#and it definitely wasn’t a recent follower that found out my blog content wasn’t what they thought

[legally-a-bastard]

I started today with 770 followers and now it’s 769. which post was it. I gotta know. someone, in the span of the past 4 hours, blocked me and I would LOVE to know why.

#hmmmmm. I wonder. #was it the pineapple pizza? #was it me yelling about genshin and fire emblem players and their backwards sense of anatomy? #my recent COD posting? #perhaps something else even???? #I bet it’s something dumb as fuck #sorry y’all I am just super on my bullshit today and I want to know which post pissed off one of y #my followers so much they blocked me #and it definitely wasn’t a recent follower that found out my blog content wasn’t what they thought #which makes me even more curious #very silly and intriguing to me

[bfxenon]

How Helpful Was the Helpful Content Update?

On August 25, Google started rolling out the Helpful Content Update, an ongoing effort to reward sites with “people-first” (i.e. not written specifically for SEO) content. MozCast measured rankings flux peaking at 92°F on August 26, which sounds relatively high, but this is what the two weeks on either side of the update looked like:

The dotted blue line shows the 30-day average for the period prior to the start of the update, which came in at 87°F. Ranking flux actually peaked on August 23 above any day of the update rollout. To make matters worse, we had to remove August 8-9 from the 30-day average, because Google’s data center outage completely disrupted search results. Let me sum up: it’s a mess. I like to think I’m pretty good at handling messes, but this is like trying to find one particular drop of water in two weeks of rain during a summer-long storm. If you like messes, read on, but for the rest of you, I’ll tell you this — I found no clear evidence that this first iteration of the Helpful Content Update moved the needle for most sites.

Averages, lies, and damned lies

Given the extended rollout, I attempted to look at the difference in visibility for individual domains for the 14 days before and after the start of the rollout (which helps smooth out single-day outliers and keeps the days of the week consistent across both sides). One “loser” that immediately popped up was Conch-House.com, with nearly a 50% visibility loss in our data set. I admit, I even got a little judgmental about the hyphen in the domain name. Then, I looked at the daily data:

The averages don’t tell even half of this story. Whatever happened to Conch-House.com, they were completely knocked out of the rankings for 20 out of the 28 days analyzed. Note that the MozCast data set is limited, but our much larger STAT data set showed a similar pattern, with Conch-House.com ranking for up to 14,000 keywords on one day during this period. What happened? I have no idea, but it quite definitely, almost certainly, very probably maybe was not the Helpful Content Update.

Confirmed content coincidence

Here’s an example I got pretty excited about. WhiteHouse.gov saw a +54% total visibility gain across the two time periods. The keyword set was pretty small so, once again, I dug into the daily numbers:

Looks great, right? There’s a clear spike on August 25 (although it fades a bit), and while the spike wasn’t as large, I was able to confirm this against a larger data set. If I was smart, I would’ve stopped the analysis right here. My friends, I was not smart.

One of the challenges of the Helpful Content Update is that Google has explicitly stated that helpful (or unhelpful) contact will impact rankings across a domain:

Any content — not just unhelpful content — on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in Search …

Even so, it’s interesting to dig into specific pieces of content that improved or declined. In this case, WhiteHouse.gov clearly saw gains for one particular page:

This brief was published on August 24, immediately followed by a storm of media attention driving people to the official details. The timing was entirely a coincidence.

Is it helpful content (regardless of your take on the issue)? Almost certainly. Could WhiteHouse.gov be rewarded for producing it? Entirely possibly. Was this increase in visibility due to the Helpful Content Update? Probably not.

Is this blog post helpful content?

Hey, I tried. I’ve probably lost three nights of sleep over the past three weeks thanks to the Helpful Content Update. The truth is that extended rollouts mean extended SERP churn. Google search results are real-time phenomena, and the web is always changing. In this case, there was no clear spike (at least, no clear spike relative to recent history) and every once-promising example I found ultimately came up short.

Does that mean the update was a dud? No, I think this is the beginning of something important, and reports of niche impacts in sites with clear quality issues may very well be accurate (and, certainly, some have been reported by reputable SEOs whom I know and respect). The most viable explanation I can come up with is that this was a first step in rolling out a “helpfulness” factor, but that factor is going to take time to iterate on, ramp up, and fully build into the core algorithm.

One mystery that remains is why Google chose to pre-announce this update. Historically, for updates like Mobile-friendly or HTTPS, pre-announcements were Google’s way of influencing us to make changes (and, frankly, it worked), but this announcement arrived only a week before the update began, and after Google stated they had updated the relevant data. In other words, there was no time between the pre-announcement and the rollout to fix anything.

Ultimately, Google is sending us a signal about their future direction, and we should take that signal seriously. Look at the HTTPS update — when it first rolled out in 2014, we saw very little rankings flux and only about 8% of page-one organic results in MozCast were HTTPS URLs. Over time, Google turned up the volume and Chrome began to warn about non-HTTPS sites. In 2017, 50% of page-one organic results in MozCast were HTTPS. Today, in late 2022, it’s 99%. The Helpful Content Update probably isn’t going to change the game overnight, but the game will change, and we would all do well to start learning the new rules.

[lakelandseo]

How Helpful Was the Helpful Content Update?

On August 25, Google started rolling out the Helpful Content Update, an ongoing effort to reward sites with “people-first” (i.e. not written specifically for SEO) content. MozCast measured rankings flux peaking at 92°F on August 26, which sounds relatively high, but this is what the two weeks on either side of the update looked like:

The dotted blue line shows the 30-day average for the period prior to the start of the update, which came in at 87°F. Ranking flux actually peaked on August 23 above any day of the update rollout. To make matters worse, we had to remove August 8-9 from the 30-day average, because Google’s data center outage completely disrupted search results. Let me sum up: it’s a mess. I like to think I’m pretty good at handling messes, but this is like trying to find one particular drop of water in two weeks of rain during a summer-long storm. If you like messes, read on, but for the rest of you, I’ll tell you this — I found no clear evidence that this first iteration of the Helpful Content Update moved the needle for most sites.

Averages, lies, and damned lies

Given the extended rollout, I attempted to look at the difference in visibility for individual domains for the 14 days before and after the start of the rollout (which helps smooth out single-day outliers and keeps the days of the week consistent across both sides). One “loser” that immediately popped up was Conch-House.com, with nearly a 50% visibility loss in our data set. I admit, I even got a little judgmental about the hyphen in the domain name. Then, I looked at the daily data:

The averages don’t tell even half of this story. Whatever happened to Conch-House.com, they were completely knocked out of the rankings for 20 out of the 28 days analyzed. Note that the MozCast data set is limited, but our much larger STAT data set showed a similar pattern, with Conch-House.com ranking for up to 14,000 keywords on one day during this period. What happened? I have no idea, but it quite definitely, almost certainly, very probably maybe was not the Helpful Content Update.

Confirmed content coincidence

Here’s an example I got pretty excited about. WhiteHouse.gov saw a +54% total visibility gain across the two time periods. The keyword set was pretty small so, once again, I dug into the daily numbers:

Looks great, right? There’s a clear spike on August 25 (although it fades a bit), and while the spike wasn’t as large, I was able to confirm this against a larger data set. If I was smart, I would’ve stopped the analysis right here. My friends, I was not smart.

One of the challenges of the Helpful Content Update is that Google has explicitly stated that helpful (or unhelpful) contact will impact rankings across a domain:

Any content — not just unhelpful content — on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in Search …

Even so, it’s interesting to dig into specific pieces of content that improved or declined. In this case, WhiteHouse.gov clearly saw gains for one particular page:

This brief was published on August 24, immediately followed by a storm of media attention driving people to the official details. The timing was entirely a coincidence.

Is it helpful content (regardless of your take on the issue)? Almost certainly. Could WhiteHouse.gov be rewarded for producing it? Entirely possibly. Was this increase in visibility due to the Helpful Content Update? Probably not.

Is this blog post helpful content?

Hey, I tried. I’ve probably lost three nights of sleep over the past three weeks thanks to the Helpful Content Update. The truth is that extended rollouts mean extended SERP churn. Google search results are real-time phenomena, and the web is always changing. In this case, there was no clear spike (at least, no clear spike relative to recent history) and every once-promising example I found ultimately came up short.

Does that mean the update was a dud? No, I think this is the beginning of something important, and reports of niche impacts in sites with clear quality issues may very well be accurate (and, certainly, some have been reported by reputable SEOs whom I know and respect). The most viable explanation I can come up with is that this was a first step in rolling out a “helpfulness” factor, but that factor is going to take time to iterate on, ramp up, and fully build into the core algorithm.

One mystery that remains is why Google chose to pre-announce this update. Historically, for updates like Mobile-friendly or HTTPS, pre-announcements were Google’s way of influencing us to make changes (and, frankly, it worked), but this announcement arrived only a week before the update began, and after Google stated they had updated the relevant data. In other words, there was no time between the pre-announcement and the rollout to fix anything.

Ultimately, Google is sending us a signal about their future direction, and we should take that signal seriously. Look at the HTTPS update — when it first rolled out in 2014, we saw very little rankings flux and only about 8% of page-one organic results in MozCast were HTTPS URLs. Over time, Google turned up the volume and Chrome began to warn about non-HTTPS sites. In 2017, 50% of page-one organic results in MozCast were HTTPS. Today, in late 2022, it’s 99%. The Helpful Content Update probably isn’t going to change the game overnight, but the game will change, and we would all do well to start learning the new rules.

[twdbegins]

Having Sex on a Run with Rick

Rick Grimes x Fem! Reader

Request: Hay, I recently became active on your blog; And I love it so much already!? Your work for Rick? 😤 It’s damn fine! We need more for him,,I was wondering if I could get something for Rick where Reader and him are on a run and Reader feels frisky? Lust comes over the two and they make out, getting each other off? Basically they’re having a quickie on a run? Because the adrenaline is pumping if you get my gist... @positive-squid​

Warnings: Smut. Profanity. Sexual content.

Rick could tell that something was off with you.

You weren’t acting badly or mean or anything. 

But you seemed...antsy.

At first, he assumed that you were getting a little stir crazy.

Things in Alexandria had been good for a while, and mostly everyone had been sticking around trying to improve camp.

Even though Alexandria was extensive, he could understand how someone could still feel a bit caged in.

So he suggested that you accompany him on a run.

The two of you were close friends, so he didn’t see any issue with it.

He almost felt bad at how excited you got over it.

Rick figured that the group could always use more resources, so he didn’t feel as if this run was just for killing time.

You were bubbly as you slid into the passenger seat, positively stoked to be getting out for a bit.

Rick knew of a few places that needed to be scouted, so at least the two of you could get a day’s work out of this run.

It started as business as usual.

The two of you chatted as you scrounged for food or whatever else you could possibly use.

“Does Carl still need a pair of bigger boots? I think I just found a pair.”

“Sure, thanks. Do you think that Daryl would use this hairbrush?”

“Very funny.”

It was a pretty textbook run. The two of you chatted while you looked for things, throwing anything and everything even semi-useful into your backpacks.

Not to mention...it was brutally hot.

While it was a bit difficult to really ever truly know what day it was...

It was always unmistakable when summer had come back around.

The days were blistering hot and even the evenings were sticky and warm.

Sweat dripped down your back as you navigated the abandoned building that was somehow trapping more heat that you would’ve anticipated.

You had glanced over at Rick at one point to check on him, when you saw that he was having the same problem.

Sweat beaded around his forehead, some of it sliding down his face and neck.

He glistened in the daylight, his hard work being proven through his perspiration.

You couldn’t take your eyes off of him. 

It was the strangest feeling to be so drawn into him.

Sure, you had always found him attractive. It was hard to deny.

But you hadn’t really ever had a chance to just...look at him.

You eyed over his hands and arms as they moved stuff around.

His muscles flexed and relaxed in the most captivating way.

The veins in his hands and forearms were prevalent from both the heat and all the strenuous movement. 

His dark curls were damp with sweat, yet he still looked so clean.

Your sights diverted to his hips, watching the way his legs moved in such a calculated way.

All kinds of dirty thoughts plagued your mind.

The thought of his hands around your throat.

His fingers in your mouth,

His cock buried somewhere deep inside of you.

He looked perfect.

A little too perfect.

It didn’t take him long to catch your stare, a confused smile as a quirked brow appearing on his features.

“Something wrong?”

You snapped out of your trance, embarrassed that he had just caught you staring. 

“Nope!” You had squeaked, “All good here.”

He brushed it off, thinking you were tired from the day’s work.

It wasn’t until you were loading up the vehicle with all of your found resources that he noticed it again.

He noticed the way your eyes followed his every move.

The way you were listening extra closely when he spoke.

Something was on your mind, but he just didn’t expect that he was on your mind.

The two of you climbed into the truck, him in the driver’s seat and you in the passenger’s seat. 

But he didn’t start the truck.

Instead he looked over at you, catching your bashful gaze.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Rick asked, this time a little more determined to figure it out.

You refused to admit to him that you had been pining over him for the last hour and a half.

Deny, deny, deny.

“Oh, I’m fine. I’m just tired.”

Rick wasn’t buying it.

He wasn’t buying that at all.

“You know, if something is bothering you, you can tell me. I don’t want you to be unhappy if it’s something I can fix.”

Oh, it was definitely something he could fix alright.

But still, there was no way that you were telling him that.

“I really am fine, Rick. Honestly.”

He still wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t want to push you.

He started the truck, thinking that he’d get through to you sooner or later.

The ride was quiet, both of you too caught up in your own thoughts to say much of anything. 

You had tried to push your dirty thoughts aside, trying your hardest to control your feelings towards him.

But the way he looked in the late afternoon sun filtering in through the windows, mixed with the way he kept throwing side glances at you...you couldn’t.

“Pull over.”

“What?”

“Pull over, please.”

Rick obliged, worried that something was wrong.

He barely even managed to get the truck in park before you crawled over the center console into his lap.

He didn’t even have time to be stunned, because your lips crashed into his before he could speak.

It surprised you, but Rick didn’t really question it.

He kissed back with the same energy, fiery and passionately desperate.

His hand came to the back of your neck, keeping you close and allowing your lips to hover over his when you pulled back for air.

He could feel the heat pooling between your legs through his pants, and he knew it wasn’t from the summer heat.

“I never knew you felt so strongly about me.” Rick had chuckled, already breathless from the heavy kissing.

He groaned when you dragged your clothed cunt over his thigh while you worked on getting his pants unbuckled.

He caught you in another kiss while you stroked his cock to an erection, his spine shuddering at the feeling of you touching him like this.

You praised yourself for deciding to wear shorts, getting them off with your free hand and with ease.

You knew you had limited space, since you weren’t too keen on doing this outside of the truck.

Not that you minded being in close quarters with Rick.

This was going to be a quick fuck. 

You knew that this was the scratch the itch and the address the tension that had been building for a while.

Rick didn’t seem to mind that.

His fingers dragged through your folds, collecting your arousal as he rubbed the pads of his fingers on your clit.

You moaned at the feeling, the waves of pleasure already beginning and he hadn’t even gotten inside of you yet.

“You were really happy to be with me, huh?” Rick teased, spitting into his hand and lubricating himself just to be sure he didn’t hurt you.

Before you could respond, your hips were lifted by his hands and he slammed you down onto his cock to the point where your hip bones touched his. 

A synchronized moan fell from your and Rick’s mouths, both of your head lulling back in ecstasy.

Rick wasn’t even moving yet and he was already stretching and filling you perfectly.

Suddenly, Rick was taking charge, which only added to your arousal.

He gave you a second to adjust to his size, letting you wriggle in his lap until you found an angle that was comfortable.

His hand tapped the side of your leg, prompting you to start moving.

You rotated between bouncing on his lap and rolling your hips, making sure that the satisfaction went both ways.

It was intoxicatingly perfect.

The way he felt stretching you and hitting every bundle of nerves possible.

The hot kisses and the heavy touches were everything you had ever dreamed of with Rick.

Your bounces were met by his thrusts, hitting your g-spot in the most flawless way.

You knew it wasn’t going to take long to get off. 

This had been building up for far too long for your climax to be drawn out.

“Fuck, you’re perfect. Feel so good.” He babbled, cheeks flushed and pupils blown.

His head was reeling, and he wasn’t sure that he was totally comprehending what was happening right now.

All he knew is that he didn’t want this to be the first and only time.

His cock throbbed inside of you, his own release begging to be spilled out into you.

You felt the twitch, and that in and of itself is what caused your orgasm to break out all over you.

You came with a squeaky moan, your entire body tensing up around him as your head fell to his shoulder and your hands gripped the back of the seat.

He thrusted a couple more times before he came as well, his release spurting into you and milking his cock white as he groaned out your name.

Your bodies went limp, chests heaving with heavy breaths and post-coital sighs.

His hand rubbed up and down your back slowly, his cum leaking out of you and onto his bare thighs.

A few minutes of silence passed before you raised your head.

Your dilated eyes met his, and what you saw was pure lust and content.

Most importantly, you could see the anticipation through his eyes, all the way to his soul.

You weren’t sure why, but something in your gut told you that this wouldn’t be the last time that you fucked Rick Grimes.

#Rick Grimes #rick grimes fanfiction #rick grimes imagine #rick grimes smut #rick grimes x reader #rick grimes x you #rick grimes x y/n #rick grimes x female reader #rick grimes fluff #rick grimes headcanons #rick grimes headcanon #rick grimes smut headcanon #rick grimes twd #The Walking Dead #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead smut #HC requests #positive-squid #twdbegins

[mimzy-writing-online]

You probably know this by now, I don't know if you keep up with Whumptober, but one of the prompts this year includes "blindness". I'm not blind but based on your posts about writing blind characters, and based on how I would feel if one of my disabilities were used as a whump prompt, I'm not super comfortable with it. I was wondering what your thoughts are on blindness being a Whumptober prompt.

(unironically and with feeling) thanks, I hate it.

Yes, I’m familiar with Whumptober, but I’ve never participated myself and I haven’t seen this year’s prompts.

Edit: I later did see the prompts and check out the blog. I think it's a good set of prompts and I look forward to all the promising content, especially since some of my favorite tropes are there. To be clear before you read this, I have no problem with Whumptober2021 or whump in general. This is not the first time blindness has been included for a list of whump prompts, and it won't be the last.

This post directed at the concept of "blindness" as a whump prompt and why I think it's a bad idea. The intended audience is individual writers thinking about future projects.

The timing of this is almost too perfect because I read a fanfic earlier this week that would meet that prompt exactly. Tags included whump, blindness, and angst with a happy ending. Now whump, hurt/comfort, and angst with a happy ending are tags I enjoy reading, but blindness as whump has a specific message to it.

To explain that message, I want to discuss what whump is. Many readers are already familiar with the genre, but I think taking the specific definitions and picking apart what it means and what expectations we carry when reading whump fanfiction

Urban Dictionary defines it as: taking a character and putting them through physical and/or mental torment and is typically followed by the same character being treated for their traumas. To indicate the characters place in the situation they’d typically be called a whumpee (the character being hurt/comforted), the whumper (the character that causes harm and trauma), and the caretaker (the character designated the helping/healing/comforting the whumpee).

Fanlore has a page for whump that explains it in depth, including where it started in fanfiction, examples of whump, and even a list of “popular targets” in different fandoms. (Warning: you might find yourself called out on the popular targets list)

“The term whump (or whumping) generally refers to a form of Hurt/Comfort that is heavy on the hurt and is often found in gen stories. The exact definition varies and has evolved over time. Essentially, whump involves taking a canon character, and placing them in physically painful or psychologically-damaging scenarios. Often this character is a fan favorite…”

To add to that, I think an important detail is the distinction Fanlore makes between hurt/comfort and whump:

“While some communities and fandoms may use whump as a synonym for hurt/comfort, there is still a recognition that whump refers to darker and more extreme scenarios. And there are still whump fics been written that have very little, or no comfort at the end of the story.”

The big appeal of hurt/comfort is getting to both explore the darker sides of pain and then experience the catharsis of being taken care of, of being supported by your loved ones as you recover from the trauma. The character is the proxy for experiencing those highs and lows while you yourself are safe at home.

I personally don’t read much/any whump without some h/c involved, but I’m happy there are stories out there for people who do enjoy it. I’m not here to judge what you like reading or what you do to your characters.

What I want is to express how blindness, my disability, used as a whump prompt personally makes me feel and what message it sends to me, to others, and how that message affects my daily life.

Whump undeniably involves watching a character suffer through something painful and traumatic.

My use of the word “suffer” is what I want you to focus on.

Vision loss can be painful and traumatic. I personally developed an anxiety disorder in response to vision loss. Others experience depression. For some it might result in relapsing into old, maladaptive coping mechanisms like drug use, self harm, or eating disorders.

A big part of my anxiety was how people reacted to my vision loss. It was a cause of their stress. They were worried because they genuinely believed I would never live a happy life without normal vision, and that my life would only be struggle and pain.

I recently saw an old friend who hadn’t heard about my vision loss. The conversation was awkward, but the worst part was how they reacted as though I had experienced an insurmountable tragedy. And even when I assured them I’m happy with my life, they clearly didn’t believe me. They acted like I was just lying or in denial.

I love that people want to empathize with my situation and ask themselves what they would do in my situation, but I hate when the conclusion they come to is something along the lines of “I could never do that, I’d be too miserable thinking about everything I lost, I’d never be able to do anything I enjoyed ever again.” But I did go blind. And I’m not miserable, I’m actually happy with the direction my life is going, and I still enjoy my hobbies, even if I engage with them differently.

I’m not suffering. My life didn’t end with vision loss. It’s not ruined, broken, or worthless.

I read a fanfic that was tagged with whump, blindness, and angst with a happy ending. A general synopsis of the plot: the whumpee had gone blind due to a curse. It was true love’s kiss that broke the curse. Even from the summary I knew it was going to end with whumpee being cured somehow and that I’d leave that fanfic vaguely dissatisfied no matter how good the rest of the fanfic was.

I can say this for the fanfic: the whumpee had already accepted that they would likely be blind for the rest of their life, but everyone around them was treating it as a tragedy that needed to be fixed, working tirelessly for a cure despite the whumpee’s protests that they didn’t have to.

It actually hit home to my personal experience.

I still left it dissatisfied with the ending. I might love curse fics in that fandom, and I love the “true love’s kiss” trope, but it wasn’t enough to distract me from the fact that: an actual person out in the world thought the best happy ending, maybe the only happy ending, would be if the character got their sight back.

(note: I clicked kudos and exited out of the story's page because no fanfic writer deserves unsolicited critique or hate, especially for content I consumed for free and at my own volition.)

Why read a story I knew would disappoint me?

Because blindness representation is so damn rare that I feel like I’m wandering in a desert, dying from thirst and desperate for that oasis. But sometimes that oasis is a mirage and the author is unintentionally telling you that your life is actually awful and you’ll never be fully happy like this. And that is a shit mentality to walk through life with.

I don’t appreciate blindness being a whump plot. I hate it. Hundreds (thousands?) of fanfictions featuring blind characters are about to enter the internet and the overall message is going to be “You poor thing! You must be in so much pain, you must be miserable! Who’s going to save you? Who’s going to comfort you? Wouldn’t it be terrible if there was no one in your life to take care of you? You poor helpless thing!”

And I feel objectified. I feel trivialized. The mirage in the desert is going to become a starch, empty room filled with dozens of water bottles, almost all of them poisoned. My representation is going to hurt me personally, and it’s going to reinforce that idea strangers have about how awful my life must be.

(I returned to school this past month, and every day I’m hesitant to tell someone I’m visually impaired because I don’t want to be treated differently. If I’ve managed to pass as sighted this whole time and then suddenly reveal “oh yeah, I’m visually impaired” I feel this instant silence, this pause of awkwardness as people suddenly question how they’re supposed to treat me. They treated me like a person, and now I’m something strange and unfamiliar.)

I’ve worked so hard to improve representation for blind people, to give internet strangers the exposure to a blind person they need to normalize blindness because I hope that if they’re ever so lucky as to meet a blind person, they’ll treat that person with respect. That hope that another person in the blind community will find a friend they feel comfortable and accepted with. I hope that I’ll meet people who accept my blindness as just another aspect of me (like being bisexual or gender fluid or a writer or a cat lover).

Please don’t turn me and my community into a caricature. Don’t erase everything I’ve worked for with this blog.

To be clear, this is not just me saying "I hate the cure trope" again. This is me saying "the purpose of whump is to painfully hurt your favorite character, and I hate that your idea of pain and suffering is my daily (wonderful) life."

#blindness #whumptober #fanfiction #whump #whumptober 2021 #blind character #disability #ableism #anon

[longitudinalwaveme]

Worst Flash Storylines and Plot Ideas of All Time

As you’ve probably ascertained from the general contents of this blog, the Flash is my favorite comic book series. I love the characters and most of the stories. However, just like any series that’s been around for eighty years (counting the Jay Garrick stuff), the Flash does, unfortunately, have some truly terrible stories and plot ideas. 

In terms of terrible plot ideas that didn’t completely ruin the surrounding stories: 

1. Barry Allen uses the Mirror Master’s mirrors to manipulate Iris into agreeing to start dating him again (Flash #109). Creepy, Barry. Just creepy. The story is great Silver Age fun otherwise. 

2. Iris West: meanest woman alive. Iris was, by and large, incredibly awful to Barry up until maybe about a year before their 1966 marriage. Almost every time she shows up in an early Silver Age issue, you will admire her daring and independence (this is good) and be bewildered as to why on Earth Barry would want to spend time with a woman who is constantly calling him slow, lazy, and ambition-less (this is not good). It doesn’t really affect any one issue too much, but when read in a conglomerate, she starts looking really awful. Although as bad as Early Silver Age Iris seems as a romantic interest, she’s got nothing on Silver Age Superman and Lois Lane, the most dysfunctional couple in the DCU. 

3. Wally West’s zero-effort code name and costume (Flash #110). It really could not be more obvious how little effort the writers were putting into creating this character. The duplicate origin is also pretty cheesy, but there are enough differences from Barry’s origin for it not to frustrate me. But the name “Kid Flash” and the fact that his first costume was literally identical to Barry’s just feel incredibly lazy. Barry and Wally do have an adorable dynamic in the issue, though, so it’s by no means all bad. 

4. Barry Allen waiting an entire year after his marriage to tell his wife that he’s really the Flash. Frustrating and unnecessary; especially since Joan Garrick had been in on her husband’s secret since the 1940s. 

5. Iris Allen is FROM THE FUTURE. I both love and hate this idea. It’s so perfectly comic-booky, but at the same time, it opened the floodgates for the Allen family being a confusing, time-displaced mess. 

6. The Trial of Barry Allen. This one’s weird. I like many of the individual issues in this arc, and I actually think the last two issues are really great as an ending for Barry Allen’s original run, but this storyline dragged on for waaaaaay too long. There’s a reason I call it the Arc that Never Ends. Also, the titular trial is actually the least interesting part of the entire storyline. His battles with the Rogues and Kadabra are far more interesting. 

7. Wally West’s borderline creepy, chauvinistic attitude towards women under Mike Baron (and, to a much lesser extent, William Messner-Loebs). There’s being a hormonal twenty-something, and then there’s going through girlfriends at the rate other people change their socks. Messner-Loebs mostly avoided this issue by making it clear that Wally was under intense psychological stress that was negatively impacting his behavior, but under Baron and in some of his JLE appearances, he comes across as a real creep around women. 

8. Kadabra overkill under Mark Waid: I like Kadabra, but when he’s the main villain in like four distinct arcs, it gets to be a bit much. It’s like modern Eobard. He is legitimately written well, though, so he doesn’t drag down any of the stories too much. 

9. Pointlessly Dead Rogues: Killing off the Rogues in Underworld Unleashed for no good reason (the rest of the story is great, especially the Trickster). 

10. Pointlessly Dead Rogues 2: Electric Boogaloo: The Golden Glider’s pointless death to build up a character who was himself killed two issues later. (The rest of the story is decent.) Also, the treatment of Lisa in general post-Crisis is frustrating, since she becomes considerably more unhinged than she was before. 

11. Any time Waid tried to write McCulloch, with the exception of Flash vol. 2 #105 (and even there, he seemed off). It’s like he forgot Evan wasn’t Sam. 

12. Apparently, the Top trying to blow up both Central City and half the world makes him a loser? Also, he suddenly hates Piper for no readily apparent reason. (At least the story had some good Piper and Wally bits.) 

13. BARRY ALLEN HAS A SECRET EVIL TWIN! DUN DUN DUN! (The rest of the story, where we get to meet a whole whack of interesting future Flashes, is actually pretty good, but whoo boy, the Malcolm reveal feels like it came straight out of a soap opera.) 

14. In order for Captain Cold to ANGST, the Golden Glider’s pointless death remained in place for over ten years. It did give us a really, really good Capt. Cold story, at least...but it’s still fridging. 

15. Rainbow Raider’s mean-spirited murder by Blacksmith. Poor Roy. 

16. Albert Desmond becomes Hannibal Lecter, only twenty times as rude, for a Gotham Central arc that would’ve been terrific without him as the main villain. 

17. Owen Mercer is an idiotic child murderer and gets killed by the Rogues. Why was this necessary? (The rest of Blackest Night: The Flash is pretty good.) 

18. Josh Jackam-Mardon’s murder. The murder of small children for shock value is pretty gross. Especially since nothing was ever really done with it. 

19. Barry’s PARENTS ARE DEEEEAAAAD! (Okay, it’s really just his mom, but still. This is a very frustrating retcon, since originally his parents were alive and well until after his own death.) 

20. Albert Desmond was Barry’s jerk coworker; which never impacted the plot or led to anything. As a result, it’s just another frustrating retcon. 

21. Sam Scudder murdered someone before becoming the Mirror Master. Yet another Johns retcon that never went anywhere and only serves to darken the Silver and Bronze Age stories after the fact. 

22. Flashpoint (a decent story) wiped out a whole bunch of characters I really liked from existence for several years. Evan McCulloch’s still not back. 

23. Giving the Rogues metahuman powers doesn’t suit them, on the whole. They work better without them. 

24. Roy’s second pointless, brutal death in (I think) Forever Evil. 

25. IT WAS MEEEEE, BARRY! After serving as the main villain for like six arcs in eight years, I’m glad that Eobard finally seems to be getting a rest. The level of bad things he was responsible for was getting ridiculous. 

26. Sam/Lisa. WHY? (The only time it even kind of worked was in Forever Evil.) 

In terms of entire storylines I didn’t like: 

1. The Flash: The Most Terribly Written Man Alive. Poor Bart is aged up with no adequate explanation, loses all the traits that made him a likeable character, fights some awful villains, and then is murdered by the badly OOC Rogues. Meanwhile, Inertia goes from an at least somewhat sympathetic villain to a complete psychopath with little explanation, a murder is retconned into one of Captain Cold’s reformed periods, the Pied Piper and the Trickster completely forget that they’re supposed to be reformed, Abra Kadabra inexplicably teams up with the Rogues despite generally being a solo operative, and all of the Rogues act like total morons, willingly following a teenage speedster for no adequately explained reason. UGH. 

2. Countdown to Infinite Crisis: Even though Piper and Trickster were probably the best part of Countdown, that isn’t saying much. Both of them are uncharacteristically stupid (especially James), and James is a grade-A jerk to Piper for no reason. Also, both of them continue to forget that they reformed, and then James gets brutally murdered and Piper almost loses his mind. Also, the other Rogues cameo, and continue to act like idiots. Countdown: it really does ruin everything it touches. 

Superboy Prime will kill you! He’ll kill you to DEATH! And after you read Countdown, you’ll wish he had killed you to death. 

3. The Identity Crisis Tie-In Retcon: So, you know all that awesome character development the Rogues have had over the years? Well, forget all that, because it was all just Roscoe brainwashing them! Which was something he could definitely do before this story! And why did he do this? Why, because Barry Allen, one of the most upstanding men in the DCU, brainwashed him! Also, apparently, the Top had a huge bodycount that we never heard about back in the Bronze Age, because we need even MORE grimdark retcons for our cheerful Silver/Bronze Age history! I like Geoff Johns’ work, I really do....but BOY HOWDY does he need to lay off on the retcons sometimes. 

4. Identity Crisis: With the exception of Owen’s introduction and the establishment of the relationship between him and Digger, this story was pretty awful all around. More specifically, as far as the Flash was concerned, it was responsible for Digger’s second pointless death. It also killed off poor Jack Drake and poor, mistreated Sue Dibney, who deserved MUCH better. And the Justice League, including Barry, are A-OK with brainwashing, apparently. Comics are fun! 

These last two stories are pretty recent, and they did have some parts I liked, but on the whole I felt they also belonged on the list. 

5. The Trickster finally returns! Hurrah! Except it turns out that he’s way more like the Joker now than he ever was before, and he mind-controls the city in a super-creepy way. A very disappointing return for the character, especially since it was set up really well. 

6. Forever Evil: Captain Cold becomes a murderous dictator with a stupid Santa Beard, all of the Rogues get horrible costumes, and Sam completes his mutation into Evan-in-all-but-name. There are some good characters bits in the story (even for Cold), but on the whole, I found the story to just be unlikeable and depressing and thought Cold was pretty out-of-character. Poor Commander Cold....

So, what are your least favorite Flash storylines and plot ideas? 

#flash comics #flash rogues #dc comics

[aiiwa]

hewwooooo i recently just found your blog and i had to gobble up every single content here bc u write so well 😭😭😭 congrats for 500!!! deserve!!! and deserve more!!! for fmk (if you're still doing them) um, what about kenma, kuroo, and akaashi? don't forget to stay safe! i hopr your days are always as lovely as you are mwa

ahhh you’re so sweet 🥺🥺🥺 thank you so much baby 💖 thank you for being the first to give me kenma hsdkdkkd i love him sm

FUCK - kozume kenma. y’all have no idea how much i love him.

when kenma had suggested you join him once a week for one of his streams, it was a bit of a surprise. you were by no means a gamer, only knowing the mere basics, but kenma had told you it was his fans who asked him to have you join in. they would see you randomly pop up while he was playing; bringing him snacks, giving him a kiss goodnight, or even clowning kenma for having a mini rage at a rare loss.

you had agreed, there was nothing better than spending time with your boyfriend doing something he loves - yet you were ignorant to the glint in his golden eyes as you smiled sweetly at him, and left to get ready. if only you knew kenma’s true intentions, then you could’ve been prepared for your current situation.

sitting in his lap now, the camera was focused on your expression, while his thick cock was buried balls deep inside your drooling cunny. you were all breathy moans, with his chin resting on your shoulder and muttering the filthiest things in your ear as you tried to talk to his followers as normally as possible. and when he rutted into you, you couldn’t hold back anymore.

“haaa~ k-kenma...please.” you whine, throwing your head back. you can hear the comment section notifications popping up, but kenma leans forward, mumbling a hasty excuse before ending the stream.

“you really couldn’t wait a bit longer, y/n?” at his question, you shake your head, crying out as his fingers circle your swollen clit. “hmm, guess i won this game then. now i want my prize, want you to cum all over me.”

MARRY - akaashi keiji. who wouldn’t want to marry him. fun fact - before iwa, i was all about akaashi hngggg.

out of the many things you loved about your husband, his dedication was something you came to admire greatly. it was all clear through his love for you, the way he cared for his friends, and his drive to succeed in his career. but his work ethic meant many caffeine filled late nights with early morning starts to repeat the cycle.

and it really became more obvious the past month. the bags under his eyes were more prominent, less time was spent in bed with you, and almost every other day he was running to the store to restock on coffee. so you decided to stage an intervention on a day you both had off, though akaashi was busying himself in his study.

“keiji, honey.” you called, entering the room, hot cup of chamomile tea in your hand. he was hunched over some paper work, but straightened up as you approached him. “i made you some tea.”

“thank you, love.” when you made no move to leave, he only stared up at you questioningly.

“why don’t you come and rest with me for a while.” as he opens his mouth, most likely to decline, you cut him off. “it wasn’t a suggestion, keiji. come with me.”

leading the way to your living room, you plop yourself down on the comfort of your sofa, patting your thigh and inviting your husband to rest on you. a soft, tired smile graces his pretty mouth, as he stretches out on top of you, sliding his torso between your legs, and smushing his cheek to your chest. it’s so peaceful and quiet, that only a few minutes later do you hear his light, muffled snores.

running your fingers through his curls, you cluck your tongue, cuddling him closer to you. “married a crazy workaholic...tch, next time you’re tired you better sleep, before i drag you to bed and never let you go.”

KISS - kuroo tetsurou. i have like three more fmk’s for kuroo hehe, so he can have a kith. a chaotic one lmao.

coming across of box of free kittens outside your apartment complex, there was absolutely no way you could turn away from the golden eyes peaking up at you. its fluffy, ink coloured fur almost akin to kuroo’s hair, had you reaching in and bringing the kitty back home.

your boyfriend couldn’t even say anything to protest suddenly having a pet, not with the way your eyes shone as you held the kitten in your arms like a baby. and it was definitely treated as such; months of your cooing and cuddling, had turned into a year. the male cat adored you, lived for your attention, but he despised kuroo. most likely because he had named the kitty, ‘bill nya the science cat,’ even though not once had the cat ever responded to such a name.

but the two main males in your life were at a constant war for your attention. the day before your cat had wrapped himself around your shoulders as you lounged out on the couch, hissing when kuroo had tried to steal you away, before licking at your cheek and glaring at the man.

and today it was kuroo wrapped around you, toned arm hooked underneath your head. you were just trying to watch your show, when you felt his tongue lick a clean stripe across your cheek. shooting your hand up to wipe at your cheek, your glare was unnoticed as he was set in an intense stare off with the black kitty; winning as your cat huffed, and ran off to hide away.

“was that necessary?” your answer came in the proud smirk kuroo was wearing. “stop fighting with my baby.”

“oh so he’s your baby?”

“tetsu-”

leaning down, his pink tongue darted out to lick the pout of your bottom lip, before he fully presses against you for a kiss. it starts to become heated, hands roaming freely, and just as you’re about to wrap your legs around his waist - your cat appears out of nowhere, leaping onto kuroo’s back and biting at the back of his head. kuroo yells out as they tumble to the floor; and all you can do is laugh, before moving to break them apart. the two of them really were your babies.

FMK CLOSED.

#💖 nona hits 500 #anonnie❣️ #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu smut #kenma x reader #akaashi x reader #kuroo x reader

[dirkjakeweekly]

DIRKJAKE FIC RECS

This is a rebloggeable version of our sidebar page reproduced in full, for those who prefer to save things on their own blogs for later!

INTRO

This page is not intended to be an encyclopedia, but rather a non-exhaustive list of a few Dirkjake Fanfics (and Fancomics) for those that may be interested in the ship, but a little too tired of trawling through AO3 search! Some of these contain NSFW or suggestive content, viewer discretion is advised.

[ FIC RECS (last updated Jan 2021, click readmore for full list) ]

It’s only a canvas sky

Their guardians dead at the hands of the Condesce, growing up in the shadow of her slow takeover of the Skaian Federation, Dirk Strider and Jake English have spent their whole lives alone up until shortly before their twelfth birthdays.

Or: Dirk fixes a transmitter, makes a friend, builds a robot, and tries to communicate affection over distance to the barest possible minimum.

Read here!

GOD’S BRAND NEW FATE SELECTOR (Fancomics)

In ONE PARTICULAR TIMELINE, detached from many similar ones, an aspiring divorcee stands by his baby’s cradle and attempts to hatch an escape plan with some aid from the ghost of his long-deceased boyfriend. He’s not exactly helpful.

SOMEWHERE ELSE ENTIRELY, Dirk Strider is overcame by the nagging feeling his splinters may be getting a little out of hand and far too into his head, when he gets a booty call.

One timeline is Epilogues-Compliant, another Epilogues-Divergent. 

Read here!

We’re All Friends & Family Here (And Frankly, We’re Sick Of Your Shit)

It’s been about a year since the big Fast Forward, and sure, things on Earth C aren’t perfect for everyone. But they’re fine. Really. It’s fine. Everything is super fuckin’ swell, and that’s that.

It’s not like one night is going to change anything.

Read here!

Perpetuity

“Call it a car crash waiting to happen, you’ll just call it your downfall”

Dirk is a romantic, just not a particularly optimistic one.

(Written pre-epilogues release, post-game, fix-it)

Read here!

Tailspinning Into the Epilogues with Dirk and Jake (complete series)

Read here!

Stark Nonfiction (Part of the Tailspinning series)

Jake tries his hand at a gentler epilogue.

Read here!

Between the Lines (Part of the Tailspinning series)

“It’s just… I can’t remember the last time I felt so at peace, I guess. It was such a lovely jaunt with Jade, and instead of being all torn up about coming home, I feel even better, now. It’s actually been a real while and a half since I felt… bad, you know? Like actually bad.”

You don’t have much in the way of emotional permanence about that sort of thing. Surely it was months ago, when you were staring gloomily at the bottoms of bottles like the world’s most up-his-own-ass useless overdramatic dilettante. Did it even really happen, if it all, in hindsight, just seems like a dumb pantomime of misery to get attention? A successful dumb pantomime of misery to get attention, mind you, you definitely got it, and a boyfriend to boot. Was it ever really as atrocious and apocalyptic and unsurvivable as it seemed?

Read here!

A Palate Cleanser (Part of the Tailspinning series)

ROXY: hay everybody its jakes turn! ROXY: hes got a few words hed like to say about our dear departed buddy

The eulogy we missed on Candy’s page 15.

Read here!

Eschewal

“you hope he’s a benevolent god”

Read here!

Grublr. (Fancomic)

In the consort kingdom, atop of the large, humongous mansion where the god of Hope lives, there is an apartment complex.

Read here!

The Hitchhikers Guide to Your Ex-Boyfriend (Fancomic)

Jake English waking up sore and alone on a cold floor is not a strange occurrence for him as of late. The ethereal beam of light and sluggishly churning floor is new, but he’s woken up in stranger places.

If circumstances were better he’d probably have something shocked and relevant to say about this strange landscape he’s found himself in, but circumstances are in fact legendarily shit right now.

(A comic/fic where Jake English gets rights)

Read here!

The Four Kings, the God Thief, and the Black Diamond Pirates

Dirk and Vriska have it good. They raid ships, pillage merchant vessels, constantly poison each other, possess a lucrative pact with the Wind King, sing a lot of dope fuckin’ sea shanties, and captain a loveable crew of pirate scum. They’re ready to kick back, take it easy, and become the vile and revered scourge of the diamond trading line.

Then they find someone in the water.

Read here!

Sea shanties for Thots (Four Kings continuation)

Jake English has never done anything wrong, ever, in his life, if you don’t count literally all that stuff from the first installment of oxfordRoulette’s diegetic-musical-cum-found-family-pirate-AU. Luckily, that was in the last story, and he is completely better now in all respects. None of that nonsense is a thing anymore and it will not be relevant at all! Surrounded by friends and allies, with a very cool piratey boyfriend and a hold full of treasure from his recently decimated country, he’s got everything a fellow could want.

What will he do?

Befriend an octopus god. Learn to fish. Kick back. Take it easy. Kiss his boyfriend a lot. Open a jewelry company? Pursue immortality. Confront his past. Embrace his future. Maybe save the world. One thing’s for sure: there will be a lot of songs involved.

Read here!

Two idiots at Homoville, N69, TX

In a moment of desperation, Dirk goes on r/relationships. Things get oversharey real quick. He types as follows:

“I [23M] cannot understand my [24M?] roommate. He is the most bizarre man to ever set foot on earth and I’m afraid I’m losing him.”

or, and They Were Roommates.

Read here!

Drive it home with one headlight

Some mistakes are so fucking big that they divert the path of your life entirely, sending you somewhere you were never meant to go. Some mistakes are so seismic and so obvious that when you look back on your life all you can see is the beacon where you made them. Some mistakes leave you so far off course you don’t even recognize who you are or why you’re still here.

You don’t usually get a chance to make amends.

Read here!

A Tallied List of Various Occasions in Which Jake English Encountered the Elusive Smile Belonging to One Dirk Strider

Jake English, explorer extraordinaire, tracks down the most unique treasure of all: a nerd in pointy sunglasses.

Read here!

BONES OF BLACK MARROW

Dirk summons a demon for the exclusive purpose of ‘cathartic boning.’ He gets what he wants.

NOTE: This fic is ergodic (think House of Leaves), which means it cannot be downloaded for offline perusal on your kindle/pdf reader. Also has CYOA elements, so clicking “Entire Work” will make the fic impossible to read.

Read here!

fire fly

A wedding. An anxiety attack. A daring tryst.

Read here!

DIRK TOPS (Fancomic)

Ever think about how Dirk Strider got full narrative awareness of the fanfics where he’s the big scary hunk in charge and went “I can do that” when he wasn’t, in fact, able to do that? i do. i think about that.

Read here!

MLM stands for Moron loving Moron (Fancomic)

aren’t you TIRED of longing? don’t you just want to go APESHIT while dating your best bro? i mean, you’ve earned it, right? (Collection of oneshot comics. marked as complete, updates whenever)

Read here!

fist is a four letter word

Jake’s face quirks. “App?“ 

“Yeah, app. Like, application. You know your phone can do other things right? Like, apps.”

“You sure do keep using that word! I’m not quite sure I understand what you mean.”

“You know, apps.” You try to think of how to explain apps. You suddenly can’t think of what apps are.

What’s the name of an app.

Literally just name any app.

He’s staring at you.

Oh my god.

Read here!

Witching Hour

There’s something almost magical about that time between too late at night and too early in the morning. It’s the perfect time to meet a stranger and go on an adventure.

Read here!

#homestuck #dirkjake #dirk strider #jake english #homestuck 2 #fanfics #Sweet Picks #fancomics

[xavadak3davrax]

So Close Yet So Far / Fred Weasley

Prince! Fred Part 2 – So close yet so far 

Warnings: mentions of some sexual content but nothing happens.

Summary: Fred can’t stop thinking about you so he takes matters into his own hands. And then he makes and an irrational decision that he needs to see you more.

Taglist: @manuosorioh @itsbebeyyy

Hey guys. So here is part 2 of prince Fred. First I wanna say thank you so much to everyone who reblogged and liked and commented. It really left me speechless. This blog is just something to have a little bit of fun and unwind from the real world so yeah. Thank you with all my heart. Like I said this is part 2 but they are still a bit far from lovers ahah I will probably make this a series i think? I most definitely write another parte but I don’t think I will be satisfied with only one more. Also english is not my first language so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to leave a message if you feel like I should add any other warning or anything else. Thank you so much once again :)

Part 1 of Prince Fred can be found HERE 

PART 3

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Fred had been having the worst week ever, he didn’t think it could get worse. Ever since he left the market a week a go he thought seeing her (and for the first time for that matter) that it was a sign to him. The day of the talk of weddings and he finds her? The most precious and strong-minded girl he ever encountered? Lucky guy.

As soon as he hit home a week ago things took a turn. He came home to his father and mother accompanied by the queen and princess of the south. It took him a few seconds to actually understand what was happening in front of him, but as his thoughts started to make sense Fred’s mood switched completely. He has nothing more nothing less than In front of his future wife, according to his father’s next words. Fred despised his father then more than ever. Although he knew it was an obligation to marry, he never thought it would come so fast. Or was it that fast? Maybe it wasn’t but the idea never stuck with him.

From that point on his worst week had started. Both the queen and the princess would stay until the wedding had some structure and things had a course. Fred didn’t want to seem rude, or uninterested (which as this point, he was but still) but planning something that we was praying wouldn’t happen, was starting to take a toll on him. Physically and emotionally.

Very rarely did he appear in the meetings his father had planned, and he almost never made appearances in the meals throughout the day. He started eating his in chambers, either alone or sometimes accompanied by some girl who he thought would take is mind of, of everything.

So exactly a week after he first saw you, he decided that he had enough waiting and thinking around. He needed to see you, to talk you, he wanted to get to know you. And now leaving the castle was not as easy has it was a week ago. His father had reenforced security after his son’s sudden change in behavior. Fred didn’t really understand why seeing has he was always a rule-abiding kinda person. And his recent behavior was totally justified in his opinion.

So, after he got himself presentable he sneak out through a different door and a different passage way, and soon enough he was walking towards the market and you. Although he had only seen where you worked one time he remembered well and clear enough. He was attentive this time, and he very quickly got his sight on you. It was only you and your mother this time and has started to approach your stand your mother nudge you slightly, making you break eye contact with the things you were doing and looking at him for the second time ever.

“Your Grace.” Your mother said before you could speak and before he could announce himself to. You however didn’t say anything and just bowed to him, much like your mother had done.

“Good morning.” Fred said, his voice come out very soothing. What could he say next that would make his appearance justifiable? He was a Prince for crying out loud why was he now worried about what they could think about him being here and not buy anything? So his silence prolonged for a bit to long, until he finally mustered up the courage to start talking. “I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit?” He was looking directly at you now.

Your mother tried her hardest to hide the smile that was threatening to appear on her face. She decided the best was to keep working on some stuff around her. But also keeping and eye and an ear peeled to what you would day or do.

Now you couldn’t just refuse royalty. It wasn’t something that would look good around and specially for your family. So, still very quietly you nodded and rested the small box you had on your hands and then came out around and next to him. “Before you go do you wish to have something to have something to eat your grace?” It was your mother.

“Oh I appreciate your kindness but we will have something along the way.” He smiled at her and then turned to you. “Should we go?” He spoke gently and then started walking and you followed, walking had silently has you could scared that any sudden move was going to scare him way. He was so used to big, fancy and expensive stuff how could he like or want to be next you?

“You highness your visit is very unexpected but very much appreciated.” Your voice finally made it’s way out of your throat, and your thoughts had finally started to make some type of sense. Until now nothing had really made sense.

What you didn’t expect from such a simple phrase was his laugh. A short belly laugh. “ You are very eloquent. But you do not need to speak to me in that way. You can relax I’m not here to hurt you or do any unwell to you or your family. I’m here because…” He trailed of. Could he admit to you that even though you both had a very small talk last week that he was left to wish more?

You finally smiled a little, letting that pent up nervousness subside. “You don’t have to justify yourself. I understand.” Even though you didn’t very much understand it still felt right to assure him that.

“Things have been getting chaotic up there, and I have not been able to stop thinking about you, about the incident” He admitted, stopping for a second because they were now close to a little lake and garden that was not very far from the market. You looked at him and waited for a second to see what was he going to do. He seated himself on the grass and you followed. The food he promised nowhere to be seen, but you didn’t mind His presence was already something to big to comprehend.

You decided to stay quiet, because by reading his expressions and movements you knew more was to come and somehow you had a feeling, he needed this a lot.

“My father decided that to be king I should get married.” Why was his brain allowing to share such personal stuff with someone he did not know. Someone he was only now seeing for the second time? “And I don’t want that.” He looked at you. The sun was shinning, and the light was hitting you beautifully. Every part of you that he already found beautiful was now even more prominent.

You found that this time was best to start talking. “I’m really sorry about that.” That was the first thing you had the courage to say. Your brain was trying to process all of this. All your life you thought you had it difficult. I mean how could you not? You weren’t born into wealth. But just the little bit he said also made you see that royalty doesn’t have it easy either. I mean you could not imagine yourself marrying someone you didn’t love. And for your age, and people around you, you were considered “old” to not be married. Most of your friends from when you were little already had kids of their own. And you? Well, you still helped your parents and lived with them. But they never pressured you to marry someone you didn’t love. Your own father had once said that he preferred that you lived with them all their lives, instead of marrying someone you didn’t love and didn’t make you feel appreciated.

“It must be very hard to have to marry someone not for love but for necessity, for other arrangements other than love.” You also looked at him, the sun hitting your eyes made it kind of difficult to look at him with a straight face, but he was also affected by it so you didn’t make a fuss out of it.

“Yes, it is. I know it is my duty to all of you, to give structure to our country, but I feel like my parents are just pushing me into a trap. One I will never be able to get out of.”

“Can you not marry out of love?” You asked but this time you broke the eye-contact and stared straight ahead into the clear water.

“I could yes, first if I found someone to love, and second if somehow my parents approved of it. They were always the best parents ever and I have nothing to put against them… but with this, this seems different. But I could yes.” Fred said.

“Then, you should marry out of love. I know it not to be a simple thing. You simply do not fall in love for someone out the blue. “ A big lie there, but maybe he could let that pass. “You just need to make the most out the time you have and find someone.”

“That does not sound like finding someone to love, seems to me like finding someone to substitute the girl my parents already found for me to marry.” He chuckled.

“Oh. You parents already found you someone? I’m sorry to hear that.” The feeling you felt in her chest was very different to something you ever felt. I mean how could you feel this for someone who was not yours? Maybe you could justify this by saying everyone, at least girls would feel this way. Seeing he was the prince, everyone had some kind of attraction towards him, and it would break every girls heart to know that someone they dreamed all their lives would be taken, and not to you.  

“They did. She is, what you would expect every princess to be.” His simple explanation brought a lot of meaning in there. Because what was a princess suppose to be like? You sure as hell never thought about it. You dreamed of being one, but not how to be one. “Enough of my sad life. Please, tell me about yourself.”

“About me? What’s to know about me?” You have never been asked that question before. The boys you’ve been with never took their time to you. You thought they did, in the beginning, but you were naïve, and didn’t know better. All they did was getting something sexual out you and then they were out. To never be heard or seen again. So, this question took you by surprise. And by the time you took responding he could feel you didn’t have anything prepared.

“Well, I work with my parents and given that I’m an adult that should be a lot to say about me, right?” You tried to joke, but when his face was kept serious you knew it hadn’t stuck.

“Well, when I look at you, I see a hardworking woman. Someone who’s passionate about what they do. Do not think otherwise. You do not have to be married, and be out of your parents just because people around you do that. Break the norm, show them what you can achieve.” He changed his position so now both of his hands where behing his back and supporting his body and stretched out his legs.

“That is very nice of you. But as woman in this society, we are expected to married and have our first child by the age of twenty. As you can see, I have none of those. All I have is money my parents give me and that ends up in the either way because we have things to pay and cannot afford to be behind on them.” You concluded. And that’s when you saw Fred’s demeanor change.

“Come with me.” He started to get up, and his eyes followed you to the same.

“Where are we going?” You couldn’t hold in the small laugh that left your lips as you got up and followed him.

“To the palace.” That’s all he said before he started walking in the direction of the castle.

The arrival at the castle was not what you had expected. Very honestly you thought that the prince was gonna take you in through the back door, maybe the kitchen, the stables. Never, through the front door. So when you entered and faced the King and the Queen you felt the air on your lungs leave. Your mind racing, was your dress ok? Of course it wasn’t. it was not, it was the oldest of your dresses, ripped. Your hair looked nice! You had took the time this morning to do make it look pretty. It was something rare, but today was one of those ‘rare days’.

“Mom, Dad. This is y/n.” Fred cut right to the chase. Since they were there in front of you might as well just present you.

“Your highnesses.” You tried to do it the best you could, a small smile on your face and never looking them in the eyes unless they spoke directly to you. Before they could even talk Fred was already making himself heard and explaining the reason why you where there, which you, also didn’t know.

“y/n is looking for a job. I found her in one of my morning walks to the village. We have been talking for a while and I was thinking we could offer her a job here.” There some lies in that sentence, but I don’t think his parents needed to know that.

“y/n is it? Well, I’m sure my son here will help you find something important to do around the castle, given we always have so many tasks.” It was his mother talking, you knew her from all the beautiful stories your mother told you, how kind she was. “After that son I would ask you to join us in the greenhouse for some tea with the queen and the princess.”

“Sure mother, whatever your heart desires.” Fred gave her a mocking gesture before grabbing your wrist and pulling further into the castle, to you, unknown territory. “ I was thinking you could work as a maid. My personal maid.” He added the last part with a small shade of pink appearing in his cheeks. “I have very few people who I trust to work along side me, and also very few people who I trust to help me in the mornings. Almost none of them come in contact with me directly mainly because I appreciate my privacy. But I would like you to be a part of them. This job I’m offering will give you a monthly salary that we will discuss further, should you choose to accept this job. Is this to much information?” He asked when he looked at your face to see you look perplexed and a little lost.

“No I just.. Just didn’t think you would offer me a job. Me of all people” You said and when he stopped walking and opened the door you knew exactly where you were, even though you’d never been there. Certainly, this was not ok. He should not be allowed to bring one of his subjects to the castle and certainly not to his chambers. He should also not be allowed to offer a job to someone he barely even knew. But today was made of surprised and that was happening.

“Well, you just had to charm me with your small talk and I was hooked.” He jokes, entering his chambers and closing the door as soon as you entered to. “I will give you some time to think about it, as this is a big step, but I think personally you should consider it. I will give you way more than what you are making with your parents and although they might loose someone to help they will gain your income, which is already a plus, in my point of view.”

“Yes of course, please never think I don’t appreciate your offer hole heartedly, I do. And I will most definitely consider it.” You were now just standing in the middle of his chambers waiting for him to give you some type of instructions. When he motioned for you to seat, you did just that, in the chair he had pointed at.

“We should discuss further things related to it, in case you might change your mind.” He said. And so, after that you spent what thought was hours sitting there listening to him talk, but in reality it was no more than an hour. “If you have any more doubts about it, please do not hesitate to come to the castle, I will let the guards know that if you come I should attend at you immediately.” You nodded, still trying to process all the information from the past hour, but finally, after what seemed like an eternity, your brain was putting the pieces together.

“Thank you so much for this I will not forget the good you are doing for me. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but thank you.” After finishing that sentence Fred came forward and hugged you tightly. Took you by surprise but you did not hesitate to wrap your arms around him and retribute the hug.

You left after that. Not many words were shared after that unexpected hug.

You spent some days after that lost in thought. Not a single task your parents asked you seem to get right. They knew of the offer, they more than anyone else supported you in going for it. It was an amazing opportunity for you. You thought it was the best for you all, they would be able to live a comfortably from then on. But parents being parents they were thinking of your future, you would be able to start a better life. So you had you mind made up 5 days after the offer was made.

That day you woke up with a sense of relief upon you. Your mom knew of your decision so she made sure before she left for work to lay down your best dress and your best accessories just so you wouldn’t go to the palace unprepared like the first time. You got dressed and made yourself look as presentable as you could and on you went.

When you got there you followed Fred’s instructions and at first the guards where suspicious but after much insisting they went to warn him of your arrival. Being early and Fred being a night owl he was still a sleep, but very quickly came to his senses when he realizes you were there.

Thoughts evading his mind. Where you there to reject the offer? He hated the feeling that came upon him when he thought you not working there. For the days since you last talked all his brain could conjure where images of you working there, him being able to see you every day. Talk to you. Maybe in of those days he thought and dreamed of you, it might have gotten a little filthy, which scared him to admit that. But what if you were there to say yes? The joy he would feel. But the problems his mind would bring him if he had to look at you every day. Would he be able to control himself?

He had let his thoughts run wild for so long now that he feared when he came down you wouldn’t be there to speak your mind. But has he came down the last flight of stairs he found you, staring at everything, your hands behind you back, and your eyes moving quickly as if to catch every single detail around you.

They announced his arrival, what made you break your train of thoughts and look in is direction in seconds. You moved to his proximity and smiled brightly.

“Thank you for meeting me so quickly Your Grace.” You knew he didn’t like what you just called him. But first you were surrounded by guards, and they could not hear you treat him like you treat on of yours, and second if you were to work for him you would have to always call him that. Whether he liked it or not.

“Nonsense. Do you want to seat?” He asked, at the same time he gestured to the guard to leave you both alone. But you spoke fast after that.

“I a coming in to take up the offer you highness made days ago, if it’s still stands.” You looked at him. And you couldn’t believe, or at least your mind didn’t want to believe what you saw. The brightest glow his face has ever had, or that you have seen, appeared.

“It does still stand. And I’m very glad you decided to accept it. You don’t have to start today but I can take you to Miss Agatha. She’s the one in charge of all personal things, she does know I was thinking of adding someone new, so you are to be expected. Is that ok with you?”

It would never seize to amaze you how much the Prince consented to everything. Always making sure you were okay, and that what he was doing was okay to. You were so not use to it. You nodded and behind him you followed.

And so, that’s how you became part of the royal troupe. That’s how, from that day on you would work for the crown. More specifically Prince Fred himself. To attend to his needs. You didn’t think you would be able to let the little infatuation you had for him stay the way it was. You would have to work very hard to keep it small and discrete, after all he could never, and would never fall in love for someone like you.

#fred weasly x reader #fred weasley imagine #Fred Weasley Imagines #fred weasley #prince!fred #fred weasley one shot #golden

[cafedanslanuit]

↪ commissioned work! for more info about my commissions, check my blog ♡

summary: it’s been a while since you arrived at devildom and made yourself feel at home, but asmodeus still can’t figure out why you always looks really tired. a late night visit gives him the opportunity to solve the mystery once and for all.

pairing: asmodeus x reader

warnings: none <3

words: 2k

Asmodeus sat in front of his giant boudoir and let out a long sigh. He stretched his arms to the ceiling, feeling tension release with a few cracking sounds from his back. He grabbed one of his makeup remover tissues and started softly wiping the makeup off his face. His mascara faded a little under his eyes as he did so, making it appear like he had bags under his eyes.

He couldn’t help but think about you.

At first, he had thought they were hereditary. Your eye bags were the first thing he noticed about your face. Your face structure was beautiful and your eyes gleamed whenever you laughed, yet the thing that first struck him was how tired you looked. His hypothesis of it being hereditary crumbled down when he noticed you falling asleep during classes, almost matching Belphie in how many times Lucifer had had to loudly clear his throat to make you wake up with a youepish smile.

Once his face was clear of makeup, Asmodeus threw the tissue away. He grabbed his bottle of tonic and put some on a cotton pad, softly patting his skin. Knowing you were into the same videogames Levi was, he figured you may have been spending too much time after hours playing them. 

His second theory was disproved when weeks later, after sharing a table with the third oldest and you, he overheard Levi complaining about how you didn’t have time for him anymore and warned you you would lose your ranking in the game if you kept missing your daily missions. You excused herself and blamed it on the amount of French homework you had. Asmodeus stayed silent, even if you were taking the same class he was and he knew for a fact there hadn’t been any homework for weeks. He still wasn’t as close to you as he was now, so he decided to indulge you a little and keep your dirty little secret.

That was how his curiosity started. Even if he wouldn’t tell anybody, he had to know what were you hiding. What was that you desired that was enough for you to lose sleep.

Asmodeus set the toner aside and grabbed his vitamin C serum. He poured a few drops on his palm, rubbing his fingers together before applying it to his skin.

He started to spend more time with you in order to discover what was going on. Even if that was his plan from the start, he ended up befriending you and enjoying the times they got to be together. Not realizing he was actually following you, you had started feeling more at ease with him, and shared stories about your life back on Earth. You had apparently been a very diligent person and were in charge of a lot of activities in the different groups you were a part of. One day, while having some ice cream after a long day of class, you confessed to him you had two younger siblings, a pair of twins that were four years old and the apple of your eyes. It suddenly made sense how motherly you were to the demon twins, always making sure there was enough food for Beelzebub and sharing your lap when Belphie was sleepy and wanted to take a nap while you were reading in the living room. He learnt you were very mature, always providing Satan with advice to manage his temper and had even shared conversations with Lucifer, helping him with time management.

Asmodeus days with you were filled with laughter, tea, ice cream and, of course, your tired eyes that remained a mystery. He took his eye cream and started applying it, pursing his lips in frustration as he hadn’t found out the reason behind your tiredness. He was about to open his moisturizer cream when he heard soft knocks on his door. He walked to the door and opened it to reveal you wearing your pajamas with a shy smile on your face.

“Hey Asmo,” you greeted. He smiled back at you.

“Hey beautiful, what’s up?”

“Uh, I remembered you mentioned you had lavender candles? I was wondering if you could lend me one,” you said, putting your arms on your back and softly swaying your body.

“Sure, sure,” Asmo said, letting you inside his bedroom as he walked to the shelf filled with different candles. “I never knew you were into candles as well”

“Oh, I heard they were relaxing so I wanted to try it out,” you shrugged, sitting on the edge on Asmo’s bed. You bounced a little, giggling at how soft it was.

“Having trouble falling asleep?” he asked, trying to sound as casual as he could. His eyes were still occupied looking for that candle, so even though he missed your expression, the silence after his question let him know you were preparing a lie.

“A little? It’s okay, though, I just promised Mammon I would try and jog with him tomorrow so I wanted to be able to rest before that,” you said, a soft chuckle escaping your lips. “It’s okay if you don’t have the candle, though, just thought it would be nice.”

Asmodeus finally found the lavender candle and turned on his heel. He walked to the bed and sat beside you, holding the item in his hands.

“Are you sure?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Yeah,” you smiled, your eyes not meeting him.

“You know I can sense when people really want something, right?” he asked in a teasing tone. “I feel you really desire something right now. And my gut tells me it’s not my lavender candle.”

Asmodeus noticed you tensing up for a couple of seconds before letting go with a long sigh. You passed your hand through your hair and finally looked back at him, your smile no longer bright but rather sad, as if you had finally been found out after doing a prank.

“I haven’t been sleeping well recently, to be honest,” you admitted. “I’ve tried almost everything and nothing seems to work. Seems nothing can replace it-- I mean,” you quickly corrected yourself, your face burning. “Nothing can help me with it. The falling asleep part,” you clarified, your eyes again on the floor.

“I heard you!” Asmodeus teased you, scooting closer. “C’mon, I won’t judge you. You know me,” he said, a friendly smile on his face. You turned your head at him and sighed once more.

“I… I always slept with a teddy bear a friend won for me at a fair. And… when I came here I realized it was really pivotal in helping me sleep,” you said, your words too fast and low, but good enough for Asmodeus to listen. “But I’m okay! It’s just my head messing up with me. It may be the bed, I can ask Lucifer if I can somehow change the mattress and--”

“I know what could help,” Asmodeus interrupted you, a knowing grin on his face. He quickly got up the bed and walked back to his boudoir, taking his softest brush and then kneeling on his bed behind you.

With care, he passed the brush across your hair, earning a pleased sigh from your lips. Contently, he did it again, taking his time to detangle your hair as soft as he could. His brush made your hair shine and turn soft in a matter of minutes, but he kept brushing it for quite longer. You were quiet, and he noticed how you were nodding off at his ministrations, too focused on relaxing under his touch. He then let the brush on the bed and started massaging your scalp with his fingertips, loving the way your head seemed to lean into his hand, your shoulders way more relaxed than they were when you first got into his bedroom.

“This is so relaxing,” you mumbled in a haze. Asmodeus smiled behind you, feeling accomplished.

“And I’m not done yet,” he announced with a giggle. He put the brush back in his place and then took his items from his nightly skincare routine. Sitting next to you again, he grabbed a cotton pad and poured some of his cleanser. Even if you weren’t wearing any makeup, he wanted to make sure your skin was as fresh as possible. You chuckled as he took his time taking care of your skin, letting him use all the creams and oils he had brought to the bed. You weren’t sure what most of them were for, but you did notice the difference when he was finally done. Your skin felt clean and so soft you kept running your fingers across your cheek to feel it.

As a response, Asmodeus took your hand and started massaging it with some moisturizer.

“Don’t touch your skin so much or you’ll get it oily again,” he teased, massaging  the pulse point between your index and thumb. You hadn’t noticed your hands had been to tense before.

“You are the best, Asmo,” you breathed out with a content smile. He winked at you, earning a chuckle.

It was almost half an hour later when Asmodeus finished pampering you with his different creams. For the first time since you had arrived at Devildom, your eyes were getting tired with every minute that went by. You finally let out a yawn and stretched your arms in front of your chest.

“Thank you, this was what I needed. I feel so relaxed I don’t want to walk back to my room,” you pouted. Asmodeus was putting back everything to its place when he listened to you, and an idea struck his mind.

“You can stay here. This isn’t a queen size bed for nothing,” he offered. You looked back at him and he loved the way your cheeks were noticeable red. Even if what you were thinking wasn’t an idea he would be opposed to, he wanted you to know it wasn’t his goal for the night.

“What? Really?”

“Definitely. C’mon, it’ll be like a sleepover,” he said. You stayed in silence for a moment, considering your options, the demon staring back at you with a small smile.

“Okay, I’ll stay tonight,” you accepted. Grinning, Asmodeus turned off the lights. His night lamp was on, giving his room a cosy ambience. 

Both of you got under the sheets, a small distance between you. You sighed happily against Asmodeus’ soft pillow.

“Thank you for not laughing at me,” you whispered, your eyes closed.

“I would never,” he replied, turning to face you. “If you need to snuggle anything, I smell good and love late night cuddling,” he added, your eyes opening wide immediately.

“Don’t make fun of me!” you pouted, covering your face with your hands.

“I’m not!” he assured you. “I mean it. We both smell like fancy cream and our skin is as soft as it can be. If you were used to hugging your teddy bear back home, I have nothing against you snuggling up to me. It would definitely help me sleep better too,” he said. You peaked between your fingers and saw Asmodeus’ honest smile. You took a deep breath and uncovered your face. Looking at his eyes, you nodded and got closer to him.

What started as a shy hand on top of his chest turned into a full-body hug once you fell asleep. He knew you needed your rest but was still surprised it had happened so fast. You must have been really tired. With his free hand, he put a rebel strand of hair away from your face, not wanting anything to disturb your sleep.

You were strikingly beautiful. He had always thought you were, but somehow seeing you in your most vulnerable state, your arms and legs wrapped around his body made him see you in a tender light he hadn’t noticed before.

Asmodeus grazed his lips against your forehead and whispered an almost inaudible good night wish. The smile you had painted on his face lasted until the very last second before he fell asleep as well.

#obey me #om #obey me asmodeus #asmodeus x mc #asmodeus x reader #om asmodeus #om asmodeus x reader #obey me asmo #obey me scenarios #obey me headcanons #allie does commissions

[narumi-gens]

hi!! so i just started writing fanfics, and i was just wondering -- how do you deal w/ numbers and the whole posting online thing? while i know that i should be writing for fun and stuff (bc it is!) and that im literally JUST starting out, BUT i just.. im someone who really heavily relies on validation, and when people don't really respond to my works well (or at all), i kinda just.. feel bad ): idk.. do u have any tips?

🥺 You came to me for advice on this, anon? 🥺 Thank you so much! I’m more than happy to pass on what I’ve learned and help out a new writer. I’ve been reading/writing fanfics on-and-off in some form or another for like ten years, but especially over the last four and am happy to share some tips. There are five main things that I think can help grow your follower count and the amount of feedback you get:

Don’t feel bad about wanting validation.

Consider the platforms where you post.

Write for active fandoms and popular characters.

Post frequently.

Interact with other authors.

This got rather long so I have more info under the cut about each of these. 

1. Don’t feel bad about wanting validation.

There’s this dumb trap that we all fall into as writers that tells us that validation isn’t important and that what matters most is our love of writing. While I enjoy writing, if my stuff got no notes and no feedback then I would definitely have gotten discouraged and quit writing awhile ago. Why would I put all that effort into something if no one seems to appreciate it? There’s nothing bad about wanting people to let you know they like your writing! I get so happy when I see someone left a comment on one of my fics or went crazy in the tags or sent me an ask. And when something doesn’t get any feedback, I get depressed about it and second guess whether I should have bothered writing it. So, definitely try not to get caught up feeling bad because you want people to tell you that they liked your work. 💕

2. Consider the platforms where you post.

I only use AO3 and Tumblr, so I can’t speak to any other platforms, but posting my writing on both of these are widely different experiences. Part of the culture of AO3 is giving kudos and leaving comments, so you’re more likely to get feedback there than anywhere else. I slowly built a following on Tumblr because of my AO3, even when I wasn’t posting anything on Tumblr itself. I would really recommend checking out AO3 if you’re not already on there! You do need to request an invitation, but it only took me a couple of days to receive one. I also have 8 invitations that I haven’t sent out, so DM me if you want one and I can give you one! 

I’m sure you’ve already seen posts about this, but the unfortunate thing about writing on Tumblr is that the feedback is absolutely minuscule and I’m not sure why. There’s this awful culture on this platform of people only liking content and not reblogging it to make sure it gets shared with other users. So, you end up really reliant on your own followers and the tagging system for your works to reach people. And the tagging system is a mixed bag. Sometimes your posts don’t show up in the tags or they will but only after a couple of days. If your post gets enough notes then it might go to the top of the search feed but then only for a few days at most. 

As a sidenote to readers, this is why reblogging is so important! Even if you only have five followers or don’t leave a comment, just reblogging it means a lot to content creators!

Here are some of the tips I have for the mechanics of Tumblr:

Use the tagging system, as imperfect as it is. I think Tumblr now reads the first 20 tags in your post, so use that to your benefit. I usually always tag at least: [character name]; [character name x reader]; [fandom]; [fandom x reader]. You can always also try things like: [character name genre], [fandom genre], [fandom fanfic], [character fanfic] as well.

Make sure your blog is easy to navigate and have a masterlist that’s easy to find. If a reader sees your content on their dash and decides to check out your other works, if they can’t find them on your blog then they’ll probably just leave.

Self-reblog as much as you feel you need to for your followers who may have missed your post. I self-reblog a lot for new content over the first couple of days and then even will do a few icymi self-reblogs later as well. It also helps to have a list in your profile somewhere of your recent updates so people can easily see if they’ve missed something. 

3. Write for active fandoms and for popular characters.

This might seem like common sense, but I think it’s something to keep in mind if you want to grow your follower count and your chances of getting feedback. And there’s nothing wrong with prioritizing a fic over another just because you want more feedback. I actually really want to write something for Chainsaw Man but the fandom is so small compared to the other fandoms I write for that I’m putting it on hold until the anime comes out. 

That’s not to discourage you from writing for characters or fandoms that are less popular -- I have a bad habit of writing for niche characters and fandoms. But I always see my activity spike when I write for more popular characters. Another tip is to try and figure out which characters people are thirsting over but where there’s a lack of fics for them. You’ll also find that some characters or fandoms just have louder fans than others. The stuff I’ve written for Gojo has gotten a lot of likes and notes, but not so many comments or much feedback. But the amount of asks and thirsts I’ve gotten for Naoya is wild. This is something you’ll learn over time as you keep writing!

4. Post frequently. 

This one is annoying because writers have lives and real-world responsibilities and we can’t just write 24/7. But when you’re trying to build a following, even if you can do a couple of short drabbles a week, you’ll really start to see your follower count and feedback grow. I’m not sure if people tend to like longer or shorter fics more, but overall people are just hungry for content and if you can give it to them on a frequent or at least regular basis then they’re more likely to interact, especially if you’re taking requests. 

But don’t prioritize writing and posting content at the cost of your own well-being. As authors we’re all guilty of this at one time or another, but your followers will understand if you have writer’s block or you need to take a step back! Taking care of yourself is more important than getting feedback or interaction. ❤️

5. Interact with other authors. 

Building relationships with other authors is a big one, but it’s also probably the hardest because a lot of us (me included!) are just so shy about reaching out! It’s like asking someone on a date or trying to be friends with someone you really admire. I know it’s scary to come off of anon (I still sometimes send asks on anon!), but authors recognize the names we see often in our notes and in our inboxes and we’re all really nice, I promise! 🥰 And I’m much more likely to read the fics of my mutuals and the people I follow than I am to be searching through the tags.

And I think there’s nothing wrong with reaching out to an author you love and politely asking if they’ll read your work. I think it’s totally okay to send something like, “I really love your writing and wanted to know if it’s alright if I share this fic I just posted with you? I’ve seen you thirsting over [character] and think you might like it if you have the time to read it!” The worst they can do is turn you down. I would never be upset over getting an ask like that as long as it was polite and the person was understanding that I might not have time to read their fic. But, I know that this is really scary to ask of someone. I’ve only done it once or twice, so maybe I don’t have any ground to stand on here, but I really think you should try it even if you need to send the ask on anon first.

Please just be mindful of an author’s rules before reaching out.

Another added bonus is that authors are more likely to reblog and give you feedback on the stuff you write because we’re in the exact same boat as you! We’re the perfect audience. 

And don’t forget...

Growing your follower count and reaching the level of feedback you want takes time. If you’re just starting out, don’t get discouraged. The more you write, the better you get so even if you’re not getting the feedback you want now, that doesn’t meant that you never will! 

And of course, pay it back in kind. Just how you want people to interact with your fics, we want the same. I always try to leave comments on the fics I read on AO3 and always reblog the fics I like on Tumblr and try to go wild in the tags so that the author knows that I loved their works. 

I hope you found all of this useful, anon! Best of luck with your writing! 💕

#Anonymous #writing advice #fanfiction #writing tips #fanfic tips #useful stuff

[askaceattorney]

Turnabout Memories

Hello and hap’piraki, everyone!

(Whoa...  Déjà vu.)

Now that we’re finally nearing the end of this (*twitch, twitch*) year, and now that I’m preparing to step off this blog for a time, I’d like to take a moment to reminisce about all the ground we’ve covered since the day I first discovered the uniquely fun experience of Ask Ace Attorney.

It all began a few years ago when...

Oh, right -- this’ll probably be pretty lengthy, so I’ll continue below the cut.

It all began a few years ago when I discovered Ask Ace Attorney through a Google search.  I don’t remember most of the details, but when I first found out about a blog that attempts to bring video game characters to life through blog posts and the power of imagination, I thought the idea was both strange...and amazing.

I’d only recently started getting into Ace Attorney at the time (after seeing Matthew Taranto’s hilarious mashup between it and the Kirby series), so I decided to send in a few letters and see if they’d get an answer.  Sure enough, a few months later, I saw the first response to one of them!  It was a pretty exciting feeling, to say the least.

I’d share that letter response here, but unfortunately, it included my real name, so we’ll have to save it for later.  For now, here are a couple of the earliest ones from me: a deeply emotional one from Dahlia to Iris (a little far-fetched, maybe, but I CAN SEE IT HAPPENING, THE MOD), and a short, punny one from Moe to Phoenix.  Not surprisingly, I enjoyed seeing the characters react to them in ways I found believable as much as I enjoyed writing these and several other letters.  I knew the Mod (the only moderator here at the time) wasn’t affiliated with Capcom, but his character portrayals were spot-on each time, and my creative spark and love for Ace Attorney received some constant fuel for a while thanks to this blog.

And then...this happened.  For a brief moment, I thought about how fun it would be to see if I could do what the Mod had been doing for so long, but then I decided it’d probably be better to leave it in someone else’s hands.  Sure, I was a huge fan of Ace Attorney and its loveable characters, but did I really love them enough to pretend to be them on a hugely popular blog?  Naaah.

I went over the rest of that story once before, so I’ll just give a brief recap here: my friend the Modthorne won the audition to become the next de Modder, I asked her if I could join, and then it ended up just being me here, followed by Mods Paups, Kristoph, and Maya.  That’s the way we became the Ask Ace Attorney bunch.

So, when I first made my debut as the Commode Co-Mod, my only real strategy for answering letters was to emulate the Mod's style.  I honestly wondered if I could accurately portray so many different personalities in a believable way, but, with a few hiccups along the way, I somehow managed to pull it off to some degree.  I also started developing my own style and becoming less conscientious about how my portrayals looked (that definitely took some time, though), and worrying less about the blog’s popularity and overall performance review.  That, I believe, was a big part of what made both of those steadily rise over time, until we ended up reaching and surpassing 12,000 followers!  (I’m still geekin’ out about that one.)  Just relaxing and going with the flow made things a lot easier for me, and apparently helped Ask Ace Attorney reach its current level of popularity.  Something tells me that choice paid off in the end, and thank goodness.

I of course have to give credit to the popularity of Ace Attorney and its characters, as well as the Mod for giving me and the other moderators so much material to start off with, but I sure never expected my role in helping to build the Ace Attorney fandom’s strength and size to be quite this large.  Heck, just getting to create things for so many people is a huge honor, so...what can I say to that, except a huge thank you to Capcom and the Mod?

Don’t worry, I’ll get to thanking all of you in just a moment.  ; )

So, anyway, that’s all the general stuff.  Let’s talk about the highlights of the last three years, now, shall we?

My first holiday-related post was an April Fool’s Day one, so let’s start there.  We came close to hearing about Phoenix’s lawyer camp incident...

...gave a few of the characters a chance to ask some questions of their own...

...had a little run-in with some of the bad guys...

...and briefly opened the window into some characters’ minds.

We sure didn’t fool around when it came to fooling around, did we?

Then there was Halloween.  We dealt with a creeper in the darkness...

...let one of the lesser-known characters go on a brief venture beyond the fourth wall...

...let some characters switch outfits and personalities for a short while...

...and paid homage to a classic interactive cartoon by letting them give out candy.

We sure had our fill of sweets and spooks, didn’t we?

And then there was Christmas, which included some of my favorite content.  We enjoyed a musical performance by several members of the Ace Attorney cast...

...a less flattering musical performance by yours truly...

...a short play taking place in Pearls’s dreams...

...and a fan-made song parody about a non-canon (but believable) incident involving Phoenix and a reindeer.

(Sorry if that image cursed anyone for life, by the way.)

I don’t know about you, but I loved every bit of our holiday hijinks.

And of course, we can’t leave out some of the great moments that occurred on non-holidays, including Her Benevolence falling victim to a classic comedy gag...

...Pearls meeting herself from a different time period somehow...

...Apollo taking a trip to the Pokemon world in his dreams...

...Athena getting tricked into thinking she had passed on briefly...

...Trucy getting caught red-handed by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself...

...and, uh...this thing happening to Iris.

No idea what I was thinking back then.  Sometimes you just have to go with the moment.

Not to mention one letter response that received an unexpected explosion of popularity.  Edgeworth always did know how to drop a sass bomb, didn’t he?  And one moment I’ll likely never forget is the letter regarding Athena’s hair.  For the record, I thought the shorter hairstyle looked okay, but somehow I didn’t think she would feel the same way.  Make of that what you will.  X )

Of course, it wasn’t all fun times and laughter -- I ended up stepping on some toes by accident, making a few jokes in bad taste, struggling to keep a balance between blogging and the real world, and...well...

...that happened.  I don’t regret a moment of it, though, because if Ace Attorney (and life) have taught me anything, it’s that powering through the less enjoyable moments in life is what makes us stronger, and what makes the good times that much more enjoyable.

But out of all the fun, hilarious, thought-provoking, and deeply touching moments that stood out in the last three years of blogging, the one I would say I enjoyed the most is this one.  It was my first attempt at responding to a letter in character (with one of the biggest “characters” in the series, no less), but, as with many of my letter responses, it also included some of me in it -- specifically, the part where Athena tries to sound optimistic, but not too prideful.  That was the sort of attitude I wanted to have whenever I answered letters -- I wanted to keep the fun and creativity of Ace Attorney and its characters going without injecting too much of myself into it.  The series wasn’t mine, after all, and neither was the blog, so my main goal was simply to sound like the characters.

And with that in mind, let me just say this: If any of these letters (even one of them) have made you smile or laugh on an unpleasant day, made you think about things from a different perspective, or simply helped you suspend your disbelief for a moment and believe you’re actually talking to someone from a video game, then my goal has been reached.

Anyway, I didn’t mean for this to be my goodbye speech (I’m saving that for later).  What it is is a sincere thank you for the fun and creativity that I and the rest of the moderators were able to engage in with all of you, thanks to our shared love of Ace Attorney, its characters, and its unique humor and depth.  Every last piece of witty dialogue, every picture, every song, and every custom sprite (the last of which can be found here), was inspired by your creativity and willingness to participate in this imaginative collaboration work.

I hope you’ve enjoyed it at least half as much as I have.  You guys are awesome.

-The Co-Mod

#Mod Post #Co Mod #Mod Commentary #Feel free to share any of your favorite moments that I missed

[conservativetranny]

2020 blog update

Hello. No idea if any of you ‘remember’ me but I do seem to have a fair few followers on here. I managed to access the login information for this account and it is safe to say this blog is dead. I denounce everything I stood for on this stupid shit. 

I’m writing this because it’s what the blog deserves. Not looking to be dramatic, not looking for sympathy, in fact I think i’ll get a bit of backlash for this but bring it on. 

The past and the present- a summary

I had this blog when I was 14, unfortunately way too young to have a social media presence (one which carried any responsibility like this one anyway). No matter what age I said I was, no matter how I portrayed myself or how you, my followers interpreted me, I was a sad young trans guy desperately hoping to look big, cool, masculine and stoic, and that manifested in the most toxic way possible. 

I’m 17 now, still very very young, and after developments in my life, especially pursuing my medical transition and becoming happy within myself, I no longer hold such toxic beliefs as I once did. I am happier with myself and no longer feel the need to sacrifice others’ dignity, respect, and unfortunately sometimes on this blog, privacy, for my own. I was a very insecure, stubborn, and ignorant teenager, who dealt with a lot of denial. I’m not blaming the way I treated people online on other factors, but of course external factors came into play. I was dealing with bullying and insecurity, with parental problems, and with loneliness and depression. I seeked some sort of community, and I wanted to push myself away from the ‘weak’ trans community (the way I viewed it at the time). I wasn’t in denial personally, with the fact that I was trans (being gay is a different story- I was in complete denial with the fact that I’m gay), more just with the way other people viewed me (I will expand on this). I could elaborate on the way in which I viewed other people and the way that projected onto my conduction online, but it is a complex and confusing story. I have completely changed my viewpoint on trans ‘discourse’, I am open minded, I am close friends with people I would have turned my ignorant nose up at years ago. I am so proud to say that I am a completely different person now. I grow every day, it seems, and I can assure that I will never return to this ignorant mindset.

Growth

With experience, I have grown too. Obviously, from 14-17 i have become more mature. I have different experiences now as well, for example, I don’t bind often at all really anymore, because its more comfortable and can sometimes make me more dysphoric to know I am binding. I’m bringing this up because I bet you back when I was active on this blog, I would’ve laughed at the more mature, tolerant me, and probably went on a tyrade about how I was a fake trans guy or less of a man for not binding. I often wonder what ‘old me’ would think of ‘new me’. Now obviously, three years isn’t a hell of a big difference, but to a 17 come 18 year old it is. I understand I am not an adult yet, but I’ve always taken pride in conducting myself with a sense of maturity and articulacy, and for this post and platform especially I feel it is appropriate.

The Truscum Mindset

Back when I ran this blog, I was in an echo chamber of like minded people, which didn’t help my ideological development. I watched youtubers like Blaire White and Kalvin Garrah, who I thought gave me a balanced, moderate, and fair opinion which is clear is not the case. Back then I would’ve scoffed at the idea of Blaire and Kalvin and other similar people as being radical or a gateway, but I urge you, if you feel you are slipping to obsession with those ideologies, to seek to widen your opinions and associations. I understand it’s a fairly niche discourse topic, but for me it opened a wider rabbit hole into the alt right. From wanting to fit into the lgbt and wider communities as a masculine male, this opened up the black hole of the alt right, I browsed (now deleted) subreddits and 4chan boards, and forums that put me in a very negative and dangerous place. If you’d like me to make a post elaborating on this, I am more than happy to, but this post is to address conservativetranny.

Denial and owning up to responsibility

Back in 2017/18, I was very much in denial of certain aspects of myself, especially my sexuality. I am gay. I thought that this was, and especially as a trans guy, a demasculating quality. I still deal with those feelings sometimes, as a lot of young gay guys do, but thankfully it does not manifest itself as toxic as it once did. I just wanted to portray myself online as how I thought I wanted to be viewed-I didn’t want to be viewed like ‘any other trans guy’. I wanted to be different, but now I can appreciate individuality and I can also embrace being trans as well.

I used to think that having alt views was the coolest thing ever, which contributed to my slip into the alt right, something on which I’ll elaborate on in later posts. I am now an advocate for deradicalisation, and being rational, truly rational. I’m also an advocate for maturity and owning up to your mistakes.

I have hurt people, especially in my personal life, throughout my time as a stupid, thoughtless immature teenager and i am sorry, from the bottom of my heart, for that. I now respect the hell out of those people and unfortunately, but definitely rightfully so, they have lost their respect for me. I don’t blame them, because as I said, up until very recently I was a horrible, toxic person. With maturity, in the past half a year I have been able to own up to my mistakes and I am now taking responsibility for that. No excuses, because I was a shitty person. Of course there is a line between excuses and justification, and I hope those which are reading this can distinguish and appreciate this difference.

Self Hatred and Truscum

Back when I ran this blog, it was very easy to tell I was self hating. Everything I wrote on here, pretty much, was hateful except for the odd two posts that were about something unrelated to my ideology. I was extremely dysphoric and in a bad place when I wrote these things and certainly projected my insecurities onto others. I wanted to find a community of different thinking people that would accept me, and this community was certainly the wrong turn. I had a feeling that it was wrong at the time, but I was too naive and cowardly to own up to it and seek a way out. I kind of just naturally fell out of it, a a lot of things happened in my personal life in late 2018 that forced me out of trans discourse and into much more toxic places like the alt right and true crime fandoms, and I think I’ve only recently ‘found myself’ in the past year or so. I might make a post on self growth on the future as I intend to keep this blog to elaborate and voice my opinions on deradicalisation and highlight the importance of owning up and self awareness.

Don’t fall into the rabbithole

I’m not too acquainted with trans discourse anymore, so I’m out of the loop on this one, but I’d imagine that there’s still ‘transmed vs tucute’ ideas. Kalvin Garrah’s community comes to mind, I haven’t watched his videos ‘as a fan’, if that makes sense, for a while now but I am aware he has a large fanbase of young trans teens that were in a similar mindset to where I was back when I ran this blog. I would love for this post to reach his opposers and supporters for that matter, as a means to show them that they don’t have to fall into this cycle of hate which can be very damaging. I used to be an avid fan of Kalvin, and Blaire White, amongst others. I watched exclusively their content alone and formed my opinions around theirs. If you’re doing that now, I urge you to consider other people when you do. Think about the people like Brennan Beckwith, people who were severely impacted and hurt by hateful rhetoric. Those people are human too, and with maturity you will learn that people with different experiences and views are, at the end of the day, the same as you, and they have feelings as well .I’m going to make a post in the future about Kalvin Garrah, certainly, but maybe Blaire White as well.

Why now?

You may be wondering why this post is being made now of all times, and that is a question that has every right to be asked. I feel as if this timing is right because I finally possess the level of maturity needed to own up to my mistakes and tell you that I was wrong and it was certainly wrong to post those opinions and mistakes online for all to see, and put people in my real life on blast like I did.

I had completely forgotten about this blog, and forgot about the rude and ignorant words I had written towards the people in my real life, until chance had it that I was in contact with one of the people mentioned in this post. [https://conservativetranny.tumblr.com/post/169351517511/no-one-pretends-to-be-trans]

I’m not going to go into the nuances of the conversation we had, but it turns out they had, for a while and definitely rightfully so been hurt by the fact that I had mentioned them, by name, in this post. And while I’d of course still like to keep these people anonymous and will not sacrifice their anonymity in order to tell a story or ‘save myself’, this post is quite funny to read back on as I am good friends with the people referred to as ‘P’ and ‘Shadow’ now.

This is the end of this post, as I feel I have said everything I have wanted to say regarding my previous conduct on this blog. I’m going to change my name on this blog and my bio as I do intend on further posts in the future. I’m not sure how many people, if any, this post will reach, but I’m satisfied I have written this anyway. I certainly do plan on writing future posts but I’m not exactly sure how to formulate them. But thank you so much for reading this far, and if you have, I appreciate it.

#truscum #transmed #ftm #trans #dysphoria #kalvin garrah #kalvin garbage #terf #deradicalisation #i have literally no idea how to tag this #tucute #do people even say that anymore lol

[rosesgonerogue]

Let the Sunshine In - Chapter 6

Masterlist (because I finally learned to make one)

Five years ago Jason would have said he felt like death. Now Jason would have welcomed death with open arms if he thought Ra’as wouldn’t just track his body down and resurrect him again, even more broken the second time around. 

Also, saying that you felt like death usually implied that someone was listening, which definitely was not the case. He felt like a ghost in a number of ways, a specter trapped between heaven and hell, desperate for someone to notice him, confirm that he existed. But the feeling of emptiness, of invisibility was put aside in the name of anger. After all, anger reigned supreme in his mind. 

As each day passed, thoughts of Marinette slowly faded. It couldn't have been more than a week since he’d left her house, but the memories felt years old, a fleeting moment of light that could never have been permanent. It was almost easier that way, so he couldn’t reflect on how badly he’d messed up. 

Not that Jason had any time to reflect. Each day without Marinette meant that the anger was becoming stronger and more frequent. He found himself blacking out for large chunks of time, and when he woke up he would wake up in the Red Hood mask, covered in blood that wasn’t his. 

A part of him didn’t know why he even bothered with the costume - he was already a monster, no one could deny it. Part his reasoning for the costume was simply habit from his days as Robin, but a large part of his motivation was the thought of Marinette stumbling across him in the street. Just imagining the look of horror on her face was enough to shatter what little sense of self he had. 

Maybe Marinette meant more to him than he was willing to admit. 

So, Jason existed, even though he didn’t want to. It only took a week for Paris to start talking about him consistently, so he watched the news, monitored what he did when he wasn’t in control. It seemed that he hadn’t killed anyone yet - or if he had, the Miraculous Cure had brought them back. Apparently he lost consciousness during akuma attacks, and on several occasions he’d simply shot the akuma down, disappearing while Ladybug and Chat Noir dealt with the aftermath. 

In theory the fact that he hadn’t shot anyone should have been some small consolation, but he couldn’t avoid that suspicion that he wasn’t actually helping the French heroes. He’d dealt with enough in Gotham to know when something was playing head games to accomplish their own means, and whatever it was that controlled him during his blackouts wanted something sinister. 

Weeks passed just like that, Jason slowly losing himself day by day to the anger, the destruction he caused. 

The nothingness. 

Disguises, masks, his life was pushed into the shadows. He didn’t even think that he could actually call this living. Jason chuckled to himself, the sound cold and empty. His miraculous second chance at life left him in even worse shape than before Bruce found him, cold and hungry and completely without the will to live. 

Jason didn’t have much hope for the future - really, he had a single hope. When the time came, he hoped that next time he stayed dead. 

***********

She couldn’t understand - Marinette had known Jay for less than twenty-four hours, but the memory of him still haunted her. Did he have a safe place to stay? Was he eating enough? Had he fully succumbed to the influence of the Lazarus Pits yet? 

Shaking herself, she turned her attention back to the issue at hand: Red Hood, the mysterious new vigilante. He had dodged any efforts she or Chat made to follow or talk to him, so they decided to split up and look for him outside of an akuma attack. It was doubtful that it would yield anything, but Marinette knew that if that hideous outfit she’d been forced to make was visible, she would spot it. The jury was still out on whether or not she would destroy it - if the opportunity presented itself, she would be more than tempted. 

Swinging around the city until it was dark seemed like more than enough, though. Pausing on a rooftop, Ladybug spoke into her yo-yo. “I think it’s time to call it quits, Chaton. We both need to get some rest.” 

“Brilliant idea, M’Lady. Don’t worry, we’ll find him soon.” 

“I have no doubt about that, Chaton. After all, I can’t just let him steal my colors like this.” 

Chat Noir let out a surprised bark of laughter. “I don’t know what happened to bring you back to yourself, Bugaboo, but it’s nice to have the old you back.”

“It feels nice to be back, Kitty. Now sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.” 

“Oh, you’re trying to steal my lines now? Just you wait, my new jokes are going to be insuf-fur-able.” 

The two bantered a bit before finally saying goodbye. Detransforming, Marinette clambered down the building’s fire escape. It was dusk, so she probably should have gone straight home, but there was a grocery store not too far away, and she needed a few things. 

“Bonjour,” the tired shop owner called upon her entrance. 

“Bonjour!” Marinette replied, mentally making a list of things she needed. She was content to browse the shelves idly, despite the dwindling sunlight. It was a smaller store, and a handful of others milled around as well. 

Marinette was staring down the produce and deciding what she wanted to make the coming week when the shopkeeper yelled, “Stop! Thief!”

Instinctively dropping her basket, Marinette launched herself to the doors of the store where someone was attempting to flee. He got caught up in a crowd on the sidewalk, which gave Marinette more time to catch up to him. 

The closer she got to him, the more she recognized an eerie situation permeating the air. Now with completely different intentions, Marinette pounced, catching Jay’s and in hers. 

She hauled him into an empty alleyway before demanding, “Jay? Are you okay? What’s going on? Why did you leave? Especially if you have to steal!” 

Seeing him like this hurt, definitely more than Marinette could have ever expected it to. His eyes widened when they met hers, full of emotions - pain, fear, and regret swirled in his eyes before that same toxic green clouded them and anger reigned supreme. Snarling like a feral animal, he lunged towards Marinette with hands outstretched.

Marinette had been dreaming of finding Jay again for weeks, but this wasn’t how she’d pictured any of it happening. She dodged instinctively, and her stomach twisted when his jacket fell open just enough to see the familiar bullet proof material he wore underneath. 

So, it seemed she’d found Red Hood after all. 

None of it made sense just yet, but some of the pieces were starting to fall into place. All along it had seemed like Red Hood had been attempting to help in his own, destructive way, but he had never spoken, and his movements were always jerky, uncontrolled, not at all the way that Jay moved ordinarily. As someone alive because of the pits, he was probably drawn to all of the errant Miraculous energy.

It wasn’t fair. Overwhelmed by the injustice of his situation, Marinette’s body took over. She ducked another of his lunges and pivoted on her heel, her other one connecting solidly with his temple. He crumpled on impact, leaving Marinette panting and slightly regretting her hasty action. But her recently unleashed emotions burned within her. 

Screw the Lazarus Pits, screw Jay’s anger, and screw Hawkmoth. Neither of them had asked for any of this - neither of them deserved  any of this.

She went back in to pay for the food she’d dropped and he’d stolen before calling a taxi.

“Marinette, what are you thinking?” Tikki asked, flitting around her head while they waited. 

“I’ve been complacent for too long. I understand why I’ve done what I’ve done, but no more. Hawkmoth, whoever did this to Jay, they better watch out because I’m taking our lives back.” Marinette glanced to the bag she assumed held Red Hood’s helmet. “But only after I burn that awful helmet.”

Tikki couldn’t reply because it was then that the cabbie arrived, but she settled in Marinette’s purse, practically glowing. Finally.

Taglist: 

@cravethosecrazysquares @krispydefendorpolice @thesunanditsangel @sonif50 @kris-pines04 @persephonebutkore @tbehartoo @corabeth11 @caffeinetheory @drarryismylife101 @bluerosette23 @weird-pale-blonde-person @mystery-5-5 @heaven428 @thethirdwheelfriend @thetinymoonflower @interobanginyourmom @chocolate1721 @akana-sama @skyel0ve @katiegardneriscoolerthanyou @theatreandcomicfreak @jardimazul-blog @karategirl119 @thewondersoflebanon @tbehartoo @shizukiryuu @northernbluetongue @moonlightstar64 @naoryllis @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @saphiraazure2708 @yokizu @jeminiikrystal @chocolatecatstheron @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @zalladane @slytherinsheashire @bran-thecreeper-stark @otaku4312 @emotionalsupportginger @dorkus-minimus @18-fandoms-unite-08 @tired-butterfly @bamagirl513 @pauliestorylover @alenee13 @ladybug-182 @senpaiweird @kalligraphic @jessigurl-design @emeraldpuffguide @veunnotvuen @storyteller-d @g-arya @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @procrastinatingrightnow @sturchling @dast218 @trashystar420 @indecisive-mess-named-me @awesome-starfish-and-tacos @kittycatwowmeow  @zebrabaker @mycupisbroken @jeminiikrystal @miraculous-simmer7 @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @lulutheawkwardess @fusser90 @fsketchart @maribat-is-lifeblood @buticaaba @zotinha456 @purplesundaze @verraa

Note: 

Hey guys, I know it's been forever, sorry about that. I had a wicked case of writer's block, which was compounded by the fact that I only have the loosest of outlines for this fic. Picking what direction I needed to go was harder than I thought it would be. But I'm not giving up on this story, I promise to see it through to the end no matter how long it takes! If you want to be tagged or if I forgot you somehow, just leave a comment in the notes! 

#maribat #jasonette #marinette x jason #let the sunshine in #LtSi

[elyvorg]

Hi... I just wanted to say that Kaito is one of my biggest comfort characters and my top kin, and that’s mostly because of the fifth trial— as an actor and as a mecha anime fan, Kaito is the most relatable character I’ve ever seen.

I found your blog recently and all the amazing Exisal Kaito content just brought this amazing warmth in my heart.... considering the lack of Kaito content out there, and especially the lack of Exisal Kaito content out there.... I just wanna say I genuinely appreciate your work and I’m glad there are others who appreciate Kaito as much as I do ☺️

Oh man, you are so welcome. I am more than happy to have done my part in making up for the utter dearth of Exisal Kaito content out there.

I don't even have any personal investment in acting or mechas like you do, and I still find Exisal Kaito to be the obviously best thing about trial 5! It's such a compelling part of the narrative that I cannot grasp why more people haven't latched onto it and thought about it more.

It's bewilderingly as if, when most people are rewatching trial 5 and should know the truth of things, they still just passively assume it's totally Kokichi in there, and then he just magically transforms into Kaito at the end or something. Like Kaito had no meaningful agency in this case whatsoever and it somehow wasn't him who was doing every single bit of that. Like this doesn't blow a gigantic hole in any kind of claim that he’s “useless”, even one that's meant in a purely practical and action-based sense rather than an interpersonal emotional-support sense (in which he's already indisputably the most useful person on the cast). Just look at what Kaito's capable of! Look at him doing things and making a difference and being a central player in the most pivotal case of the story, through actions and not just his words!

Nor is it remotely true that it doesn't actually matter that it was really Kaito in there because he was just mindlessly following instructions and reciting Kokichi's script the whole time. First off, imagine how Kaito must have felt to force himself to pretend he didn't give a damn about his friends and their suffering, and to act like the kind of insincere asshole that goes against every fibre of his principles (to say nothing of the whole murdering someone and faking his death part). That is huge and must have felt awful for him. This was so hard for him to do, but he made the choice to do it anyway for that tiny chance at saving his friends, and that matters. This is some emotional suffering that he definitely canonically went through, even though we never saw it on the outside (just like almost all the rest of Kaito's suffering). That deserves to be acknowledged and explored.

And secondly but no less importantly, only like half the lines Kaito said as Exisal Kokichi were even scripted! Everything regarding the events Maki set off couldn't possibly have been added to the script by Kokichi, because he didn't have time to do so when he was dying from the poison, so Kaito ad-libbed all of that. That’s like half the trial! And that's not even getting into the many lines he said during topics that Kokichi should have scripted that still aren't actually something the real Kokichi would ever say if you stop and really think about it, meaning Kaito was ad-libbing sometimes even when he didn't necessarily need to. I love how much it is possible to tell that it's still Kaito in there, being Kaito, even as he's trying to pretend to be somebody else.

Noticing all the signs that Exisal Kokichi is actually clearly Kaito and thinking about what must have been going through Kaito's head as he said and did all of that stuff is my favourite thing to do while rewatching trial 5. I did one hell of a lot of analysis on this front in my coverage of trial 5 during my V3 commentary, so if you - general you - are here in part because you're interested in Exisal Kaito but haven't read said trial 5 commentary of mine, please go do so, it would make me (and probably also you) very happy.

#danganronpa v3 #danganronpa v3 spoilers #drv3 spoilers #kaito momota #exisal kaito #ramble #thanks for sharing your appreciation! #it is so validating to know i am not the only one who just WHY NOT MORE EXISAL KAITO #transbian-uprising

[nametags]

But her emails...

I aim to be a woman of integrity. I’ve sat on the content I’m about to share for almost 6 years in part because it originally was a private conversation between me and a friend. A friend who happens to be a lead singer of a band, but a friend none the less. However the way people have been speaking about him and what’s been going on in the world lately, I couldn’t let this stay hidden anymore.

I’m tired of people claiming that because Patrick no longer uses social media (and hasn’t for damn near five years at this point) that somehow he doesn’t “care” or isn’t doing anything right now to help the Black Lives Matter movement. I’m also incredibly tired of people ignoring/belittling the fact that Pete Wentz is a biracial/black man in America. You really do not want the social media person in charge of Patrick’s account tweeting things out. It would be hollow and fake.

Below is both a transcript of the conversation I had with Patrick on 12/06/2014, a follow up message he sent to me 08/25/2015, and the accompanying screenshots. Unfortunately I do not have the tweet(s) that prompted me to contact him in the first place nor can I find screenshots of them to provide that context. An image of me and my younger brother Jacob when we met the band at Boys of Zummer will also be attached to demonstrate one of the people I was concerned about in my original email. 

The only redactions made were my personal email address and the name of a friend I referenced. Patrick deleted his email account at some point between late 2016 and early 2017. It’s only left in these screenshots as proof for those who knew the address before to see these were legitimate messages. I hope the content reveals not only where his heart lies not only then but where it is now. 

Allison White: So I caught the insanity way late, but it's a tricky spot to be in with what's going on. For most of my life, I didn't even identify with half of my race. I was raised with my mom's side of the family and it just didn't click for me. It really hasn't been until teen years and onward that I've opened my eyes to it all. And with that, I began to grow wary of authority in a way. Like I still believe that people go into law enforcement for the right reasons. The few times I have dealt with police officers personally I haven't been concerned, but I have noticed in the past few years that when I spot a police car on the road or an officer just out in public somewhere is if I look "white enough" or do I actually look like an adult who belongs in whatever space I am in. I know Trayvon Martin was murdered by a vigilante and not an actual officer of the law, but that was when I first started to fear for my little brothers. I knew both of them were the sort of young men that could get targeted and most likely justice would not be found for them. And then there comes this summer. With both the Mike Brown and Eric Garner cases coming back with no indictment, it makes it feel as if it's just open season for black people to be hunted by cops. Which is hurtful for the cops who are actually in it to protect and serve, and every citizen who now has to wonder if they are next. I hope that your cousin is doing alright. I hope that people aren't making his job harder right now. Just I know for me right now with all that's going on I am definitely on the side of the protesters.

Patrick Stump: Brief for now; I'm sorry in all that you didn't notice that I'm squarely on the side of the protestors too. That's a failure of my wording

PS: The problem is that I so poorly expressed myself, people thought I was balancing the empathy to be spread across the black community and cops. That's a mistake on my part. I'm angry.

I'm angry that Mike Brown's case didn't yield enough evidence to indict. But that case was a very complicated one...Brown had just (allegedly) committed a violent crime and information was murky. As sure as I was that Wilson straight up murdered the Brown, I understood the limitations of the american Justice system given how little evidence there was. That's the unfortunate reality of justice is that it needs to be just. It needs to be 100%. We can't go in with "I know in my heart." And so that case pissed me off, but I understood it. 

With Eric Garner however, this just feels so flagrant. By no accounts was he violent, wasn't he doing anything that could even be misconstrued as life-threatening enough to even imagine defending the usage of deadly force. He was cooperating and they choked him to death on camera. That's fucked up. I'm pissed. I tried to be polite and sit back and not say anything, but I'm pissed.

However, my reason for discussing the side of the police as well is that human beings are complicated. When we boil people down to simplistic stereotypes, when we create a narrative of "Us VS them," we lose sight of the humanity of it all. You can't reason with a "Them." You can only reason with a person and it works better when you remember they're people.

I don't believe in enemies. I'm not religious but I love the way Jesus preached "Love thy enemy." That's hugely influential to me. Hugely important. That's the empathy I mean.

The other night I was holding my son and I thought to myself about a black girl I used to date. And how, we could have had a kid together. Maybe a little boy. And how, that boy could (by no action of his own) be killed just for the color of his skin. Like, I've heard and read words like that before, but to actually connect with it (on as small a scale as that) was horrifying. Gutting. For a little moment I thought, all this joy and all this beauty and somewhere, someone's having a black baby boy, loving him and feeling all the same things I feel for my son. But I wondered if in between their tired diaper changes and their burpings, if they were saying a silent prayer "I hope you don't get killed by a cop." If they say it constantly because they know how possible it is. Or even if he lives to be a 100, what black man won't have an unjust run in with the law? Not to make it exclusively a male issue but seriously, how many black men are in prison right now in America? That's a disgusting thing. The young parent of a young black boy probably considers that and that's maybe the most depressing thing I've ever tried to understood. That's a horrifying thing. There really still is a racial divide in this country, and to not be black is to not say those little prayers. We live in a supposedly free country. What about the pursuit of happiness? Who's defending the right of that little black baby boy born somewhere in America to just be an adorable little baby without any pretense? And when that baby grows up, who's defending his right to walk down a residential sidewalk and not expect to get pulled over and frisked? Maybe worse? 

So I'm angry. Just plain angry. But I didn't want to offend anyone so I expressed my anger in the lightest way I could think of. 

I'm not sorry for having an opinion, I'm sorry I explained it so poorly that you didn't know what it was.

AW: All of this is hard, and there is so much anger. You shouldn't ever be sorry for your opinions, and I am pretty sure you yourself have told people only be sorry for how you express your opinions. I wasn't upset with you or what you said, I just felt compelled to share that for me there's a knee jerk reaction to the image/idea of police and why.  This whole situation has been tough and it's been inspiring watching people across this country let their anger show and demonstrate in the streets against it. It makes me wish I was brave enough to take part in it out in the streets and not just online. 

I hope this collective anger and protest leads to real change. That in 2014 we are able to do the things they were aiming for in 1964. I mean recently the full letter the FBI sent to MLK to urge him into suicide was released and it just highlights the divide between how much has and has not changed. There's a lot of value in what religion is supposed to teach. Love thy enemy, love thy neighbor. True love and care for those around you is a great thing and certainly something I'd hope people identified with. 

The past nearly seven years there has been this push for hope and change. Maybe the country is finally reaching a point to make it happen?

PS: I have a funny feeling this is civil rights part 2. I'm proud of the protests. I'm so grateful our generation is angry about something it should be angry about for a change.

AW: An argument can be made that our generation (or just post baby boomer generations in general) have been taught and fed nonsense to keep us compliant, but that veers into a territory that I am not completely sure or comfortable with. Overall I do think that this is heading a direction that the powers that be are not ready for in the slightest.

PS: Where did I go wrong? What do people think I said? They're so mad at me, and none of the people have said anything I didn't mean. I'm not getting angry right-wing stuff, people are just calling me a racist. What did I say that was racist? What do I think that's racist?

AW: There's a strong immediate reaction right now of if you sound slightly in favor of the officers that did wrong that you are racist. The swift reaction and need to dogpile on is kind of crazy. I think people took the initial comment to mean "not all cops!!!!" In the same vein as "not all men!!!" and that's where the rage is coming from. 

AW: Just to be clear, those who matter know you're not racist. You have shown both in your words and actions where your beliefs lie. I don't know how to calm the masses right now because at least for the time being its not going to get through :(

AW: You could try a blog entry on tumblr?

PS: Nah, I think I've done enough damage for one lifetime. I think I'll keep it to myself but I appreciate your talking it through with me. 

AW: No problem. I am always willing to be a sounding board for that stuff if you need it.

PS: I re-read my stuff; "I support our police," is the worst things said. I meant "I support the idea of police and the need for a police force we can trust on a national level," not "I support the police in NYC who are killing people and attacking protestors." That sucks.

AW: If you wanna try to clarify now you can. At least in your Google alert it only had one mention of he mess and it was a tumblr user supporting/defending you. 

PS: There's no fixing it. The Internet is unforgiving I think and the reality is, I said that. I didn't mean it in the way that it so obviously sounds, but I said that. So I deserve everything I get.

AW: It will most likely go easier if you let it ride out instead of trying to go out and fight it. That just gives the "he doth protest too much" air about it. Hopefully the energy behind letting you know you said something like that will dissipate sooner rather than later. And that it won't get big enough for someone to write a story about it. 

PS: Yeah. It'll sound like back-pedaling and glad-handing. Anyway, thanks for talking it through! 

AW: You're very welcome! Thank you for hearing out my side of it this morning.

PS:  I never would've ignored your side.

AW: Which is very much appreciated

AW: I say that because in the past two weeks I have lost a handful of friends because of all of what's going on and them being unable to understand how and why their words hurt me.

PS: Well that's awful and unfair

AW: It was but they were all from the "when I look at you I don't see black, I just see Ally" camp and then would go on to say things about stereotypes and "thugs"

PS: Yeah. Thug. "Oh that's so ghetto." Bullshit.

AW: When someone says "thug" it's always clear they wanna say the n word

PS: Or even if they're the kind of "Well meaning," person who knows enough not to say that word, they mean the same thing

PS: "Not like you. You're good"

PS: White America just needs to know what it doesn't know

PS: Or rather, understand that there are things they (we) will never understand. Not from a first person perspective.

AW: It always makes me want to scream. The erasure of identity so then the people known to them stay safe. It reminds me of something I witnessed the other day. My friend [REDACTED] from junior high is now an established lawyer. Needless to say he has been keeping up very much with the recent events. He made a post about it and one of his friends commented with "I wish you would go back to being my friend [REDACTED] and not my black friend [REDACTED]." Mind you there's no denying [REDACTED] is a black man. He can't pass in the slightest so the comment shocked and saddened me. Thankfully [REDACTED] handled it with poise and grace. 

PS: If you have to say you have a "black friend," then you probably don't. That's fucked. I guess I just genuinely didn't imagine how pervasive this stuff really is. Like, Pete and Joe and I have been talking a lot today. I was under the misapprehension that we grew up in a decently inclusive area. Just come to find out, nobody used those words around me. The whole time they were heckling kids like Joe and Pete. I thought racism was this thing that doesn't happen here. It's scary how much it's come out post Obama's election. Elected officials sending out mass e-mails of pictures of watermelons. I just didn't get it. Ignorance is bliss.

AW: It knows how to hide in plain sight, which is a lot of the problem. People are taught "don't be racist!!!!" Without being told exactly what racism is. People (myself included at times) aren't aware of words/phrases/ideas have nefarious ties until too late. 

PS: I think we get too caught up on words and not enough on what they imply. "Thug," means a prepackaged idea of a black male. It instantly limits his perceived intelligence, his perceived trustworthiness, his perceived value to society, and his perceived prospects in life. That's so fucked. We expect black men to go to prison. Not be doctors and lawyers. When a black man is a doctor or lawyer, we treat him like such a cool novelty. When a black woman asserts herself, she's so "Sassy." "You go girl." 

These little words and phrases feel harmless. They never were

AW: Those are the positives. Usually assertive black women are angry, mean. It's so fucked all around. 

AW: I really owe Pete for helping me be informed on Ferguson. He tweeted the hashtag the night the protests started in August and it helped me dive in. I am sure tumblr would have got me to it eventually, but seeing it from day one was a definite help. 

PS: You know part of my problem? I'm just not brave enough to say what I think. I'm just scared of offending people. Pete's not. He doesn't care. That's powerful

AW: It takes a lot to just put it out there. I am not sure if I had the amount of eyes on me that you do that I would be so "fuck you I will do/say what I want" as I am. Hell I become such a shadow of myself when at work with how quiet and polite I am. I mean I am still pierced and tatted with short hair so visually I say a lot, but then I watch my speech to make us for it. 

(Follow up on 8/25/2015)

Patrick Stump: That is amazing and I'm very flattered. By the way; Been thinking about our conversation from a year ago a lot. The takeaway is this: Saying "All lives matter," and "Not all cops," while literally true are contextually horrendous. Really awful. In retrospect I feel pretty awful about saying both. Specifically because "All lives matter," can carry a lot of implications. Who's lives? I meant by it that Latinos and Muslims are also unreasonably targeted/mistreated/murdered by cops. But is it as systematic or blatant as it is with darker skinned Americans? Not remotely. Furthermore, as a white man, I just need to remember how fucking easy I have it. It's easy for me to preach peace and unflinching patience when I've NEVER been a victim of the War On Drugs or the aftermath of straight up slavery. So there's a lot to think about in terms of what I, a white guy, have to say and do about the situation. But not a lot I have to say about the way it feels to be oppressed to the point of feeling like less than a citizen of this country. I shouldn't have spoken about it because I don't/can't know. Well-meaning white folks get to talk about policy changes and do everything we can to help, otherwise we should get the fuck out of the way. I'm sorry, really REALLY sorry to the world that I ever said either of those things. It's more than "Fuck the police." It's "Fuck this whole system." And as aware as I'd been, I hadn't realized how complacent in it I was. Anyway, disgusted I said what I said. Sorry to the whole world for being part of the problem

#text #fall out boy #patrick stump #black lives matter