scolded or hissed at. So that was nice. For another thing, Nandor’s hair was as soft as his personality was prickly. Guillermo would often drag out the task, running his fingers through the silky strands and lightly touching Nandor’s jaw to get him to tilt his head this way or that. 
He was doing just that, as well as admiring the expanse of cream and bronze skin revealed by the open collar of Nandor’s loose shirt, when the vampire opened his mouth. 
“Guillermooo...Did you happen to get any virgins for tonight?”
Guillermo’s fingers momentarily tightened around a hank of his master’s hair. He imagined giving it a sharp tug. He forced himself to loosen his grip and replied, “No, master, I’m sorry. Virgins are getting pretty thin on the ground lately. I managed to pick up a couple people from a bible study class, though. They should taste pretty innocent, right?”
Nandor made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat before answering, “You’d be surprised.”
---
NYC Familiar Chat #the-struggle
Gigi the great: I know we all jealously guard our sources, but I’ve been in a dry spell for a few weeks and my master is going to lose it and drink me one of these nights. Anyone have any new leads on virgins in the area?
Gigi the great: I’ve tried the usual stuff...LARPers, church socials, chastity clubs (surprisingly unhelpful…). I’m kinda desperate!
Direct Messages
Celeste-is-Best: only because you had my back last month when I ran out of burial sites…
Gigi the great: OMG! Celeste, please!! 🙏 🥺
Celeste-is-Best: there’s a magic the gathering tournament in brighton heights this weekend...😈
Gigi the great: You are like the virgin whisperer, Celeste. Thank you!
Celeste-is-Best: np
Celeste-is-Best: hey! Are you posting the poll results soon? I voted for Tilda--don’t tell Houston!! LOL
#main
Gigi the great: The results are in! The vampire with the best hair in NYC is……..EVAN!
Check out the Google Form for the full results...
docs.google.com...best_hair
Evan (26%)
Tilda (22%)
Nancy the Relentless (17%)
Simon the Devious (16%)
Nandor the Relentless (13%)
Houston (6%)
---
“What are you typing over there on your intelligent phone?”
Guillermo hurriedly tucked his phone away and looked up to find his master mopping blood from his mouth with a lace-trimmed handkerchief. They were in an alleyway a few buildings down from the comic shop. The limp body of Nandor’s victim lay discarded on the dirty ground. Guillermo smiled affectionately at Nandor trying and failing to clean himself. He took the hanky from him and set about doing the job himself. The snow white fabric was quickly drenched in dark red arterial blood. 
“I was just, um...checking on another potential virgin source,” he lied. 
The familiar Discord was strictly secret. If any of their masters ever found it and saw their human servants’ uncensored discussions... The thought sent a panicked tremor down Guillermo’s spine and he thought--for the thousandth time--that he should delete the app and not look back. But the idea of continuing with this emotionally draining, thankless job without his little support system was just as disturbing. Besides, the server had really come through for him tonight.
“Well done, Guillermo!” Nandor praised him and Guillermo’s heart swelled pathetically. A small, shameful part of him imagined Nandor patting him on the head and he didn’t hate it. “That was the most delicious virgin I’ve had in months!”
“Thank you, master,” Guillermo smiled sweetly, his cheeks dimpling. Nandor watched him for a long moment and he could swear he saw his master’s eyes linger on his mouth. He shut that thought down before it could bloom into a hope that was only doomed for disappointment. 
“Well…I’ll see you back at the house.” Nandor vanished before his eyes, taking his bat form and darting out of the alley with a high-pitched squeak and a furious flap of his leathery wings.
Guillermo sighed, looked at the broken body and wondered if he’d be able to fit his car down the narrow alley or if he’d have to drag the corpse to the opening. He fished out his keys and started the short walk back to his parking spot. All the while thinking, with distracted horror, Simon the Devious beat out Nandor for best hair?!? Really?
---
Direct Messages
Gigi the great: Hey, thanks! The Magic tournament was a hit!
Celeste-is-Best: i do live to serve…
Gigi the great: Har har.
#bitch-session
mish-bish: Ugh!!! Pretty sure my asshole master is hypnotizing me again.
call-me-karen: That’s rough, Misha! You wanna talk about it? My master lets me take the car whenever I want. I can come pick you up…
mish-bish: Yeah, like...I definitely have a huge black hole in my memories from last night. Fuck.
mish-bish: Oh, that’s ok Karen. Thanks.
Gigi the great: Hey @mish-bish. Sorry you’re having a hard time. If you feel up to it, check out the #support channel. A lot of other familiars have gone through this and talked about it there. Sometimes it helps to hear how others cope!
---
“Guillermo! Guillermoooo!”
Nandor’s panicked bellow reached him all the way in the basement where he was checking his lye supply. Guillermo huffed it up the stairs and raced into the fancy room where he found his master staring aghast at his laptop.
“Wh-what is it, master?” he asked, bent over and catching his breath.
“Someone named...Rap4Unlyfe has sent me a fake news!” Nandor wailed, gesturing to the laptop as if the device was personally responsible. 
Guillermo suppressed an eyeroll and walked over to sit beside his master. He watched in dismay as Nandor scooched farther down the couch but he tried not to let it sting too much. 
The browser was open to Nandor’s Hotmail account. He leaned forward to read the open message, unsure what to expect. The blood drained from his face as he read.
subject: rofl bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahah
yooooooooooooooooOO!
Has ne1 else seen there familiars on this site??? I hypnotized mine last nite to give me his phone password and...👀 
Mierda. There were two screenshots attached. One was the survey results page from the “best hair” poll. The other was an excerpt from the chat, specifically Guillermo posting the winner of the poll and the link to the results. 
Guillermo’s face fell into an adorably distressed frown. He darted a glance at Nandor but the vampire just looked confused. It wasn’t clear if he yet suspected that his own familiar might be “Gigi the great.”
“Huh…” Guillermo leaned back and smoothed his expression into one of untroubled amusement. “You’re right, looks like fake news. You should probably just ignore it.”
Nandor punched his fist into his thigh and snapped, “But Guillermo! I cannot let this go unanswered! This...this...ludicrous insult! Imagine...me losing a hair contest. Everyone knows I have the most beautiful hair!”
Guillermo blushed magnificently, “Of course, master! This is just...a prank. Someone playing a mean trick on you. You shouldn’t give them the satisfaction--”
The laptop chimed. Guillermo dove to prevent Nandor from reaching it but the vampire simply slapped him away with a petulant whine, “Give me that! Fucking guy…”
Nandor’s lips curled into a snarl as his eyes scanned over the screen. 
“Oh, no! Now they are making a mockery of me on the ether net!”
subject: RE: rofl bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahah
Oh! That is too delicious! Suck it, Houston and Nandor! 
It gets even better. Have you seen this, yet?
vamp_hot_list.doc 
“Guillermo, what is a hot list?” Nandor asked with a worried frown, clicking on the attachment. 
“No, master! Don’t--”
It was too late. He watched as his master’s eyes lit with understanding and then intrigue and finally outrage.
“29?! I am number 29 on your dirty hot vampire list!? What is the meaning of this?” Nandor bristled like an angry porcupine, his eyes shooting metaphorical quills into Guillermo’s soft flesh.
“It’s not my list, master!” he insisted and then, guiltily, “Not only mine…”
“Guillermo!” Nandor gasped, his eyes returning to the screen for a moment before pinning him with outraged accusation. “So, it is you!? You are...Gigi the great? Well, I do not think you are so great, little guy! In fact I think you’re pretty un-great right now! And disrespectful!”
Guillermo sank into the couch cushions, melting under his master’s ire and replying miserably, “It’s not as bad as it looks!”
Nandor turned back to the screen and began reading off names from the top of the list, “Viago! Nancy the Relentless! Evan! I suppose these are all vampires you’ve been dreaming of doing the hanky panky with! Putting them on the top of your list above your own master! That’s two demerits, Guillermo!”
“What!? No! Master, I didn’t make the list! We vote on it! Everyone gets a say. If I made the list of course you’d be at the top--”
Guillermo snapped his mouth shut. His face was on fire and he felt like crying. Nandor must have some inkling of his crush, right? After ten years of service? This couldn’t really be the life-ending mortification that it felt like. He waited, wide-eyed, for his master’s reaction. Nandor stared at him, his huge, dark eyes filled with shock and anger. After a long minute he turned back to the laptop, waving a hand dismissively in Guillermo’s face.
“Go to your room now, Guillermo! I need to think of how to punish this impertinence!”
Guillermo stood, barely holding in humiliated tears. He gestured to the device in Nandor’s lap, “My laptop…”
Nandor held it out of Guillermo’s reach and hissed, “No! Vampire only computer time, Guillermo!”
Guillermo left, trudging out of the room with a sinking feeling in his stomach as the sound of Nandor’s flop-wristed typing followed him out the door.
---
#main
Gigi the great: Is everyone okay?
call-me-karen: not fukcing great!
Imurdad | colby: Seriously! WTF!!?
Gigi the great is typing…
Guillermo lay on his little cot with the crocheted blanket his amá made for him pulled up to his chin. Tears streaked down his cheeks and the phone’s glare reflected in his glasses. He thought back to every off handed complaint, every silly photo turned into a “master-shaming” meme, every confession, every joke. All of them laid bare to the world. The Discord server started out as goofy, harmless fun. The hot list was the perfect embodiment of that. But it became so much more. Being a familiar could be lonely. You were isolated from other humans and surrounded by cold, uncaring monsters all the time. Guillermo loved Nandor. Everyone knew this...there were even memes about it on the server! But sometimes his master’s aloofness got to be too much and he needed to reach out to other humans who understood him! 
He threw his phone down onto the mattress, angrily pawing at his teary eyes and wondering if this was it. Not just the end of NYC Familiar Chat, but the end of Guillermo the Great, his long-dreamed-of vampire alias. There was no way Nandor would keep him as a familiar after this…
---
Direct Messages
Celeste-is-Best: OMG! Guillermo, have you seen this?
Celeste-is-Best: http://familiar-hot-list.colinrobinson.net
Celeste-is-Best: hey, if this is Nandor’s big revenge scheme I think you’re going to be ok
Celeste-is-Best: we miss you! 
---
Guillermo heard his master calling him and cringed. It had been a week since the hot list incident and Nandor had spent every waking moment making little jabs at his familiar and grousing about how he’d been betrayed on the internet. But to Guillermo’s surprisingly intense relief, he hadn’t been fired. After ten years of disappointment and hopeless pining, Guillermo half-expected to welcome the prospect of finally being put out of his misery, so to speak. He was kind of shocked, therefore, to feel happiness and gratitude that his master had decided to keep him around, even if only as a verbal punching bag.
He found Nandor in the library, smugly brandishing the purloined laptop. 
“Come have a look at your punishment, Guillermo,” Nandor patted the couch beside him. “This is what happens when you disrespect vampires on the ether net.”
Guillermo swallowed the lump in his throat and collapsed beside Nandor feeling like a man condemned. Their thighs pressed together but for once Nandor didn’t move away. He shoved the laptop at Guillermo and handed him a yellow sticky note with Colin Robinson’s handwriting on it.
“Colin Robinson has assisted in creating a webpage for your disgrace. We have done our own hot list! A familiar hot list. All of the New York vampires voted. So, now you can see how not nice it feels to have your hotness besmirched for all the world to see.”
Guillermo typed in the URL and blinked as the neon green background scorched his retinas. The page was a hideous callback to the internet of the late 1990s right down to the hit counter at the bottom. There was a border of pixelated dancing Draculas surrounding bright orange text.
NYC Familiar Hotness Ranking
1. Guillermo (Nandor the Relentless) - 19%
Guillermo looked at the screen, then over at Nandor, then back to the screen again.
“Master? Have you looked at the results yet?”
Nandor’s brow knit with confusion, “No, why? What does it say?”
He grabbed the laptop and squinted against the garish colors. Guillermo watched Nandor’s face carefully as he read the results. He looked surprised and almost...pleased at first, before giving in to his patented aggravation.
“Fucking Colin Robinson!”
---
New NYC Familiars Group! #welcome
Imurdad | colby: Hey @everyone! Welcome to the new Discord server. Guillermo has stepped down as a mod but he’ll still be around. We don’t have a perfect solution for the security problems we had with the last server. We’re asking everyone to be vigilant about hypnosis and if you feel like you’re losing time, please be sure to secure your phones/computers away from your masters….
---
subject: Something you might want to see…
Hey Nandoorman! How’s it hangin’?  
Listen, I’m sorry that your revenge didn’t go as planned. I noticed you’ve been a little short with Gizmo ever since this whole thing started. As someone who cares about my roomie, I want to advise you to knock it the hell off. Also, I don’t relish the thought of returning to the days before Gizmo came along. Do you even remember what the house used to look like? Pools of blood everywhere. Dead bodies. Melted candles all over the place...
I digress… I managed to snag this screenshot from Count Rapula. I think you may find it interesting.
Your pal,
Colin Robinson 
discord_gizmo.jpg
#confessions
Gigithegreat: Hey guys. This isn’t easy for me to share but I know I’m not the only one who’s dealt with this and if I can help one of you feel less alone then I’ll be glad. As most of you know, I recently “celebrated” my 10th anniversary as Nandor’s familiar. I was convinced, absolutely convinced, that my master was going to make me into a vampire. Well, once again it didn’t happen. He made me this weird portrait out of glitter instead. And the thing is...like, I should leave, right? He’s never going to turn me and that’s the basis for our whole arrangement. I serve him faithfully, he turns me into a vampire. It’s simple, right? So why am I still here? Why am I still burying bodies for him and making human sacrifices? Dressing and feeding him? Treating him like he’s some kind of god and not an ancient cranky baby?  It’s because I’m in love with him. Hopelessly, stupidly, self-destructively in love with my vampire master who thinks of me as nothing more than a really well-trained poodle who can talk. Why? WHY? Because he makes me laugh. Because he’s fiercely protective of his vampire family and (sometimes) that includes me. Because when we’re alone he can be so adorably, painfully vulnerable and it feels like a privilege that I get to witness that side of him. Because he does ridiculously stupid but considerate things like spending hours making me a glitter portrait. When he’s happy with me I feel like I could float and when he’s disappointed I feel like being swallowed up by a sinkhole. And, yeah, he’s also man-of-my-dreams outrageously hot and I cannot believe you cretins have him ranked #29 on the hot list. It’s a crime. 
Gigithegreat: So, yeah. That’s why I stay. I’m no longer hoping for a bite that will never happen. Now it’s a kiss, a hug, a touch, a look. Anything he’s willing to give me I’ll gladly hoard in my little closet-room along with my glitter portrait. Because I’m pathetic. That’s it. That’s the confession.
Imurdad | colby: Brave words, Guillermo. Hang in there, friend.
blood_princess: this is a mood
sam teh pretty: Sending you healing head scritches ❤️
Celeste-is-Best: look, i think i speak for us all when i say we need to see this glitter portrait!!!
[You’re Viewing Older Messages … Jump To Present? ↓]
---
Nandor looked uncharacteristically thoughtful while Guillermo readied him for sleep. The familiar guessed he was still angry that his little revenge plot had backfired. He couldn’t help but feel a little smug about his position as the hottest NYC familiar. Even if he was pretty sure it was mostly due to the other vampires messing with Nandor. Guillermo couldn’t really enjoy his victory, though, not with Nandor’s feelings of betrayal still weighing on his heart.
Nandor’s face was a stoic mask as Guillermo helped him undress. He cooperated listlessly, picking up his feet for Guillermo to remove his heavy boots, lifting his arms up over his head as Guillermo took off his brocade tunic. Finally, he placed his giant hand in Guillermo’s soft, small one and stepped up into his coffin. Guillermo stood by the side of the coffin as he always did, watching over Nandor with affection choking his throat. Nandor smoothed his hair down and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Sweet dreams, master,” Guillermo whispered, leaning across him to catch the lid of the coffin.
“Wait, Guillermo,” Nandor spoke without looking at him, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. “I wish to say something to you.”
Guillermo’s heart sank in his chest. Oh no...his stupid middle schooler revenge didn’t work and now he’s going to send me away… Tears pricked his eyes and he choked, “C-can’t it wait until tomorrow, master?”
“No. I must say this now,” Nandor responded, oblivious to his familiar’s internal drama. “I want to say to you that--and I think I’m being extremely gracious and lenient here--it is fine for you to have your little, pathetic familiar group on the dark internet.”
“O-oh,” Guillermo quickly swiped the tears from his eyes, “thank you, master…”
“But no more mee-mees, Guillermo! Master-shaming...very disrespectful!”
“Of course!” Guillermo laughed, delirious with relief. 
Nandor looked up at him with a final warning glance before softening, “Alright, then. As long as we are clear on that…”
There was a long beat of silence during which Guillermo found himself locked inside his master’s gaze. Nandor’s eyes were like pools of rich, melted chocolate. Guillermo imagined himself as the German kid from Willy Wonka and for a second he was in danger of breaking down into giggles. But then his master spoke in that soft, uncertain tone he only used when they were alone and he was feeling fragile.
“Guillermo...did you really vote for me to be the number one hottest vampire?” Nandor toyed with the buttons on his shirt and looked up at his familiar with a shy, open expression.
Guillermo’s cheeks burned and he wanted to laugh and hide and kiss his master on the mouth all at once.
“Yes, master, I did. You’re…” he cleared his throat and tightened his grip on the lip of the coffin, “so handsome, master. So beautiful...”
He watched his master’s chest expand with pride and his lips twitch into a haughty smirk. 
“That’s true, Guillermo. Good job for noticing,” Nandor praised him in a voice that was a little too loud. It rang with a false sense of self-assurance. After a few seconds he went on in a quieter tone, “Do you know, I--this is very silly, Guillermo, you mustn't tell anyone this--I voted for you, too. As the hottest familiar…”
Guillermo’s stomach did a little swoop and his lips curved into a blinding smile. His dumb, beautiful master thought he was attractive? Guillermo tried to reel himself in; he tried to remind himself that Nandor probably only voted for him to boost his own reputation. But--wait?--hadn’t the list been meant as a revenge against Guillermo? God, what a handsome idiot.
“Thank you, master,” Guillermo gushed and now he was certain that Nandor’s eyes strayed too long on his smiling lips and red, dimpled cheeks. 
“Alright then!” Nandor pulled the emergency break on the moment. “Time for my evil slumber. Night night, Guillermo!”
And in a slow motion moment that would feature in Guillermo’s dreams that night, Nandor reached up and put his hand over his. Nandor’s cool, smooth palm rubbed over the back of Guillermo’s warm hand and his fingers squeezed slightly. The breath rushed from Guillermo’s lungs and he could only squeak in reply, shutting his master into his coffin and moving away with a dazed smile on his face.
A muffled sound came from the coffin just as Guillermo reached the door to the crypt.
“...And I don’t think of you as a poodle…”
“What was that, master?” Guillermo called.
“Nothing, Guillermo!”
Guillermo shuffled off to his little room feeling like he was carrying a happy little flame inside his chest. For once he gave himself permission to hope without fearing disappointment.
---
New NYC Familiars Group! #thirsty
Celest-is-Best: SORRY NOT SORRY!!!! Simon can get it…
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blood_princess: ummmm thirst after your own master, Celeste. Oops sorry she’s 12.
mish-bish: Lmaooo. Gross Celeste!
Celeste-is-Best: listen.
Celeste-is-Best: ...i got nothin. I want his evil dick.
Gigi the great: Please look respectfully at this photo I snuck of my master the other night. Do I really need to explain myself further???
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Celeste-is-Best: that’s it. guillermo, ask nandor if he needs another familiar. my body is ready!
Gigi the great: Back off, bitch!!!!
Gigi the great: jk love u
Gigi the great: but srsly back off
#master-shaming
mish-bish: submitted without comment
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[Imurdad | colby, Gigi the great, Sam teh Cat, and 6 others like this]
...
Gigi the great: 🙄🙄🙄
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Gigi the great: I hate him I love him
#main
black-peterrr: ohohoho, has anyone talked to Guillermo lately…..?
black-peterrr: a little raven told me he and Nandor were seen HOLDING HANDS in the park the other night…
call-me-karen: WHATTTTTTTT
Celeste-is-Best: @Gigi the great, CONFIRM OR DENY!! GIIIIIGIIII!
Gigi the great: ……...I don’t kiss and tell 😉
Imurdad | colby pinned a post
Imurdad | colby: This is momentous.
#memes
Gigi the great: hot take…
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Imurdad | colby: bahahaha, okay…
Imurdad | colby: 
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Gigi the great: But have you considered…
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Imurdad | colby: lol compelling
Call-me-karen: I mean…..👀
Celeste-is-Best: Ha...ha...ha…*sob*
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Direct Messages
Celeste-is-Best: Gigi! we miss you! ur never online lately... 
Celeste-is-Best: too busy getting that ottoman empire dick, huhhh??
Gigi the great: OMG Celeste! You’re out of control!
Celeste-is-Best: that wasn’t a denial…
#main
Gigi the great: Hey guys...sorry I haven’t been active lately
Gigi the great: Quick update though....
GIgi the great:
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blood_princess: OSDFJweoiflkdfaf omgggggg gggggiiiiiiigiigigig!!!!!!
Jameson: Holy shit, man. Congrats.
Celeste-is-Best: GuillerrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmooooooOooooO!O my baby! you look amazing!
call-me-karen: DO YOU NEED A FAMILIAR!!?!?!?!?
Celeste-is-Best: jesus, karen lol
blood_princess: my master is having an orgy right now. I just locked myself in the bathroom--I’M FREAKING OUT!! What is it like? IS that blood on your collar??? OMG how was ur first feeding?
Imurdad | colby: FAMILIARS ONLY, GUILLERMO!!
Imurdad | colby: I’m kidding. OMG I’m so happy for you! (And burning with jealous rage)
Celeste-is-Best: look how fucking happy Nandor is
Celeste-is-Best: i’ve been shipping you two from the beginning, Gigi!
Celeste-is-Best: …..hope you’re not going to forget who helped you out with those virgins last month…
---
“Guillermo!” Nandor’s voice was half whine, half growl. “It’s very difficult to sleep with that light filling the coffin! What are you doing anyway?”
The screen illuminated Guillermo’s grin as he answered, “Just posted that selfie we took to the familiar chat. They’re freaking out.”
Nandor turned onto his side, nuzzling his face into Guillermo’s neck and tickling him with his beard, “That’s nice. Sleepy time now, Guillermo.” 
“Yes, master,” Guillermo breathed and Nandor purred low in his chest. Some things had changed since becoming a vampire and others had stayed the same. Calling Nandor “master” had taken on a new, thrilling subtext.
Nandor’s arms snaked around Guillermo, tugging the smaller vampire into his chest. He let out a contented sigh and his body went still as he began to fall asleep.
“I guess I should probably leave the group,” Guillermo yawned--force of habit. “Since I’m not a familiar anymore.”
Nandor wrenched himself from sleep with the power of his own petulance, “Hey! What do you mean ‘not a familiar anymore’? Just because a guy gives his boyfriend the gift of eternal life he thinks he can quit being his familiar!? Who’s going to brush my hair?! ‘Not a familiar anymore’...fucking guy…”
39 notes · View notes
Text
Top 5 relationships in The Mortal Instruments
Lets be real the shadowhunter chronicles has grown into a huge world world with more characters than could ever all stay in one in any one institute (and remember institutes are for some reason designed to accommodate the same number as nice hotels) and because so many of them interact we have had some pretty cool characters and some pretty great relationships. I thought I would make ranking lists ranking the my personal favorites for members of family as well relationships in each series. IMPORTANT: When I say “relationships” I am not being specific to any one type of relationship (romantic/family/friend). I just mean two characters who share a type of bond.
Since The Mortal Instruments or TMI, came out first I will start with it. 5 relationships in TMI who have really well done dynamic’s and I want to take this opportunity to spotlight them below
5.) Jace & Church
Aww Church, he was doing the grumpy cat act before it was cool. Everybody loves Church. Church loves Jem and likes exactly one person per series/generation. In TMI the one person Church likes is Jace. Now other instances you could argue that Church liking Jace is just another attempt of CC to enforce that Jace (mr. blond hair, gold eyes, gold skin, takes a bath in golden spaghetti) is the golden boy and everybody should like him. But once you look at who Jace and Church are as characters (what character Jace has that's not referenced by his aforementioned coloring) them being buddies makes a lot of sense. For one thing we know from the falcon story that Jace is fond of animals that have adittutes, which Church certainly does. The first time he made friends with such an animal Valentine... But Valentine is gone when Jace meets Church, and none of the Lightwoods mind if Jace wants to goof off with the cat (to them that’s probably one of the least reckless things Jace likes to do). So for Jace Church is in essence a way to reclaim part of his childhood that Valentine tried to twist and corrupt.
On the other side I love how respectful Jace is of Church’s boundaries. Guys Church has a past as extensive and hard as any other character in TSC. HE has been both a pet and a wild cat many times over, he ha been treated well by some humans, and horribly by others. This is no purring kitty-cat that is going  to just climb into someones lap wanting hands run through his fur or to be picked up and carried around. No Church doesn’t like that. Jace understands this, and never tries to force Church to let him handle him. IF Church wants Jace to touch him he will take the initiative and walk up to Jace’s leg. If not Jace is perfectly happy to hang out in a room or follow the cat at a distance, pretending to chat with him. I saw a post that said that even after Church got reunited with Jem (churches OTH) Church still considers Jace his buddy and they hang out during visits, that is precious.
4.) Alec and Magnus aka Malec
Aww Here they are, fandom darlings and CC’s poster couple for LGBT+ inclusion. I promise that is not why I put them on this list. I actually never give characters or couples brownie points for being same sex or anything like that because so many writers try to get away with making “Gay” a characters whole personalty or squeezing in characters for the sole purpose of saying “look inclusion, look I can be woke” and then they don’t consider it necessary to put the level of characterization they would into a straight character in. I do like inclusion and feel it is important, but only when it is fully developed to the best of a creators abilities.
Now I will admit here that Malec are only my second favorite romantic couple in TMI. That being said I do really like them. I like the pace that their relationship develops at. When other couples did the whole love at first sight or suddenly inexplicably in love. Malec moved at what I consider a pretty realistic pace and you could easily follow their journey. In book 1 they met at a party and decided the other was pretty cute, started to spend time together on occasions, started to like each other, then started to really like each other. It’s  not until  the very end of book 6 where you fee like the two are really committed to the whole “Okay it’s you and me till the end” idea, and you are glad to finally see them there.
That brings me to my second reason for liking Malec. They are a hot mess, as all three main couples are, but unlike with the other two Malec never pretended to be anything other than a hot mess. If I compared Malec to Clace i would say that Clace follow a pretty typical fairy tale formula: I met you and I loved you, then the evils in the world conspired to keep us apart, but I fought my way back to you and now we can live happily ever after. Malec aren’t like a fairy tale though. They are that high-school/early college couple who are consistently on and off. The rocks in their path aren’t “evil forces” it’s just them. Just the fact that they both have a tendency to be whinny, stupid, jealous, controlling, a!@#$”s to each other. Honestly if they didn’t care so much about each other, then they would be a really toxic couple. But they do care a lot about each other. They hated when they were always fighting. They hated seeing each other so sad. But they couldn’t just forget about their problems or pretend them away. So many times throughout TMI Malec would find themselves at a cross road where on one path they force themselves to change and see if that made their relationship better , and another path were they decide that it is just to much to and call it quits. They broke up twice because they got to times where it was just to much to keep going the way they were and neither were ready to change. But then they couldn’t stop thinking about the other or missing the other. So, when they met up again they would always reconcile and be ready to put in the work to change their relationship for the better.  Looks like those changes worked out given that years down the line we see then happy, married with two kids, happy at their jobs, hosting social gathering with their friends as apposed to before when they would always spend then picking at each other or having an outright fight.
Malec are not perfect, TMI never pretends they are. They are both a lot to deal with and at least a few times one of them will slam their hands down on some surface, and I as a reader found myself wishing I could bring my hands down on the pair of thems heads. But I consider Malec a pretty gritty look at what any couple can be like at their lows, as well as the highs they can reach if they are willing to put in the time and work, and exactly why some are willing.
3.) Maia and Bat
What? What was that? If Malec are only my second favorite couple in TMI then who is my favorite? Oh, it’s Baia. Baia is like literally the perfect couple. They met years ago became best friends, tried dating and went back to being best friends when Maia-who had just gotten out of an abusive relationship and was still recovering- told Bat that was all she could handle. Their friendship is shown in the background throughout books 2-5 and we see that they always have each others backs. We see Bat is always their for Maia, always trying to take her out as a friend and convince her to have fun. Maia supports Bat’s DJ career and talks about how much she admires him for perusing such a normal mundane life because (regardless of the fact that they aren’t normal mundanes) its what he wants. Their relationship is brought to more of a focus in book 6 when shadowhunters leave, demons attack and their fellow downworlder start staging uprisings. Both of these two are still so young, and now (with their Alpha away indefinitely) their whole world is falling apart. Fixing this isn’t their job, no one has tasked them with it, but its the only way to keep themselves, each other, and everything they love safe. SO they make the choice to take action. Like everything in their lives since they met, they make a point to always support each other. Bat challenges an aggressive wolf for control of the pack because he has sen this wolf go bully those close to Luke and is determined to protect Maia. When Bat goes down in the fight Maia tags herself in and fights to protect him. When Maia wins she wakes up Bat isn’t upset or embarrassed that she had to save him, He immediately throws support to her as his Alpha. One of Maia’s first act is to make Bat her Beta because they are a team and their is no one she trusts more. They rebuild their pack and the Predator Lupis together, and also get back together. But that is less important because no matter what their relationship they have always and will always be there. 
Seriously when every other couple acted stupid, was over dramatic, were never sure where they stood with each other; Maia and Bat were true friends, true love, and unwavering in their support. So what keeps them from being number 1 on this list? Well were still a background relatonship for most of TMI (a lot of the fandom either didn’t remember or didn’t care that they got together at the end or that they were even friends). Also knowing CC and general media aimed at TMI’s age group I have to unfortunately believe that if CC had wanted to bring more focus onto Maia and Bat,then she would have made them way more dramatic and less awesomely supportive. Moving on
2.) Valentine and Luke
I can hear the gasps from here. No, not read that wrong, it really says Valentine and Luke. How could I talk just get praising a supportive pair only to go and talk about a pair that betrayed and tried to annihilate the other? Well for one thing I will remind you Valentine and Luke whole dynamic is friends to enemies. As that they really work. Luke never had what it takes to be a shadowhunter on his own. He says himself that he couldn’t bear easy marks, he couldn’t do simple training exercises, he was miserable and ready to just drop out and give up. Then Valentine “came into my room and offered to train me”.  Even in the future Luke says that in their first interactions that Valentine saved him. That he is the one who made Luke into a shadowhunter. Well truth be told Valentine made Luke more of an assistant Shadowhunter, to him, but it is still farther than Luke was getting on his own, and its completely genuine when he says he loved and worshiped Valentine. You see why he was so blind to what Valentine (Stop trying to pretend you were always in the right Lucian) what both of them were becoming. Valentine gave Luke a life as a shadowhunter, and then he took it away. Valentine thought he was covering himself, that he was getting rid of a doubtful ally before he had a chance to become an enemy.
Getting Luke turned into a werewolf was easily the biggest mistake of Valentine’s life. Shadowhunter Luke was never able to do anymore than listen to Valentines orders and carry them out with no thought but how much doing so would please Valentine (Shadowhunter Luke= Valentines pet lap dog.) Werewolf Luke could say no. He could fight Valentine to a stand still at least, beat him at best. Werewolf Luke had knowledge and insight as to the needs of both Downworlders and Shadowhunters, and used that knowledge paired with Valentine’s impediment threats to rally the downworlders and get them to force the clave to give up 4 seats on the council. Because of Luke Valentines war caused Downworlders to get more rights instead of less. (Shadowhunter Luke=Valentines pet lap dog. Werewolf Luke= has more brains and skill than Valentine) Valentine thought he was getting rid of a potential threat when he had Luke turned; instead he gave his strongest supporter the push needed to break away from him, and the motivation to take become the man who had enough power to foil all his plans. That their is Irony at its finest my friends. I love it.
And Now 1.) Jace and Simon
This is hands down the best relationship in TMI and should I ever make a top 5 relationships This one will definitely be in it. How can they not when they are literary the TSC equivalent of Batman and Superman. (I mean that quite literally by the way. Jace is Batman: A hero who lived a life of pain and loss and used that as a motivation to protect people and prevent harm. Simon is Superman: A hero who wasn’t born into this world, these people weren’t always his people, but he decided that this was his home now and he was going to make it a better place.) There are so many things I love about these two I love how well their relationship was paced in how as they got to know each other more they transitioned from enemies to rivals to friends to family. I love their banter. these two together make me laugh more than any other pair. The number one thing I love about Jace and Simon is how careful CC was to keep them standing on Equal ground.
I meant they weren’t equal when it came to who had Clary’s affections. No Jace won that battle the moment Clary ditched simon, who was in the process of asking her out, to go find out who Jace was and what he was doing at the club. But lets look at virtually every other factor. Both are young men only 16 who have suffered the loss of a loved one before and are fiercely loyal and protective of the ones they have left. Neither are always sure who they can trust. In book 1 Jace is introduced s having vanquished more demons than anyone else in their age group, Before the end of Book 1 Simon is revealed to be skilled in archery and uses that skill to vanquish an incredibly dangerous Greater Demon. In book 2 Simon dies then is brought back from the dead to rise again, Jace does the same, through admittingly different methods, one book later. Jace is from a powerful race of hunters (shadowhunters), lets make Simon a member of a another powerful race of hunters (vampires and then Shadowhunters). Oh it looks like Jace has extra gifts his blood is special. Jace gives Simon his blood and Simon now has extra gifts to. Both of them have been hunted over their gifts, both have tried to help and protect the other. Jace giving Simon that Blood was a huge sacrifice and then he sacrificed for him again by admitting what he did to Valentine, knowing it will anger Valentine and could cause him to lose love for Jace. So in the second half of the series Simon starts Sacrificing for Jace. He gives up not only the mark of Chain which protected him from harm, but also a beloved memory connecting him to his own late father. Jace showed Simon a lot of the Shadoworld, and Simon returned that by teaching Jace aspects of mundane life. He told him pop culture references, let him stay with him in his apartment, taught him to play video games, and even took him grocery shopping. (Ask me why Jace seems more human when he is with Simon yet more like a fantasy man with Clary)
After reading Tales From The Shadowhunting Academy I will say that Jace was the ONLY one of the TMI gang who deserved to get Simon back. He is the only one who ever seemed to think about how Simon must be feeling or made any effort to be there for him. Alec and Magnus ignored Simon and acted like they didn’t care that he was back, while Isabelle and Clary were both incredibly selfish and only seemed to think of themselves. They actually had the audacity to blame Simon for not remembering them, and make him feel more like crap for not being able to just walk back into a life they knew he couldn’t remember, knowing that he sacrificed his memories to save THEIR lives. Clary Isabelle I am so disappointed in you ladies. Jace you are doing great.
Ending this to anyone wondering if at this point if I ship Jimon; Yes. I think they would have made an awesome couple. I also think they are awesome as friends and brothers in law. Any way you slice it Jimon is top tear writing
This has been my top 5 TMI relationships. I will do a TID top 5 when I either learn how to make these smaller, or have the time to do one this long again. Heads up it will probably be the second one.
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