#it's my first year here okay I'm enjoying the memes

[purple-petrichor]

The Count when his dear friend Jonathan Harker is staying over:

#dracula daily #my dear friend jonathan harker #count dracula #Especially the 'night in a cemetery' 'cursed' and 'taken a trip lately?' ones are darkly hilarious in hindsight #WAIT the meme man is named Jonathan too that's amazing #it's my first year here okay I'm enjoying the memes #honestly it's kinda cute that a vampire is lonely and wants to Talk About Everything As Much As Possible with living visitors tbh #dracula daily funny #I say #Youtube #( tiny dracula voice) How superstitious are you?

[shygirl4991]

Trapped in a Bleaky Winter

All art belongs to @lizaluvsthis thats right me and Liz are at it again enjoy our collab fic for snowtrapped anniversary!

Summary: Mario looks at the calendar and notices it's been eight years since the igloo incident. Seeing that his friends are still not together, Mario decides to take things into his own hands by helping them confess their hidden feelings. 

Tags: Love confession, snowtrapped, fluff, igloo, angst

Mario kicks down the door to the castle like he does every visit to his best friend's home, feeling hungry he decides to get more spaghetti from his friend's fridge.  He walks to the kitchen and notices a circle around tomorrow's date, normally the plumber would ignore what day it is for his love of pasta but this date was different. He remembered the date well, it was eight years ago when his two best friends SMG3 and SMG4 were rivals.  They always fought and SMG3 was known to steal the other man's content to gain popularity, on that date the pair got stuck in the igloo and went crazy. Mario chuckles at the memory of what he walked in on, since that day he had hoped the two would notice their feelings.

He opens the fridge shaking his head as he reaches for the pasta, one sniff of the plate gives the avatar an idea. The anniversary was tomorrow, if Mario could get the pair alone together they might finally talk about their feelings. With this on his mind he runs to his brother's shop to get help, kicking down the flower shop doors he runs up to the counter smacking the bell. Luigi sighs as he stares at his twin, he keeps hitting the bell until Luigi gently moves the bell from his hand “Yes Mario?” the plumber looks up at his younger twin excitedly “Mario needs help with a sneaky gay plan!” Luigi stares at his brother confused waiting for an explanation. 

Mario hands two envelopes and paper “Mario needs some letters written!”  Luigi looks at the paper unsure what his role was in the plan. Mario leans up whispering what to write to Luigi only to get a nervous nod, he writes the letters handing them back to his older brother “Mario, what is this all about?” with a wink as an answer, Mario runs off to help two dumb gays get together. He runs up to SMG4, the meme guardian is outside the castle recording some memes that Mario didn't care to look at.  He slides up to four startling the man “AH! Oh hey Mario, everything okay?” He gives a concerned look to the other man, Mario gives him a bright smile and hands him a letter. Taking the letter SMG4 smiles widely “Tag6 wants to go on a date with me, a girl? This is the best news…wait Mario if this is a prank I swear to all the memes in the kingdom I'm kicking your ass!” Mario shakes his head “No! The letters were left by the castle doors!” 

SMG4 lets out an excited giggle accepting Mario’s excuse, Mario smiles watching SMG4 run to the castle to get ready. Once out of sight, he turns his attention to the second target, walks up to the cafe, and knocks on the door. An annoyed Three walks out “What do you want Mario, if you don't remember you’re not allowed here for scaring my customers last time!”  Mario shows off a letter with a smirk. Three blinks taking it from Mario and reading it “Some fan wants to meet up on a date? Hm I don't go on dates with fans but this Aster sounds interesting, they could help bring more people to the cafe!” with that Three shoos off Mario and slams the door. 

After a few hours, with the help of Luigi who still needs clarification about what this is all for, built an igloo at the date location. Mario throws his twin away from the area as Three makes it to the location first “It said to meet….here?” he blinks, staring at the igloo before him. Flashbacks of what happened last time he was near one came back to him, getting nervous he was going to start walking away until he heard something behind him. Next thing he knew he was being thrown into the igloo “AHHH!” screaming he landed inside seeing the place decorated for a dinner date “MARIO! LET ME OUT!” with a giggle Mario hid again. Four appears and hears screaming inside the igloo, he looks around nervously given what happened last time he was near one. Seeing no one else around he walks to the door, and with a smirk, Mario shoves Four in. The man flying forward opens the door landing on top of SMG3, pleased with the results Mario covers the door.

SMG4 groans, opening his eyes, his face goes red seeing he is on top of SMG3. Three held his breath as his ruby eyes looked into Four sapphire-colored ones, after the shock wore off SMG4 got up letting out an awkward laugh “Hahah sorry about that!” Three shakes his head getting up “Blame our idiot avatar.” Four looks at the exit then at Three “WAIT MARIO!?” he runs to the door attempting to open it.  He feels his face go pale at the realization “No…NO OH GOD- NOT AGAIN!?” Three watches as SMG4 starts to have a mental breakdown. With a sigh he walks up to the door and places a bomb “Poor idiotic Four, this is why you always carry emergency bombs!” hearing this four gets up in a panic “You dumb ass this is an igloo! WE HAVE NOWHERE TO ESCAPE THE BLAST!” Three blinks as his eyes shrink looking at the lit bomb “Oh.” 

The bomb goes off shaking the igloo, without a second thought, Three grabs Four pulling him close to protect him from anything dangerous that could land on him.  Four holds on to Three until the shaking stops, they both turn their head to see the exit completely covered in snow. Three nervously looks at Four “You…uh think Mario will save us again?” Four lets out a sigh looking into Three’s eyes and giving him a nervous smile “Yeah I mean he did it last time!” realizing how close they were they pulled away from each other. 

Four sighs looking at the decoration of the igloo, he shouldn't be surprised that no girl wanted to be on a date with him. From the look of the igloo, Four could guess this must have been another weird trend Mario was following. He remembers how the last one made him and Three kiss, the memory causes his face to become red he was sure he could be mistaken for a tomato. He needed to relax, maybe it was the igloo making him panic. Reminding himself that things were different between them, he turned around to see three sitting on the floor.  He decides to sit next to him “Mario got me here with a fake date, how about you?” He handed his other half his letter to prove his work. Three takes the letter reading it, he rolls his eyes understanding what happened “Same handwriting as mine, Mario was trying to set us up. Well, look where that landed up!” Four glares at Three “Sure Mario got us here, but who was it that blew up the igloo in the first place!”

Three blushes looking away, he then remembered something as he started to look around. He searches different drawers and then pulls out a blanket “We need to keep warm, so here.”  He tosses it at four before sitting back down. Seeing there's only one blanket Four light blushes as he wraps it around them both, Three gets closer causing Four’s heart to beat fast. This was getting to be too much for the guardian “Hey um Three, isn't it funny how easy it is now to share body warmth…compared to last time?” Three nods getting closer to Four “That’s cause we hated each other, now we are friends and im fucking cold so shut it!” They sit there silently before Four speaks up again “Why do you think Mario did this?” Three scoffs “What other reason besides he thinks we…have feelings for each other.” They go silent again as Four thinks over his words, feeling nervous he turns ready to admit his hidden feelings only to catch the man crying “Three?” he reaches out, wiping the tears off the man's face. SMG3 lets out a bitter smile “This whole thing is stupid, I only accept this date to move forward. Now we moved backwards cause of course I will be stuck with you again! Why would you even notice someone as worthless as me…” 

Four’s eyes go wide upon hearing his words before glaring at him, he grabs the man's face staring right into his eyes “Shut it, you’re amazing Three. Have you seen all that you have done? You have had so many jobs and built so many amazing things, you're amazing!” Three could only stare in shock hearing his words, his heart beating fast. Four lets out a soft giggle “You supermemeguardian3 you’re amazing, it's why…I got so confused, ..let me show you.” he leans forward pressing his lips against three. 

Three didn’t know what to do feeling the other man's soft lips on his, four pulled away now crying “I'm the one who shouldn't get your time… I have hurt you so much, I understand if you don't feel the same.”  They both stay silent before Three grabs Four pulling him into another kiss, this one filled with his love for the other man. Four hums closing his eyes and returning the affection, they stay kissing for a while only to be broken apart when they hear screaming outside. The pair pulled away to see Meggy dashing in “OH THANK GOD!” She runs up to the pair hugging them, after the hug they walk out of the igloo glaring at Mario. The avatar smiles at the two “Did the date work?” They smack Mario and stomp away annoyed with the plumber “The nerve asking something that stupid!” Three couldn't help the outburst given the fear he had if they stayed any longer.  Four smiles softly taking Three’s hand ignoring Meggy and Saiko yelling at Mario, sure the plan didn't go the way Mario expected it to. That didn't matter to him when he caught the pair holding hands smiling, Four leaned in close “I Love you three,” the other man blushed looking away “Baka! Saying something so casual…I… I love you too.” They both let out nervous giggles excited to see where this next chapter takes them. 

#smg4 #smg3 #smg34 #shygirl4991 #smg4 smg3 #lizaluv #smg43 #smg34 fanfiction #Trapped in a Bleaky Winter #the girl in fatal lavenders #the chains of a fragile soul

[nights-at-crystarium]

You know what, I assume that people always read my pinned, or notice the pointer "new reader? start here" in every new Fragments' episode. I might be deluding myself. So hi hello lemme TALK ABOUT MY COMIC.

Before I get too rambly (and I mean RAMBLY), here's a quick intro. Fragments is a comic focused on feels and slice of life, made by a queer guy, aiming to ~character study~ the main cast (Vivi, Raha, Alisaie, Feo Ul) and fill in the gaps in canon (or linger in canon moments that needed more air imo), the tone ranging from angst to fluff to meme. Good punches require a good windup, so please don't expect angst anytime soon :3c

The story's segmented (fragmented, heh) into episodes. Episodes 1-11 take place in ARR, you can enjoy them with no worry about spoilers. Episode 12 onward is ShB, with all the spoilers and lorebending.

My storytelling style assumes you haven't only played through ShB, but know it like the back of your hand, i.e. it's for nerds and thinkers. Of course there's plenty of silly moments that don't require any deep knowledge, but the overarching story does. Often I skip canon events, only hinting that they took place, simply because I don't wanna retell the msq 1:1, I've got plenty of original scenes waiting to be drawn. You're in for a treat if you like obsessing over emotional and moral implications of things. And, yes, this's a story about a morally grey mc. Don't expect to be spoon-fed "and this's why that thing's bad, kids".

Currently I've outlined all the main story beats up until post EW, so it's like, not being winged as I go. Yes I refine things here and there, but I know where I'm going. I'm going ham!!!! With the lorebending post ShB. Initially I didn't plan to, but the more I learned about Vivi and personally grew as a writer, the more courage I got to "divorce" from canon. The general xiv story may still be good wherever it's headed, but it's not suited for an established wolgraha, so I'm making food for myself.

Everyone imagines the lil scenes from their wol's life, I'm taking that a tiiiiiny step further. Fragments tells a cohesive story that's looking to be the longest project at least in our corner. I can and will hyperfixate on this for years.

I started out just like many others, being hit with ShB like a truck, I wanted to put a catboy under a microscope and rotate him forever. Although I'd already been drawing for decades, I didn't have the comic-making skills yet, or eloquence to write the dialogue, so I spent the first half of 2022 self-studying, just because I needed a mouth to be able to scream about my ship.

Vivi didn't exist prior to my obsession with Exarch. He was made for this, he started out as a reagent (or a foil, now that I know fancy writing terms) for a rich and fun chemistry, and keep myself entertained for years, first and foremost.

Me, a fool: okay let's make a guy that falls in love with Exarch in this particular moment, what kinda life must he have led to- Me: ....oh no

The chemistry quickly bubbled up and exploded in my face, involving not only Exarch, but other characters (first as a means to subtly tell about Vivi, then they also demanded their own screentime), and here I am, sitting with a massive script on my hands, drawing my blorbos every day. Thanks for enabling that btw.

I care about characters a lot. I ask a lot of whys and hows. I'm critical-minded and burned on many bad stories that did their characters dirty, and I wanna be an opposing example. What I'm doing is extremely ambitious and risky, yes, but I can only invite you to tag along and see if I stick to my word.

The internet's a cruel and unforgiving place nowadays, and here I am, pitting my passion against what feels like decaying humanity. I'm making this comic to keep myself happy above all else, being sincere and cringe because life's too short to be anything else.

Thanks for reading this, and if you haven't yet, read Fragments here!

#ffxiv #vivien rell #crystal exarch #g'raha tia #wol x g'raha tia #wolgraha #own: next lvl #fragments talk

[terraco-07]

HSBC direction and character writing

So the team has released the writer's commentary early to the public most likely because they know how inflammatory the last update is/has been and wanted to get the reasoning behind it out there. Going to be going through it piece by piece here. Disclaimer: None of my opinions and thoughts are directed at the people as individuals and any criticism is directed at the writing itself. With that said, lets start off. Haven saying “this is the update where we’re gonna see if people are really rockin’ with us or not.” Lmao yep and I can assure you that I'm not one of them. I think we're seeing the end results though of a years bleeding fandom here though. Most people who enjoyed Homestuck either didn't read the epilogues or HS2 because they knew it was something they wouldn't like and didn't care for the direction of taking away the kids victory and giving them some new battle to fight while hurting each character. Those remaining are primarily people who are curious, neutral, or liked the official releases after Homestuck ended. Among them I'm sure a fair amount have liked this because this is already a work catered to them and what they want for better or worse. Anyways, moving on. So the next part just goes over everyone liking Yiffy and her getting a voice and all that, not much to comment on here. Which is a non issue except still making Rose and Jade call their kid a type of porn and keeping that was such a choice, but hey silly candy timeline right? Okay moving on to the conversation that matters. Okay starting with Floral: "Kanaya has long earned this confrontation and she’s not going to accept anything less than the truth." JAMES: This is the funniest line in Homestuck. This is so fucking funny because she gets cut off half way through and then the you fucked my wife being memed to hell in back both took any bite out of it and visibly made me cringe to read. Kanaya is mad here but there are other ways to write it. Would have loved to see a rant about "If you loved me so much Jade why would you betray my trust? Why would you not speak to me. Now you choose to spit in my face like this?" Etc etc. I may genuinely re-write every Kanaya part in this log at some point. I did do an alt version already but that's neither here nor there. Compliments for the art which deserve it! BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP GOING "Pretty art" AND EXCUSE BAD WRITING. I've had to read "I'm just using it as a picture book" and "I skipped through the logs" way too fucking much. JAMES: This one was for the sapphics. The most important demographic that exists. ... saying this while obliterating the biggest endgame sapphic romance? But hey guys!! Kanaya's hot right? This makes it all better :) Especially considering compared to Homestuck proper the epilogues and HS2 have just felt actively hostile towards sapphics FLORAL: This scene is also only one small part of the larger puzzle, bridging between what already existed in HS2 to what we want to do deeper into HS:BC. A puzzle that most of us aren't going to want to figure out. The question of if something is bad for the first 500-1000 pages is it worth consuming will always be no. Also points of expanding the border of Homestuck 1 BUT WE NEVER GET TO SEE THIS. I'm going to hit more on this later but Rose specifically there's so little or no direct foundational build up to her current character choices.

MILES: Yeah, seriously.  I felt viscerally going in that it was really important that Kanaya get some time to just be a stone cold bitch, both in the context of this particular marital fuck-up and in general.  She deserves it. So I'm on my hands and knees begging you guys to learn how to write badass powerful women that doesn't involve them just getting angry because their wife cheated. Hands and fucking knees. This goes for any writing in general but if you have to develop a character through purely negative experiences I'm not sure you should be writing. This whole entire scenario with Rosemary is such a cheap drama soap opera point to begin with (like a lot of HS2). Why can't we let Kanaya be her own fucking person and have shit going on, do something in the war, get to have moments like this in relation to Jane.

FLORAL:  Was so excited for this panel when we were first outlining the update. I had a lot of feelings about how we should move forward from the initial Yiffy reveal, but justification for these narrative choices only matter inside of the text itself, and this is only a tip of a much larger iceberg.

That said, what has always appealed to me the most about Candy in Beyond Canon is that it’s an opportunity to explore alt. selves to the max and start finding the missing “Meat” to Candy’s unbalanced and unsatisfying narrative. The irony for me on this is it was written about the fucking Jojo ass posing Rose which is in my opinion the worst panel in the update. Rose being turned into a comical villain for the sole reason of shaking things up in Candy. Justifications in the text is a great way of putting it and before this we had very very little. The idea of telling us afterwards well it was all apart of the grand plan when barely any time ago we have Rose thanking John for how happy she was to have her life the way it is here. Rose suddenly going ahh apathy my true love and going from a loveable and complex character to this flat cardboard cut out is the biggest crime of this update. The I knew you would forgive me part too. Just. GIRL HOW?? Rose Lalonde who first lost her seer powers in Candy, second the same girl who couldn't even see her friends all dying and her failing in game over. This girl? She saw 15 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE and knew Kanaya would just get it. Roll over like a good wife and be okay. I didn't know she was a seer of time now? This is the worst line in the entire update simply because it implies that Rose has gone off the deep end in the least interesting way and is now an unreliable narrator or that Kanaya is actually going to forgive her and holy fuck that would be the actual worst way to take this. Not beating the NTR kink allegations HS2 writers. Also spoiler alert it's unsatisfying because everyone in it gets fucked over by writing choices as baseless and useless as these. You're perpetuating the problem.

HAVEN: The world hasn't felt real to Rose since she was 16, this life is like a game to her. For her, a war is just “something to do.” Also man while this was a route that I didn't like for the epilogues either there are so many other ways to handle this than the one chosen. But that would require a rewrite from the start of HS2 which already put on this shit show. I still wholeheartedly believe that none of the things listed here justify Rose's behavior to Kanaya. As the one anchor point she's had her entire adult life. FLORAL: It’s a little sad that even during a Rosemary moment, it's never really about Rosemary, huh? Then later- "There really needed to be a joke here, too, to sell the emotional drop the next page brings" Kettle, meet pot. Whatever could be the cause for nothing ever being about them and the pair being relegated to background bullshit? Who's to say indeed. But hey! They're at the forefront now, and only for the most basic and cheap drama ways. Also I loathe this mentality about there needing to be a joke. You're clearly writing this for adults at this point a joke isn't required a real look at the situation is. The gag at the end where the convo gets ended is enough to break the tension for the reader.

FLORAL: There’s catalyst events, sure, but ask a few questions and it becomes apparent everything rides on the history of smaller fights, disappointment, sweeped away passive aggressions, miscommunication and unsaid hurt feelings.

This is why writing characters in their 40’s is great and why there is so much to do in Candy. Behind all the patented Homestuck misdirection and narrative unreliability, you’re left with an offshoot full of alternate selves at their lowest, layered in apathy and evidently not saying what they think Once again we aren't shown this. We just get told about it later and that's incredibly unsatisfying as a reader. Explaining it further down the line and doing more justification later does not help this either. I think also the idea that everyone in their middle aged years is jaded and apathetic is such a lame ass direction to go in. The idea that no one is allowed to be happy after everything they went through in the game is still one of the most frustrating things. I'm asking anyone why would someone want to read that? Why do you think the fandom imploded after this and that the people left mostly enjoy either soap opera trauma or torture porn (which HS2 is both)

like sitting down with a highschool friend you lost touch with 20 years ago and have only known about through concerning Facebook posts. So we're fully aware of the problem and just going this is a feature. Got it. So the commentary ends there and I'm just kind of left feeling as hollow and empty as before. I have zero faith that we can dig into any of these characters in a meaningful way but especially the more complicated women. This reads as coming back to them 20 years later so we can write them how we want or how we envisioned them without having to come up with in text validation. Reminds me of late season Game of Thrones writing. Guys how we got here is important. Anyways in summary HS2 remains a dour, unfun read of characters going through a perpetual state of torture and emotional suffering while we forever get told "Wait but there's more!" But hey. Happy Rosemary, glad they won that poll. Maybe the little thing James is going to do for the fandom is just kill them off to save them from this torment. As a writer myself it's just painful to read and I want to re-write it all times

#homestuck #hsbc #upd8 #Rose Lalonde #Kanaya Maryam #Rosemary #Hicu #HS2 #homestuck 2 #hom3stuck

[ellsjoint]

Demosthenes Part 1 - Ellie Williams x Reader

Synopsis: Two British university students decide to go to their online friends’ university – what could go wrong? A lot, considering the reader has absolutely no social skills.

A/N: Hi! This is my first TLOU fanfic, and I haven't written fanfiction in years so I hope this is good. This part's pretty much just setting the scene, there's no interaction with Ellie and the reader YET (and it's short as)... But I hope you enjoy this for now! P.S I won't be writing any smut in this just because I don't want to, and at parts this is pretty much just going to be a comedy and me imagining me and my best friend being awkward in this situation.

Future Content: college!ellie, loser!ellie maybe, slow burn, angst (because I'm funny like that), fluff, not really sure yet but we'll see!

Your POV:

This conversation had repeated itself time and time again for the last month.

‘At this point, why not?’ your best friend laughed lightly, ‘this place is a shithole. We should put ourselves out there!’.

‘Do you really think going to uni with these people you’ve never even met is a good idea?’ you stared at them, shaking your head. ‘My family’s here, my dance team’s here, all the small gigs I do are here. Everything is here - I can’t just drop that.’ To you, the idea was laughable. How could you just move across the globe to what, play house with your best friends’ online friends that you’d spoken to maybe once? It seemed silly, and you knew you’d struggle to interact with new people – not because of any form of anxiety you had, but because you sucked at socialising to the extent that you just stopped at one point. Some people didn’t even know you could speak, whereas those you were closer with (like your close friends and dance team) were well aware of your predicament.

‘That’s why you should go! Bro, you hardly speak to anyone here. In a new environment, you could just… I don’t know, maybe try and develop some social skills? Plus, they’ll be starting their first year too.’ your friend shrugged. ‘Please! It’ll be so much fun! Oh, and you can visit your family, and your family can visit you! And there’s probably another dance team at this uni!’ They continued to ramble, trying to persuade you that dropping everything would be worth it. You weren’t exactly convinced, even if you did think her friends seemed okay from the little you had seen of them from your friend’s phone screen.

Continuing to mull the idea over in your head, your friend continued to rant about the situation. ‘You’ve talked to them once! Give them a chance. They think you’re suuuper cool, which is why you should come! You’d be iconic at their uni. And the girls would be all over you! Maybe Ellie would. Did you know Ellie’s gay?’ You’d seen what, 2 memes that this Ellie person had sent your friend on their phone? You knew literally nothing about her other than a portion of her humour.

‘Good for Ellie…?’ you sighed. You knew they weren't going to stop.

‘Come on, you need to give the world a chance. This would be so good for you to just get yourself out there!’ your friend pleaded.  Of course, they tried to focus on its benefits for you (repeating theirself in the process) instead of the large benefit it would have for them – a meeting with their online friends. ‘Please, I don’t want to go by myself. I can’t leave my best friend, and think about it, all my friends getting on? That would be so cool.’

Once again, you let out another sigh, before nodding. ‘Fine, I’ll try it. But if I don’t like it, I’m going home.’

Your friend let out an excited squeal, and you stared at her, a deadpan look on your face. What were you signing yourself up to? Nobody knew, and only time could tell.

#ellie x fem reader #ellie williams x reader #the last of us #tlou #fanfic #fanfiction #ellie williams #demosthenesellsjoint

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Hello there! I hope you’re having a great day.

I’m here with a question. It’s rather simple, but still it keeps me awake at noght.

How do you start a blog? I have a ton of drawings and concepts hoarded over the years, but my ass does NOT know how to start (and my social anxiety is kicking me hard). It’s okay if you choose not to reply. I wish you a pleasant day regardless.

(I wanted to send you pictures to show you my appreciation, but I only found these instead. But I still mean my appreciation.)

Hello! I hope you have a great day as well! And thank you for the pictures :D it's deffo stored in my meme garden inside my folders.

Now, to answer your question, 'how do you start a blog?' Actually depends on what you want to do. Since you're asking me, I'd assume that you want to do an art blog (?). If that's the case, usually, just... post your drawings OvO... JUST KIDDING I know you're looking for a more comprehensive answer.

I'd say you don't need to care about the audience, but if you want to grow or ripe some engagements, then you need to know your audience.

My audience is mainly the Call of Duty fandom. I've done lots and lots of arts for the CoD fandom, especially during the start of my postings back in 2021. I did lots and lots of memes, funny comics, and I came up with my own OC, Jade. I drew A LOT, from her first meetings, her concept art, her involvement in the story, her own life outside of the CoD canon story, and more. I also did some Head Canons about the CoD canon characters. Back when I started, I was already blessed with the establishment of my own artstyle, so I'm fortunate enough to draw so many arts until now.

When you've drawn a lot, the audience/followers will 'label' you. It's just the way it is. I don't know how each individual labels me, but I'd imagine the general audience as a whole labels me as "the CoD artist who has an anime-esque style and posts about her OC Jade and funny ahh memes and comics, who never posts NSFW." Give your audience your own unique specialty and something different to offer.

Again, I don't know the purpose of why you'd like to start a blog, maybe just a hobby, just a place to pour your creativity in. However, personally, I'm an artist for hobby, but also an artist for my carreer. What I post every day adds to my own porfolio and for my potential clients to see, so that's why I need to grow it! I put a good amount of thoughts on what I draw, and also what the audience/my followers would like to see in my personal art style. From that, I started to make a masterlist of what I've done. My blog is my own gallery/museum, and masterlist is sort of like a guidebook for the visitors to navigate through my contents.

What I'm saying is, be yourself, be special, but also if you want to grow an audience, you kinda need cater to what the audience needs/wants to see! Make the people who sees your art become curious, and wants to know more about them. Post a lot, it'll take a long time until your audience grows, maybe months, maybe years, but hard work is always worth it in the end.

I don't know if this is the answer you seek, but again, do whatever you enjoy.

#sleepy answers

[onebraincell-itmiebcraft]

Okay time for the liveblogging of real life in order (liveblogging life SMP call that lifeblogging) I have never done this b4 be easy on me

Grian

I've already watched his perspective at like 5 in the morning but heyyyyy nothing wrong with rewatching with added non sleep deprived commentary but also not really memories of what I originally thought watching this too :^))

I remember being so stunned they called it real life and the anatomically correct heart 🫀tickled my funny bone heeheehoo hahaha

Thought when grian said replay 3rd life I thought they'd reenact it 😭

We live in a society taxes man (I could ramble about it)

GRIAN IRL FACE!!!

has anyone fell over btw?

No lie that B can BIG

Reminds me of slimecicle jshitt and traves VR Minecraft where Travis got progressively shorter what a laugh

Does Scott ever see his scream

Is it take the Mick or take the nick love that idiom

RENDOG!

Scar looks like a child doing that thing

Awww hug

ABUSE

scar take the headset off dzuh 🫀🫀🫀

Grian literally me balance issues

Yugioh????

I called it, scar would say he's American 😎

I'm eating dinner while watching this at the same time what fun w

Giran called solidaritygaming jimmy no way + he died first fr this time + loud "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Perfectly timed his mic peaking is iconic

Ha haa!

He ear him bread

Really putting the mine in craft for Minecraft

reminds me of secret life EP 4 and scar is sweaty

*scar noises*

How did scar drop his phone???

Check your wrist? More like check your a- (tom cardy référence)

I love the way VR makes you hit stuff goofy

Can you run in game if you irl

(watch him die)

Haha he died

Why Jim is he sabotaging him

Jim Jim Jim gym gym

Doesn't Jim die here oh LMFAO he does

Jimmy you are famous to me

(scout voice) Chicken

How did scar die???

I love how vr makes them expressive Jim pointing to village house is so funny

There's only one bed

Wtf is happening in top right corner in 9min 30 sec

Ayyyyy there's grian the maniac love the casual position of the arms

Last life you can join me moment

Egg

Grian gaslighting

Jimmy you wanna dance quote of the year

PvP is so silly

Skizz is fighting a losing battle Jim killed him icon

I love how grian and Jim's yells overlap there's probably something music theory there idk

Awww scar he's so funny

Go pick him up from daycare haha

Facing away from the camera we live in a society

OHHHHH impulse big smart man Jimmy's arm movements are so smooth it's solly

Jimmy immediately leaving for fish cocomelon brain I agree

Love the arm movements

Lol they actually like down

It's okay grian scuffed is worth celebrating

Has anyone layed on their side

Friend just texted me about my monologue what am I doing man I have an audition tomorrow

Anyway Minecraft vr

The lying down model inventory so goofy

Rewatching the bread scene no wonder tumblr loves it looks like Jim jam actually has a mouth 👄

Impulsesv guess the build sheep flashbacks

Best sleepover

Polyamorous tony (died)

Sleepover reminds me of crazy Christmas w/gem and pearl

Grown men learn how to close doors

Minecraft fatshaming grian smh my head

Man thought it was more than Joel there + o2 max(xing) scar love it (i use maxxing ironically) (it's such a stupid suffix to me linguistically funny) (I hate incels) (don't cancel me tumblr) (I love all genders)

Two steps: die, and die

Jimmy isn't on fire??

Casual "it burns so much!" Love it

Wait right Jim still has a wooden sword

Joel Joel Joel Joel you know that one part in waiting for Godot where they just go back and forth in saying aideu yeah

So silly

Jim saying get in British people man

"noffing" - joel is it a British thing

Love Joel screaming he's so malding

Just remembered how scary heights are in VR because I thought for a second "why don't they jump down? are they stupid?" (Meme Reference) (Didn't actually think that) ("Stupid" is kinda stupid but I digress)

Hole

Boob stroke

Does scar enjoy the swimming

Why *does* swimming cause motion sickness anyway

Why bucket scar (this is a bucket)

Brain eating amoeba

GOON SQUAD!!!

Love Grian's arm movements I really did thonk Jim was gonna win for the funnies

He says come here weirdly

The joy of killing

Is Jim punching

It's okay hiking simulation

Go Jim go what a gamer boy

I remember the triple dog door dugout is like... Gem's? Joel's? Uhhhh I fotgor

Concussion era

Fresh meat

I just love their dynamics

JIM STOP SOUNDING LIKE THAT it's like his eyes are 🥺 and his mouth is boowomp spongebob like he's got tears in eyes scrimblo sounding ass

Ohhh there's my favourite theatre kids

'orrible

Joel saying boys make me happy

Wait that can misinterpreted

Joel saying "boys" sounds pleasant to my ears

I remember watching this part and going GRIAN FIRST OUT HUH???

awww the funnies

Love the way gem says "we're the last Grians. Grians? Greens!" It's like... Spunky

Grian falling reminds me of my scuffed keyboard when it registers a button press as a hold and then I like never stop walking right *sigh*

The downward spiral by nine inch nials

Ascending is TRUE watcher lore

Oh the music is so cute

Bye scar! Bye Joel!

Okay never let me liveblog cook again i kinda listened to the vid instead of watching reading this does not make sense to anyone but me reference hell half formulated thoughts RIP BOZO HAHA

Maybe I'll like do it in 5 mins chunks for JJJJJJoel and the next ones onward I spent like an hour on this wayyyyy too long for incomplete sentences

End

#real life smp #real life #real life spoilers #rlsmp #grian #liveblogging #life series #life smp #trafficblr #what is wrong with me #rlsmp liveblogging

[whumpshaped]

I have been reading whump since this year started and I have a lot of inspiration to start writing too, but I'm not that good at writing plus english is not my first language, I'm afraid I won't be able to find the correct words

Do you have any advice for me?

okay i was in your exact position 5 years ago and here's what i think

just start. i was incredibly nervous when i started posting but it turned out fine and i'm still alive. nobody was mean to me, nobody ever said "oh hey i see you made a mistake there, i bet you're not a native speaker OR a real writer". in fact, turns out a LOT of us are not native speakers! so just start. it will be ok :)

write stuff you enjoy and tag appropriately. don't try to hop on what's popular, just write whatever you're into, and your writing will find your audience

try to trigger warn as best as you can but know the responsibility to click away when something is triggering lies with the reader. if you get a mean anon about posting something super whumpy that you tagged thoroughly, that they refused to click away from, and they demand you never post whumpy stuff again, just delete and move on

in general... if you get hate, delete and move on

when i first started, i was so afraid of everyone that i just posted my own writing and never interacted. i wish i have! reblog stuff! leave tags! send asks on or off anon! 99% of people here are very kind and will be very appreciative of that, and you might make awesome friends

writing advice posts are more so suggestions than Rules, but they can be very helpful

thesaurus is your best friend, and don't worry, it's not "cheating", native speakers use it too. (was that only my worry? maybe so. but i'm including it anyway.)

likewise if you have to translate a word... well so what? that doesn't mean you're not writing banger stories

you don't have to post perfect chapters with full worldbuilding every day. you can post snippets. you can post nameless drabbles. you can post a 2 sentence incoherent prompt. you can post whatever you want, it's your blog and you make the rules, so don't make ones that suffocate you and make you miserable :)

pet whump usually takes off and gets lots of notes, nameless drabbles usually get more notes than big oc stories because they require less commitment, and prompts and memes you spent 2 seconds on will take off and get more notes than any of your other posts. that's just how it is. try not to get discouraged about this. i know we all post for validation at the end of the day and there's nothing wrong with that, but try to remember that number of notes ≠ quality of your writing

read as much as you can! it helps build vocabulary and you'll pick up phrases and stuff that you can then use in your own writing!

JUST WRITE. i was a much worse writer 5 years ago than i am now. inevitably as you write more and improve you will look back and think "holy shit, i thought THIS was appropriate to post?? i spent 5 hours proofreading this and i wrote terryfying???" but that just means you came a long way and now you write better stories :)

just try to have fun :) make an intro post, tag it with #whump community or #whump intro, and you'll already have 10 friends. and just post whatever makes your heart sing! i believe in u!

#asks #shalcanav

[anamoon63]

From this moment on I go into busy mode again, but I didn't want to leave without wishing all my mutuals and all simblrs in general a very Happy New Year 2024 and dedicate some words I have been meaning to say to you but hadn't found the time or the appropriate way to do it.

I'll start by saying to all of you who had a hard time in 2023, those who went through depression, physical and/or mental health problems, family problems, marital problems, work problems, problems with your children, with your partners, with your parents or grandparents. To all those who in some way suffered or were hurt in the year that is ending -and assuming that all of us here, or most of us, are storytellers-, my advice is: don't stop writing, ever. Keep doing it through it all, through the good times as well as the bad; write even if the tears well up in your eyes and fall on the keyboard. Just write!

Writing heals, cures and consoles, because it is what we do and because there is no better way to get out all that we carry inside, be it sad or happy. I went through the long night of depression myself and I can say with all certainty that writing was what pulled me through, and that although it may not seem so, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it's never as dark as when it's about to dawn. I suffered from depression since 2006 and for many years; around that time I started a novel that took me 14 years to write. Through all that time, I slowly healed, and by the time I finished, I was free of all the demons that drove me to write that particular story in the first place.

Okay, enough of me, I want to tell my mutuals, that I love what you write/create, and I really enjoy your work, be it stories or gameplay; and not only those who write, but also those who make custom content, mods, those who create any kind of art, those who take beautiful pictures, those who share memes or funny things about their pets. All of you, know that I read you every day and I take you with me everywhere I go, because you are so talented, creative, funny and interesting.

I don't always have the courage to comment on your posts, be it about sims or personal, for different reasons, mainly because of language barriers, because as you know, English is not my native language, and sometimes I don't have my translator at hand to confirm that what I am writing is correct, or if there is a spelling or grammar mistake or a typo in there; also because of my social awkwardness, as I am a rather shy and introverted person; and the fact that I'm an old simmer, cause believe me, compared to many of you I am old, and this makes me afraid of saying something out of place, out of time, or of being politically incorrect. This may sound silly, but I was born and raised in a time where people thought and acted very differently, even in my early years of sims on the internet, everything was way different than it is now. Well, those are the reasons why I don't always comment, but the fact is that I read you, I like what you do, what you write, I'm in love with your characters -who are already part of my sim-universe-; your stories capture my imagination, intrigue me, interest me, amuse me and, above all, teach me, because I've learned a lot from you, talented creatures, in the time I've been reading your work.

Anyway, I got off my chest what I've been wanting to tell you for days now. I also want to thank you for all your likes, comments, questions, messages, and in general for all the love I received from you this year, it's amazing. I never expected so much in just one year, really. So, thank you, both to those who have been following me for a long time, and have stayed with me and my chaotic stories, and to the new followers, Sims 3 and Sims 4, I thank you all.

Well, this was already very long, sorry for the rambling, lol, I wish each and every one of you a very Happy New Year, may all your dreams and plans become a beautiful reality in the year that begins, because, believe me, some dreams do come true, I had the joy of confirming it right at the end of this year.

That's all, a big hug and a very, very happy 2024 everyone! 🤗❤️🎇

#text post #gif #personal stuff #new year #happy new year #happy 2024 #happy new year 2024

[f1-disaster-bi]

Number 76 and Dando please :)

Okay I cackled at this one because 1. I love this song, and 2. somehow this fits them

There! Right, There! - Legally Blonde the Musical

"There's no way"

"I'm serious George. I'm right, just look at his socks"

"They are just socks Alex! Right, Lando?"

Lando hadn't been paying attention to the conversation going on around him. He'd been busy answering his texts, smiling at his phone and occasionally sending memes to Max F.

"What? Your old man socks? Those a sin against nature, mate", Lando teased, feeling proud as Alex laughed while George just gave him an unimpressed look.

"Not my socks, twit. Daniel's", George rolled his eyes before he looked pointedly at their co-worker on the other side of the break room, "Alex thinks that because Daniel's socks have pink in them, that Daniel swings your way"

"And George here, thinks that the way Daniel practically sits in Verstappen's lap every break time is straight man behavior", Alex defended, "I don't normally get involved in these things, but come on. You can't tell me that the way Daniel is currently looking at Max is straight"

Lando looked up from his phone again to glance across the teachers staff room to where Daniel was, indeed, giving Max heart eyes. The two physical education teachers were always the talk of the staff room or the class room with teachers and students often betting about if they were dating. Daniel, ever the jokester, loved it, and Max went along with it because it made Daniel laugh and it mainly cause he enjoyed causing chaos.

"I have to side with Alex", Lance chimed in as he sat at their table with a mug of coffee and Lando didn't understand how the French teacher survived on just caffeine alone, "Just look at the way he does his hair"

"He has curls? I literally have curls?", Lando laughed as he stole one of Alex's crisps.

"And who made out with the old Spanish teacher at the Christmas Party last year?", Esteban, the food science teacher, pointed out as he joined them, forcing a plate of food in front of Lance, "Coffee isn't lunch, Stroll, don't argue with me"

"Well, I just don't see it! He's just Australian", George huffed, running a hand through his hair, "They can be eccentric. None of these things mean Daniel is queer"

The people at the table hummed because George had a point. There really was no way to judge what Daniel preferred in a partner from how he dressed or acted, but Lando knew one way to settle the matter once and for all.

"Right, I have an idea, bear with me", Lando whispered to the group before turning in his chair, "Dan, come here a second!"

Daniel's head turned towards them and his smile was all sunshine. He patted Max on the shoulder, before standing from the table they were at and crossing the room to stand behind Lando. Everyone was watching them, especially as Lando crooked a finger so Daniel leaned down.

It was then that Lando reached up, cupped a hand around Daniel's neck and pulled him down into a soft kiss making the other's go quiet as they stared with wide eyes.

"Are we still on for dinner with my parents and yours tomorrow?", Lando asked as he pulled away, cheeks flushing a little at having been bold enough to do that and out them to their co-workers.

"Of course, honey bunch", Daniel grinned, kissing Lando's cheek once more, "I'll pick you up after I finish with football practice, yeah?"

"Okay, sounds perfect", Lando agreed, kissing the other's cheek and staring at him softly, "See you later then"

Daniel just laughed, waving at the others before making his way back to Max and continuing their conversation as if he hadn't just helped Lando break the entire staff of their school.

"What the-"

"Does that settle your questions?", Lando grinned, glancing down at his phone to see another text from Daniel that was made up of just kissy face emoji's.

"Yes and no!", George exclaimed, looking shocked, "I have so many more questions now"

Luckily, the first warning bell rang, giving Lando the escape he needed as he cackled at the bewildered looks on his friends faces.

#spotify wrapped ask game #dando #daniel/lando #lando/daniel

[doberbutts]

Okay well I watched the first episode of Blood Origin and honestly my thoughts are:

I just don't understand why people are so resistant to changes/new plotlines/some lore breaking of *recent* franchises but gobble it up when it's older. People telling an untold portion of a common tale is well established in storytelling culture. The first example that springs to mind is Lancelot, who straight up does not exist in original Authorian legend and was a FRENCH invention when the myth spread. Nowadays, most casual enjoyers of King Author stuff don't bat an eye to Lancelot's presence. Lancelot, who comes to mind, because Sapkowski writes said Lancelot to be in love with Ciri, and we're totally cool with *that* but not with changes to Sapkowski's work.

It's really telling that there's such a bigoted negative reaction to this because honestly? The black people so far have been BLACK black, darker than me, darker than even my black family sometimes. I'm enjoying seeing melanin in fantasy don't mind me. And the hair on the sisters is excellent, I'm liking the costuming, and I *really* like Eile.

The accents are kind of all over the place. Both as individual characters but also as the actors themselves. Sometimes Fjall goes from generic American accent to some form of fake Irish to ????european???? and back and it's distracting and weird. HOWEVER I do like the Irish and Welsh accents in high born kingdoms, because too often those accents are for commoners and poverty only, and this sort of turns the trope on its head.

I'm not sure how much I like the pan-Asian vibe I'm getting from some of the props and architecture. Some things look vaguely Chinese while others solidly Arabic while others a weird fusion of Indian and Korean and it's just odd to me. At first I thought it was because of clan structures but then I saw that it's just sort of everywhere. I have 0% Asian in me so I'm not really a good authority to speak on it but it's a weird vibe, a little Orientalist to my eyes. I'll freely admit that I like the aesthetic since I was raised pretty pan-African but I recognize that most continentally grouped cultures don't love that and it's mainly the black diaspora that's embraced it because we don't really have much of a choice.

I STILL feel that doing away with this short-season "but the episodes are an hour long!" nonsense would help pacing so much. Literally every time I thought the episode was going to come to an end, it's been roughly at the 20-25 min mark, which a standard TV episode would have been ANYWAY. So there's not really much point to having this be 4 hour-long episodes when it could be done better as 12-15 20 minute episodes... which would be the eqivilant of a short season while 24-32 is a more "standard" season (instead of 8 hour-long episodes). It gives you more time to flesh the characters and plotlines out while also allowing you the chance to trim some of the long-and-boring content people get tired of watching.

I really do feel bitter that the witcher tags continue to be people making racist and misogynistic memes instead of a fandom happily discussing a pretty strong first episode that introduced a billion fantasy characters of color. It really sucks that black people in fantasy is received so poorly when my inner 10 year old is happy to see people who look more like me having fun with the genre. I long for the day when I can exist in a fandom space and happily discuss my favorite black characters without having to justify their existence every 2 seconds.

Oof that CGI is pretty rough though. Which surprises me because the S2 CGI was not this rough so idk what happened here. That monster in the first episode is, uh, bad. And the background in the weird magicky place is also pretty, uh, bad.

I don't understand why the first witcher being an elf would piss Geralt off except maybe because that means Jaskier knows more about witchers than Geralt does? All of Geralt's iterations- the books, the games, the show, the comics- are pretty chill with elves as long as they're pretty chill with him. He only pursues certain elves and elf-blooded mixed race people when they pose a direct threat to him or his loved ones. Same as humans. So I don't really get that line at all unless, as said, it was more a "wow Geralt's gunna be pissed that I know this story and he doesn't"

[doggernaut]

Fic Author Self-Rec Meme

@anyawen tagged me to do this weeks ago and I’ve only just now had the time to sit down and work on it (and also only just discovered that while I can’t load Tumblr on my phone or laptop in the hotel I’ve been in for the past two weeks, it somehow works on my iPad?!). Anyway, reccing five of my own fics is hard because I don’t always feel worthy enough to rec. But I think this is a me-problem because I feel this way about most things in my life and I’m trying to be better. In any case, five fics ( in no particular order, and possibly not what I would choose if making this list tomorrow) I wrote that I enjoy and hope you will too.

And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

The idea for this fic came to me while reaching for the almond milk pumpkin spice coffee creamer in the fridge and I sat down and immediately wrote the first two chapters. I am obsessed with Year 1 Bitty and Jack not knowing yet that they’re in a love story. I loved the idea of Bitty somehow moving forward in time and finding out that his stern, grumpy captain is apparently the love of his life. I wanted to write about how this Bitty who is “stuck” in the future could fall in love with Jack and the life they’ve built.

Home Like Apple Pie

This my my first stab at a “The Kiss Never Happened” AU. It took a lot of mental gymnastics to figure out how Jack would fall out of Bitty’s life and the NHL and resurface as a chef but I loved writing about them slowly finding their way back to each other.

Merry Christmas, I'm Yours

This is not my most popular fic, maybe because it’s got too much angst? But that’s okay because I wrote it mostly for myself. I wanted to write something inspired by but not a direct beat-for-beat recreation of When Harry Met Sally. There’s no road trip or one night stand here, just years of best friendship and pining. I really enjoy rereading this, especially the California chapter.

Happily Ever After, After All 

This is also not my most popular fic, maybe because it’s more interesting to read about getting together than happily ever afters? I think this is one of my funniest fics and a lot of that humor comes from Jack and Bitty’s home life as parents of teenagers. Of all of my fics I’ve written, it’s my personal comfort read.

All I Want is You

This fic—one of the first things I wrote for this fandom—is old, but I still really love it. Tonally it’s different from most of what I’ve written in fandom but I think it stands up as a unique take on the typical soulmate setup.

I am supposed to tag five people in this so in no particular order I tag: @wrathofthestag, @mapleleafcameo, @mcbangle, @sweatersinthesummer, and @parvuls

#fic author self rec meme #my fic

[firecoloredwater]

Ask meme: 6, 7, 22, 30

...I had the answers 99% done and then my computer froze and I had to restart and lost all of them. So OKAY, TRYING AGAIN

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

Not really! I wish I did. I am apparently very weird in that a fic (or anything I read) needs to be a certain amount of unfamiliar, or my brain won't engage enough for me to enjoy it. If I've reread something too much then my brain will go 'oh I know what's happening, I don't need to pay attention' and wander off and get distracted. Making myself focus deliberately just means being bored and annoyed. I am also really good at remembering stories (and like nothing else) so I can read a fic twice, maybe three times if it's especially long/complex, before I have to put it down for anywhere from some months to a few years to let myself forget enough details to make it new enough to read again. (For related reasons, I basically never read my own fics for enjoyment. I'll reread to refresh my memory before writing more, or while rereading comments, but I know my own fics too well to really ever approach them as a reader. I might get enjoyment from 'oh I actually pulled that alliteration/foreshadowing/etc off well' but not just from reading the story.)

7. How many ideas for fics do you have right now?

Uhhhhh somewhere in the range of infinite. Depends on how you define ideas for fics? If you mean fics I'm actively working on/hoping to write in the near future, that would be... about 6-8, probably? But if you mean fics I'd like to write even if I don't actually expect to have the chance, that gets up into several dozen immediately. If you include ideas that I haven't specifically thought about how I'd write them, then we're probably into the hundreds. I am an endless font of ideas and it does not turn off.

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

Usually vaguely! But it ranges from 'and then everything is good the end' to like, a two-sentence bullet point of the ending scene(s). I don't plan ahead in much detail, because I do a lot of discovering and adding things as I write, and what I throw in that way will affect later scenes. So if I had a lot of detail planned for the end, I'd just have to replan/rewrite anyway when I got there, and probably be annoyed about losing lines I liked. So it works out better for me and the fic if I keep my plans minimal. There is an exception for very short fics. If I'm writing a fic that's basically just one or two scenes, and the entire momentum of the fic is writing toward the end, then I can know exactly what the end is. But that's fairly rare, partly because I also need to be able to write it all in one shot, and I rarely have that much time.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

.......................well I was going to dump a scene from one of the self insert AUs here, but it turns out two years is enough for me to no longer love the writing in that. So uhhhhhh guess I'll just. Write a new thing real quick!

(@executeness and @denialcity, enjoy)

Every clan has their own way of finding soulmates. Some are more reliable than others, and most are closely guarded. That's never mattered to Takami: the Uchiha's tradition is reliable, so any uncertainty that other clans live with isn't his problem.

He is fifteen and it is the first dawn after the winter solstice. The fire in the center of the Uchiha compound has burned all night, built steadily larger until it roars, and the flames dance as high as his chin.

Takami is not the only fifteen year old with a sharingan, but he is the clan heir, so he goes first. The entire clan sings as the first rays of dawn break through the horizon, and Takamii steps forward, sharingan burning as he shapes chakra and breathes a thin, precise stream of his own fire into the core of the flames.

He's thought before about how it would look, whether he would see his soulmate's form made of ashes and embers swirled within the flame, or if the flames themselves would twist into the right shape for only his eyes, or....

It's clearer than he imagined. As if he's looking through a window, tinted gold and shifting in the breeze, but otherwise the overlapping images are perfectly clear, as if he were looking at reality directly. But there are so many people--the fire shows the watcher's soulmate, but also everything around them, and there are so many overlapping forms. Takami prowls around the fire in a circle, watching the shifts within it, tracking which faces stay in focus.

He can hear. The longer he watches, the more sound grows. It's still thin and distant, but seems to come from deep within his own ears, so even the whole clan singing together can't quite drown out what his soulmates hear. A song, of course, and orders....

There is one flaw in the Uchiha method of identifying soulmates, Taka realizes: it's public.

He finishes a last circle of the fire. The song hasn't faltered despite the time he took, and it continues as he stops, and turns to face his father.

His whole family: Father and mother and four younger brothers, even Kunimi, who drank enough tea to keep anyone else awake for a week and is standing in his proper place with his face screwed up in determination. But Tajima is the clan head, so Takami faces him first.

Tajima's voice is pitched to carry over the song. "Have you seen what you are looking for?"

"I have," Takami says, steady as if this were any ordinary year. "There were a lot of faces, I had to move to be sure which one is mine. We should make people dance, next year."

"Then your soulmate is within the clan?"

Takami grins. "Hako's mine," he announces.

Several voices falter then, and people in the crowd shift, and surprise makes it through even Hako's near-perfect composure.

Takami is the heir, but Hako is beloved, the most beautiful and the most perfect and the most wanted. No one in the clan had even bothered to pretend they were more interested in learning Takami's soulmate now than Hako's next year.

They're not wrong, all those people chasing after Hako's every glance: Hako is the best and they should all be honored to have his sight fall on them. But he's Takami's brother first, and now no one can ever try to interfere.

In the firelight, so subtle than only the sharingan could catch it, Hako relaxes. Beside him, Madara sneaks a thumbs up, and his grin distorts his singing for a few lines.

It's not this easy, Takami knows. They're soulmates, so they won't be separated now, or expected to put anyone else first. But they'll still be expected to have friends and get married, and the whole clan and half their allies will chase Hako for both of those. Some of them will remember that some people have multiple soulmates, and keep hoping for another year that Hako will claim them even though Taka hasn't.

At the same time, it is this simple. Takami and Hako belong together, and no one will ever question it again.

Takami steps away from the fire, and goes to stand beside Hako instead of in his proper place. He takes up the song as the others look for their soulmates: one outside the clan, and one within it.

There are more traditions, more celebration, and Takami goes through them gladly with Hako at his side. Even so, Hako can read him like no one else.

It's late morning before they get even a few seconds out of everyone's sight, but the instant it's possible, Hako has Takami out of sight and hearing.

Out of sight like this, Hako isn't perfect either: his forehead is creased and worry bites in at the corners of his eyes. "Nii-sama, tell me you didn't lie."

"I didn't."

Hako frowns, his forehead creasing more, but it's true. They're soulmates. Takami didn't lie.

"Then," Hako says slowly, "why are you bothered?"

"I saw you." The images are still in Takami's eyes, hovering with sharingan clarity. The whole clan singing around the fire, centered on Hako, posed and perfect. And overlapping, a training field, four boys and a man with a voice Takami knows, barking harsh orders. "I also saw a Senju. Butsuma's son. One we haven't seen on the field yet."

"He has enough sons," Hako says harshly, then catches himself. "What did you think?"

Takami didn't think. He just watched, and knew better than to reveal anything like that. And Hako was right there to smooth things over, as always. "It doesn't matter. He'll probably just die anyway."

"You don't need him anyway," Hako says. "You have me."

"Yeah." Takami grins. "Always."

"Always," Hako promises, even though there's no need to, and then he moves on to batting a wrinkle out of Takami's clothes and herding him back out to the celebrations.

The next year, Hako looks into the fire and sees Takami alone.

Six months after that, Senju Kawarama arrives on the battlefield. He's grown, but Takami still knows that face.

He puts a scar on it.

#answers #fanfic

[fractured-shield]

Hiiiiii! I would like to request a rambling about your WIP. Anything you've been wanting to talk about?? Yeah, I want to hear about that!!

omg hi!!!! hm okay let me see. i've been in the middle of redrafting the entire thing for the past few months so i am full of a multitude of very disorganized thoughts. i think i'll talk about my mc's mother bc i recently had so many good ideas about her (you can see her here)

things to know about Leithe. she's 5'5". I've spelled her name about half a dozen different ways through my drafts. she's really bad at lying. she's pan. i associate her with sunflowers and yellow chrysanthemums.

she was the child of lesser nobles in Ngelorim (one of 3 kingdoms that was later abandoned) and despite socially really not needing to do anything of the sort, she was a very outspoken peace advocate and proponent of strengthening the Alliance to include non-elves. (in this setting, elves aren't really like...better in any way? they just live a long time, and humans think they're sort of cowards and unreliable, due to the whole "abandoning kingdoms after magic eco-warfare caused a mass soil degradation speedrun" thing, which is remembered with a lot less nuance by human oral retellings.)

she was coppersmith (?) by hobby. that's very specific so idk for sure but she made jewelry of some variety and was like. passably decent at it. just for fun. she was halfway decent with a sword, I'm thinking maybe like a light sabre/rapier, again just for fun and because she liked staying active and like. queer woman's fixation on swords and all that.

she met idhren at some stuffy social event, where she was speaking about a probably-unpopular political stance. at the time, he was serving on the council in Linador (one of the other 3 kingdoms) as a mediator, or...maybe he was already on the larger Alliance council I need to redo the timeline. and he was immediately just so impressed because, you know, she didn't have to be saying any of that, it wasn't popular, but she didn't care. so naturally he Did Not Fucking Talk To Her. at least not on purpose. later that night he went outside for some fresh air (introvert social battery on 0%) and ran into her. and they hit it off, kind of bonded over people seeing only surface-level things about them. she was pissed off about only being seen as a pretty face and nobody listening to her words, and he was uncomfortable with the unwanted attention of people always pointing out his foreign Fairalmin accent.

they eventually became pretty close friends. don't worry about the timeline. hundred years or so lmao. a very "he fell first, she fell harder" type thing: he kind of always saw her as like a safe person, someone he enjoyed being around and who was entirely captivating as an aside, but he was perfectly content to leave it at that and never mention it. she'd only seen him as like, very serious in a quiet melancholy sort of way, sort of demure and whatever, and vaguely knew he'd been a low-ranking military officer before a council mediator, but at some point saw him sparring and in armor and was just like. "oh. ok cool. im very normal about this. fuck." i made a post of her with the "babygirl your enormous eyebags and just barely noticeable tremor have captivated me" meme and like. yeah.

at that point he was on the Alliance war-council thing I mentioned, and in a...well I hesitate to call it a relationship, with the general/warmaster leading it all. worked closely under him, they'd both experienced similar losses they hadn't really healed from, the warmaster wanted a purely physical distraction from the stress of war/his partner's death. again, Idhren was perfectly content to ignore his own feelings of wanting something more, but finally he did have to break it off just for his own sanity. honestly, he and Leithe (who were sort of figuring out their feelings by then) would've been okay with a casual poly thing if it'd been on the table.

anyways, in the war's aftermath they became a couple in earnest. at some point Therien (my mc) was born. she's a weird little fucker lmao i love her dearly. when Therien was 12, Leithe was part of some peace convoy during a nearby kingdom's civil war, and was killed when they were attacked.

idhren was like "oh my god i am not mentally stable enough to be responsible for raising a child in a healthy environment she needs to stay with my friend for a few years while I get through this" which like, not a great option, but the guy had been launched full force back into half-healed trauma response suicidal ideation so I can't blame him. my first book begins 5 years later, when Therien meets her father again and gets the chance to come home, right on the edge of another war, and gets to learn a lot about her parents on top of the usual teenage uncertainties.

(also thank you for letting me ramble about this it was very fun lol, I'm going to spend time reading up on your wip posts so I can ask questions about them as soon as I have a chance <3)

#fractured shield #my writing #my ocs #fantasy writing #writers on tumblr #writblr #asks

[msmargaretmurry]

writing meme

i was tagged by @postoperation AND @bropunzeling AND @vivathewilddog wow ily friends but calm down (❤❤)

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason.

first fic: the oldest timestamped fic on my ao3 is Golden Boys, a quick little pk subban/john tavares fic from 2012. i want to say it's short and sweet but i honestly haven't read it in ten years, so who knows 😂 there are some bandom fics and a tsn rpf fic on there that are older than that one but i imported them from livejournal in like 2015 and didn't backdate them properly, and i don't feel like figuring out which one is actually the oldest, and also don't want to draw attention to them because woof, that is some old old writing of mine.

last fic: this is for keeps, the one-year anniversary timestamp for head above water ❤ i had actually wanted this to be longer/a richer story but i've been struggling a lot with writing this year and so i just ran out of time and decided short and sweet was better than nothing. i am happy with it, though; i think it hit the most important beats i wanted to hit!

any fic written for a fandom/ship only once: homeland, the mighty ducks adam/charlie fic i wrote for yuletide a couple years ago. i feel like i answered an ask about this one recently so sorry to reiterate but if this hadn't been on a deadline it would have been five times as long and five times as angsty, lol. but also if it hadn't been for yuletide i probably wouldn't have written it at all, so it's all a wash i suppose. despite the deadline of it all though i enjoyed writing this one and think there are some really lovely bits of writing in it.

favorite fic in the fandom with the most works: this is one direction, which i wrote exactly one fic for, so i guess it's my favorite by default: the very best of, which i wrote in the complete haze of peak pandemic quarantine and now feels like a total fever dream. but it was fun! i love the bits of fake journalism and fake songwriting i did for it.

a fic you wish more people had read: come and make the hymns of you, which i can't really complain about fewer people reading because it is a fic for a relatively small fandom written twenty years after the thing came out and about a decade after that fandom's fic-writing peak. i'm really proud of it, though! i think it's one of the best things i've written! it was really fun getting to write in a style that i don't usually get to use for present-day rpf stories, and i love the character voice i developed for webster.

the fic you agonized over the most: i agonized a LOT over HAW, but i think that the land between our bodies still wins here. writing that fic was truly like pulling teeth. like i am very glad i finished it for the exchange and also i'm very glad people enjoyed it — tbh people enjoying it is the only reason i have any fondness for it 😅 — but from a personal standpoint i don't know if i'll ever get over how shitty i felt while writing it to properly enjoy it for myself. but maybe i will! i certainly hope so!

fic that sprang fully formed from my mind: The Next Next One, for sure. what a fun and fulfilling writing process that was. i mean, it's a long fic, so there were definitely parts that were a little tougher to get through than others, but overall it was such a smooth creative process. all of the plot pieces just fell into place. huge shoutout to @postoperation and @moregraceful for being my very encouraging captive audience as i word-vomited it into emails until i got the whole story out ❤

a work you are proud of: okay okay yes fine it's head above water ❤❤ i was actually super unsure about it when i posted it, but after taking some time to let it breathe (and to talk with so many of you all about it) i did end up really proud of it, and i've had such a good time continuing to play in that universe 💞

i am tagging (and attempting to tag folks i haven't seen tagged 😂): @irrelevanttous @grittyreadsfic @loveisworry @the-ships-to-rule-them-all @lilcrickee if you want to! no pressure!

#ask #my fic

[dnofsunshine]

Digimon Secret Santa Exchange 2023: Don't blame me (you started it)

Kuga Yuuya never texted her first. Until he did.

Written for @hallowed-nebulae for the @digisecretsanta 2023 exchange! :3

a/n: i'm your secret santa and (like i said on ao3 lol) i'm not entirely familiar with the digimon world series, or i wasn't until recently, so i hope i did your two favorites, Rina & Yuuya, justice!! i've enjoyed the gameplay so far of Re:digitize Decode and i enjoyed writing these two. i hope you have a safe and merry Christmas, and happy holidays!! <333 :D

Oh, and here's my Digimon discord server if you wanna yell abt digimon with us!

Read on AO3! || Read below the cut:

Kuga Yuuya did not texted her first.

It wasn’t something subjective—it was a simple, known fact! She wasn’t sure Yuuya texted anyone first. Often, when Rina texted him, Yuuya left her (very cruelly) on read. Sometimes he left her on delivered. Which was like, extremely rude, thank you very much.

(Granted, none of those messages were because of actual emergencies, but still. Her memes were nonetheless very important and warranted a response. But Yuuya had ignored her. Because of course he did. The jerk.)

So, naturally, when Rina’s phone vibrated and pinged, and Yuuya’s contact lit up her screen, Rina gaped. She blinked, surprised, and it took several moments to register that oh yeah, she should read the message.

Hey, Yuuya had written plainly. Jeesh, and he called everyone else boring.

Yeah, the world had totally ended. Sometime in the last few minutes, the world had ended and Rina had died and gone to an afterlife where apparently Kuga Yuuya texted her first.

She debated on calling him to see what was up, but that ran the risk of scaring him off because he didn’t even text, let alone call; so Rina leaned back in her chair and did what she did best.

Rina: hey!!!! ┌( ＾◡＾ )┘whatcha up to???

Yuuya: Studying. You use a lot of exclamation points, Rina-san.

Rina: and u text like the heir of the gigo company lol

Yuuya: Is… that a good or a bad thing?

Rina blinked again, her lips curving into a frown. She narrowed her eyes at her screen suspiciously, and who could blame her? Since when did Yuuya care about her opinion of him?

Rina: not bad!!! was just kiddin lol (≧_≦)

Yuuya: Okay.

She sent him another text that mostly consisted of emotes and exclamation points (perhaps proving his point), and this time, it took a while for Yuuya to respond. At least a good ten minutes.

Yuuya: What about you? What’re you up to?

Okay. Wow. She peeked out her bedroom window—yep, still snowing. Which meant it was still mid-December and she was still in Japan. Maybe. Probably. If she wasn’t… did it snow in the afterlife? To what afterlife had she been sent, for Yuuya to not only respond but ask about her in return? Smug, snooty Yuuya? What the hell was even happening? She couldn’t even begin to know the answer to that. 

Instead, she answered Yuuya.

Rina: just chillin!!! not really doing much haha it’s boring w/o V.V. here tbh

Yuuya: I see.

Another pause followed. Rina stood from her chair and made her way to her bed to sprawl out, phone in hand, as she awaited the continuation of their conversation. She got bored waiting on minute three and decided she couldn’t handle the suspense anymore.

Rina: so whats up???

Yuuya: I’m studying.

Rina: well duh u said that already i meant why did u text me

Yuuya: You text me all the time.

Rina: yeah! but u like never answer soooooo

Yuuya: Sorry.

Oh good god, okay. Yuuya, apologizing? Prideful, arrogant Yuuya? Maybe she’d gone to some alternate dimension—somewhere that wasn’t the digital world—where everything was the same except for one fifteen-year-old Kuga Yuuya.

She frowned again, this time in contemplation. As she pondered how to respond, she kicked her feet idly against her bed, tapping the back of her phone case if only to keep her fingers moving.

She wondered absentmindedly if his dad scolded him or something. From what she knew, Kuga Kenzou was more insufferable than Yuuya—which, of course, made sense considering he was Yuuya’s father—so it wasn’t much of a stretch to say he wasn’t all that great of a parent.

Her chest ached inexplicably at the thought and her frown deepened.

Rina: is ur dad being a bitch

Yuuya: Huh?

Rina: ya know ur dad is he being a bitch lol

Yuuya: I don’t see what he has to do with the conversation.

Then, after about a minute:

Yuuya: Father is always being a bitch.

Rina: lol!! i believe it honestly

And because Rina was a gremlin with no sense of self-control: 

Rina: his ass must really hurt from the stick shoved in it

Yuuya: Lol.

Rina blinked once more in surprise and then grinned at her screen because this was another new thing—Yuuya laughing at a joke? A joke she made? She didn’t even know Yuuya could laugh, much less over text. She didn’t know he even had a sense of humor.

They spent the next hour or so texting, with Rina sending memes (the normal amount) and emotes (also the normal amount) and Yuuya telling her that it was, in fact, not the normal amount. Eventually, the time between Yuuya’s responses grew longer and longer, and Rina assumed that he’d averted his full attention back to studying.

Rina: ur a fun texter lol

Rina: not as fun as me obviously but still fun just sayin

She sent it without really expecting a response right away, but she was surprised yet again when the reply came in only a few minutes.

Yuuya: Wow. One person approves of my texting habits.

Rina laughed out loud. This was a fun side of Yuuya to see.

(And no, it wasn’t because she felt a little warm inside that he seemed to trust her enough to make jokes with her.)

(She didn’t feel warm inside at all.)

(Yuuya was simply growing on her.)

(Like a fungus.)

Yuuya: Is this supposed to be an honor or a shame, since the person is Rina-san?

Her laugh quickly turned into a scandalized gasp as she stared down at her phone in offense. No, she changed her mind. Yuuya wasn’t growing on her.

“Rude,” she said aloud as if he could hear her, without any hint of fondness in her voice. None at all. "Yer such a punk."

Oh, who was she kidding—she sent him memes, shitposts, and festive, holiday-themed selfies every day after that for the rest of the month. If he was pissed about it, well, he texted her first.

#digimonsecretsanta2023 #digimon world series #digimon world re:digitize decode #kuga yuuya #shinomiya rina #hallowed-nebulae #drabble #digimon secret santa exchange #my fics #my writing #digimon fanfic #oh look a digimon fic without takeru??? i am capable hehehe #digimon story series #fluff and humor #fluff #texting fic #mild language