#i have a Lot of thoughts on characterization so um. you see. most things just don't track for me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

daytaker · 4 months

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NightBringer Satan is a Gift.

I understand everyone has their own opinions on how good/not good NB is as a game or a story or whatever, but in my opinion, Satan's characterization is soooo enhanced by it. I know that this isn't an opinion that everyone shares, but to me, Satan felt emotionally artificial sometimes in the original game (more on that below).* He felt kind of awkward and like he wanted to connect with MC but something was blocking the kind of connection they develop with some of the other brothers. (Disclaimer: I've only done season 1 of OG, so I can't speak to how he's characterized later on. I know, I know, shame. But I'm trying my best.) Getting to see what Satan is like when he doesn't have any control over his emotions makes the stiffness and artificiality make more sense to me, and they become admirable because we get to see just how hard it is for him to get everything under control.

I think they did a really good job with the pacing of his development in NB too. Satan in Lesson 1 and Satan in Lesson 19 are different, but there isn't a moment where he suddenly starts controlling his emotions better. I think there's a lot going on behind the scenes with him as far as his emotional growth and self control are concerned.

Also let's not forget some very important things about Satan that make him, IMO, one of the most interesting characters to work with as a writer:

Satan was never an angel; he had no fall from grace.

Satan was created from Lucifer's wrath---he is literally the product of trauma and self-mutilation.

Satan is significantly younger than his brothers.

He spent the first year of his life more or less trapped in a castle with his deeply emotionally wounded brothers.

He has a deep resentment towards Lucifer that sometimes defies reason---he wishes he didn't dedicate so much of his time and energy to him, but it's basically a compulsion.

He hates his deep association with Lucifer, and he hates that he has a lot in common with him.

And these lead me to some headcanons that live rent-free in my brain every day of my life.

Satan sees himself as a reminder of the Great Celestial War and everything his brothers lost in it, including Lilith.

He is divine retribution against Lucifer for his failure, for leading his brothers to failure, for letting his sister die.

He acts as a counterbalance to Lucifer's pride by bearing the weight of the shame that Lucifer can't fully accept now that he is the Avatar of Pride. Even if Lucifer pushes it out of his mind, Satan never forgets that he failed in the worst way possible.

His biggest aspiration is to become a full and complete person outside of any association he has with Lucifer. He feels like some sort of parasitic tumor that exists only in opposition to his brother, and he wants desperately to escape that role that he feels he was born into.

Anyway, Satan is great, hail Satan, all that good stuff. Did you know I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about Satan? I know, shocking. For more of my takes here's my fic about him (on AO3).

*I think Satan almost metaphorically represents certain elements of autism---emotions that don't come out the way you intend, masking and its limitations, hyperfixations that are barely under control. In Fandom Discourse(TM) there's sometimes a level of focus on more 'cutesy' autistic traits that we find endearing in characters, like social obliviousness and gleefully indulged hyperfixations. But emotional control, emotional masking, emotional seepage, emotional artificiality---these are also real and messy and often times they aren't cute and they're uncomfortable to see in yourself or in someone else. I really don't like diagnosing characters so I'm not about to claim Satan "is" autistic, but as someone who has been called essentially 'spectrum adjacent' by doctors, I relate to the awkwardness and the desire to appear normal despite knowing you're not and emotions spilling out in ugly ways---um. That got really long and personal.

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meruz · 5 months

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hi im putting all my asks in one post again. these are from like the past month and a half approx? some digimon thoughts some tmnt thoughts some art musings u know the usual

@waywardistics YAYY thank you so much for ordering! I'm glad it got to you & that you are enjoying it!

this is kind of a missive to everyone who ordered but: I am very nervous about pre-orders whenever I do them... nervous that not very many people will order, nervous that there will be supply chain or production dilemmas and I won't be able to get copies out to people in a timely fashion, nervous about having people's money but having an indeterminate amt of time where i have not yet "held up my part of the bargain" etc etc SO. THANK U GUYS...FOR ORDERING and being patient and im so glad it got to y'all

@seanonthemoon (idk why i cant tag u BUT) interesting... i gotta be honest I don't think abt the crests that much. i agree that they're very much like heres the "girl" crest heres the "nerd boy" crest etc to the point that it becomes almost meaningless. but i think what makes them even more meaningless to me, and is probably the reason they kind of designated girl/boy crests etc is that i think like the digivices they're toys and merchandise more than they are actual narrative tools LOL. I wouldve loved something with cody and mimi! theyre both so deeply empathetic and sensitive.. theres a lot they share but i think because they look so different on the surface it would make it difficult to market that merch...booo capitalism boooo toy marketing its all sexist bullshit at least here in the u.s. idk if japan is that different though.

I'm actually a little frustrated with how often 02 and 02 related media squanders cody in general lol. he feels like a parallel of izzy, joe, and TK(season 1 tk) while also being kind of none of those and suffering through lackluster characterization as a result... and then once ken joins the team it feels a little redundant. there's a couple cody-centric eps of 02 I remember really liking but then i think abt how he's been used since in like post-series content and 02:the beginning where they made him type on the computer even though obviously that's yoleis thing but because he had nothing else to do and aghh... my blood boils. i feel like the youngest but most serious anime achetype even at its bare bones is actually rly interesting idk why they don't play it up. UM. Once again my opinion is that he should be taller LOL and maybe they should play up his kendo martial arts honorable training stuff more idk. tallest + youngest + most serious just seems like a recipe for success for me. well. theres still time. and theres always fanfic.

THIS IS SO NICE TO SAY and not the first time someone has said it but i appreciate it everytime because i really admire the mm art style so much. It's like part of why I got really into the movie because I really recognized my own artistic sensibilities and aspirations in the way they stylized everything.

UM And i feel like since watching the movie and looking at all the concept art and making my own art i do feel like its only become more obvious how much my own art is lacking LOL LIKE when you see something that feels so similar I think the differences only become more stark. those artists are definitely on a different level than me. But it's nice to hear people say it doesn't look so different from their pov. thank u ^^

thank u!!!!!!! i love mundanity and naturalism... there's something so beautiful abt it to me lol... I feel like my anatomy needs work actually but ive been feeling better abt it this year so it's good to hear! thank you!

DLKGDSGDLALSNDF WAS IT TOO FAR..?? firstly, yeah I was thinking late teen/young adult ages for both of them ie 18-19ish, definitely not the age the kids are in the movie lol.

but also they arent DOING anything in that pic it is literally just a confrontation + some innuendo... I think teens should be allowed some less than subtle innuendo.. its like one of the top 3 classically teen pastimes...

this is such a funny ask to get because i feel like i haven't been able to do thin lineart until like. this past year or two maybe LOL. UM having a line-centric art job helped I think. I started on craig of the creek back in 2022 and thats a show where we spend a lot of time inking so I had a job where I was constantly moderating my line weight 40 hours a week every week for over a year. disappointingly, much of improvement is simply horrendous amounts of practice.

Here's a tip though: I think a lot of thin lineart boils down to confidence. I think instinctively we read thick, bold, fast lines as confident but theres actually a lot of obscuring you can do with a thick line. if you're not sure whether the nose on the face or a browline should be a little more left or a little more down you can hide that with a thick line and pretend its a shadow. or hide it with a bunch of quick lines and the eye can kind of approximate where looks best among the mass.. whereas a thin line is rly singular and stark and hides nothing, it needs to be precise. so anytime i know i want thin lineart i spend a LOT of time sketching, making sure i know exactly where i want my lines to go. so im not second guessing by the time im inking...

ok thats kind of a broad tip lol... here's one thats more applicable: IF POSSIBLE, lower your pressure sensitivity on your device. most devices have some way to edit your pressure sensitivity curve. I use a surface pro at home and this is what my pressure curve looks like most of the time.

When I work on a wacom it looks even more like a reverse L shape LOL. I'm naturally a really heavy-handed artist and I use a "light" or "hard" pressure curve to compensate for how hard I'm always pressing on the pen lol. if you're like me and you struggle with going too hard with the ink too fast... this will probably help a lot!

SFHASLDFH I LOVE THIS ASK this is like the type of question a person gets asked when chalk drawing on the sidewalk at recess LOL. but i understand because I've been struggling also for like. months. I think I'm finally starting to nail it down though so here's some of my observations.

[feel free to save this img but **please do not re-post it or share broadly**. my biggest fear in the world is to spend 30 min on some notes and become a widely proliferated art tutorial im not even kidding. i made it low contrast and difficult to read on purpose.]

my other tip is to just look at and study a lot of reference because that's all ive been doing. the tmnt are really cartoony so its difficult to use like actual anatomical reference unless ur going for that look BUT theres been so many adaptions in so many different styles that there's a real treasure trove of stuff to look at for how to simplify, stylize, and dissect these characters while keeping the recognizable essence. so theres lots to pull from.

If you want to expand further, it's also good to have 5) something sci-fi 6)something fantasy 7)something mundane/slice of life. a bedroom is a really good go-to. And of course some bgs can be two or more of these things at once.

I've definitely answered asks abt bg tips before but here's one specifically for if you want to do bg design for a job:

Your portfolio should probably have at least one of each of the following 1) an interior 2) an exterior 3) a cityscape 4) a nature scene. Just to cover kind of the basics of what you'd be asked to draw on any given project.

I actually feel like I don't have that many cityscrapes in my portfolio... this is something I'm gonna try to work on in the coming year LOL. OH ALSO. This is a very basic tip and people will tell you it all the time but its worth repeating: look up portfolio websites of artists who have the job you want. An easy way to do this is to go onto imdb for any cartoon or movie you like and to find the names listed as "bg/background designer" or whatever then just google that name +"art" or "animation" most artists have some public facing internet presence so it's not hard. spend time studying their work and hold those images in your head! it's a good way to get a good idea of what "industry standard" looks like and comparing ur own art to it... I know people sometimes get bummed comparing their art to others but if you can keep your head up lol.. it'll help you figure out what you need to work on!

ok thats all i have to say sorry for typing so much. happy new year everybody who read this far LMAO!!!!!

#ask

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pink-strawberry-kissess · 1 year

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Leon x ships (and why I don’t support anything other than aeon)

THIS IS MY OPINION, you are free to ignore this. But these are my particular reasonings as to why I do not enjoy the other ships for Leon and why I find them incredibly problematic.

❤️ Aeon (Leon x Ada)

I started this blog because I fell in love with the ship. It has the right amount of hurt/comfort that I was desiring at the time, and when I really broke down all the intricacies of the ship, I couldn’t get over it.

To get things as crystal clear as possible. MOST AEON shippers do not think that aeon is a healthy relationship. It’s very much a push and pull of two people that realistically shouldn’t be together but find each other in each other’s lives. 20 years were spent to work through this “relationship.” (think batman and catwoman)

re2 we have the meeting. The way they gravitate towards each other, but the way that Leon changes Ada. Only when she realizes that he’s simply a good person wanting to do the good thing, she struggled to finish what she needed to do. Which was HER JOB. It’s not too far to say that she WOULD’VE maybe been killed if she didn’t complete her job. She’s not in a safe position. People don’t realize that. When Ada “dies,” a part of Leon dies with him.

re4 we have another meeting. Leon’s hurt. He’s confused and all of sudden Ada is alive again. He had years of mental anguish and survivors guilt. He holds a lot of resentment towards her. And yet Ada still finds the desire and need to want to protect him. She protects him during her entire campaign. (Play Separate ways before speaking to me..) and at the end, he lets her go with the virus. He doesn’t want this to happen but he can’t stop her. They leave each other in less that desirable circumstances. But he still doesn’t stop her.

off screen re5 we have simply, “the night,” they spend together. Romantic, maybe in a hotel. How we go from re4 to this is never expanded on and since it’s off screen, we’re only here to speculate on what could’ve happened. (They had sex) which is implied in-

re damnation “the sexy one.” a film in which they simply flirt with each other the entire time. The “so when are we going to um, carry on from where we left off that night?”

“So you missed me huh?” Even in this film, we have Ada saving Leon AGAIN. “You owe me one,” before she’s off again.

we have to remember that between re4 and damnation there’s SEVERAL YEARS for them to have potential other meetings that are simply not explored on screen.

more time passes and we have re6 “the aeon fanservice one.” I won’t go into too much detail for this one, but re6 aeon is still superior to me. we have established a sexual relationship at this point, we don’t know if they’ve explored more, and yet Leon’s willing to jump off a burning building the second he see’s Ada needing help? This is the Leon we know. Also they just have each other’s contacts at this point?? They leave again and this is the final time we see them together in the franchise.

“See you down the road, Leon.”

❌ cleon (Leon x Claire)

Now to be completely honest. I DON’T HATE THE SHIP. I think it’s a delusional one, but the main reason I dislike the ship a lot, is actually because of the shippers. It’s a constant, “claire better,” fight. (I don’t have to say that Claire is a shitty character for me to not ship them etc. which seems to be the core of what cl*on shippers do, which is *drumroll* shit on Ada.)

And I find that most of these shippers are younger, white, and conservative and or naive. And also tend to lack in their abilities to read characterizations and understanding the complexities of morality.

The shippers have lowkey ruined the character of Claire for me. And I always thought she was a cute character. Not my favourite, but she’s fine. I just never thought of her characterization or storyline to be particularly interesting. But what I do find interesting to me that most Leon x Reader fics simply have a character similar to Claire written in as reader instead.

The idea of two morally good characters together is simply not as interesting to me. It’s always been like this. They are not pulled to each other in a sexual or romantic way which is why I mostly think the ship is delusional. There are SEVERAL instances of this.

Claire does flirt with Leon briefly in re2r. However it’s very clear on Leon’s side that he does not read it as flirting. He barely spends any time with her, and at the end of it, Claire suggests that it “would’ve been one hell of a date,” not knowing that Leon spent more time with Ada for the entire duration of re2r.

I don’t count degeneration since there’s a weird moment with Angela which I also don’t really count since she’s never heard of again.

The only other time is infinite darkness. In which Leon refers to her as “a kid.” And that he doesn’t see her “as a woman.” OR to put it more clearly, he does not see her as a love interest. Not to mention the one scene cleon stans cream themselves over, in which Claire falls on top of Leon, where she’s like visibly disgusted.

And to put the cherry on top, at the end of infinite darkness, they are no longer on speaking terms, and or no longer friends from what we can see. I’ll give cleon shippers one thing. They had a potential moment. “A dinner,” that could’ve happened and yet Claire and Leon both do not see eye to eye. They disagree morally (which is actually interesting) and so they separate. And as for the timeline now, they are no longer friends.

One final note, is that I find cleon shippers INCREDIBLY racist and misogynistic. OBVIOUSLY NOT ALL OF THEM. But all men, until it’s not all men. A large portion of cleon shippers use Ada is a scapegoat for their ship. Painting Ada as a sexual, manipulative, con woman that “steals,” Leon away from Claire. It’s so laughable when Leon was never Claire’s.

When you have to resort to pinning women against other women, then I just simply do not care to interact with that.

I also find the whole “caring mother figure,” to be incredibly gross. It’s the same kind of incel talk that guys use to declare what is desirable in a woman. That if you’re not good at being a mother, caring, nurturing etc. Then you’re just NOT DESIRABLE. That being a “pure, wholesome, good girl” is the only reason why you deserve a man, is something YOU need to work out on your own. Maybe do some soul searching on why you think that’s the only reason why you deserve love.

❌ Leon x Ashley

Similarly, Leon speaks of Ashley as “a young girl,” or a “kid.” “Is this what they’re teaching kids these days?” He does not see her as a love interest. Sure, Ashley does flirt with him a lot. Who wouldn’t?

But at the end of the day, Ashley is a 21 year old girl in university. Still figuring out her life and what she wants. While Leon is a 27 year old trained special agent, whose boss is Ashley’s FATHER. Sure you can get into that fantasy all you want. I totally get that and I’ve been into that ship before. And as you age, oh boy does that ship dynamic not age well.

There are huge age gap and dynamics that will not work. And I totally get people wanting that type of ship. But it’s REALLY GROSS FOR ME.

But again, Leon turns her down multiple times, and rejects her as well. Ashley is also no longer seen in the canon.

❌ Leon x Helena

NOW BEFORE PEOPLE SAY ANYTHING. I ACTUALLY DON’T HATE THE SHIP. It’s when it comes down to the fact they have a 12 year age gap that makes me a bit barfy. But furthermore that Helena is younger than SHERRY.

Now if I were to exclude the age gap, I think that they’re VERY HOT. I really enjoy Helena’s character model and them in re6 is SO FUCKING FINE. BUT yup, I can’t get over that age gap. But one of the main issues is that Helena is also canonically an aeon shipper. Which I kind of find adorable? It definitely adds to the aeon storyline in re6.

Helena being 24, while at this point Leon is 36-37. And during re6, Sherry is 26-27. And KEEP IN MIND. When Leon met Sherry, he was 21 and SHE WAS 12.

So when Leon was 21, Helena would’ve been 9 YEARS OLD.

And I won’t even justify Leon x Sherry because

When Leon met Sherry, he was 21 and SHE WAS 12.

And all other ships I honestly do not care for or think are fine.

I’m also supportive of Chreon, metaltango, serrenndy. I read them occasionally but I’m just not that personally emotionally invested in them. I find them cute, and I support people who want to write lgbtq ships. Also chreon shippers are typically also Aeon shippers and I find they mingle well together in the same spaces sometimes.

#aeon #leon x ada #ships #resident evil ships #my opinions #you're free to ignore this #leon kennedy #Leon Kennedy x ada Wong #leon s kennedy #ada wong #ada wong x leon kennedy

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mellicindi · 9 months

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um so Life is (not) a Hallmark Movie is one of the most impactful fics i’ve ever read, for me personally

1) it forms the absolute core of how i see binghe, whether that is modern binghe or canon binghe. like i can’t really explain(i might try later) but i compare all other binghe’s to LHM binghe even on a subconscious level. the way you write him and all his most toxic traits is just… absolutely perfect. you address them and work through them in such a satisfying way. no other modern au has ever been that satisfying or endearing for me to read this manipulative crybaby hopelessly lovesick emo puppy.

2) sqq. oh my god. i’m normally a wwx kinnie but your sqq had me so deep in the feels that legally i think i was drowning. i related so hard to your sqq that i had a had a whole identity crisis for half a year after i read the fic the first time. i went from laughing at his emotionally blind dumbass antics to eventually going wait oh no that’s me i do that 😨. sqq makes more sense to me now than he ever did before. sqq is forever a repressed demisexual man to me, even in canon, like that’s a demisexual i don’t know what else to tell you

3) speaking of which guess who else is demisexual. me, bitch. you know that night of sleepless research spiraling sqq did after learning about asexuality? that was me after reading this fic. i related more to sqq’s journey with romance and sexuality than i’ve ever related to anything in my life. since then, i’ve been reading more fics with ace characters and it’s been so much fun, so comforting to see a part of myself represented in a way i never have before. the way you wrote sqq’s character development hand in hand with his exploration of asexuality is the most touching thing for me.

4) in summary, you codified how i characterize binghe, reframed how i see sqq, and gave me a name for a part of myself i’d never understood and only ever thought was a character flaw. i love myself more and better because of your fic.

i’m sorry if that’s a lot to drop in your ask box! i just can’t think of a more influential fic and i deeply hope that you still get love and appreciation for writing it.

p.s. your bookmarks are dope and you have excellent taste, they’ve given me days more entertainment <3

ngl usually when I get a message on tumblr it turns out to just be a p0rn bot, so that's what I was expecting when I clicked on this, but surprise!! It's actually an incredibly kind and funny message that made my entire day!! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up :D

It's especially heartening to hear how this lil fic gave you a name for demisexuality! I sometimes wonder how my life might have been different if I learned about the asexuality spectrum sooner, and accepted that part of myself at a younger age, so to hear that I've helped someone else learn about it (even in an indirect way) means a lot. Best of luck on your ongoing journey <3

Writing has been a challenge lately, so extra thanks for the encouraging message!! Makes me want to dive back into the wild wild world of bingqiu~~ my precious disasters~~~~~

(I haven't been back through my bookmarks in a while, mayhaps I will have to take a peruse this weekend ⚈ ̫ ⚈huhuhu)

#ask #hallmark au #fanfic

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ctrsara · 7 months

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Author question tag game thing

Thanks for the tag, @waitingondaisies!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

- 76

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

- 619,841

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I've only written for Marvel, and most specifically Irondad. I'm curious to see if that will change at some point.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Emergency Contacts 1684 words

Cutting Remarks 5754 words

Better Than I Was 1969 words

Sick Day Shouldas 2631 words

Outside Insights 3201 words (All of these are from my Strands in the Rope series!)

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

I try really hard to respond to almost every comment. But I'm slow sometimes.

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

Pretty sure none of my fics are angsty at the end. But there's a lot still up in the air in Visiting Hours and it's not a real fix-it. Mostly just some comfort after a bunch of bad (thanks, Marvel) stuff.

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

Um, they pretty much all have happy endings. But maybe From the Same Star, or its sequel, Cracks in the Soul.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No? Not yet? But a few people who have disagreed with things, or pointed some weaknesses out, which is fine.

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

I do not.

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

They don't usually appeal to me.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of.

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

Not completely

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Maybe Spock and Uhura (from the reboot)? Or honestly, Peter and Hallie from my soulmate stories. I'm a little more into found family than romance right now, but I still enjoy it.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The AU of my AU. I started writing it because I was so curious about it, but I don't know if I'll ever post it or not, and if I never post it, I won't have any perceived pressure to help me finish it. ADHD (for me) means

16. What are your writing strengths?

Communication and characterization? I've had some good look with my OC's so far, and people (including me) have really liked them, so that's fun.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Brevity, action scenes, favoring best-outcomes instead of realism, plot in general.

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

It's rough. I'll do short phrases in Italian (and I've been studying it in duolingo for like 5 months now, just because I wish I was better at it) but I usually opt to write it out in English and delineate that they're speaking something else.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Marvel

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

How could I possibly choose? Several are favorites for different reasons. I feel like I just want to cheat here and say Strands in the Rope. If it wasn't split into different stories, it'd just be a 180k story... (encompassing like 2 years)

I tag @itsmechara426, @celestialseawitch-ff, @niniblack, @jadeys-world, @grumperella, @fotibrit, @katinamoon

#tag game #authors are the best

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shamera · 6 months

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20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @bbcphile 🥰🥰🥰

1. How many works do you have on AO3? site says 21! (I also have 50+ on ff.net from when I was younger, and uhhh idk how many that I shoved into my dreamwidth/livejournal never to see the light of day again.)

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 619,848

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently Mysterious Lotus Casebook! (Although I might sneak something for Love and Redemption or Scum Villain.) I am mostly a writer in the Final Fantasy XIII fandom, although I have spent years in Code Geass and Merlin fandoms. Before that, it was Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.... loads more.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Leave Me Your Starlight, Code Geass fic Nunnally-centric time-travel fix-it

Five Minutes, FFXIII fluff oneshot featuring Noel and Hope

World Enough and Time, Code Geass AU post-apocalyptic rewrite

First (and Second) Impressions, FFXIII modern babysitting AU Noel/Hope

Lost in a Moment (lost in a song), Mysterious Lotus Casebook post-canon fix-it casefic

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to! I'm, um. I'm really bad at it. In that I will attempt to respond to everyone in the first few days, but then I get distracted doing/writing something else and I am so tunnel-visioned that you won't hear from me until a week later and then I feel bad about taking so long to respond. Also I am very, very bad at responding because while I love love love seeing comments, it's just happy reactions and incoherent noises from me. How do I words to translate my appreciation???

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? ...probably everything I wrote as a kid? I have very different ideas on angst nowadays, but I guess while I was writing it... between Gedächtnisse (FMA fic) and Sound of Silence (HP fic), I guess!

Newer stuff might be between The Other (FFXIII fic) and Test Subjects (FFXIII fic).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I write a lot of fluff pieces nowadays! But overall, probably Something About December (FFXIII fic), since it's a Christmas fic or Family (FFXIII), which was written to give Sazh more support in the third game.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Once, someone pointed out my join date on the website and asked me why I was still writing fanfiction.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have, but generally don't. Even most of my ships are closer to gen than not. I'm closer to the repulsed spectrum of ace, but I do like attempting to write all sorts of things.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Yes! Love them! I've written a good handful-- but the craziest one was when I was... 10? 11? and I wrote Orions'Ka on a notebook and when I typed it up, it was well over 60,000 words. It had absolutely everything I loved back then.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not by a person, no. By website bots, yes.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have had... people ask me if they could translate my fics? My answer is always yes, but I don't recall seeing it anywhere.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I had an entire online journal with my best friend back in middle school.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? ...MXTX ships, maybe? I don't feel particularly strongly about ships most of the time, only about characters, who I will ship around for the fun of it. But for MXTX pairings, that just doesn't feel right. They just belong together.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? ....my old Harry Potter stuff, I'm sorry. Not a fandom I got back into again.

16. What are your writing strengths? I've been told it's characterizations! And descriptions.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Everything else. Confidence, I guess. Also energy and interest. And once I overcome those, plot.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? ...me, or fics that do that? Because I've seen fics do that, full on paragraphs of dialogue in the original language but descriptions in English, and I don't understand. But if it's just... an important word, a statement, something the fandom would normally understand kept in its original language because there's just no good translation in English for it, then it absolutely works. Some things don't translate well, and fans usually like learning more about their canons. I personally try to keep things mostly in English nowadays, though, but I slip time to time.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Star Wars. I was in the single digits age, and wrote an introspective ficlet on Luke and Leia's feelings about how the original trilogy's ending, sitting together on Endor to watch it all burn.

20. Favorite fic you've written? ...I don't know if I have one. I either tend to be proud or hate what I've written, depending on the day, my mood, wind speeds, and cats. Currently I want to say Lost in a Moment, because I finished that recently and I had so many doubts about it so I'm proud I got through it.

Tagging... omg, anyone who still follows me all the way from FFXIII days and writes, or all the way from the Gundam Wing days gosh.

but also @seventhstrife, @rhystheceo, @teekettle, @adriannasharp @tunnelofdusk 🤭 ya'll suffer through my random selection because I know you guys are writerssss

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imakemywings · 6 months

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I would like to discuss something with you. You know how Aragorn warned Bilbo of singing the 'Song Of Eärendil' in front of Elrond and how the fandom immediately flocked to the idea that Elrond held resentment towards Earendil because of that one line. Um, I find that weird and not aligned with Elrond's characterization because the Song of Earendil was said to be a revised version of an earlier nonsensical poem Errantry, which was also composed by Bilbo after his quest for Erebor. And if there is one thing I learned from lotr is that they see Earendil as a significant and symbolic figure of the First Age (Elves' most beloved star dude), and his son is a loremaster so the thought of someone making a lighthearted poem about a First Age figure, especially your dad's dad, without treating it seriously probably didn't sit right with Aragorn (who grew up with Elrond). Plus, Bilbo who was proud of Errantry's, thought he could incongruously make a fictitious poem of a legend of the First Age. Seems to me that Aragorn warned Bilbo not because Elrond would be offended/hate to hear his father's name, but rather because Elrond would be offended by hearing inconsistent facts about his father's life and adventures and what he did during the First Age, because ya know, Elrond is a loremaster.

Alright! Apologies it took me so long to get to this, it's been a busy time @.@

I can honestly say I've been lucky enough to avoid that particular interpretation of that scene, but I believe that it's out there.

I think it probably is more like Aragorn thought it was a bit cheeky of Bilbo to be writing poetry about Elrond's father in his own house. However, he seems mostly good-natured about it; there doesn't seem to be a concern Elrond will be genuinely angry or offended about it. Also, given Elrond's age and concurrent with your last point--he knows a LOT more about the whole thing than Bilbo or Aragorn, so he IS likely to notice any errors or inconsistencies. Aragorn basically warning Bilbo he better have done his research before dropping this poem XD

And to a point in your middle paragraph--yeah, Earendil seems to be held in incredibly high esteem in Middle-earth. He appears almost as a quasi-religious figure by Lord of the Rings, with Galadriel calling him the Elves' "most beloved star" and giving Frodo the phial of his light which saves his and Sam's lives multiple times, only dimming in the heart of Orodruin where Sauron's power is strongest.

Which makes sense, as Earendil had a significant role in saving Middle-earth from the domination of Melkor (a baddie far more powerful and malicious than Sauron), and because he has dedicated his life to sailing Vingilot. Earendil has been a deeply selfless person committed to the welfare of Middle-earth and he receives an appropriate level of deference from its residents in response.

However, Bilbo seems to hold very little in reverence outside tea-time and he seems to enjoy getting cheeky with the Elves, so it doesn't surprise me that he went on with the poem despite Aragorn's comments XD

To me, there is just no proof anywhere in Silm, Hobbit, or LotR that Elrond resents Earendil (for things that happened almost 8,000 years ago by the time Bilbo retires to Rivendell). People can headcanon it for sure, but I don't see any canon proof of it.

#asks #krystalseijuro

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amethystfox4 · 1 year

Text

Heres my tier list!

Explanations below the cut and thanks to @starrjoy for the blank list!

Note: every ship (excluding Knuxuge bc that is the only ship I have zero thoughts about other than "its canon") will have caveats to it.

Most of them being I do not have enough knowledge of the actual source(s) to have an opinion

My other one being I really don't care about the supposed canonisity of a ship so if you're wondering why theres only one ship in OTP its bc most of the others have some sort of hc attached to it (ex : All of Sonic's parings)

I love them!:

Hey look its the individual ships that make up SonAmyShad! In all honesty, I really like these three ships individually too, but I will gravitate towards the Sonic pairings more than Shadamy on an individual basis.

And I'm going to say it here Sonic as a character has two modes for me in a shipping sense- Hes either a disaster biromantic demiace or straight up aroace (no inbeween)

I like Sonamy in sense that yeah I can see yeah it can be cute but only if Amy isn't portrayed as an obsessed stalker. I know shes infatuated with Sonic and the idea of being with him, as shown in multiple games (I don't think its been a thing in recent years but I still feel the need to mention it), but I like to believe as Amy matures she realizes that putting Sonic on such a pedestal wasn't a good thing to do for either of them. I also like to think that as Amy mellows out her friendship with Sonic becomes a lot more solid.

Also if I was on a computer I would definitely put Sonadow between I love them! and I ship them for comedic value, bc you know those two idiots would not handle having romantic feelings in any normal way

Shadamy is interesting to me- I really like it I think its cute (Gives me Grease vibes now that I think of it) but I cannot see it being a thing in actual Sonic canon (honestly this is with most ship excluding a few). I see it in a "canon but to the left" kind of way.

So the next ship is Bunny x Antoine (I think). So my only and I mean only exposure to this ship (and these two characters) is from the fan comic TMOM (The Murder of Me) by Gigi and if their characterizations in there are anything like they are in Archie than yes!

Please do not comment asking for me to read the Archie Comics, I do not want to touch that monstrosity with a 10ft pole. (It scares me./j)

I purely ship them for comedic value!:

Infitgadet, I think is how that ship is spelt, is a funny crack ship that I just laugh at. Its stupid, its dumb, but I see the appeal.

Sonjet, a petty minor rivalry that becomes a bromance.

Sonic x Elise umm in canon: No. But outside of that...Ha ha, One!

Kinda cute sometimes:

Alot of these fall under "canon but to the left"

Shadilver and Sonilver, could work either way but in a similar but slightly different way to ShadSonAmy, I prefer it to be Sonadoilver over the individual ones

Blazemy, not much to say other than I like it.

Silvaze, I can see it better than the other three but not much else.

Tangle x Whisper, now I have not read IDW and I want to, so I don't much about these two other then sure, I'm cool with it.

Not for me but I can see the appeal:

Shadouge, I see Rouge as more as the older sister/wine aunt to Shadow more than anything else

Sonally, never watched Satam or read Archie but I do know of Sally through pop culture osmosis. If we're talking about how 90s American (cartoon) Sonic was than sure I see it. But for current Sonic (even Adventure Sonic) not really but I do see them as friends if she could exist again.

Espilver, dont know why I just like them a little

Sonknux, just a really good bromance, with Sonic being a little shit and sometimes flirting with Knuckles.

Not on the list but Sonouge is similar where I dont see them in a relationship they just like to throw flirty banter at eachother and it just confuses anyone who knows how Sonic normally reacts to being flirted with (even funnier if Sonic is aroace)

Sonaze, um its there, to me they'd just be friends with just a heavy meaning behind holding hands

I have never watched Sonic X but I can see the appeal of Tails being in a relationship but I really strongly see him as being aroace flat out, with strong platonic love for his brother and friends.

Not for me and I CANT see the appeal:

Shadknux, I see we are shipping the lancers together (Shadow and Knuckles are both lancers to Sonic in the five man band trope while Knuckles is the big guy/lancer Shadow is just Sonic's lancer imo). This confuses me I don't hate it I just don't get it.

Vanilla x Vector, huh? I'm not saying its bad just...

Silvamy, um what? I don't see them having romantic feelings for eachother like at all.

Wait this exist?!:

Metadow, Waveouge, and Blaze x Omega (?)...[Confused Laughter] What? Are these crack ships bc I can't wrap my head around them.

Surgeamy, now I have heard of this but why?

Sally x ???? (explains itself)

Shadaze, I see that picture is from Archie right? Uh...

Ian Jr. x Infinite, now thats a crack ship if I ever saw one!

Rouge x Topaz, uh I can't say I didn't know this existed just that I had no where else to put it since I have no idea what Topaz's character is like.

#sonic ships #sonic the hedgehog #god there are so many names #I don't think my list is that controversial but who knows #Please tell me why I'm wrong!#tier list #sonic memes

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hawkepockets · 2 months

Note

Hello I am secretly Zelda Lore Nerd and I must know your thoughts on like. The story progression and plot beats and how it's all put together in Twilight Princess because I've only ever watched playthroughs I haven't played it myself and I'm invested in your liveblogging of this now.

omg hi yaaaaaan

^ u n me rn

ok so im ONLY on the death mountain dungeon right but so far in terms of story structure & level design i love this game. i feel like it hits a real sweet spot of being a little perplexing but never punishing yk like u get to use your noggin but it’s easy to progress.

like i mentioned already i LOVED the tutorial ramping you up for a horseback adventure to hyrule castle as a human guy with a sword & slingshot and the power of speech only to take it all away with the wolf transformation and hurl you directly to the twilit castle so the journey you were promised is instantly fulfilled, and stolen, and given back much harder, darker, more complicated.

you haven’t spent much time with/as link atp but it HITS like. his screentime as a guy has been so well spent in establishing his relationship with ordon village, both animals & people, and hyping you up for him to prove himself and see the world in a way that he then isn’t allowed to. the transformation feels authentically violating—it’s fun to play as the wolf, but the first time you try to talk to a familiar npc and they scream, or to open a door and find it’s an unnavigable barrier to you in this form, the realization that just as link doesn’t know how to move through the world in this body, you don’t know how to move through the game without most of the mechanics you just learned… like it hits it hits!

the spirit cleanse 🐺 -> dungeon 🧍 -> spirit cleanse 🐺 -> dungeon 🧍 pattern works really nicely. keeps things fresh, means you didn’t really waste your time in the tutorial, and also alternates the dimly lit, easier but utterly lonely wolf phases with the brighter, more social and challenging human phases in a way that characterizes the twilight itself as a threat imo? it’s melancholy, it’s peaceful, it consumes without killing, it’s vast and feels like a natural disaster… but it’s also easier to reverse than more mundane instances of greed, corruption, and violence. the motif of link with and without a community is repeated over and over. it’s yummy!!

i like that the dungeons seem to have their own characters beyond just the set dressings too. the forest temple felt a bit like a memory pair matching game with a lot of backtracking to previously explored rooms with new context for what you found in there. the goron mines seem to be a lot more timing based, with a lot of speed checks and, so far, more linear forward progress. so the elemental character of each region goes into like. what’s the most challenging quality of each dungeon, instead of just everything getting harder across the board. wood & air for flow, growth, renewal, return. metal & fire for enthusiasm, impulse, persistence, and rhythm. YUM!

midna of course is a nonstop delight. it’s not always clear when she’s available to help mechanically, like it took me forever to realize she’ll only warp during twilight phases, but that’s ok—i’ve never regretted hitting the button to talk to her extra times. (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ to me, she’s the perfect fusion of TP’s dark and silly elements. it was love from the first time she yanked on link’s ears and told him to be a good boy. um. mm. hhehe.

literally my only game design complaints are that the day/night cycle isn’t explained in game and isn’t very intuitive (time doesn’t pass in every map), and since it does determine enemy activity & merchant availability i feel like that shouldn’t be smth you have to ask reddit for… and on the wii soooo many things are bound to the A button, and the console is NOT good at interpreting which function makes the most sense for a given situation. it makes some tasks a lot harder than they should be. ah well. forgiveable!

#1 best feature without contest or dispute:

that’s my 2 cents up to this point!

#ellie gets into fucking zelda!

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dracophile · 2 months

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For ao3 writing thing

🍓🍹🍄

Yay, someone sent some! :D

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

I believe I was in middle school, early 2000s. I rented a book called Dragon's Bait by Vivien Vande Velde from my local library. This book probably had a bigger impact on me than a certain wizard book ever did. I loved it, it started my obsession with dragons, and It ended in such a way that the main characters, Alys and Selendrile, could continue to have many adventures together and eventually fall in love. But it didn't show that part, which i found frustrating at the time. I started daydreaming and imagining those adventures, writing them down in an old notebook. That's right, I wrote analog fanfiction. Mainly because I was like 11 and I had no idea that was a thing on the internet yet. Eventually by browisng I found the old FF.Net, before it coroded away, and live journal and all that and started reading fics for anime I liked, then I finally got the courage to start writing. Dragon's Bait still remains one of my favorite books though (I also like Never Trust a Deadman, Heir Apparent, Companions of the Night by the same author)

I...can't find 🍹??? It looks like a combo of 🥤and 🧃(both drinks with straws?) so...I'll just do both

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

It feels like forever since I've sat and read a fanfic tbh...besides a one shot here and there. But I will say, @fairy-writes is great! I don't know some of the series she writes for, but she does a lot of readerxcharacter here on tumblr and what I read is compelling and emotional with great characterization. Book authors, I already recommended Vivian Vande Velde for a good all ages book. For a bit more adult books, I like Maria V. Snyder's books, Gail Carriger, and Lynn Flewelling

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

Personal lore about me? Um...When I was young, like ages 10, 11, and 12, my parents sent me to horse riding camp during the summer. I love horses, but I wasn't a horse girl. It's just, y'know, Texas and it was an easy one to find nearby and if i had to do summer camp I wanted to be able to ride a horse. Well, that year i was twelve, they decided to try and scare us with the story of a psycho in the woods. Except one of the counselors took it too far and ransacked the cabins a little (no damage but messing stuff up) and then tapping on the windows to scare us. A lot of us were scared and one girl started crying. The councilor in our cabin then told her it wasn't real and they were just trying to scare us, and I overheard her. I had two flashes of emotion then: Anger and the desire for revenge. And I don't know how I thought of this so fast--maybe because I'd started watching horror movies by now and liking them--but I asked her "So who was dragging the sack through the woods by the campfire?" I didn't see that, but I was so adamant I saw that and had such a docile reputation that the counselor ran off to talk to the head counselor. I saw their flashlights in the night. It was the last day of camp anyway but no one got much sleep. One counselor did ask if I lied before my mom came and I said "It's just a story, calm down." I told my mom i probably shouldn't go back again though. That's the only time I've ever gaslit someone I swear XD

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

I don't know of NIck/Sloane would count since Sloane is my OC so like...it's all headcannon there. Since most of my stuff written (well, all of it right now) on A03 is Grimm though, let's go with that. My other favorite ship is Monroe and Rosalee so let's see...I've gone into some on the fic...

One i haven't explored too much is their differences in diet. At the start of their relationship, Monroe would bend over backwards and almost hide his veganism because he'd had issues in the past with others finding it tedious or annoying. He's usually very proud of it, but he doesn't want Rosalee doing the same thing. Eventually, Rosalee had to confront him because his nervousness was making her more anxious than anything. She told him she was fine with him being vegan as long as he was fine with her not being vegan, and Monroe was adamant that he didn't want Rosalee to change a thing. He gets used to the smell of cooking meat again and they find side dishes they can share happily, and sometimes she made an all vegan meal she would enjoy as well. However, after one evening where he woged after an after dinner kiss and had to go on a run, he asked she brush her teeth after dinner just to be safe because the left over taste of meat set off a little blood lust. Rosalee now keeps her teeth very clean after meals.

#I love answering questions like this #it helps get the creative juices flowing

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stillwanderingflame · 5 months

Text

twenty questions for fic writers

A little writing meme I got from @/alightbuthappypen. I always like looking back on my writing and some of these questions sent me on a fun trip down memory lane.

How many works do you have on AO3?

26. I have a lot more saved or posted to LJ but when I created my ao3 account, I was trying to pick the "best of the best" to share.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

379,781. My tendency to write long fic has only grown over the years.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Oh boy, in roughly this order I’ve written for: X/1999, Weiss Kreuz, Assassin’s Creed (Ezio’s games), Overwatch, X-Men: First Class, Prometheus (sort of), Captain America, and Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Found: Extremely Friendly Fox (魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù)

lost whenever you go (魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù)

A bridge in the dark (陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) )

The Agreement (Assassin's Creed 2)

dying of thirst (魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù)

Until my first MDZS event, The Agreement was managing to hang in at top 3, despite the writing being 10 years old. People like smut, I guess.

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

I do try to but I’m often behind, especially when it comes to event fics where comments might come in faster than I can get to them. As a reader, I never expect a response so I hope people don’t feel bad when they don’t get one, but as a writer I really want to show my appreciation for someone taking the time to leave a comment. Also, sometimes readers leave their thoughts and I want to talk more about them!

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

The angstiest fic I can think of isn’t on ao3. It was part of a set of fics I wrote for an AC BigBang long ago that were based on a fanmix. Sad song = sad ending.

I don’t generally write angst but if I had to pick from what's on ao3, it’d be my Weiss Kreuz fic since that’s pretty fraught until the end.

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

Um, all of them. 😆 Almost everything I write has a happy ending and usually some pretty sappy moments. Found: Extremely Friendly Fox is probably the lightest, happiest thing I've written.

(Or maybe Soothing Waters because that is literally just an excuse to write a soft moment between Ezio and Leonardo.)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I don’t think I have. I’ve had someone leave a comment disagreeing with what I wrote in a scene but they weren’t overly rude about it.

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

Yes. A lot. Half of my ao3 fics are explicit. 😂 ‘What kind’ is an interesting question. I guess I've written many kinds, from vanilla to BDSM and even a couple of darker fics that I don't have on ao3.

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

Yes, I really like taking characters from one universe and dropping them into another. I don't usually combine the casts from both 'verses (although the Tron fic is an exemption). It's more that I think the characters from one 'verse would be interesting to write in a different setting. The craziest one is a X-Men: First class/Prometheus crossover that is probably nothing like you'll picture.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not, but I had had my fic added to Goodreads, which I don't love.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had someone ask but they were posting on Wordpress so I don’t follow up to see if they posted it.

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

Yes, but not posted anywhere. I co-wrote a Devil May Cry 3 fic with a friend, and then another friend wrote a fic set in one my fics universes, if that counts. We collaborated on characterization details.

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

This is an impossible question. 😆 I am as in love with Schuldich/Yohji, a pairing I first wrote about 13 years ago, as I am with Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, which I've most recently written for. And Ezio/Leonardo will forever be in my heart. I guess I love some more than others but I can't pick an all-time fav.

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

From recent wips: I have a Jin Ling POV fic that’s the fourth in my vampire AU series that I really want to finish but every time I go back to it, I’m convinced it sucks and no one wants to read the POV of a kid (even if I think JL’s POV is the most interesting for this scenario). I’ll probably never finish it unless I can get over that block.

An even better answer because it's sat around longer: a X-Men: First Class/Mercy Thompson universe crossover. It's XMFC with werewolves, but werewolves as they are in the Mercy Thompson books. Charles is an omega but it's nothing like omegaverse. I'm still really proud of how I blended those universes but omegaverse is so wildly popular, and this is nothing like that, so I figured it had no audience. I was so close to finishing it too. 🥲

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm bad at seeing my own strengths so I'll have to go with the kind of comments I receive and those are usually that: the sex was hot, the emotional beats landed well, or that I had a wild/unusual idea and I made it work.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

This is easier to answer. I struggle with writing sex scenes, even if they're usually received well. And I struggle to write the "connective tissue" between the scenes I picture most clearly. Sometimes this is the whole middle of a fic and sometimes it's just small scenes that are needed to tie together two things I've already written.

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

I usually avoid writing complete sentences in languages I don’t know but I am guilty of sprinkling of lot of (probably unnecessary and incorrect) Italian into my AC fics.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

For unposted fic: self-insert Star Wars (original trilogy/novels universe). For something that was posted publicly (before the days of ao3): either X/1999 or Weiss Kreuz. I don't know which came first.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Another impossible question! I have favorites for different reasons. It’s No Good was my first longfic and a favorite because I love that pairing and there’s so little of it that’s not dark.

From my recent work, probably Searching for answers. It’s a niche kind of crossover but I’m really proud of it and want to believe the emotions came through as meaningfully as I tried to write them.

And you know what? Special shout-out to Feelin' Nauti because I re-read that while going through all my ao3 fics and I'm just really proud of the emotion I managed to capture in a 7k fic. (I need to figure out how to do that again.) Plus, I think it has a lot of good lines in it.

#writing meme #writing

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diorsbrando · 10 months

Note

its been a while sosa. but i still love you boo

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love >:))

(No pressure to do this! <3 )

i love u too paradis <3

but to address this ask i admit....it was...difficult in a way. i know i don't write as often as i want to like other authors and fellow mutuals so i really don't think i have a lot to offer when it comes to these kinds of things. now if it were wip's, i have plenty of those to choose from but this....well. we'll see. so um yeah, this is in no particular order of which one is my "favorite" but i personally think they are some of my more...presentable works.

stay, dio brando. my first dio and my first jjba fic since changing my url + theme. i actually like this one because of how i portrayed dio and the subtly of...well everything lol. writing this was one of the few times i felt like a real author, more than just me writing a fic. characterization means a lot to me so it was enjoyable dissecting him like this and putting him in this situation.

consume, franken stein. a piece that was completely unplanned and i was physically unable to stop writing it until i felt like i had finished. so this is also a fic that took me the shortest amount of time to write. i esp like this one because it's my most poetic and 'figurative piece', and signified (at least to me) an evolution of my style of writing. writing like this for a character people don't normally write for is very, very fulfilling. even more so when ppl give u praise for it.

your presence is a gift, byakuya kuchiki. a self indulgent, passionate piece that explores byakuya's seldom shown soft and romantic side, a part of him he seldom shows anymore. he's one of my favorite characters from bleach so writing about him was bound to happen. i just like how i portrayed him as a suave, quiet romantic for his wife and....yeah. more byakuya soon.

2am, dabi. another impulsive idea i started fleshing out in the dead of night and couldn't focus on anything until i published this. i was in a soft squishy mood for this one as well and just thought it was a cute idea and an alternative to the common trope where the reader provides dabi with comfort and reassurance and this time it's the other way around.

home is where the heart is, aki hayakawa. based on an ask i received a long while ago from a mutual and i just expanded on that. aki is very 'long term boyfriend' coded and i just like him being such a sweetheart for his baby, and i thought this characterization of him, where he likes to keep this stuff private and cherish you and be as selfish as he wants, makes a lot of sense to me. just reread the first half and it made me soft all over.

#*☆ﾟ. destinies cross ── asks.#Ꮺ moots.#blueparadis #ask games :)#when i publish more things.......my masterlists will be more diverse i swear

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llycaons · 1 year

Note

ooh 16 and 21 for cql/mdzs??

16. you can’t understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

ugh so many. well actually that's a lie, I dislike a lot of headcanons and characterizations, like lwj not telling wwx that he hates spicy food and eating it without complaining, because I see why people consider them romantic or sweet even if I do not. but jin ling/lsz and jc/lxc...man those are completely beyond me. if we ignore that jl and lsz are practically cousins, and we ignore that jc and lxc have a vague but clearly significant age gap, there's still ABSOLUTELY nothing there. utterly baffles me why those ships are so popular. like it's completely flavorless and devoid of anything passionate or interesting or even sweet. these characters literally interact like twice with the people they're being shipped with. where is all this passion COMING from. direct it towards yanqing instead. or ly/bssr. or mianqing. or any of the neglected female characters who have interacted more or had genuine romantic subtext or at least COULD have a fun dynamic based on what we know about them. sigh.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

oh DEFINITELY the 'wangxian married with a son!!!!' thing. not that they're married. love that for them. I just think lsz is treated as plot device way too often for me to be invested in his relationships with lwj or wwx, and I don't even really see them as his dads? like, teachers and quasi-parental figures, and certainly important in his life, but I don't think of them as having adopted him so much as looked after him and babysat him...he was raised communally with both the wens and the lans and just bc wwx is the only one left alive* doesn't make him his dad. lwj obviously took an interest in his development and cared for him, but I also don't consider him concretely A Father. and the wiki lists him as a 'ward' which I agree with and I don't want to devalue the significance of teachers in the setting anyway

*wen ning is of course also there but fans seem to regard his blood connection and years of family history with lsz as less significant than lsz's year-long babysitting adventures with wwx, which kind of annoys me ngl!

also im sorry but that child is so boring and brings so little to the series except for the fact that he's alive and nonjudgmental (which is cool! its just not enough imo!) despite having THE most interesting backstory and great potential to be an incredible, complex character whose behavior and choices can provide commentary on the series and its society. and he kind of does, but in such a flavorless and generic way that I really can't get invested in him as a character and I feel absolutely nothing when he shows up and the "!!!! best boy!!!!" tags really do annoy me. um. that's a lot sorry. this is my biggest issue with what I consider to otherwise be a well written series with fascinating and complex characters and relationships, and it bothers me so much that it's so poorly done in comparison and that people eat it up as if it was well thought-out besides 'cute and perfect son for wx' whose treated as a romantic plot device and/or reward for wwx

#asks

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cabezadeperro · 2 years

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Hi! Not sure if this counts as a prompt or not, but I was wondering if you could share some of your Fox headcanons? In the ask game you said you had a lot of opinions on his character that aren’t shared by the fandom at large. Only if you want too, of course 😊

lol no it's not a prompt, dw! and i love talking about my blorbos, so

first let's get out of the way the fact that i am by nature a pretty contrary person who likes doing things their own way, and that i don't always have thoughts and opinions about stuff, but when i do,,,, oh boy.

back when i started outlining the falling man i realised i didn't quite know who My fox was. there were a couple of relatively widespread characterisations, and back then i already was starting to not enjoy that particular interpretation too much.

so i started thinking about him and trying to figure out what kind of character he could be, because let's be real: like cody, he doesn't actually have like an actual personality in the show. he's a plot device, like most minor characters in the clone wars cartoon.

and i have to confess something else: i don't like the whole inhibitor chips thing too much. i know why it exists and i think it works within the context of the show, and it's absolutely horrifying, but i like my characters messy and complicated and doing awful shit in full possession of their will and thoughts, and i don't like how the chips basically robs the clones of their agency, so.

i think most of the more popular fanon characterizations hinge on the idea that fox wasn't himself when he shot fives. however, the way i write him is built on the idea that he knew what he was doing and did it anyway. i explained it to my friends as "ned stark meets classic noir detective" iirc.

i do think there is a tendency to woobify him in fandom, and while i do not like that very much (i'm allergic to woobies in general lol), i think he's someone who's been living in survival mode for a very long time.

i think he was chosen specifically for the coruscant guard because he's clever and cunning and competent but lacks a certain. hm. he knows the system's fucked and how to thrive in it but he still can't see a way beyond its limits. he has married his sense of self to the things he can do for other people and to the way other people perceive him. he doesn't believe in the system and he doesn't trust it, he only trusts his brothers, but he will work and work and work for the system because that's who he is and what he does. and he knows that by doing this he's actively harming his brothers and isolating himself and making everyone miserable, but he is like a rat in a cage, and he just can't see a way out.

i like thinking about him as cody's opposite, in a way, and that's also one of the reasons why i ship them. cody's priority is his duty to his brothers; fox's priority is his duty, and then his brothers.

i think he's very lonely and very depressed in that functional way some of us get. i also think he is by nature very kind and very selfless and very brave and very. honourable, in a way? he has a moral code and he sticks to it as much as he can. he's also an adrenaline junkie and can be very um. casually, viciously brutal in a very workman-like way? and i also think that he's very easy to like and love once he allows himself to take off his bucket, and one of the most infuriating people in existence. he doesn't say shit, ever, and expects you to guess what he thinks and feels and why he does the things he does.

i have headcanons for his relationships with some of the clones, but this is long enough lmao. sorry!!!!!!

#commander fox #uh oh. sorry anon. this got Long #maríadont #lo de los clones #uhhh how do i tag this #sw headcanons

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kitkatopinions · 1 year

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Okay, I've watched the first episode of volume 7. This isn't a review or anything, but I'm just gonna put my general thoughts below the keep reading. Spoilers obviously and also RWBY criticism up ahead

So I think I'm gonna give this episode a 3 out of 10 ranking. It's... Worse than I had hoped, but it wasn't a complete flop and there's some stuff that I did like, so let's get into it.

Praise:

Ruby's voice acting is for the most part good. Her voice actor doesn't do so well on the gasping and crying, but as for the rest of it, I find it much improved and enjoy that Ruby is starting to sound a bit more mature, and more subdued. Her squeaky voice gets to be a little much, so I was pleasantly surprised at her performance.

In times of quiet, Little is cute. Some of how they're animated is charming, like when they sniffed at Ruby's hand or moved their little paws over their face. Of course Little looks the cutest when they're on four legs or are all curled up. But it really seems like the animators tried their best to make Little look as good as they could manage and it paid off. They're not Reepicheep from the Prince Caspian movie quality, but they get the job done.

I like that they had Ruby not ask Little about Weiss, because Ruby doesn't know yet that Weiss fell too.

I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time that a weapon that wasn't Ruby's was actually named in show. It's about ten years too late to make 'the weapons have names' a convincing part of the world of RWBY, but at least it's here at all, we now have a weapon other than Crescent Rose that fans might know the name of without doing online homework.

"Blake... I'm really glad you're okay." "...I'm really glad you are too." Am I so starved for closeness between these characters that I saw that and I was like "Monochrome? Monochrome in 2023? Do I ship post-volume-five-Blake with post-volume-five-Weiss?" Um, Blake's expression is so cute??

There might not be a lot that the animators can do to save that hair, but they're doing their darnedest with her facial expressions and it paid off.

I also kind of like Weiss shutting down stuff and trying to be more action focused instead of breaking down about everything, it seems like a good way to characterize her.

The voice of the new creeper Jabberwocky is good! It was so well done, super striking, it reminded me of the Cyclops in Epic the Musical the Concept Album which is a good thing. A very good job there.

Yang's voice acting is also good so far (though I dislike BDunks so it pains me to admit it.) The delivery of her 'dammit, you weren't supposed to be here' was well done and made me feel for Yang emotionally.

Blake coming up with plans and being a bit more optimistic - while not what I would choose for her character - is in line with the past couple of volumes and could be a good thing, and at this point is the best direction I think they could take with her character after how they've done her lately.

Criticism

First things first: Do you guys remember how I said that the first look we got awhile ago was jerky and seemed really off and Ruby's facial expressions were really lacking in much emotion, but that since it was a 'first look' it was likely an unfinished product and so I didn't wanna judge the finished product on it and said 'maybe it will change and get better?' ...Whelp it didn't. The first like seven minutes of this fifteen minute episode is all just the stuff from the first look.

So just to reiterate, I don't like first person POV stuff. I just think it never manages to look good and RWBY is no exception. They did their best with the combat I think, but idk, to me it just felt clunky and it looked bad. And Ruby's reaction to seemingly dying after her sister died, along with her friend Blake, and getting attacked midair by Neo, and then waking up on an island with giant shells is this

No grabbing her scroll to see if she can call anyone, no verbally calling for Blake or Yang, no immediate panicking or immediate reaction outside of :/ Okay. And her reaction to getting squawked at by a giant multicolored bird is

And look I know people are gonna be like "she's a trained huntress, you think she's gonna react to the presence of a bird?" And it's like... yes, actually, because as a trained fighter who fights giant birds, don't you think she should've jerked and reached for her (not there) weapon when there was squawking in her ear? And either way, most people even trained soldiers would at least glance at the thing suddenly making loud noises at them. And then Ruby goes from non-reaction to comedic grumbling as she finds herself in a loop, and then straight to tears, which is... Kind of hard to take seriously because of how things have been framed so far. It doesn't feel like Ruby is close to snapping and trying not to breakdown when she's crying, because she looked pretty emotionless three seconds ago and it comes right after a comedy bit about how a mouse watches Ruby struggle with a loop. And there's also zero urgency involved. Ruby felt more panicked in the scene in Volume 2 when Penny was pulling her away from guards during a time of peace. Ruby felt more sad and desperate when Weiss was being mean because Ruby was made a leader in volume 1, and when she was sad that Blake wasn't coming to the prom.

Also, I'm gonna point out that while I really like the fact that Ruby stopped her crying to help a mouse and it kind of cheered her up a little bit, I kind of think it throws off the messages of kindness that it's immediately followed by "if only you could help me." I don't think it doesn't make sense from a character point of view because she doesn't even know the mouse talks. But if the point of that is for us to see that Ruby is kind and selfless and goes out of her way to help with no expectations or strings attached, I think that the writers could've not had it followed up with Ruby expressing the desire for a return on her kindness. I think they could've easily had Little just be like 'Thanks!' and then offer to help her escape the loop or something. I just don't get that line, from a writing point of view.

I also think Little's voice and Little themself is annoying, which I've already gotten into, so I don't need to say it again. But the 'Little and the mice have identities based on 'what they do' and only then do they know who they are or even get names is... I'm gonna give it the benefit of the doubt that it won't be used to hammer in themes of identity and Ruby's role and job as a Huntress, you know, past this early already hammering it in, but... Yeah, let's hope from here on in, it isn't emphasized too much. Let's go for a little bit of subtlety.

Also please compare the scene with Little and Ruby to the movie Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe when Lucy meets Tumnas

youtube

You'll notice that Mr. Tumnas reacts to Lucy with every bit of confusion that she reacts to him, because he's never seen a human before the same way that she's never seen a faun. Little just acts like there's nothing weird at all about this thing that she's never once seen before, until Ruby starts screaming because Little spoke. And also Tumnas and Lucy both react with confusion and are startled that the other doesn't know what they are, but even Little who is seemingly very young and doesn't know yet that Ruby is from another world just takes it in their stride that Ruby doesn't know animals can talk without even a pause.

Also here's what I'm gonna say about the jokes about the mice and Blake being a faunus. First off, one of my medium case scenarios of 'pretty expected but still annoying' things has come true already

Two or more jokes about Blake being a cat Faunus (counting the one where Little is afraid when Ruby says Blake has cat ears)

And second off, how can they even tell she's a cat, for one. 'She has cat ears.' Yeah, they do resemble a cat. Does Blake have any other feature that even sort of resembles a cat? And her ears are easily missed at first sight. So why is it that the mice are like 'forgive us for trying to capture you and your friend, but you'll understand, we don't like cats.' Like why would they assume she's a cat? They don't know what faunus are or what human beings are, it'd be like someone seeing a fox and being like 'their ears are pointy like a cat they must be a cat' except even stupider because foxes at least walk on four legs and have fur over their body and are small-ish enough and have tails. And third off, what was this choice, from a writer angle. Blake is a member of a marginalized minority group and it's bad to treat her like an animal, but the writers write a story where 'cute' little mice assume she's a cat or freak out at the mention of her faunus traits, and also none of the mains seem that uncomfortable about it? Ruby is just like 'I shouldn't have mentioned Blake's faunus traits, I've seen cartoons, so I should know that cats and mice don't get along' (insert audience laughter here.) And when the mouse is like 'you understand we don't get along with cats' Blake is just like "yeah it's fine" instead of saying something like "I'm not a cat" or "just so you know I don't like being treated like a cat" and she doesn't even like, look vaguely uncomfortable? It's just weird. It feels like the writers just don't want to engage with Blake being a Faunus in any sort of significant way at all and instead just make jokes about it all the time.

Blake and Weiss's reunion getting completely skipped over and Ruby's reunion with them getting side-stepped is dumb and annoying. I mean I already know that the writers don't care much about their dynamics with each other these last couple seasons, except for an obligatory 'they're friends' here and there and a couple shallow conversations maybe, but it's just frustrating. We don't get to see Blake upset that Weiss fell, or Ruby upset that Weiss fell, or them hugging or anything. "It happened off screen!" That's part of the problem, I don't want emotional moments that will increase my belief in friendships and my interest in dynamics to happen off screen, I want to actually see them.

Weiss and Blake not being able to reach Blake's weapon doesn't make sense. Look, I know Blake doesn't have her weapon and Weiss is low on dust, but they're basically superheroes who have always hopped and jumped around with little effort in the past. Like, we're talking about these kids, right?

Also, Weiss has fundamentally changed as a character because her being a cheerleader and going 'woo, yeah!' while jumping in the air with a big beaming grin on her face made sense to me and I'm honestly sad about it. People can say whatever they want about 'character growth' or whatever, but I liked the idea of Weiss being not Nora 2.0 thanks. I already had Nora, I already had Ruby, I already had Little, I already had Neon Katt, I don't need Weiss to be the same type of character who would do that kind of thing. Other people liked cheerleader Weiss and good for them, but I didn't like it.

The design and movement of the Jabberwocky thing is - imo - overrated. It didn't really seem very creepy to me, or very interesting aesthetically. Also, I'm sorry, but the first 'fight' of the season is Blake swinging her blade at something, Weiss getting ready to fight, and then Yang hurling a rock at the monster, and then that's it? That was such a let down.

Ruby at Yang: "If you thought we wouldn't come for you, then you must've forgotten who raised me." Me: "What does this have to do with Tai? Oh, does she mean Qrow, since Qrow was in the habit of following them and saving them - Ohhh she means Yang!" Tbh, this line would've been so much more emotional if that had ever seemed to impact their relationship with each other or Tai or Qrow, instead of Tai seeming like a great and loving father and Ruby clearly modeling herself after Qrow and the writers being like 'omg isn't Ruby so connected to Summer' in seasons seven and eight. I honestly forget that it's even part of their story, because Ruby never talks about or acts like she had a neglectful father, Yang doesn't fill a maternal role for her, Ruby has a perfectly fine good relationship with Tai... It just could've been treated more significantly, and as it is, it doesn't feel emotional to me because of how little they've done with it. No, not everything needs to be gone into and explored (though after ten years, ehhh,) but it just makes lines like this fall flat when they aren't.

Also, Ruby at Yang: "If you thought we wouldn't come for you, then you must've' forgotten who raised me." Me: "None of them came for Yang, they were thrown in. None of them tried to jump in, they all fell in while they were trying not to. None of them even said something like 'to be honest I'm glad we're here, so Yang won't be alone' or something." This line would've been more impactful if Ruby at the very least had a chance to get through to Vacuo and chose to jump down instead, and especially if they had actually fought back Cinder enough to have a conversation and decide to go in after Yang. As it is, Yang is like "you weren't supposed to be here" and Ruby kind of leads her to believe that they came in after her on purpose, which just isn't true. Also, I feel like that would've been more impactful if Yang had protested it, like Yang thought she was dead and Ruby essentially tells her "you should've known I'd follow you to my death." Yang should be like "No, Ruby, that's messed up! You don't have to risk your life just because I happened to go down! We're Hunters, but if one of us dies, the rest of us can't just up and die too!"

Also, last thing I'm gonna say about this, I swear, but as Ruby and co are set up as leaders and saviors of the world on a quest to save the world, it kind of feels... Irresponsible, to have the mentality of 'if one of us gets into a horrible bad situation the others will too it's all of us or none of us!" Because they have a bigger responsibility than that. It's very in character and it makes sense and is very sympathetic and could be done well, but it isn't necessarily a good mentality to have, so I hope that's not just treated like a good given.

The bees reunion was lackluster tbh, but what else was I supposed to expect at this point? I hope this is the last time I hear the term 'beeunion' from here on in. It's gotten old. At least we got to see it though.

Also, someone else pointed this out, but them not showing Weiss's face and just having her kind of quip at Yang and then the next second already be in tears felt lackluster too when we could've watched her face fall as she struggles to hold back tears. And the tone problems for this episode are really off the charts. Instead of letting this be a completely serious moment, it's like "Yang is sad that Ruby and the others are in her mind, dead - Omg guys isn't Little so funny and quirky lol talking mouse! - Awww what a sweet soft moment between Yang and Blake - Weiss is crying! She's recounting the traumatic experience from the last volume!

And I'm sorry, I know I might be in the minority on this even in rwde circles, but I did not like Ruby fainting. First of all, because the set up to Ruby fainting is not super great. She's comedically frustrated by being in a loop, now she's crying but not for long, now she has a little friend who is making her happier, now she's reacting to the wacky hijinks of the mice, now she's seriously asking what happened but with zero urgency, now she's kind of happy to see Yang and trying to encourage her, now she's FAINTING! This, coupled with the fact that she, Weiss, and Blake arguably got a lot more rest than anybody else in the last volume except for like Whitley makes this reaction not super convincing to me - especially since Ruby's reaction to Penny being alive was so lackluster. I suppose it makes sense from a character standpoint that even though she didn't seem particularly happy to see Penny when she got resurrected, she did try really hard to save her and hasn't responded well to hard situations in volumes, so yeah hearing that someone she tried to save just died anyway might make Ruby the character faint I guess. But again, the emotional weight of it wasn't there for me as a viewer. Especially because Ruby fainting and then us cutting to her waking up was a convenient way for the writers to skip over 1. anyone else reacting to the news about Penny's death 2. anyone comforting Weiss. 3. Weiss pulling herself together. 4. Actually recounting what happened. It just felt like a way for them to be like "actually it doesn't matter, don't worry about that." They instantly move on.

"Clearly they're gonna come back to it!" Okay, cool, but that doesn't mean it isn't annoying to me that it got shuffled to the side now. There was just no real emotional weight to the moment for me.

Blake being the one to say "we're in a fairytale" makes sense since - outside of Ruby - she's the one that actually knows fairy tales, but it is a little weird to me. If I fell off a magical bridge and landed in some weird strange place, I would come to a lot of conclusions before I was like "what if we're in books written for children?" Even if it looked like it. I don't know. Maybe it works because of how fairy tales are framed as 'ringing with truths' in RWBY, but even then, I feel like the more realistic not-made-for-a-trailer line would be like "I read about a place like this in a fairy tale" or "this reminds me of a fairy tale" or "this seems like the place a fairy tale I know was based off of." They're not - as far as they or we know - "in a fairy tale" the way people get read into Inkheart the book in the book Inkheart, they're just in a place that fairy tales might potentially be based off of. Just a weird line imo.

Anyway, those were my thoughts about the new ep.

#rwde #rwby volume 9 spoilers #anti rwby #Youtube

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