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#like I like shipping but the characters exist within a story! it's all first past the post (kissing) and zero chemistry!
utilitycaster · 1 year
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Feeling a certain way about how squeamish or angry many people are about genre-typical character death in actual play, vs how comfortable those same people are in openly wishing there were more depictions of violent misogyny and homophobia
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strrwbrrryjam · 1 month
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either treat abigail, molly, mary, with respect or die looking down the barrel of my gun
i'm being one hundred percent serious when i say i'm tired of people disregarding and disrespecting them to uplift their queer ships. it's bad and it needs to stop.
like i just read a jovier post where they have john cheat on abigail?what the fuck man.
his love for her is unwavering and he is incredibly committed to abigail, he's so devoted to her, working so hard to create a life for the three of them. john is willing to lay down his life to protect his family, and he does so, rescuing them is his whole motive for seeking redemption in the first game. he would never disrespect abigail like that, he's learned and grown, he's no longer the shithead deadbeat dad when jack was young, he loves her.
arthur still so clearly loves mary, his love remaining steadfast and unwavering even years after their broken engagement, it's so obvious on his face when he looks at her. his heart still yearns for her that when she calls, he comes, even if he's a little miffed at the start, he still goes. honestly, i believe if arthur didn't have other commitments in the gang, he would have run away with her when she asked him.
and while molly and dutch's relationship is tumultuous and dutch absolutely does not deserve her, molly is so important to dutch's character and the story as a whole. molly's loyalty to dutch highlights dutch's charisma and the ways dutch inspires loyalty throughout the gang. her existence also depicts the internal conflicts dutch has and the moral uncertainty of dutch's actions. her presence within the gang and relationship with dutch represents the internal strife and conflicts within the gang, highlighting the human cost of their choices and the sacrifices that are made in pursuit of a false freedom in the old west.
and let's not even mention the treatment eliza, annabelle, bessie and even susan receive, which is hardly any mention at all.
eliza, annabelle and bessie each play small but significant parts to not just their respective partners, but to the story as a whole.
eliza shapes arthu’rs past and motivations. her tragic death, along with their son, isaac, has a large impact on arthur and his present relationships, such as abigail and jack. their memory serves as a driving force of arthurs path to redemption.
annabelles fate fuels dutch's vendetta against colm and the o'driscolls, and adds personal stakes to the gang as a reminder of the consequences of their life as an outlaw.
and bessie, oh bessie, not only does she add depth to hosea and represents hosea's wishes for a more peaceful life, but hosea loves her so much that when coming to terms with his inevitable death, whether by gunshot or sickness, the mere chance of reuniting with bessie brings him so much comfort, despite the fact that he fears that bessie lives above, while hosea will be traveling down below.
susan is a very controversial character due to her treatment of the women in the gang and her murdering molly, who did not betray the gang, both of which i do not condone, but it is impossible to deny her importance to the story. not only was, from what we know, dutch's first woman, coming before annabelle and molly, she also served an important role in the gang, acting as an authority figure, maintaining order and discipline within the gang where tensions often rise. she serves as an emotional anchor, which is incredibly important when death is constantly looming over you and adds so much depth and complexity to the story of rdr2.
when you ignore and disregard these characters you are undermining the depth and the richness of the story, each of these characters are important to the story. if you wish to truly appreciate the storytelling of rdr2, it is important to recognize and respect each of these characters.
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beanghostprincess · 4 months
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Bughawk is soooo underrated and it makes me so sad. Please tell me you see how grand this vision is
I am personally more of a Shuggy/Crocobug shipper but that's mainly because Mihawk isn't doing it for me much?? I love him and his gold autistic eyes staring into my soul and his classy attitude and vampiric looking aesthetic, but I wish he had more screentime to figure out his personality better and enjoy him more. But I do like him! I swear! And tbh one of my favorite ships is Cross Guild, like, the three of them together, even if I have a bit of a preference inside of the trio. I do love them and tbh I think Mihawk and Buggy's relationship would be really funny to explore. Especially within the fanon portrayals of the characters because god forbid Oda gives the cool edgy swordsman more than three minutes of screentime and more than five words per episode.
Okay, so doing a mix between fanon and canon and "whatever the fuck I want to see these characters as because I am the princess of this blog and I can do whatever I want": I think their relationship is fucking hilarious.
Unlike with Crocodile, Buggy doesn't really know what to do with Mihawk. Crocodile at least is easy to read and he's usually the one to make the first move, but what the fuck is Buggy supposed to do with the swordsman sitting in front of him, legs crossed and staring into his soul like he's about to bite his neck and suck him dry. Scary. And also very hot. But mostly scary. But turns out Mihawk is like, way more peaceful than what he thought. He likes reading. And classical music. And swords in a very weird obsessive way that the clown should not speak about. And not much, honestly. Cooking, too, apparently. Buggy keeps learning new things about him every day and the guy opens up little by little, because even if he's quiet, the very few words he says speak a lot for himself. He's also a fucking sadist and loves teasing Buggy all the time to the point of making him cry of frustration, but, well, when he's good he's really nice to be around <3
They both have history with Shanks. You know the movie "The other woman"? The one about this girl who discovers her boyfriend is married and then becomes besties with the wife and start hating him together? That's the energy I'm getting from this triangle. Stop making Mihawk cry over Shanks not loving him and a past love!! Make him go "Oh. Yes. Red Hair and I had something. Pretty sure he still felt something for you, clown, so I am not happy about that" / "What?! Why would you be angry at me for Shanks' shitty feelings that have absolutely nothing to do with me, by the way, our thing ended years ago when his stupid-" / "No, no. I am referring to him. Moron. I like you" / "You do???'' / "Sometimes. Sort of. Maybe. Your existence confuses me". And then they start dating because nobody can tell me Cross Guild isn't just a poly relationship doing business together.
I think Mihawk likes Buggy because it gives excitement to his boring life and also he's fun to bully. Besides, he's more than what he looks like and he actually has a dream and pirate spirit, so maybe he's not as useless as he used to think. He's still annoying, yes, but oddly comforting. Mihawk can't quite figure out what he wants with this clown, so he just sticks around with him. Buggy is like a chihuahua. A very loud chihuahua. Mihawk is definitely a black cat. They don't match. At all. Not in the slightest. And yet, Mihawk likes his company. And Buggy actually loves seeing all the soft and interesting sides of Mihawk and realize that he's not as scary as he looks like. I mean, he could slice him in half if he wanted to and he's still scary and hot but, y'know, he has a very domestic side that Buggy likes.
Thinking about them being established is pretty sweet because I think Mihawk would like reading out loud to him and Buggy would make the funniest comments about the story. And they would cuddle. And it would be so uncharacteristically soft of them and it's something they only do in private. Crocodile stares at them from the corner of the room and,,, He likes having them there. He's not alone and it's kind of sweet.
Also overprotective Mihawk with Buggy my beloved. In the sense of: He cooks for him because his eating habits suck. He makes him go on walks and do a bit of exercise. He makes him read, too. Listen to music that it's not only commercial pop or circus music or musical/Broadway tunes. He takes care of the clown when he's not bullying him. I think Mihawk treats Buggy like Sharpay Evans treats her dog.
And following the Shanks thing to end this post: Bughawk is really cool because I think it would break Shanks' heart and I love angst.
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capcavan · 5 months
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I actually want to congratulate you on your work because what I don't think a lot of people in this fandom understand is that Riko is a character that is FUCKING HARD to get right. Not just to understand, but to WRITE. You can't make him too unhinged or he's just a cartoon villain and you can't make his actions too light (If you're writing within canon) or he looks like a pathetic clown instead of the actual threat he is on canon and if you aim for the middle he can end up just bland (AND I WILL SAY the greatest offenders in this are Riko haters and not his stans). And even in your most redemptionest AUs you manage to write him in a way that is consistent with the existing characterisation. I have yet to come across from a post by you that didn't make me think "yeah, if things went different, he could have turned out like this"
I feel pretty honoured I feel like I just won fandom and riko is shipped to me in the post . I would like to thank my parents for making me fucked up enough to get him.
There is few things that contribute to it all pretty much. And I will use this as excuse to talk about them all its 7 am and I slept 4 hours let's goooo
I actually see riko as very pathetic and non threat myself and I'm pretty sure Neil and most foxes do as well because even on my first reading of the books something stuck out to me pręty severly
Characters who actually killed people in those books
Andrew Aaron Renee Neil ? The foxes are pretty hands on with murder
Riko? Riki never actually got his hands dirty it does separate him already in cannon as all bark no bite whose only way to be intimidating is to use family name and people who follow him menawhile Riko himself is scary only to Kevin.
Riko's buildup in narrative as threat is very good but I really wouldn't confuse it as fear of him himself.
Riko's roast perfectly sums it up
Riko is pathetic used and delusional
I'm sorry if this is spitting onto what you said I am happy you like my things but I truly believe that riko is pathetic and I say this fully loving his character and issues his character puts light on.
He is scary only if you give him power as abuser (wchih is what this fandom does a lot in their need to have black and white villian ) but as a person he is pathetic.
But seeing riko as pathetic is seen by people as " he is poor and sad and I don't want to feel this way about him BC he is bad person "
He is not pathetic little kitty
He is pathetic eaten by anger and frustrations and unable to cry from all the pain he is in I can see how killing him could be seen as mercy actually.
Another thing I think people don't get right
Is that riko is not 100% delusional about his value
He has skills and he knows he is worth something he is fighting to have his father acknowledge it not because he does not feel worthy but because he knows he has a lot to offer and wants a chance to show it
He does not feel worthles he is just frustrated that others see him as such
Also growing pains are important thing to show
I think saddest and my favourite thing about riko is that the better person you let him be the more unhappy he will be.being good person won't erase things he did in the past and hurt he caused and the further you go the heavier it will be on his conscience and this is balance in act and I have way too many versions of the story where I let him snap
So yeah riko is pathetic clown and he is scary only when you don't understand this I'm sorry to blow his cover like that !
Maybe my reading of character is different in the end we all base things we create on things we know and while I never did such horrible things I know how it feels to grow into being a better person than I used to be and I know how it feels to still not believe you did got better even when I have friends to prove. There is a lot of comfort in seeing someone so horrible get nice things not because I did those horrible things but because I know how it feels to not deserve anything nice and hate myself enough to self sabotage.
I could go on also to talk about difference between gloryfying physical abuse in fandom and ignoring psychological abuse but maybe that's a talk for another time.
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thetruearchmagos · 2 days
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WIP Questionnaire
Thank you kindly for the Tag, @theprissythumbelina !
1. What is the first part of your WIP that you created?
Well, the Setting, probably, which as an answer works for just about any of the WIPs I could name. In theory you could argue Gustav and the Magician, individually and as a 'set' of sorts, technically predate my coming up with the 12 Worlds, but the form they took then has only passing resemblance to their current incarnation.
2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?
Ooo, well, I've been thinking I'd probably see about getting something original made, or making something myself as a side thing. I mean, I kinda envision a lot of my WIPs as serial animations in my head anyhow, so I've put more thought into this question than reality is ever likely to require.
3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?
Well... You know how big this list could be. I love all of them, and at any moment which forces / allows me to dig deeper into any single one of them makes me love them even more. Still, my final choice is an obvious one: Gustav Johann Schmidt, who's been in it since the very start, and who's voice has by now almost become my own whenever he comments on some facet of his world in the same way I would.
4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?
Hmm, well, I've always thought this would go down two tracks. First of all being the classic 'Techno Thriller' crowd, the sorts who like tanks going boom and spies under deep cover: I'd go with things like The Hunt For Red October and Red Storm Rising, both being stalwarts of the genre which have absolutely been personally inspiring. The second track goes down the wider book / writing community, or at least those looking for 'genre fiction' and all that, who might discover the 12 Worlds more on its fantastical or worldbuilding grounds than for its techno thriller nature: I don't really 'understand' what I'd mean by this cohort myself as much, but I guess it could include series like ASOIAF, possibly.
5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?
Well... If we're speaking in the past tense, as far as things that have already happened go I'd put forwards "making sure the worldbuilding exists and isn't utterly contradictory", since there's too little writing down so far to count for a big struggle. Dates are hard, and measuring things on the order of decades to a century leaves me with a lot of uncomfortable dead space on one hand, and a bunch of events clustered together on the other. Untangling this has to happen before the writing does, to me, and it's gonna be hellish.
6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!
Uhh... Technically, Snake In The Sandbox (Gustav's third and least brought up WIP) features two animals! One's a snake which literally scares G's shirt off when he finds it in his tent, and the other's some sort of desert lizard the 18th Corps adopts as its mascot.
7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)
Oh, probably their respective combat vehicles more than anything, though long distance stuff gets done by plane / aeroship, and getting between Worlds means ships for everyone. Non military types might get their own car, or plane.
8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?
Technically brought this up already, but the answer's worldbuilding. It's always worldbuilding. Though within that category, I'm technically supposed to be writing up a piece on the UC' policy towards Goilac / Nouvoulouis pre SSAW, but... I have been having a lazy weekend.
9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?
Big flashy boom booms and cunning military tactics, strategy, and leadership on the one hand for sure, but I'd like to think the depth, history, and life that exists within the 12 Worlds might have some appeal to readers.
10. What are your hopes for your WIP?
Published novel, or really a few considering how many there are already for the 12 Worlds. Then... Well, I think I've got a few ideas in me for the Setting yet.
Anyone fancy a boardgame?
And that's that! Tagging @athenswrites @hessdalen-globe @caxycreations @sanguine-arena @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @thatndginger and anyone who'd like to take part!
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grey-sides · 2 years
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A Stranger Things Guide to AO3
I made a post earlier about courtesy when tagging on tumblr and got some good feedback on it! So I wanted to make a similar post about tagging on AO3 for the Stranger Things fandom in general because all fandoms are always growing and learning. I have been using the site for an unknown number of years and so I have picked up some helpful information that I wanted to format into a fandom-specific sort of guide. This will be a little long, but it's a good reference for any fandom.
I want to begin by saying that failure to tag properly isn’t a crime or punishable. But tagging is a courtesy. Existing in a fandom should mean that you want to be as helpful and courteous of the people in your community, regardless of if you like the characters they like or the ship they ship or the tropes they write. It’s easy to get caught up in discourse, but it’s important to remember we’re all under one banner, Stranger Things fans. 
Tumblr’s up first, very briefly, because I don’t think many people know this:
On original posts, only the first five tags matter in the tagging system, but tags are not the only thing that matters. If you make a post with a tag in it, sometimes tumblr will sort that post into the tag, which is why anti-anything can make it appear in the regular tag. A better method is to change a letter into a symbol, for instance I might type “st3ddie” so my thoughts don’t appear in the steddie tag unless I want them to. 
People started this when talking about other ships in other fandoms, but it’s nice to do for you and for others. If you purposefully hate in a tag, people will think you’re an asshole. If you didn’t know, now you do!
Okay, onto Archive Of Our Own:
Let’s talk about pairing designations
/ or x implies the pairing is having sex or is romantic
& implies the pairing is platonic 
These mean two different things and you may attract a very different audience if you get this wrong, so just pay attention to which relationship tag you’re using- some relationships will have both options!
A fic tagged “gen” means there is no romantic relationship present, this could be used for writing about Jane and Hopper bonding or Max and Billy getting a better sibling relationship 
Within the “relationships” tag section on AO3, you can add “Minor or Background Relationships” this will likely be used because there is another pairing or multiple that are not the central focus of a fic, but do make an appearance. 
For instance, if I write a Jopper story (Joyce Byers/Jim Hopper) and want to include that Nancy and Jonathan are also in a relationship in it I would tag it like this:
Joyce Byers/Jim Hopper, Minor or Background Relationships, Nancy Wheeler/Jonathan Byers
If Nancy and Jonathan were also a major part of the story, I would tag this story as:
Joyce Byers/Jim Hopper, Nancy Wheeler/Jonathan Byers
You can also tag things as past relationships if the past relationship will inform how the characters interact or what may be mentioned
In a jancy story, I may tag it like this:
Nancy Wheeler/Jonathan Byers, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler
If I am writing a harringrove fic and I don’t like the choices Nancy made, I may bash her in the work. I would tag this information so people who do like Nancy are either not surprised or can skip my fic entirely
This tag would likely be freetext, so I would keep it at the end to not clog up the “canon” or wrangled tags
IE: Nancy Wheeler Bashing
I would also do this for other relationships or characters mentioned, when you don’t warn people of this, you’re also kind of being an asshole
Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings implies one of those warnings is present!
You don’t have to specify which one, that’s your prerogative, but you probably shouldn’t use it when you mean “No Archive Warnings Apply”
You can change your tags later! Update your tags whenever you need to as your story progresses!
Additional Tags To Be Added or Tags May Update Later are both indications to warn your audience more things may be coming
I would also say though, if you know a story will contain one of the Archive specific tags- warn for that ahead of time, some people don’t want to read Major Character Death or Non-Con at all and that’s okay!
You can also warn for triggering content in your author’s notes, but make sure to tag that
Something as simple as “Trigger Warnings in Author Notes” should be sufficient
Do your best with tagging and leave yourself open to tagging feedback
I know this is hard, but if people ask you to add a tag, try to just do it, I’ve gotten defensive before too, but it’s all part of being in a community
AO3 tags are not the same as tumblr tags, too much free text is a pain for the tag wranglers
Use them sparingly, but use them when you have to! Maybe just cut back on tag talk where you can, that’s what the notes are for!
AO3 themselves have awesome guides on tagging and how they work, give their FAQ documents a peruse if you’re ever feeling unsure
My inbox, sans anons, is open if anyone has specific questions, I’m happy to help out however I can :)
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amiharana · 1 year
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7, 22, 27, and 38 for the writing ask game, if you don't mind! :D
(ask game from here)
7. What is your deepest joy about writing?
best part about writing is i can just write the most self-indulgent shit ever and then i read it back later and i'm like hell yeah this is exactly what i'm looking for! i'm not kidding i frequently go back through all my documents rereading all the concepting i wrote like it's a little bedtime story. no one can scratch my brainworms better than me fr! ☝️😀
22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?
mm i'm fairly okay about the organization of my writing stuff. after i got my first laptop, all of my writing has been on computers and kept in my google drive. i'm actually considering making another account to transfer all my stuff over so my personal google acc has more space kasjdfkjsdj
i love making so many folders and color coding in there though. i'm planning on retitling all my fic document stuff in a certain way to make it easier to find them, but i don't know what way works for me yet. there a quite a few documents that are out of place because it's either there's not enough of the same-fandom documents to make a folder or i just don't know how i wanna organize it yet. reorganizing is a process i have not had a time for recently hehe
if you're talking about actual writing, i have a couple fics where i make a separate document for the outline i wrote and switch between the outline and the draft, e.g. my docs "[revalink] crystal snow draft" vs "[revalink] crystal snow outline". usually i do this because the way i wrote it in the outline conveys the exact emotion or image i want and use that as a reference while i write the draft. also it's just fun to see my own brain on display! otherwise i keep one huge document for each ship where i braindump my ideas onto, e.g. my doc "_revalink concept reservoir" and then just add headers/outline in the document. the revalink concept document is currently 80 pages long LMFAOKDJFDJK but it's a bit messy at the moment bc i've been copy pasting a lot of stuff in there
27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?
hmm of the fics i've properly finished and uploaded, i don't think i've ever actually been stressed writing a character KDFHKDJFD i've mostly written soft cute self-indulgent stuff so it's not too difficult to write them being soft.
i guess what i'll say instead is i actually had a difficult time in general writing the 'like crazy' fic. most of the premise and style of the fic was something i had a hard time conveying, particularly writing link's character in that first half. i try to get in the heads of my characters when i write and figure out what they would do and why they would do it based on what i know about their character. and it was just. really hard to write link in the self-indulgence of what the vibes/lyrical meaning of the song 'like crazy' was while also keeping him within the boundaries of the character i perceive him as.
if anyone else reading this has some time to spare, you can read 'like crazy' here or the link pinned on my blog! it was my revalink week d7 fic hehe 🤍
38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?
i wish i could tell you something outright insane or outlandish but i can't 😔 my writing process just consists of me laying in bed with my laptop and youtube on my switch hooked to the tv playing videos while i stare at a google doc for a couple minutes until the words come to me, rinse and repeat for as many days as needed until the fic is edited and finalized.
maybe the weirdest thing i've done while writing was either laying down on my side in bed like. semi-fetal position but arranging myself in a way where i could still type on my laptop, or when i got up to lay down and cuddle on the floor of my room with my dog for a little bit to take a break from writing. sorry for the boring answer 🙏
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stuffgoeswrong · 1 year
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Maybe it's late but do chuuaku next if you feel like it!!! Have a sweet day 💕
Of course! It's never too late!
Chuuaku
Ship it
What made you ship it?
Honestly? This person's art--I mean look at it. I love their style, it's gorgeous. After that, I just started seeing more official art of them and hearing about the hype for Chuuaku on Twitter (or at least I thought it was fairly popular over there). Then I began to rethink the characters and what they could have in common, which turns out is kind of a lot. To quote my anime journal, they've both been hurt by Dazai and have been lone wolves for most of their lives. They've been through so much and I want them to bond over being used by people they once trusted (Aku--Dazai, Chuuya--Shirase, Verlaine, anyone else from Stormbringer? I haven't actually read it yet). They each ponder their self-worth but admire those around them (Chuuya admires Mori's leadership but worries about his own humanity, Akutagawa admires Atsushi for being able to stand up to him but doesn't see his own strength as good enough, and obvs Dazai). Listen, so we all know Chuuya is a loyal character, it's one of his core traits. But Akutagawa has that same potential too! He's kept his promise to Atsushi not to kill anyone for six months. I believe Beast even as an alternate universe implies traits that are there in every version of a character, so Akutagawa's protection over Gin can also be seen as loyalty. Any two people being fiercely devoted to each other or having that possibility is a huge plus for me. Yeah, they haven't had any actual scenes together in the main story (ig Dead Apple kinda counts, I always forget that exists) which made me a little iffy at first, but they've had a little screentime together in Wan! which is good enough for me and I ended up loving them!
2. What are your favorite things about the ship?
Chuuaku's vibes are like off the charts emo autumn season and I love it. Their color schemes are so Halloween-y and I always picture them within an aesthetic collage of hot chocolate, falling leaves, and overcast skies. I also like how easy it usually is to come up with headcanons for them, like Akutagawa would be so bad at compliments (thinking about him like Kageyama saying knife instead of nice) and Chuuya would appreciate him trying yet he's so much smoother at it, they both shop at Hot Topic, love similar music, effective on missions together, find it easy to bully people together, and go on midnight motorcycle rides to help Akutagawa's lungs. Oh, I love that Chuuya is kind of the mentor Aku never had and so it's for sure just one of the most positive relationships Aku could have. Also, it seems to me they're both workaholics so it would be fun to see them realize this about each other and force the other to work out making time for fun things, not necessarily with each other. In my opinion, Chuuya needs someone calmer than Dazai and Akutagawa needs someone who's patient but still outgoing. Of course, I believe that with any Akutagawa ship, he needs to be less obsessed with Dazai to be more in tune with his partner. I think Chuuya could help him move past this because of his specific position in Akutagawa's life as a coworker and someone who knows Dazai pretty personally. Overall I like that this ship, like my other favorites, is pretty balanced power-wise, has a great aesthetic, is on opposite ends of the personality spectrum, and has room for "missing or behind the scenes" fanfictions. Also the possibilities for AUs (from mayoi alone we get detectives and bandmates)!
3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
Not sure since there aren't several fans I've talked to about Chuuaku, but I'm gonna use this opportunity to say that these are the top songs that remind me of them: I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie, Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne, Better Than Me by The Brobecks, Easily by Bruno Major. Perhaps my unpopular opinion would be that they're actually just very domestic.
Thanks for the ask!
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setsuraposting · 1 year
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Why Setsura x Otome Is Awesome
I feel like out of all the potential ships of Setsura with another canon character, Setsura x Otome might actually have the most going in its favor, because it completes her arc on multiple levels. Obviously it means that she finally finds a lover which is pretty much her main desire in life, but it also reflects her gradual change in attitude towards the “brides of Nurarihyon” as she refers to them.
Another user by the name of x0401x has written some really good essays on RikuTsura, but one of the biggest points used to argue in favor of it is that Youhime, Otome, Wakana, and Tsurara all fit a common archetype where they outwardly appear meek, but actually having a great deal of inner strength (Kana doesn’t fit this because she’s too passive; Setsura doesn’t fit this because she’s too intimidating as Nurarihyon says, she wears her strength on her sleeve). At first, Setsura absolutely *hated* this type of woman, she thought of Youhime as being weak and annoying and not remotely worthy of being Nurarihyon’s wife, but (at least from what I’ve heard from supplementary materials) she eventually softened up and started to respect her strengths: not just her healing ability, but also with mothering Rihan and not being afraid to get stern when necessary.
This trend continued with Otome, who she sometimes feels annoyed by the naivety of, but despite that ends up becoming good friends with. This is somewhat shown in the manga with them sharing a morning chat, but the OVA implies it most heavily with the fact that Otome deciding to send her letter to Setsura of all people. She knew she was on her deathbed, and that she needed someone who she could absolutely trust, who wouldn’t just bring Rihan along and who she could know her final words were safe with. And who did she send for? Setsura. Out of everyone she knew (excluding Rihan), she chose to spend her last moments with Setsura, and that implies they had probably formed a really close connection beforehand.
Therein lies the ship potential: maybe she saves Otome, manages to nurse her back to health, and continues keeping her company. Otome, still unable to return to Rihan for shame of being “barren”, stays alone with Setsura and starts developing certain feelings for her, who in turn realizes (perhaps with a bit of annoyance) that she’s falling for the type of woman she used to despise.
A big reason I like it so much is their contrasting personalities. Setsura is cynical, brooding, envious, and generally quite stressed-out, but also very loving deep down, whereas Otome is largely reserved, innocent, and has a way of getting people in good spirits; and maybe that’s exactly what they need for each other. The former can provide passion and protection, the latter can calm the other’s nerves and get past their stoic exterior. The warmth that the Nura brides are described as having nourished the clan with, it always existed in opposition to Setsura’s dream… but now, it would be Otome bringing that warmth to Setsura’s own heart instead, and I think that’s really sweet.
The thing is, this would very strictly have to be an AU: Otome’s death is an monumentally important plot point, because it means she gets revived by Seimei, brainwashed by Minagoroshi-Jizou, and stabs Rihan, which not only causes the Nura Clan to start collapsing and pressures Rikuo into becoming the Supreme Commander, but also provides Hagoromo-Gitsune with her latest vessel. Which means that it wouldn’t just be a matter of changing this one detail, you’d also potentially have to change the entire rest of the story. Maybe that’s someone’s cup of tea, but personally I find it a more interesting exorcise to try and give Setsura a resolution that still manages to fit within the gaps of canon and is theoretically possible, at which point we get into far more speculative territory.
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suzuran777 · 2 years
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Re;quartz Reido review + summary
Today I wanted to write about an all-ages BL visual novel called Re;quartz Reido, released by B-cluster! It's their second game and both games take place in the same universe, but the stories and characters have no connection to each other. Even though it is an all-ages BL game, there's not a lot of romance and the story is pretty dark.
Protagonist Uni belongs to an organization of people with supernatural powers. These individuals are called "savants" and they have a special ability, which makes it impossible for them to die. There is only one exception, and that is by choosing to end their own life (which is considered the ultimate sin). Uni's nickname is "Miracle" and the organization has high hopes for him. One day he is relocated from the European headquarters to the branch in the Far East, however, before he can even leave the ship, he is attacked by someone. When he wakes up at midnight, he tries to leave the ship again, but the same incident repeats itself. Uni has to figure out how to get out of this time loop and unravel who exactly this killer is.
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This review won't mention any big spoilers, but just a lot of general information about the characters and the worldbuilding, so feel free to read it even if you intend to play the game yourself someday!
Uni's real name is Unity but everyone calls him Uni. Similar to other savants, every time he dies, the day repeats itself like a timeloop. This is something only savants seem to be aware of, and regular people don't notice the timeloops at all. Savants can also get stuck in timeloops of other savants, so they don’t always have to die to experience this phenomenon. Normal people who get killed during these timeloops are completely erased from history and nobody remembers them. It’s the organization’s duty to get rid of their belongings, making it seem like these individuals never existed in the first place. The organization works together with the church that controls the entire world, and they intend to keep the savants and timeloops a secret from society.
Uni hates troublesome and painful things and has trouble sleeping when he's completely alone. It's pretty easy to guess that something happened in his past which he doesn't seem to remember. His childhood friend Manna also doesn't want to tell him. He is called "Miracle" because his mother was also a savant and he was born within the organization. He received special treatment at the European headquarters because of this and didn't have to take part in many missions. One day, it is decided to relocate him to the organization's branch in the Far East, to look into the disappearance of a savant called "White Cat". 
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The second character is Manna, who is Uni's childhood friend. He's another savant who secretly boarded the same ship as Uni. His role within the organization is to do the dirty work, which means he’s in charge of eradicating and assassinating resistance forces. Therefore his nickname is "Kegare" (Impurity/uncleanness). He always works alone, unlike other savants who often have a "link" or partner. He had a difficult past as the organization "tames" young savants in the most terrible way you can imagine. He was treated even worse than the others because he came from a pagan village, which is a big sin in this universe in which the church is the most powerful organization. Manna's route is incredibly painful because he seems like such a sweet character, but in the end he can never escape the organization. It's also the route with the most hints of romance because it's immediately very clear that he has romantic feelings for Uni (Even though the church also forbids that, of course).
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Nijo works at the Far East branch of the organization. Also the only love interest who doesn’t experience the time loops, as he's a human (all the other 3 LIs are savants). He's good at material arts and handles a wide range of tasks, from the annihilation of resistance to paperwork. Doesn't reveal his true feelings often and takes his duty very seriously. Also seems to be fond of sweets. Most savants don’t work alone, therefore he’s Uni’s "link" and partner for this mission. It’s Uni’s first time meeting him, so you only learn more about this character in his own route. Originally, the Far East was ruled by five royal families, called the "five emperors" which Nijo's family belonged to. However, the intervention of the church destroyed this empire and these days they don’t have any power anymore. The church creates this illusion that the members of these families are now peacefully living among them, however a lot of them despise the church and want to abolish the whole system. These individuals started their own group called the "Imperial Conference" which eventually became an enemy of the church.
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Konoe is a famous pianist who was also on the ship for some reason. He's a mysterious man who doesn't seem to talk much. His music is one of the only things that can make Uni fall asleep. It is revealed that the Konoe family is also one of the families that used to rule the Far East. Konoe is also rumored to be a savant, however things aren't as easy as it seems. In some routes he's clearly a human, but in other routes he seems to be the savant who ran away from the organization "White Cat". It’s the organization’s goal to capture any savants and to use them, however he refuses to work together with them.
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Lionel is the manager of the Far East branch. He's also a savant and his nickname is "Young Lion', because he's the yougest branch manager of the organization in history. While he's an excellent savant, he doesn't have the best reputation and is also known as the "savant killer". Many savants who worked together with him ended up taking their own lives, which is considered the ultimate sin and the only way a savant can die. He's also the person responsible for moving Uni to the Far East branch. Uni immediately gets a terrible feeling when he meets this guy for the first time... I don’t think anything can prepare you for this guy’s route, because it's very dark! Lionel has a habit of erasing the memories of those who don't obey him too. Uni’s full backstory is revealed in this route and it’s definitely a wild ride which I wouldn’t want to spoil.
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Honestly this game gets surprisingly dark sometimes...! And often deals with topics like abuse, death, trauma and despair. I think it's good to know that most of the endings are not the usual happy endings (which is not really a spoiler because on DLsite, one of the tags they used is...'depression'). As mentioned earlier in this post, it's also not your typical romance story, there’s some elements of it but it’s definitely different than most BL visual novels. If I had to compare it to anything else I’ve played, Parade’s games come to mind (minus the NSFW scenes). Even though some of the characters don’t support the organization or the church, it’s extremely difficult for them to escape and they have to do what they’re told. The church controls the entire world and uses savants to get rid of people who opposes them, to create their ‘ideal’ world.
I think my favorite route is Manna but his route is very painful to say the least. I’m also not sure if this game has a ‘true’ ending, because Lionel’s final ending suddenly takes place in modern day Japan, while the other routes don't really show what happens years later. I’ve been wanting to play this game for a long time now because it seems like it was fully funded by a crowdfunding project. I also really like doujin BL games because the stories are often unique and the games are created by a small team. It’s not fully voiced, but the official account did tweet that they would release a "complete" edition of the game, which will be fully voiced. This will also be released on the Nintendo Switch! They got some pretty popular voice actors, for example Nijou is voiced by Miyabi Shou who also voices Slow Damage’s Fujieda, and Lionel is voiced by Morikawa Toshiyuki who voiced Rai in Lamento.
I wanted to mention the gameplay a bit too because this game has so called 'front (表)' and 'back (裏)' routes, it's recommended to play the front routes first because you learn a lot of information you're going to need for the back routes. I also recommend playing any bad ends you encounter first! The official Twitter account posted a recommended route order, which is as follows:
Nijo (front) > Lionel (front) > Konoe (front) > Manna (front) > Manna (back) > Nijo (back) > Konoe (back)> Lionel (back)
Common route guide can be found here: X  After that I used this guide: X 
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allaglow · 1 year
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What Disney characters do you think Cinderella would be compatible with ship wise? Aside from her prince
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I love this question, with characters like Aurora, because it's so easy to list endless muses that I think she'd vibe with. She has such impeccable chemistry with everyone and it's so much fun to imagine the endless entanglements she could get herself in. With Cinderella and Snow White, however, I find it harder. For starters, their canonical ships are sooo incredible and work remarkably well within the framework of their story and film and character, that I've never wanted more/different for them. Also, Cinderella is such a strong character with such energy that's so specific to her and she's alone for so much of the film, but in a way that's different than how Aurora is. Cinderella carries so much on her shoulders, alone, and while she does foster an environment of engagement and connectivity within the chateau, she's also decidedly more...autonomous and intelligent and capable than the animals, which is what makes how much they help her limited, and they even get her in trouble, whereas she literally saves their lives and homes and feeds them. So, I feel like to viewers of the film, Cinderella almost feels like your single parent that you know is struggling, but you don't know how you can help them because you're an inept child without claim or working knowledge of anything, or that teacher that you can tell is at their wit's end and is lacking resources but you don't have the life experience or ability to gauge exactly what you could provide to them to help alleviate the situation. However, there are a few characters I think she'd be interesting to play with!
Steve Rogers. OKAY, this is the ship to end all ships for me. Cinderella was produced in the 1940s, for a release date in early 1950, and her voice actress was in one of the prime stages of her career in the 1940s, singing for war troops and doing as much as she could to alleviate the struggles the country was facing when it came to WWII. THIS IS IDEAL FOR A CONNECTION WITH STEVE ROGERS, with so much to chew on when it comes to an environment the two would share and the world they'd exist in. I think they have such interesting attitudes toward justice and peace and life and death, and I think Cinderella has such a balance of being diplomatic and level-headed but also having bursts of anger and human frustration and I can only imagine the rainy nights where they're in a bar together, after the entertainment has left, and she whisperingly indulges to him- the first person she's ever trusted or felt comfortable and safe with- about her abusive mother and her past and how hard she's worked and how she just wants happiness and freedom and to uphold the character traits of compassion and how she wishes to build a life with someone and her relationship with older people is so deep because of her Fairy Godmother and Steve being older after that time he was frozen and I just...I could go on forever BUT just in case any Steve muses are reading this, I have a starter ready to go at any moment so!!
Eric. So, I don't actually see Cinderella with him? But thinking of the two of them together does make her alive in my mind for a number of reasons. Jodi Benson grew up on Cinderella and it's still her favorite film, and so I think Cinderella's present and shares similarities with Ariel in many ways. But also, I just think Eric sees Cinderella as this unattainable girl he has a crush on that's so...so her own person and I just think something about thinking about Cinderella through the filter of Eric's mindset helps capture her elusive, enchanting, but also mysterious quality.
Tiana. Again, I don't know how much I ship them but I don't mind that others do and I think they'd be interesting! I think Cinderella is an amazing middle-ground between Tiana, in how industriousness she in and how much she values a work ethic, but she also understands the importance of love and dreams and hope and having fun, like Lottie, and doesn't let life weigh her down too much. She and Tiana both have interesting relationships with death but I think Cinderella would remind Tiana a lot of her own father and I think they'd ultimately help one another and look after each other in an "us against the world" type thing. I think Cinderella would broaden Tiana's community and would open her up to life, for lack of a better word, but also Mama Odie's lyric about "your daddy was a loving man, family through and through, you your daddy's daughter- what he had in him, you got in you" always reminded me SO much of Cinderella.
But also, I'm curious...tell me who you think Cinderella belongs with!
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eirian-houpe · 2 years
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TMI Tuesday
So, okay, it’s Tuesday, and yesterday was Monday, and on Monday something happened that really soured my already soured mood.
I’ve been back and forth about whether I should speak my mind here, or in a separate post... some sort of ‘Get the fuck off my lawn’ old timer’s post really, but I dunno, I was chastised yesterday for speaking my mind (in the wrong place) So maybe a separate post is best.
However, in short summary, writers and artists are NOT entitled in their desire for engagement that helps them to feel validated and reenergized.
So, please remember: if you read a fic you enjoyed on AO3 or on Tumblr (not just mine), please take the time to comment and/or leave kudos, and to reach out on TMI Tuesday. It means a lot to the writers and artists.
Writer to writer engagement is part of fandom lifeblood.  Writing can be a very solitary and lonely activity, and when writers talk, it can enhance, it can inspire, it can bolster confidence, it can do ALL of those things, but lately, one reason and another - lack mostly - it has had the opposite effect (not just for me). That’s one reason that I will ALWAYS send a TMI question to my fellow writers.
Posted this week:
This week I posted:
Chapter 2 of Not Yours To Keep
While grieving the loss of the fourteenth Cleon, the younger brother he loved as a son, Day seeks distraction in the company of a new concubine from the Gossamer Court. No one could have predicted the events that follow - nor the way in which Cleon XIII decides to deal with the situation.
On the cards for this week:.
Laer o Faen - Chapter 26
I’m still chipping away at this fic.  I was slowed down a bit this week because of discovering that /sometimes/ there exist the first 1000 words from when I started writing this chapter back in 2019.  I… Cannot… Find… them!  I have no idea how to tell you what that means to a writer.  Still, I am approaching completion of the chapter.
What the Actual Fuck! - Chapter 8
Prime Minister Robert Sutherland is feeling pressured, and isn’t prepared to acquiesce to the repeated challenges from within his cabinet nor the wider circle of those around him. He resorts to drastic measures to ascertain who can be trusted, turning to an 'old friend’ to help him separate the wheat from the chaff. Said friend promises to send in his best operative to assist the PM, the trouble is the operative finds out more than Robert necessarily wants to know, and all this just as all hell is breaking loose around him; people hurt, Britain in chaos and multiple deaths push him into making some hard hitting decisions in order to safeguard himself, the country, and the people he cares about.
Secret of the Seas - Chapter 3
Belle and Ruby take a much needed vacation, treating themselves to a fourteen day cruise. Jefferson is Head Miixologist aboard the ship, Secret of the Seas, and Gold is Deck Nine Supervisor, and amid much flirting, and false starts, holiday romances and forbidden loves ensue. Written from the Rumbelle Bingo prompts: Bed sharing, Vulnerability, Jefferson, Pesky Royals, Roses.
Next up:
Not Yours To Keep - Chapter 4 (?)
While grieving the loss of the fourteenth Cleon, the younger brother he loved as a son, Day seeks distraction in the company of a new concubine from the Gossamer Court. No one could have predicted the events that follow - nor the way in which Cleon XIII decides to deal with the situation.
Ask suggestions
Ask something about any of my fics (full list is below the cut). If you want specifics from some fics that are already outlined, you can ask about:
Disparate Pathways, Chapters 43 through 54 All Our Past Mistakes, Chapters 11 through 44 Lover’s Leap Series, Stories 15 through 31 Time’s Curse, Chapters 4 through 10 Laer o Faen, Chapter 26 Stargate: Atlantis, Harms Way or any of the 20 fics in the series.
Ask something of any of my characters in general or you can get really specific if you like - for example you might want to ask Gold from Pawn Shop a question about a chapter, a thought, a feeling… (the world is your oyster really)
Ask about my process as a writer, what makes me tick,, or even ask about me personally. There’s also This Guessing Game that is still available for you to play.
Also, if you want to see a specific character or fic featured in Three Things Thursday, or Saturday Secret, feel free to send in prompts, if no one does, then either the choice will be random or they just won’t happen at all. I made an analogy for why that might be in a different post about a car stuck in the mud with spinning wheels.
You can find all my fics currently on AO3 here, and there is a full list under this cut.
Storybrooke’s Best Kept Secret - Rumbelle
Darkness In Hyperion Heights - Woven Beauty au
Seven Tastes - Rumbelle
Tuesday - Rushbelle AU
The Language of Flowers Series - Rumbelle
Disparate Pathways - Rumbelle AU
Scattered - Rumbelle AU
All Our Past Mistakes - Rumbelle AU
What the Actual Fuck! - Sutherelle
Breathe - Rushbelle
The Lover’s Leap Series - Rumbelle
Awakening - Rumbelle
War Is Coming To Storybrooke - Rumbelle
Given No Choice - Rush
Thoughts On A Happy Ending Series - Rumbelle
Darker Hearts Series - Wish!Rumbelle
Modern Wonders - a OUAT/Alice crossover
Time’s Curse - Rumbelle
The Pawn Shop On Main Street - Rumbelle
The Mansion On the Edge of Town - Rumbelle with a side of Jefferson
Cobra: In Your Prayers - Cobra/FatWS/UC:Undercover et al
To See Series - Rumbelle
Nobody Knew (Bingo) - Rumbelle
Secret of the Seas - Rumbelle AU
Butterfly and Phoenix - ST:DSC
Laer o Faen - Tolkien
Ship’s Rats - ST: DCS
I Amar Boe Men Heb - Tolkien
Coming Down - Halt and Catch Fire
Armor of Ice - Halt and Catch Fire
Duath i-Achas Eriol - Tolkien
Balance of Terror - Sleeper Cell
What To Believe - UC: Undercover
If: In The End - UC Undercover
Precious - The Mummy Series
Forbidden - The Mummy Series
Power Is - The Mummy Series
Angel of the Heart - The Mummy Series
Star of the Morning - The Mummy Series
Not Yours To Remember - Foundation (TV)
Here are fics that haven’t yet been started, but are in the Muse’s bucket.
The Miner’s Day Festival - Rumbelle
Aftermath - Rumbelle (with a side of madness)
Saving The Dark One (WT) A twist on a twist of Rumplestiltskin.
Brought To You By The Color… (Red)
Calcul(us)
(In)consistent equation
The Boston Storybrooke Line
Breaking the Waves (Movie AU)
ILP (or IEP) for Rumple.
One Last Wish
In Service to My Son
Playground Games
Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed
“Only Remembered For What We Have Done.”
Librarian: UC
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brightsuzaku · 1 month
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shipping? yeah you can ship that,
hi, effortless textpost here, but
sometimes i think one of the ways i generally avoid shipping discourse or ship wars within fandoms is mostly by being a multishipper
you can ship these characters with anyone! i don't have to always like it, though there are many pairings and throuples, and polycules i enjoy a lot, but also there are ones i don't always enjoy or like, and... it's fine!
if it makes someone else happy or it entertains them, then that's a fine and okay ship! I DO NOT ATTACH MORALITY TO SHIPPING BECAUSE A MAJOR PART OF IT IS ENTERTAINMENT.
I had a wild time in college discussing crack pairings and strange ship ideas with friends, and it was specifically because it was entertaining to think about, and not because we had any serious attachment to whether these characters "ought to be together" or something. I have shipping goggles and have used them for good, and warned a friend about their writing, "you better watch out, this sounds like an implied ship that you REALLY ARE NOT INTENDING," before.
Anyway, back then, I didn't even ship in hopes that a ship ought to be canon, as much of the fun was ships and pairings not being canon at all. Then, we could break other rules about how that would go, without any expectation that the author would actually put these characters from two different left fields together, AND IT WAS FUN.
The blessed thing about being a multishipper is also that I, implicitly, am fine with not shipping a given character to another, either. lIKE, "Oh, you don't actually ship Sherlock Holmes with anyone because you consider him aroace? Go ahead!!!!"
Heck, you don't even have to come out and defend your ships with me. This is a no-judgement zone. Yeah, some stuff miGht make me uncomfortable, but there's been plenty of characters I don't ship, and other character ships that I don't want to ship, but I see the kernel of why they get shipped, and I'm like, "dang, you're having a good time over there".
I am not even annoyed about shipping in general, I am old and tired. I have lived through the flame wars of the early 2000s internet and have been aware of even older ones of times past. It's fine. I don't mess with it.
This was supposed to be a really short post, but then it got out of hand.
Much of the thrill of shipping is first the entertainment of it, and then the rest is the romance and the character exploration. Heck, I have seen ace pairings before, and you know what? That's the coolest thing ever!
I get why some people don't want to see specific ships tagged with their art: it is very tiring if you have a strong aversion to a certain specific ship, or just find its fans annoying, or just dislike a certain type of ship, and so on. That's fine!!!
I'm not one of those people, I actually like discovering new ships, lol. But, there is nothing wrong with traversing fandom on your own terms! And ,if that means blocking ships you don't wanna see, or putting a "please don't tag" in the text, then that's all OK, too!
I would say that shipping is a part of fandom, it's been there for a long time! And while I so strongly" wish it could be wholly fun again", I know that it wasn't always fun even in the past, either. The flame wars existed back then, and they will continue, too.
But shipping isn't the only way to play with a story or tis characters, and not shipping characters is great, too!
I am always down to see more about characters that aren't romantically or sexually with each other, too!
TL;DR, hi I am a multishipper, and I like shipping in general, because it's fun. Even the ships I think are uncomfy, or ones I don't really jibe with, well: someone else likes it, and I'm not them, so that's OK! You can ship characters and you can not ship characters. All of that is fine! I think multishipping includes choosing not to have a pairing, and that is good, too.
This post is not about when people "take it too far". You gotta learn to make your own boundaries and make use of working within your own boundaries too. I promise you, teenagers have been joking about boy band members dating each other since probably forever. 90% of the time or something, it's not actually that gross, people just do this for fun. People generally start shipping characters (or people, lol) primarily because it's fun.
Yes, I turned off reblogs in advance.
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bisoravit · 1 year
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hello hello ! my name’s sydney but i go by bis / twice. i’m 22 && i go to school + work , so writing is just a hobby of mine ! i’ve been writing for a handful of years now on tumblr. replies will be sporradic at times , due to the nature of my job + schoolwork , so please be patient with me. as long as we’re mutuals , you’re free to hit me up whenever you’d like -- whether it’s just a casual conversation or if you have a suggestion / idea for a thread or character development between our muses.
this is an indie. paula jones from the cult classic 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 / 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 series rp && ( sometimes ) ask blog if i have the time ! i’m tracking anything related to this blog under ( # ♡  ៸៸ bisoravit ). i have a habit of reading the rules on any page first out of common courtesy before i follow , and even if i don’t supply a password i can still assure i have read , i’m just a bit lazy. . . on occasion , as long as it’s tasteful , i’ll allow a few magic anons just for fun !
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[  ♡  ៸៸  # 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒 ]  :  the general basics apply here ( dni if you’re proship , support anything harmful , etc. ). please no godmodding , that isn’t fun for anyone && frankly can be very awkward at times. don’t spam me for anything , or rush me for replies. . . i’m more likely to drop a thread for that if it’s nonstop showing up in my notifications center , versus an occasional bump because i sometimes forget to reply ! it is important to note that the muse ≠ mun. sometimes there’s things that paula ( or any of my other muses ) would do that i wouldn’t , and vice versa.
[  ♡  ៸៸  # 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓 ]  :  there will be 𝐍𝐎 smut on this blog , end of story. paula is usually written within the age ranges of 13 - 17. . . regardless of age , she is still a 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐑 ! so please do not harass my muse. because of her tomboyish personality at times and the fact that she is a teenager with ( predominantly ) boyish friends , toilet humor and suggestive jokes are fine , but please don’t go too far ! what i write will have varying themes , but a major element of this blog contains depictions of 𝐏𝐓𝐒𝐃 due to the aftermath of giygas’ attack through the past. it’s a troubling and sensitive topic for paula , and not just anyone gets to know about what’s going on in her heart && head.
[  ♡  ៸៸  # 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 ]  :  i like to keep my formatting on this blog relatively simple , by using small text ( ctrl + shift + minus button / - ) and occasionally using icons to spruce up threads. this is your choice to match me , i really don’t mind ! all i ask is that you make sure to trim your posts so that they’re easier to follow ! i really enjoy multi - paragraphs in my writing , but have been known to pick up playful threads meant to be taken lightly on occasion if i see fit.
[  ♡  ៸៸  # 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐋 ]  :  this portrayal is canon - divergent , i have played the game a handful of times and studied her characterization from various source materials. of course , to add my own touch of life to her already existing character , i will be supplying some of my own personal headcanons that i believe align well with paula and naturally make sense.
[  ♡  ៸៸  # 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 ]  :  i can be rather picky when it comes to shipping , only because i’m heavy on the slow - burn train as it feels more realistic to me. heavy chemistry between two muses is required , and i don’t write unhealthy ships ( with paula ). they’d also have to be within her age range as well ! feel free to send me a message / suggestion / plot if you think our muses could be a good fit together && we could for sure talk out possibilities and plan out a timeline of events that happen with the both of them before establishing a blog - canon connection. this blog is multiship , but i consider each ship to be in it’s own universe rather than multiple partners in one ( unless it’s an established poly ship ) , as that is not everyone’s cup of tea. i also won’t ship with writers who are under the age of 16 years , no matter the age of our muses due to personal comfort , but regular interactions are welcome !
[  ♡  ៸៸  # 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 ]  :  for the most part , my tags follow the format of --  ♡  ៸៸  tag. i’m wholeheartedly open to tagging triggers with my usual tag format , as well as any specific tags you have blacklisted , i don’t mind ! personally , i have no triggers myself but i would very much appreciate if anything in relation to smut was tagged just so i can filter it out !
[  ♡  ៸៸  # 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐒 ]  :  if you use art that isn’t yours , make sure to credit it ! i’ll have a tag entirely dedicated to the art that i use on this blog , as well as the credits logged here to make it easier to navigate !!
that’s pretty much a wrap on my rules here , if you read through all of it you’re free to send in ‘’ miss jones ! ‘’ just so i know you’ve read , but you’re totally fine if you dont !
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syrupwit · 1 year
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Letter for Secret Sanders Holiday Exchange 2022
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Hello there, and welcome to my letter for Secret Sanders Holiday Exchange 2022! I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to read this letter. I hope that it will provide you with clarification, inspiration, or whatever else you may happen to be seeking from it.
Although I’ve written more for some sections in this letter and less for others, rest assured I would be thrilled to receive a gift for any of the requested romantic or platonic ships. Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out through the mods.
Regarding my canon knowledge: I have played all or most of Origins, Awakening, and DA2. I’ve played some Inquisition, but haven’t gotten far. I am not familiar with any of the books, novels, or comics, though I am perfectly capable of consulting the wiki.
Regarding PCs for this fandom: My personal Wardens are all female with default names, my personal Hawke is default purple Hawke of any class or gender, and I haven’t played enough Inquisition to develop a preferred Inquisitor. However, I have no preferences when it comes to PCs in gift works. Go wild!
Please see the table of contents below:
Do Not Want (DNW)
General Likes
Art Likes
Smut Likes
Anders/Jowan | Anders & Jowan
Anders/Justice
Anders/Merrill | Anders & Merrill
Anders/Carver Hawke/Merrill
Anders/Male Hawke/Merrill
Anders/Sigrun | Anders & Sigrun
Anders/Fenris
Anders/Fenris/Sebastian Vael
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DO NOT WANT (DNW)
Character bashing (it’s fine if any character plays the villain role -- any! genuinely! -- but I enjoy works that focus more on requested characters being interesting or loveable or in a position of suffering, not on another character being especially hateful and hated)
Characters depicted as under age 18 involved in sexual situations
Characters having sex without mutual sexual attraction (I enjoy G- and T-rated shipfic and would be fine with sex not being mentioned at all, but for works featuring sexual content, I don’t want it to be explicitly stated that the characters are not attracted to each other)
Real-life hate speech
Explicit, onscreen harm to children (current bad environment or discussions of past child abuse are fine)
Harm to pet animals (the existence of ghost pets is fine)
Bestiality
Scat
Necrophilia (EXCEPTION TO THIS DNW: Anders/Justice when Justice is in Kristoff’s body is fine; no graphic depictions of decay/rotting, please, but feel free to get weird with it)
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GENERAL LIKES
Absurd, silly, situation-based, or dark humor
Surreality, weirdness, ridiculous premises treated seriously
Gratuitous depictions of scenery, food, clothing, ancient cursed objects, etc.
Stories within a story, in-universe media, codex entries
Banter and arguments
Characters teaming up to accomplish something; sense of community among an ensemble, especially if it persists despite tensions, hurts, and differences that are not neatly resolved
Enemies, frenemies, or strangers having to work together to get through a situation
Dramatic rescues
Hurt/comfort
The “crouching fool, hidden badass” trope
Unreliable narrators, especially if they’re experiencing cognitive dissonance or trying to justify something horrible to themselves (something horrible that they’re doing or that someone else is doing to/near them)
Unresolved tension and ambiguous relationships
Shipfic: get togethers, first times, FWB to lovers, pining, insecurity, jealousy, messy love triangles, fake/pretend relationships, UST, silly romantic comedy tropes
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ART LIKES
Limited color palettes -- or super bright ones!
Black and white, severe lighting, darkness -- art that makes you go, “is this a screenshot from a noir film?”
Sense of movement
Dramatic moments
Pretty clothes, food, nature 
Fairy tale elements
Modern or specific AU versions of the characters (ex. “Here they are if they were all from ancient Tevinter! Here they are as crust punks. Here they are as early 20th century Parisian lesbians -- yes, all of them. Here they are in Ancient Crete. Here they are as cyber-werewolf bikers in space.”)
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SMUT LIKES
Characters being super into each other, especially if they’re not conventionally attractive 
Emotionally intense or significant sex scenes
Awkwardness, repression, insecurity; characters who don’t really know what they want, but sure are getting something
Characters who might be experienced with sex, but are not experienced with Feelings, and oh no they’re completely out of their depth now
UST that doesn’t get acknowledged or named until it boils over
“Chicken,” denial, teasing; one character flirting just enough for plausible deniability and the other not believing that they could be serious; one character hurting the other, purposefully or unwittingly, when they take the teasing too far
Jealousy, especially if the jealous character is guilty or in denial about their feelings
Sex pollen/mating cycles/in heat
Xeno
Male characters being submissive
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Anders/Jowan | Anders & Jowan
Mage Friends Your PC Can Execute, x2! I’d just like to see these two interacting. They’re in the same place at the same time, with some views in sympathy, although of course they differ on the issue of blood magic.
Did Jowan idolize Anders in the Circle, or maybe not? What if they escaped together once, or Jowan tried to escape with Anders or aided or hindered him in some way during one of his escape attempts? Or perhaps they successfully escape together in an AU, or meet in some possible timeline after the Warden has set Jowan free? I would love just about any scenario! 
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Anders/Justice
This is one of my favorite ships in all of DA, and I want every take on it, from tragic and fraught to more harmonious. For Awakening-era Anders/Justice, I’d love some confused, ambiguous feelings at Vigil’s Keep; Justice being Anders’ knight in shining armor who also smells weird and is a possessed corpse; hijinks with the Wardens. For DA2: missing each other, fighting with each other, finding ways to communicate despite their situation? Justice's experience of love and other mortal concepts is also something I'm really interested in seeing explored.
PROMPT: Beauty and the Beast/Sleeping Beauty AU. Anders gets lost in the Blackmarsh while fleeing from Templars and finds himself trapped in a deserted village. His only companion is a man calling himself “Kristoff,” who protects Anders but refuses to let him see his face. They grow closer, Anders starts suspecting that Kristoff is under a curse, there are complications when the Baroness shows up… or however you’d like to play it! I just feel these two would lend themselves really well to a dark fairy tale AU.
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Anders/Merrill | Anders & Merrill
Anders is so mean and weird to Merrill, and she’s so gentle with him. I would love to see something with them maybe, almost reaching a more amiable level of understanding during DA2, or something post-game where Merrill runs into Anders somewhere or rescues him or is hiding him in disguise. “Cute elves with no self-preservation instinct.” Scary Merrill who's still cheerful and sweet is one of my favorite Merrills, so... do with that what you will!
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Anders/Carver Hawke/Merrill Anders/Male Hawke/Merrill
These selections were inspired by the Legacy DLC banter where Merrill discloses that she was searching for dirty spells in Anders’ books. I just love the idea of Merrill and her boyfriend deciding to spice up their sex life with magic!! ooh!! and Anders enduring their journey of discovery with a little less annoyance than he might outwardly express. And then it turns into a threesome… hooray?
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Anders/Sigrun | Anders & Sigrun
I had a brilliant joke I was going to include in this section, but pierogipie said it needed work, so. Maybe someday. 
In any case: Sigrun! She’s a cute dwarf with tattoos and no self-preservation instinct, who grew up on the bottom rung of a highly stratified society, and when she meets Anders they’re in a perfect sort of “Freedom! Finally! Kind of! Let’s cause havoc” situation. I’d love them as pals daring each other to do stupid things in between darkspawn battles and misery, and I’d also love shipfic for them. Alternately: in a post-DA2 worldstate where Anders survived, how would they meet again?
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Anders/Fenris
Last minute addition #1!
For Anders/Fenris, I will read just about anything. My tastes run a bit more towards angst, action, and humor than straight up fluff, but I'm not picky. Here are some prompts if you'd like them.
PROMPT: Anders and Fenris have to stay in a haunted house together from dusk till dawn: for money, to help Hawke win a bet, because it's the storm of the century and they can't leave, any reason.
PROMPT: Meeting in the Fade, but one doesn't recognize the other.
PROMPT: Post-DA2, Anders and Fenris meet again when both are taken captive.
PROMPT: It's six hours until Hawke's big party, and no one else is available to run their last, most desperately important errand to make sure all goes well.
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Anders/Fenris/Sebastian Vael
Last minute addition #2!
For Anders/Fenris/Sebastian, I would love messy love triangle nonsense; a contrived scenario involving drinking games, sex pollen, or an enchantment or curse; an even more contrived scenario where one or all of them revert to their pre-game personalities; or perhaps something post-game where Sebastian is seeking vengeance and things take an unexpected turn.
Anders and Sebastian and Anders and Fenris hate each other for different reasons, while Sebastian seems to genuinely care for Fenris and consider him a friend. I'd love to see their dynamics muddied and changed by being mushed together.
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fozmeadows · 3 years
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race & culture in fandom
For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.
Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.
All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.
Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?
Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.
The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.
Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.
Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.
An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.
But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.
Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.  
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