#actually i should make a list of why he most qualifies...

[nat-20s]

People are arguing that Martin Blackwood is a sexy man but not a Tumblr Sexyman and NEED I REMIND YOU that he's the only TMA character that canonically had two versions of himself talking and LOTS of people thought Martin and Also Martin should fuck. If that's not peak fuckin Sexyman right there idk what is

#CMON PEOPLE SELF SHIPPING IS LIKE A HUUUGGEEE PART OF SEXYMAN LORE #tma #martin blackwood #also silly goofy nice guy that also has a murderous streak??? peak sexyman #actually i should make a list of why he most qualifies...

[c-is-for-circinate]

It feels like there's this narrative that fandom keeps wanting to explore, with Steve Harrington, about this very specific type of martyrdom where self-sacrifice is an expression of a lack of self-worth. And, like, yes, write the narrative that's meaningful to you, and yes ok Steve does admittedly get beaten up a lot, but -- legitimately I do not think this narrative is actually Steve's story.

Like, without gendering things too much, there is something in the Steve fanon that I keep seeing that's so reflective of the specific kind of sacrifice and societal pressures exerted on girls, specifically -- this story of 'you make yourself worthy and worthwhile by carving pieces out of yourself', of believing that you must always give and never receive to justify the space you take up in the world. Yes, boys can experience this same pressure (and obviously trans and nb people of all genders run into it as well! sometimes a lot!), but especially in the mid-1980s cultural context where Stranger Things takes place, it's just...really not likely to be a dominant narrative for Steve to be operating under? It doesn't even really match the Steve we see on screen -- who is happy to make sacrifices for the sake of others, yeah, when needed, but who's not particularly kind or giving unless somebody asks first.

And Steve does get hurt a lot on other people's behalf! And this is a problem! It's just a completely different problem than the one fandom keeps writing.

Steve, and I'm going to say this forever, is a story about toxic masculinity, which the show may or may not even know it's writing. The archetypes influencing Steve's character as it shows up on the screen (and the stories and messages that Steve would actually be surrounded by in his actual life) are not deconstructions of suffering heroes who never should have had to fight in the first place and were destroyed by it. That's the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story. Steve's not Buffy. Steve's cultural context is Indiana Jones.

Steve is The Guy! And part of being The Guy is that you're expected to take the hits -- not because Steve is less important than the women-and-children he's supposed to protect, but because, the story says, he will get less hurt. Why should Steve get in between Billy and Lucas? Because Steve is an eighteen-year-old athlete and Lucas is in middle school, and of the two of them, Steve actually stands a chance. (And yes, Steve got badly hurt there, and Max had to save him -- but if Lucas, if Max had taken that beating they would not have been running through those tunnels later.) Was somebody else better-qualified to dive down to the uncertain bottom of a cold lake in the middle of the night? Steve doesn't list his credentials there as a way of justifying some ideal of martyrdom; he is literally the most likely person on the boat not to drown.

And make no mistake: when Steve's pulled into the Upside-Down, he survives the bats long enough for backup to get there. Realistic or not, he's apparently tough enough that he's physically capable of hiking barefoot through hell without much slowing down. Steve is the tank for the same reason as any tank: because he literally has been shown to have the most hit points in the group. You cannot honestly engage with Steve in this context without dealing with the fact that he's right.

AND THIS IS A PROBLEM! This is still a problem! But it's not the same problem that fandom seems to expect. It's not an expression of caretaking or the need for self-sacrifice; it's not an issue with Steve valuing himself less. It's an issue of toxic masculinity so ingrained that Steve doesn't even recognize he's suffering from it, because one of the tenets of toxic masculinity is that Big Strong Guys don't suffer. It's just a concussion, it's fine, he'll walk it off. It's not that Steve thinks he deserves to get hurt, or even that he's less deserving of safety than the others. It's that absolutely nothing in his cultural context allows him to admit that he can be hurt in a significant way.

There's still so much tension that can be gotten out of this situation, I swear. There's so much that can be explored in writing! Hell, the show itself is deconstructing some of this trope, believe it or not, by giving us a Steve who absolutely can take all the hits thrown his direction but still doesn't know what the fuck he's doing with his life. It turns out that doing his job as The Guy is only mildly helpful in horror movie situations (mostly by buying time for smarter, squishier people to do the damage from behind him), and somewhere a little worse than useless in everyday life.

But Steve does not go out of his way to self-sacrifice, he really doesn't. He just does his job. He's The Guy. Of course he's not going to let a kid or a girl or some scared skinny nerd who just learned about monsters yesterday take the hits. Of course Steve's got this.

#Stranger Things #do I dare character-tag this #does this count as an Unpopular Opinion if I'm calling out fanon #eh let's be bold #Steve Harrington #and #toxic masculinity #which is apparently just A Thing I Post About Now

[yuikomorii]

Happy 12th anniversary! 🎉

// I can’t believe so many years have passed since Ayato’s first CD drama, which marked the beginning of Diabolik Lovers and the introduction of my girl, Yui. Even if it got its flaws, I will continue to support this franchise! 💘

I have prepared an edit and a scenario for this special day! It's meant to be a "funny" one, so there will definitely be some cringe moments, but overall it's quite lighthearted. I sincerely hope you find it enjoyable! Besides, I had a blast writing Laito; he always channels my inner mischievousness.

Yui: Hmm… I believe I have all ingredients now!

( Come to think of it, the Sakamaki brothers are vampires but they surprisingly allowed me to celebrate Christmas this year. )

( It’s honestly so ironic that it makes me wonder whether or not they actually did it for… me? )

( A-Ah no, that’s definitely not the case! I’m probably just getting selfish at this point, but I genuinely do appreciate it. For this reason, I’ll try my best to cook all of their favorite dishes so as to show my gratitude! )

( Christmas is such a magical time of the year. It brings back memories of my father and I organizing the annual Christmas Mass together. We used to decorate the church and bake sweets for children, who were so cute when receiving them! Those were activities that truly brought joy to my heart… I sort of miss those times. )

( My father… I wonder, is he preparing for Christmas too? No, he most likely isn’t… )

( I don’t even know where he is to begin with but I truly hope he’s alright… )

( Anyway, I shouldn’t ruin the mood with those thoughts. Now that I've got everything ready for the dishes, I just need to find the right spot to hide Ayato-kun’s pre— )

Ayato: Yo, Chichinashi!

Yui: G-Geez! Ayato-kun, I told you already not to sneak up behind my back!

Ayato: Haa… Fine, fine, I’m sorry.

Yui: It’s— Eh?

( Wait a little, did he just apologize? )

Ayato: Why are you making such a dumb face? You don’t believe my words, do you?

Yui: Y-You got it wrong! It’s just that I wasn’t expecting Ayato-kun to apologize for something so trivial, you see.

Ayato: Hmm, I guess you’re not wrong. But, since Christmas is coming soon, it’d be a pity for Santa Claus to write me on the naughty list after trying to avoid it the whole year.

Yui: Naughty list…?

( Is it just me, or does Ayato-kun really believe Santa Claus will give him a present? I mean… Santa is told to only deliver them to children, and I'm not sure a 17-year-old still qualifies as one. )

( But I can’t straight up tell him that! It will only ruin the magic otherwise… Besides, when that thought crosses my mind, it somehow makes him appear so pure. )

Ayato: Hah? What are you grinning at? I swear, I've made an effort to be a good boy this year!

Yui: That’s really… amazing, Ayato-kun! I’m sure Santa will remember that!

Ayato: Heh? So you really think he’ll bring me something?

Yui: Uhm… Definitely!

( His eyes started sparking, I really can’t say “no” to that…! However, that only means I'll have to get him another gift so that he can have one from "Santa" and another one from me. )

B-By the way, I think I forgot to buy gingerbread syrup. I suppose I should leave before ——

Ayato: No, no, I’ll go!

Yui: You will? Ah, but you don’t have to! I was the one who forgo—…!

( He’s covering my mouth! )

Ayato: Stop blabbering already! Ore-sama offered to buy it for you, so you could try being a bit more grateful!

Yui: That’s… you’re right.

( Maybe it’s for the better. This way, I'll be able to find a hiding place for the present I already have for him. )

Ayato: I’ll be right back!

—Timeskip—

Ayato: Tsk, I can’t believe that shit was out of stock!

Chichinashi will surely be disappointed, if I come home with nothing! After all, she takes all that Christmas stuff seriously…

What's worse is that I tried really hard to find it, but it was already sold out by the time I arrived!

Tsk, damn it! Why must this be so complicated!?

Laito: Well, well. Seems like Ayato-kun is quite moody today.

Ayato: Get lost you pervert, it’s none of your business!

Laito: Haa… how rude of you, Ayato-kun. And there I was actually intending to give you this, but I guess you don’t need it anymore.

Bye bye~!

Ayato: Wait… What’s that thing in your hand?

Laito: What you ask? Nfu, it’s gingerbread syrup, of course. I was able to get the last one today.

Ayato: Wha—! Oi, you better give it to me or else—

Laito: Or else what~?

Ayato: I’ll—… Nevermind.

Look, you know I’m not into cheesy stuff but Chichinashi really loves Christmas, okay? Getting that gingerbread syrup might make her happy ‘cause maybe it’d remind her of how she celebrated it with her pops. That’s why… I can’t believe I’m saying this but… give it to me, please!

Laito: Woah, it’s honesty hour, hm?

Well, whatever, I don’t really care about that gingerbread syrup anyway, so you can take it if you want to.

Ayato: Really? Gr—

Laito: You didn’t let me finish though. I will only give it to you, if you promise me something.

Ayato: Hah? What the hell is it this time!?

Laito: No need to get so worked up~. All you have to do is to ensure that Bitch-chan consumes at least one glass of syrup at the time you bring it to her.

Ayato: That’s it? Pfft, easiest task ever!

Wait… almost a bit too easy.

Oi you perv, you better not plan something behind Ore-sama’s back, understood?

Laito: Normally I would, but Christmas is just around the corner, right? Who would risk being added to the naughty list at the last minute, right?

— hands Ayato the gingerbread syrup—

Place: Living room

Ayato: Yui! Yui! I’m back and look what I found!!

Yui: Good job, Ayato-kun! Thank you so much for helping me!

Ayato: Now take a seat!

— forces her to sit down —

Yui: Eh? What’s happening?

Ayato: Nothing to worry about, just drink this!

— shoves glass of syrup down her throat —

Yui: Mmh…!!

(What on earth!? I can’t breathe—!)

— Yui swallows it —

Ayato: So~, how is it?

— Yui starts coughing —

Yui: It’s… it’s not as sweet as I remembered. This one is quite bitter.

Ayato: Bitter? Don’t spout nonsense, gingerbread can’t be bitter!

Yui: Yeah… thought so too… but..

(My head started spinning around…)

Ayato: Are you even paying attention to what I’m saying?

Yui: Uuh… Sorry, Ayato-kun, I’m suddenly feeling so dizzy…

Ayato: How—?

( The heck’s wrong with her? Is it ‘cause she swallowed that too fast or…? )

Yui: Ayato-kun…

Ayato: What’s it?

Yui: Has anyone ever told you before that you are… extremely cute?

Ayato: Hah!? I mean, yeah, but what’s up with the random confession?

Yui: Eh? Am I not allowed to compliment the most adorable boy in the whole wide world…?

Ayato: Huh—?

Yui: You see, when I look at you like that… you might not be very clear, yet I can’t help but want to protect you…

Ayato: Protect me? D-Don’t say shit like that, it should be the other way around! After all, Ore-sama is the stron—!

(She pinned me down!?)

Yui: Fufu, you’re just so funny when you praise yourself like that…!

Everything about you is so beautiful… your hard yet nicely textured hair, your jade green eyes, your long eyelashes, your ——

Ayato: Tsk, get off me!

— pushes her away —

— Yui falls down —

Yui: Ngh…!

Ayato: …!

Oi! I… I didn’t mean to! Wait, gimme your hand!

— Yui takes his hand and looks up —

Ayato: (Don’t tell me… did that push bring her back to normal? Heh, if that’s so then—)

Yui: Mistletoe…

— puts her hands on his cheeks —

Yui: Holding your face like this makes me realize how soft your cheeks are… They are so round that I wish I could give you more and more Takoyaki until they become even chubbier…!

Ayato: S-Say what—!?

( It’s not like I dislike cheeky women but she’s nuts! )

— Yui gets closer to his lips —

Ayato: …!

*Smooch*

Laito: Fufu, hahaha, look at your face!

Ayato: Oi, Laito! Don’t just stand there staring, help me!

*Smooch*

Laito: Now why would I? After all, I already did you a favor by giving you the gingerbread liquor~!

Ayato: But you— Did you just say gingerbread LIQUOR!?

*Smooch*

Laito: Ex-act-ly! I was simply curious to see what kind of ‘drunk’ Bitch-chan is, and it seems like she’s the honest and horny type.

— takes picture —

Ayato: O-Oi! Don’t you dare to send it to anyone, delete it right now!

Laito: Oh my, look at the time! Now excuse me but I have to take my leave~.

Ayato: You can’t! Save me first!

Laito: Sorry Ayato-kun, no matter how delicious it feels watching you on top of each other while making out in plain sight, I've got better things to do, so... nfu, enjoy while it lasts!

— winks and disappears —

Ayato: You… You bastard! You will pay for this, I swear you wi— Mmh… Mm!

( Now how will I get myself out of THIS situation!? )

( Ugh, that’s what happens when you try helping others. I should have learnt my lesson a long time ago! )

— Yui stops kissing —

Yui: Will Ayato-kun… suck my blood?

Ayato: …!

( Heh, suddenly this doesn’t seem half bad anymore. I might actually grow to like being desired like that~. )

#diabolik lovers #yui komori #dialovers #ayato sakamaki #my edit #ayayui #ayato x yui #admin

[moeyynorris]

Let’s Talk About Chemistry

Let’s Make Trouble in the Dream World - Part 1

Max Verstappen x F!Reader (for now)

Warnings: Some angst (mostly internal), uncertainty in a relationship.

PRELUDE

Moeyy’s Master List

Qualifying was always a big day. The tension was like sludge in the air compared to Practice Friday. Teams hummed in their paddocks, and drivers hovered over the cars as they took in any minor changes made. And, the loved ones of the drivers lingered around, mostly in the shadows.

However, you were not someone who could remain in the shadows. No, the press scrambled to get a glimpse of you doing, well, anything. As someone who had been made famous from social media, it almost felt like the press was scouting you out more than the drivers themselves. That’s why you had been hunting for a quieter place to be for the last hour.

“Y/N,” a familiar voice called from inside the paddock. You slowed your scurried walk to look for the source. The moment your eyes caught the name at the top of the garage, you smiled.

“Charles?” You answered, just as you were greeted by a sweet smile. “How are you?”

Charles offered a hug, which lasted a little longer than you had expected, but it had been a while since you had seen him. Actually, this was only the second race this season that you had gotten the chance to speak to him. And, since it was the middle of the season, it felt like it had been an eternity.

Charles gestured for you to follow him into the garage. You did happily, knowing the press wouldn’t have much to report on in the Ferrari side. Unfortunately, most of the press attention was on Red Bull, and the quickly rising McLarens as of late. At least it was a safe spot for you to lay low before the beginning on qualifying.

“How’s the car?” You asked casually, coming to a stop at Charles’ side. He shrugged, then quickly snapped his gaze to you with a smirk.

“Are you trying to gather information for your love’s team now?” He played with a chuckle. But, you didn’t laugh, which caught him off guard. “I’m joking, Y/N. I know you wouldn’t—“

“No, it’s okay. You said nothing wrong. It’s—never mind.” You returned his smile. “Anything we should be looking out for? I mean, it would be nice to see you on that podium more often. Last weekend was a treat.” Charles nodded in agreement.

“Well, there are some small changes that I hope will give us some advantage. But, I’m just hoping your lover boy lets us all have a chance.” Your stomach churned at his nickname for Max. You didn’t even know what the plan was this weekend for Max. Over the last few months, it was like you weren’t even there. Until now, you blamed nerves of Max’s silence. But, here was Charles, who wasn’t even close to Max’s points in the championship, making time to show you his car. Charles was just a friend, and not one you knew all that well honestly. Max was your… boyfriend. No, it wasn’t the pressure at all.

“Who knows what his plan is this time,” you whispered a little louder than you meant to. Charles stared for a moment, then nodded, as if he could hear every thought. The two of you stood there in silence for a few seconds, before another red-clad driver caught your gaze.

“Bellina!” Carlos charmed as he jogged to you. “Y/N, how are you?” You hugged him, then shrugged.

“Better now that Charles saved me from the press spotlight. They are like a swarm of hornets over the Red Bull garages.”

Carlos rolled his eyes. “Well, the better looking drivers are over here anyway.” He winked, then glanced at Charles. You peered over to the slightly rosy-cheeked Monegasque driver and smiled. “Anyway, I got tickets to your show tonight!” Carlos beamed. You snapped back to him.

“You… got tickets? Carlos, you don’t have to buy tickets. You can just tell me and I will let you through.” You nudged his arm and smiled.

“It was my idea,” Charles chimed from your side. You turned to him, confused.

Charles had never been to one of your shows. Actually, the last time you saw him, he had asked you what kind of music you made. When you said rock, he almost seemed repulsed, and that was the end of it. Now, he was buying tickets? Your stomach flipped…

Which was weird. Why were you so suddenly reactive to Charles?

You struggled to gather your thoughts. “Uh, so you like rock music, Charles?” Charles pursed his lips, then nodded slightly.

“I like most music. I have to say, I haven’t listened to much rock, but since I have a connection to the artist, I should have a listen. You know, to show support.” He offered a smile as a mechanic wizzed past him.

You took a step back realizing the number of people quickly filling the garage around you. Mechanics rushed around the car, and engineers murmured amongst themselves as they gathered around the car.

You peered down at your watch. Q1 started in less than an hour, and you didn’t want to hold up the two drivers any longer than you already had.

“Best of luck, gentleman. I’ll see you after the session. If not, then I will definitely see you tonight. Just let them know you’re with me, and they will let you through if you want to say hi after. I mean, they should know who you are anyway.” You grinned, then leaned in for a hug from Carlos. He squeezed you, as he always did, and nodded goodbye. Then, you turned to Charles.

Charles was more of a quiet, gentle soul compared to his teammate, at least on the outside. But, the last few times you had chatted with Leclerc, you had noticed a mischievous side. He offered subtle hints to his prankster side, and even let slip a few lines from his dirty sense of humor. A part of you hoped to see that side of him more.

You leaned in to wish your friend luck, wrapping your arms loosely around his shoulders. His right arm braced your lower back a little stronger than you expected, pulling you against him. Your grip instantly tightened around his neck as his other hand gently cradled the back of your head.

Your heart started to race as you accepted the oddly positive emotions flooding you. You felt safe, warm, happy. It had been quite a while since a hug made you feel like that.

Your eyes fluttered open as Charles slowly released you. You stared up at him for another moment, then flash.

#charles leclerc #formula 1 #max verstappen #max verstappen x you #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen angst #charles leclerc x reader #carlos sainz #f1 #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine

[thedo0zyslider]

Show Your Fangs - 2k Words

Fwhip just so happens to be a vampire, a vampire with quite the big problem, even if he doesn't think it's that big of a deal in the end. Fortunately, or unfortunately, help comes from a rather unlikely (and perhaps a slightly unwanted but also not really unwanted) place...

A03 Link

Fwhip starts a day like any good day should start, teasing and terrorizing his (least) favorite fish man.

He has shown up to place TNT at Jimmy’s base many of times, so much so that it’s practically a weekly occurrence at this point. He shows up, he places the explosives, teases the cod about exploding them and anything else that comes to mind, and weasels his way away before he does any serious, war escalating damage.

It’s fun, for him anyways, and when he arrives in the Codlands that day to do all of the very things listed above, it is supposed to go exactly as expected.

That is until he collapses, right in the middle of teasing jimmy. The Count doesn’t pass out, not really, just sort of falls to the ground like his limbs had given up on him randomly as the world turns black for the smallest of seconds. Which they had done, but at least it's not random to him, at least he can guess at the reason why. It is probably entirely random to Jimmy though.

The cod, effortlessly and frustratingly kind, lets out a sound of alarm, and rushes to help the Count back to his feet. Which is how he ends up leaning against Jimmy, which Fwhip hates, for the record, and being led back into his tiny shack of a house. Something so small it barely qualifies for a house, but looks much bigger on the inside. Like way too big.

He is set down on Jimmy’s couch, and hates the way his body sags in relief as he is. Jimmy, who has suddenly become a vigilant mother hen, notices, and a trace of what is absolutely genuine concern flashes in his gaze.

“You okay dude?” Jimmy asks, raising a curious eyebrow at him.

“Yeah I just….have like a deficiency or something.” Fwhip lies, tries to pass it off best he can, and knows whatever he says isn’t going to work.

“Really?” The blonde says, pretty, cow like brown eyes now narrowed. “A deficiency or something? A deficiency in what? ’ It is that that Fwhip cannot come up with a good excuse for, and Jimmy starts demanding to know why the nuisance in front of him almost passed out in the middle of his empire.

Fwhip sighs, and starts this discussion the best he can. “Ya know how I;m kinda a vampire right?” He asks, now being the one to raise a brow at the Codfather.

“Yes..” Jimmy’s reply is uncertain, and he shuffles his weight a bit, like he’d almost forgotten the fact. Though Fwhip could hardly blame him, he himself didn’t even like bringing it up much. Or thinking about it for that matter.

“Well I usually get the blood I need from Sausage’s sheep, since he always has dozens of ‘em. But i er, haven;t had a chance to do that recently…” Fwhip explains, sounding a bit sheepish. Mostly because it was stupid and something he could’ve, and should’ve, taken care of days ago. But even the Grimlands glorious Count has his stupid moments.

“You forgot and now you’re starving, is that what you’re telling me?” Jimmy deadpans, the most unimpressed look the Count has ever seen on anyone plastered across his face.

The Count goes to resume speaking, already trying to worm his way out of this weird little predicament his stupid need to feed had landed him in. Unfortunately, Jimmy does not allow that to get very far. “Yeah, yeah basically.” “I’ll just, go home now, eat when I get there-”

“You could feed off me.”

“ What. ” Fwhip blinks a few times, maybe even pinches himself to make sure he’s not dreaming, and that the idiot in front of him actually just said that.

“I said you could feed off me.” Jimmy repeats, tone flat and serious. Fwhip can barely believe his ears a second time.

“No I can’t, I can’t do that! ” The Count yelps out a protest. It wounds fun, enjoyable even to drink a human’s (well, a humanoid’s ,) blood. It also makes part of him squirm with some deep seeded discomfort he does not want to deal with at the moment.

“Why?” Jimmy asks, and the question is powerful. It is also a question Fwhip does not have an answer to, so he says nothing. And his responding silence is absolutely damning.

“Well, there you go,” Jimmy begins. Unbeknownst to him, blue eyes are already being flicked dangerously downwards towards his very vulnerable throat. “You can just feed on me and get it over with-!”

His sentence is cut off by a loud yelp and Fwhip moving at what seems to be lightning speed. Before either of them even knows what happened he’s stood from the couch, and has crossed the room in a heartbeat. The Count presses Jimmy to the wall, the vampire part of his brain having taken over for a moment. Jimmy’s breath seems to hitch, and Fwhip doesn;t catch it, but a pinkish hue starts to lightly dust his cheeks.

“Are you sure about this?” Fwhip asks, voice low. Jimmy stares back into his eyes, seemingly a little transfixed by the whole ordeal. Warm hands are gripping the cod’s waist, keeping him steadily against the wall. Both of them are breathing quite heavily, breaths mingling together at the proximity. Fwhip’s eyes cannot decide if they want to look at Jimmy’s eyes, his lips, or his very exposed and tempting neck.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure." The blonde breaths quietly. And Fwhip doesn't waste a second moving his downwards. He lines his teeth up best he can, brushing them across soft skin. Jimmy squirms under him until he bites down, and Fwhip draws back as soon as he does, feeling the other tense before he can even let out any kind of pained noise.

"You didn't take any." Jimmy mumbles quite obviously, Fwhip moving so they can make eye contact again. If their faces had gotten a few inches closer, well that wasn't for anyone but them to know now was it.

"Sorry, I just....don't really wanna hurt you." He mutters, watching as the blonde slowly moves his head back to wher it used to be.

"Don't worry about it," The cod mutters, voice incredibly soft for a fleeting moment. Fwhip, who has been left with his face in front of Jimmy’s throat, but not doing much other than look at it, feel his own breath hitch. There's something fluttering in his stomach, something to investigate later.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Jimmy muttered, eyes flicking down ever so slightly. Even though the cod probably couldn’t tell, Fwip nodded anyway. Slowly and still very hesitantly, he angled his head once more, a bit down as gently as he could. Despite that, Jimmy still lets out a short hiss of pain, and his hands scramble to find purchase on something. The blonde managed to grab onto Fwhip’s shoulder, and dug in maybe a little too hard.

The Count doesn’t notice it much though, already beginning to lap up the blood for the rather shallow incision he’d made. He only backs off when Jimmy makes the smallest sound of pain, doing so instantly.

He pulls back, breath ghosting over the cod’s neck. That didn’t fill him up at all, the rather pitiful amount of blood having hardly made a dent in his hunger. Somehow, the blonde seemed to sense this, maybe by the very obvious way Fwhip still seemed to be laser focused on his neck and the small amounts of drying blood left on it.

“Wasn’t enough, was it?” Jimmy asks him through small pants.

Fwhip just shakes his head in response. “No..”

“Then bite me again.” The cod says. Fwhip, a little less hesitant, nods again. He reaches his head down once more, and sinks his teeth into Jimmy’s ever so delicate skin for technically the third time that night.

The blonde only lets out a small sound of pain that time, and Fwhip hopes he’s getting slightly used to the whole process; in case they ever need to do this again. Though the Count will avoid getting his hopes up for that. He decides to drink his fill this time, wanting to get the whole thing over with for good, which turns out to be a very good decision. Mostly because he gets properly fed, and the blonde below him starts letting out sounds that seem to be the very opposite of pain.

Jimmy lets out a pleased whimper, craning his neck back as Fwhip sucks more and more blood from it. The cod shivers under him everytime the vampire’s tongue runs along his skin, and once Fwhip has had his fill, and maybe slightly before it, he lets himself become carried away, and presses open mouthed kisses to Jimmy’s skin. He learns quickly, after some accidental trial and error, to avoid the codfolk’s gills when taking blood, but to go straight for them once the activity diverts into something else; the noises Jimmy makes when he does so are quite lovely on the ears.

The kisses trail upwards, slowly but surely, until they are being peppering along the Codfather’s jawline. He even goes to lift Jimmy off the ground, the cod’s legs wrapping around his hips for support. One hand tangled in Fwhip’s hair, eliciting a noise from the Count himself, and the other grabbed the back of his head and held it tightly. He moves the kiss further up still, until he is pressing them teasingly to the side of Jimmy’s mouth, and the cod gets impatient and connects their lips himself.

Fwhip hums into it, wasting no time slipping his tongue into the blonde’s mouth. It’s a messy kiss, a very intense one too, not that he minds in the slightest bit. Jimmy bites his lip at one point, the Count bites back and goes on to explore Jimmy’s mouth so more, memorizing the feel of it best he can, for he doubts he’s getting this chance ever again.

They pull away for a quick second, maybe even less than that, panting heavily, before Jimmy’s drawing Fwhip back in to kiss him stupid once more. He groans into this time, pushing the Codfather up against the wall until he physically can’t anymore. Jimmy bites at his lip again, and Fwhip feels himself melt. It’s nice to be bit for once he decides, as the one who’s usually doing all the biting.

The two of them move away one last time, both panting heavier than they had been before. Fwhip moves away, putting Jimmy back on the ground. The cod stumbles as soon as he’s on his feet again, and before long he’s leaning against Fwhip to stay upright. He’d taken too much blood, it seems, which wasn’t good per say.

He hurries over to the couch best he can, the blonde carefully clutched in his arms. He sets Jimmy down, laying his head against the back of the couch, before running to grab some stuff from the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what snacks Jimmy had in his kitchen, but he managed to grab something, along with preparing a glass of water. The Count thinks that’s what helps with blood loss, but he’s not too sure. Still, it’ll probably do more good than harm regardless.

“Here,” He says softly, having returned to the couch. “Take this.” He hands Jimmy the food he’d grabbed, a cookie, apparently, and placed the glass of water on the table. The Codfather did take what he was offered, though it took a second for him to do so.

A few minutes of silence stretched out between them, Fwhip awkwardly standing in his enemies living room all the while. Jimmy sat on the couch, quietly eating and taking a few sips of water in between. He watches as the blonde blinks a few times, ost likely clearing the spots from his vision.

“Thanks.” Jimmy mumbles, doing so around the last mouthful of cookie.

“No problem,” Fwhip responds, hands shoved in his pockets as casually as he can manage to make it appear. “Did that help any?”

“A bit, I probably need to lie down though.” The cod cracks a small smile, and Fwhip cannot tell if it forced or if it is genuine.

“Well, I’ll let you do that then.” He says it with a shrug, like each of them hadn’t just enthusiastically sucked face with a man they hated for a good five minutes, and starts heading towards the door. The thing that stops him, calls him back, the only thing that could, is Jimmy gently calling out his name; like it wasn’t meant to be heard in the first place.

“If you ever need this again, just come to me okay? “M happy to help.” Jimmy says, and maybe his tone is a little hopeful. Maybe he liked the blood sucking that much, which was entirely possible, for Fwhip didn’t know what this guy was into. The more likely option was probably that he wanted another excuse to make out again, and the Count couldn’t even fault him for that.

It was taking a lot of willpower to not kiss Jimmy goodbye, and the knowledge that the cod would welcome it was not helping his impulse control one single bit. It was doing the complete opposite of that, actually.

But Fwhip does not walk over and kiss Jimmy, no, all he does is look at him and gives the best smile he can muster. “Yeah,” He shrugs again, turning back towards the door ever so slightly. “I’ll let you know if I, ah…need this again.” As he says this Fwhip knows how easy it is for vampire to run back towards an easy source of human blood, and decides he’s not going to be like that. He’s not going to be easy, and certainly not for the dumb codboy of all people, even if he really, really wants to and it would solve like, half his personal problems to do so.

“Bye.” Jimmy calls out as Fwhip places his hand on the door knob.

The Count can’t bring himself to respond, not even with a simple goodbye, so he just wipes any stray blood from his lips, and opens the door to leave. He thinks he feels the sad gaze of Jimmy on his back as he leaves, door closing behind him, but even that can’t bring him back thai time. Some people would say he’s running away, and if Fwhip knows whatever that weird feeling he’s running from is, he's not going to acknowledge.

He’s just going to go home to forever wallow over blood and the kisses he will never allow himself to have again.

#ron.fic #ron.writing #jimmy solidarity #empires smp #empiresblr #empireshipping #count fwhip #fwhip #the codfather #empires jimmy #empires fwhip #woe. vampire fwhip be upon ye #me when i finish this at 5 am lololll

[the1975attheirverybest]

hes just being messy, he was with meredith in la last wednesday and then now is like very public with gab. i actually feel pretty bad for meredith, the unfollow makes me think she thought they were more serious than they were. i dont think dating casually is a crime but all parties should at least be on the same page 😕 (no need to post this just telling you)

I’m very confused by all this and I guess y’all really don’t understand boundaries, respect, or consent. But since I’ve deleted just about 40 asks about this in the past 48 hours or so, fine. I guess we are talking about this. (Not directed at you alone or anything just my general feelings on the subject and on the fandom.) you wanna talk about Matty’s love life? Let’s talk about it.

Matty is 34 years old. Which means he’s well above the legal age of consent and, yeah, god help him, as a cis straight man, he do be acting like an absolute child sometimes, BUT it’s his life. His decisions to make.

From everything that we know about him, and especially after the ENTIRE FUCKIN WORLD turned against him over the summer, he is a lot more kind, compassionate, smart, self-aware, gentle, and pure-hearted than anyone’s ever given him credit for. Even his own fans. Say what you will about Matty Healy, but if it were me, in his shoes, I’d feel more than entitled to be Turner bitter towards the public what with the way we all (yes, we, as his fans too) have been treating him. But NOPE. Matty is a way bigger person than most of us. He didn’t say a damn thing. He kept his mouth shut and his head down and he did what he needed to do, he never let any of it deter him from being vulnerable and honest with us and putting on the best fuckin show that he could possible put on every fuckin night.

If that doesn’t earn him the benefit of the doubt then I don’t know what will.

I’m not sure why or when some of us have decided that it is our place to observe what goes on in his love life, to monitor his following/followers lists, to draw conclusions based on those numbers, or to consume public glimpses of his interior life as if it’s some tv show or movie or reality tv, even when those images are taken without his consent, and decide Meredith is not “marriage material” or Gabriette has “an aesthetic that I can finally get behind” (which, by the way, is a very sexist and disgusting thing to say about them as well as Matty, but I guess this fandom is hypocritical and will turn against its own values as soon as Matty Healy’s dick is involved), but at some point apparently that happened and we started to treat him as less than human.

Fine, fine, I’ll even give you that much. Be sexist. Be judgmental and creepy and all up his ass. But to do all that and then “feel sorry for Meredith” call him a “mess”??? When you LITERALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED BETWEEN THEM?!!!!! How do know she thought it was more serious than it is??? Were you there??? Since we’re making judgements and assumptions based on the tiny fragments that we see, I’m gonna go ahead and make a judgment of my own and say since I didn’t see you in the middle holding one of his hands and one of hers, then you weren’t there. So why do you feel qualified to talk about what he may or may not have done??? Do you know him? Is he your bestie???? Did he confide in you??? Hmm? Fuckin tell me!!!!

To summarize: he’s a form of entertainment to you. You don’t care about his boundaries. And you have such a low opinion of him that (despite him proving in what is objectively one of the worst things to happen to a public figure, that he’s endlessly graceful and kind) you will comfortably assume the worst of him without A SHRED OF ANYTHING REMOTELY RESEMBLING EVIDENCE. So….why are you a fan? Hmm? Why do you feel comfortable supporting someone you think so little or and have no respect for as a human being?

If any of you really think “he deserve love” and “he deserves companionship.” Then you’d shut the fuck up, stop engaging with content that commodities and dehumanizes him, and mind your fuckin business for fucks sakes.

I mean, how would you like it if, based on a 7 second story on Instagram, or a tweet you made about your personal life or whatever, I (somehow who knows absolutely nothing about you) came up to you and was like “omg I noticed so and so has unfollowed you. Then two days later you posted a pic with this other person. You must have really crushed someone’s heart and led them on making them believe you were more serious than you actually were. And now you’re using this other person who appeared in a picture with you. That is concerning behavior my friend.” If you’re okay with me doing that to you then you and I must live wildly different realities.

[whathorselegs]

Hi.... If you don't mind, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Bungou Stray Dogs? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this before.....

No need to apologise, I’m happy to answer! :D 

Lets see, fave characters, it’s so hard to narrow it down to just five because I love most of the BSD characters

Surprise to no one, Chuuya. I love my scrunkly boy. For as little as he appears in the main story he steals every scene he’s in, his light novels have so much character to explore. His backstory is wild. There’s so much for me to sink my teeth into in terms of character and so little there’s a lot of room to theorise. He has a fun personality to attempt to write as well. I have a lot of Chuuya posts so I won’t rant too much about him here.

Kunikida was definitely my first favourite character. Strict but caring, follows the rules but they are his own rules, reluctant mentor figure, thrown into a high position at such a young age, really smart but such a dumbass. Dazai’s character in season 1 wouldn’t nearly be so enjoyable if he didn’t have Kunikida to reign him in. I love his dynamic with Atsushi, he doesn’t want to be a mentor, but he doesn’t want this kid to get hurt. So he tries to land somewhere in the middle. He tries to get Atsushi to arrive at the right conclusion himself, he wants him to grow on his own, but will be there for him when he needs it.

Yosano, BSD needs more Yosano content. Again, I loved her dynamic with Atsushi during the train heist. Her and Kaiji’s conflict of beliefs about the value of human life and death was so interesting. Her past with Mori was definitely interesting too, but I am much more interested in seeing more of the present day Yosano. I don’t want her to be forced out into the field, because that’s something she doesn’t want, but I would love to just know more about her role in the agency. Her day to day. More of her beliefs. More exploration of how her trauma affected her ability to heal people. Is she even a real qualified doctor?? Did she actually go to med school??? Because some part of me wouldn't be surprised she didn’t, given her history.

Akutagawa siblings. I’m putting them as one because a lot of what makes Akutagawa interesting to me is his relationship with Gin. I love main timeline Akutagawa and all his complexities but Beast!Aku is golden. I love the Beast movie so much that when I picture Akutagawa I picture the actor, not the cartoon man, haha. They are both little creatures to me, I wish their dynamic was more explored. I wish Gin was explored more in general, pretty sure we see them the least out of all of Black Lizard.

Dazai. Here’s the thing, originally, I wasn’t much of a Dazai fan. I didn’t not like him, but he wasn’t my favourite. BUT then I started reading the real Dazai Osamu’s works and I love his writing. Rewatching BSD and starting the manga, after I had read some of Dazai Osamu’s works, gave me a better appreciation for the BSD character. NLH, Setting Sun, Flowers of Buffoonery and Dazai Osamu’s fairytale retellings, all very much affect how I view Dazai and how I write his character. I have a very love/hate relationship with writing him though because I’m constantly questioning whether or not he would do X actions, but then I remember the characters in the books would, so I write it in anyways, haha.

Honourable mentions: Aya, Kenji, Kyouka, Atsushi, Bram, all of The Flags, Lucy (Okay I’m going to stop before I list them all)

Favourite moments:

It’s got to be Chuuya fighting a literal dragon, right? I’ve rewatched Dead Apple a lot, I never tire of Chuuya throwing a building down a dragon’s throat. And of course Chuuya screaming Dazai’s name in the midst of corruption. Not even in a shippy way, but in the context of Dazai should be dead, as far as anyone else knows he’s dead, but Chuuya believes in his ability to survive. He believes even when it’s supposed to be impossible, if he uses corruption, Dazai will be there to stop it. And if he’s wrong, he accepts dying alongside him. That’s about as ride or die as it gets and I love it.

Atsushi jumps to save Kyouka. He has no reason to, other than despite all he’s been through, he still believes people deserve to live, they deserve to be told that. Kyouka was willing to die to stop hurting people, to pay penance for an ability she had no control over and Atsushi was willing to die trying to save her. I don’t care what people say, Atsushi is a good main character, I don’t care that he cries a lot or that he needs saving and losses fights. I care about how much he cares. I care that he sees good in people like Kyouka and Dazai, he sees the good in Lucy. Moments like this make me love BSD.

Similar vein, Lucy frees Atsushi. Helping Atsushi is a lose/lose scenario in Lucy’s perspective. The guild is all she has, the only place that has ever given her some value. Atsushi is the man that robbed her of that value. But in this confrontation she learns Atsushi is a lot like her, that in this one conversation he has attempted to understand her pain better than anyone else in the guild and so she takes a chance on Atsushi. She chooses to help him and Yokohama despite knowing it will cost her everything she has. And she does it with a smile on her face like it’s nothing. Love Lucy so much.

Ranpo can’t ride public transport by himself. This one is a little silly, but you see I am a neurodivergent adult who also really struggles with public transport. Trains scare the heck out of me, so I don’t go on them alone. Ranpo is just like me for real and it gave me a silly little serotonin to see it.

Okay, I tried not doing two Chuuya scenes but Chuuya showing up to save the agency in a helicopter and throwing bullets at the Hunting Dogs is also one of my faves. Especially as he was sent there to save them and then Kunikida goes and jumps out the thing and blows himself up anyway, it’s just funny. BSD does a good job of balancing action and humour and serious moments very well. This is supposed to be an epic sacrifice for Kunikida, his friends all think he’s dead. But looking at it from Chuuya’s perspective is funny. People say “Oh, why didn’t Chuuya do anything” like Kunikida really gave him a chance to. Maybe he did have a plan and maybe he didn’t get a chance to do anything because Tall, Blond and Explody over there leapt out the door.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #ask #rambling #long post #I went on a big tangent here haha #thank you for the ask! It was fun answering!

[drivinmeinsane]

Hi! Just super curious about what are your top three favorite Ryan Gosling movies and why?

Firstly, thank you for the question!!! You had me fighting for my life trying to decide, but I think I've narrowed it down to these three in order of favoritism based on what I have watched. There's still a (very) small handful of movies with Ryan Gosling that I haven't seen.

When it comes to picking a favorite movie, the characters and the themes/overarching motifs are what speak to me. So these picks are based on vibes, not anything technical... if that makes any sense?

1. Drive

This is my favorite movie even outside of the Ryan Gosling qualifier. I was hooked from the minute I heard Driver's opening dialogue. Driver's swinging between violence and tenderness? The futile destruction of everything to keep a found family dynamic intact because he needs it so badly? The intensity of Driver himself? The way he's largely silent, but there's so much to be read in the absence of words? I'm feral for it all.

The threads from some scenes connecting to others in unexpected ways was phenomenal (the no good sharks scene tying into the car chase with Nino gets me every time). I loved the setting, the characters, the lighting, the soundtrack... just all of it. 10/10. I could write entire essays on this movie.

2. Blade Runner 2049

I found the character of K to be so compelling. His devastating exploration of what it means to be a human being, to be important in a way that he feels matters... it's heartbreaking. I was also drawn to the relationship he had with Joi. It was a bittersweet insight to K's mind and his desire to be wanted, loved.

It's a movie that has stuck with me ever since I first watched it. There's numerous scenes and lines that have taken up residency in my thoughts. The performance that Gosling gave was truly incredible. He breathed so much life into a character that, by all rights, should have been a soulless, stoic machine. As with Drive, I could go on and on about this movie.

3. The Gray Man

This is a movie I don't mind watching again and again (It's turned into a bit of a comfort movie, I'm afraid). I absolutely loved the character of Courtland Gentry/Sierra Six. He stands out in a sea of misogynistic, arrogant "macho men" that tend to populate movies of this genre. He's resilient, he's personable, and, most importantly, he's kind. Despite his line of work, there's this massive capacity for care that we see throughout the movie. It doesn't make his life any easier (we see it negatively affect him time and time again), but he doesn't lose that aspect of himself regardless of the outcome. That's the kind of thing that makes me root for a character and actually get invested in their story.

I also really enjoyed his dynamic with Claire and Fitzroy. I'm always a sucker for found family and grouchy, fictional men metaphorically adopting kids.

It was so difficult not to put Barbie or Stay on this list.

I adore the Barbie movie so much, but it didn't feel right to put it on a Gosling-centric list because it's at least as much a Margot Robbie movie as it's a Ryan Gosling movie. Ken is such a great character and I think Gosling went above and beyond and put his whole heart into the performance. It's a ten in my books for sure, so just because it's not one of these three, that doesn't mean I forgot about it or didn't like it!

Stay very nearly unseated The Gray Man for the third position. I love the character of Henry Letham. I also love dang near everything about the movie. It's just a hard watch for me, too personal in a way that makes it difficult to have the same rewatchability as its competitor.

#ryan gosling #drive 2011 #blade runner 2049 #the gray man #yikes #I didn't mean for this to be such a long response #i got carried away 😔 #🐝 #from you

[pixeljade]

Looks like Photomatt has now deleted several of his posts regarding this whole incident, and edited the original one with further context. The edits to the original are 1) admitting that the hammer part of the "threat" seems silly but that he's apparently "almost died by car accident twice" (which, even if its true, are we taking into account personal triggers for what qualifies as harassment? And if so, why is misgendering people not considered one of those triggers?) And 2) adding that apparently Avery/Rita had "over 20 different blogs" which have names "so sexual to list them here would require a mature tag". (Which, he is perfectly capable of doing, and also it should be noted, there's not really rules against mature content so long as its tagged. There's been no proof of any untagged content. And third here, this is a *sex worker* we are talking about of COURSE she's got horny blogs!)

The posts which were deleted were largely the post-blowup tantrum replies, nothing too major there but overall trying to sweep away the tantrum. One post of note which was deleted is the one where he said the oh you know what i screenshotted it so lemme just post it

This is the one i'm most concerned about. This is the one where he mentions *pulling out investment* as well as saying "oh gosh I suddenly have empathy for those dealing with harassment campaigns now that I'm the victim of one".

Why do I think he deleted this one? He's scared of legal action. See, Tumblr was previously sued for bigoted moderation during the post-porn-ban era, and part of the stipulations is that they must make efforts to fix that. Then, we got in his other major post about this the tidbit that they *outsourced their moderation* and that they *had a known transphobic moderator in that company* LITERALLY last year. And now THIS post says that there (probably) werent plans to fix moderation before his sabbatical began, and even adds on that only *now* does he have empathy for how tumblr's poor moderation tools have made harassment a nightmare. Combine with multiple trustworthy testimonies that queer staff previously pointed this out to him...it sounds like the threat of legal action over moderation problems just led him to utterly ignore that problem until *JUST NOW*.

Now I am no legal expert. I have no clue whether this was culpable enough to show that he didnt make reasonable effort to fix biased moderation. Its entirely possible that fhis only sounds culpable to my untrained eye, and that he actually used secret language which dodges that culpability. But considering there's actual threat of lawsuit again now, and he posted all of this?

Well. Yeah, I'd delete some shit too. Too bad its probably too late. Anyways if you do nuke the site Matt I hope this follows you til you die. Or you could actually man up, and ask your lawyers whats the cheapest way you can apologize for this fuckup. It wouldnt erase this problem, but I think all of us would stop mocking you relentlessly if you at least had the guts to do that.

[toxic-ship-tournament]

ROUND 2 / SIDE A / POLL 2

Esmerelda Poofenplotz x Alice Luoja (@cantdanceflynn) vs Res x Leo (@adanaac)

who makes up your ship?:

Esmeralda Poofenplotz(Canon Phineas and Ferb character(although I draw her differently from canon)) and Alice Luoja(Background character turned Phineas and Ferb oc)

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

THEY BASICALLY STARTED OUT AS TWO DUMBASS TOXIC AF TEENAGERS GOING TO EVIL SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL TOGETHER AND BEING THE TERRORS OF THE SCHOOL(POOFENPLOTZ BC SHES BIG ON BEAUTY AND WOULD BASICALLY DESTROY EVERYONE'S SELF ESTEEM AND ALICE BC. SHES WILLING TO KILL ANYONE WHO RLY FUCKS W HER), AND WHILE THEY ORIGINALLY HAD A RIVALRY IT GOT A LIL TOO HOMOEROTIC VERY QUICKLY AND THEY DON'T RLY KNOW HOW BUT THEY ENDED UP DATING. THEY ENDED UP, SURPRISE SURPRISE, RUINING EACH OTHER EVEN FURTHER THEN THE TWO OF THEM WERE ALREADY TRAUMATIZED!!!! A TYPICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN EM PRETTY MUCH WENT ALONG THE LINES OF POOFENPLOTZ POKING FUN AT SOMETHING ABOUT ALICES BODY OR PERSONALITY SHE KNEW WOULD TICK ALICE OFF("YOU KNOW, I'M NOT SAYING YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT, BUT THROWING UP YOUR LUNCH LATER COULDN'T HURT"), ALICE GETTING PISSED OFF AND PULLING A KNIFE ON HER("YOU KNOW, MAYBE THIS TIME I'LL CHOP OFF YOUR TONGUE, STOP THAT HORRIBLE NOISE YOU CALL A VOICE"), AND THEN SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN OR ONE OF THEM WOULD FUMBLE OR FLIRT AND THEY'D JUST GO BACK TO NORMAL BANTER AND TERRORIZING PEOPLE. THEY DID CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER, AND WHATEVER THEY WERE EXPERIENCING CERTAINLY FIT SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE STRANGE AND NEBULOUS RANGE OF ROMANTIC LOVE, LIKE THEY DEFINITELY LIKED EACH OTHER, THEY WERE JUST TOXIC AS SHIT AND HAVING THEIR BEHAVIORS EXPANDED UPON OR REINFORCED BY THEIR ENVIRONMENT. EVENTUALLY ALICES OBSESSION W GODHOOD AND HER IDEA OF PERFECTION (ONE THAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE, EVEN IF POOFENPLOTZ MADE IT MORE PHYSICAL) ENDED UP DRIVING THE TWO APART, WITH HOW HORRIBLE ALICES DECLINE WAS, AND POOFENPLOTZ ENDED UP BASICALLY LEAVING AND IGNORING HER AS A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SNAP HER OUT OF HER DECLINE BUT ONLY PULLED HER FURTHER IN. AS IT STANDS NOW IN THE PRESENT, THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS A COMPLICATED SPIRAL OF "POOFENPLOTZ ACTUALLY HEALED AND REALIZED HOW AWFUL SHE WAS BEING AND WHILE SHE STILL HAD A DEGREE IN EVIL SCIENCE SHE HAD TO USE SO SHE MIGHT AS WELL GET A JOB DOING THAT, SHES ALSO RLY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING W THE CAST AND HELP THEM, ESPECIALLY MILLIE AND PINKY, WHILE ALSO DEALING W " WHOOPS YOUR EX IS BACK IN TOWN AND SHES NOW BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE DEATHS THEN MOST FULL ON TERRORISM COMBINED, BUT SHE IS ALSO STILL KINDA HOT SO *NONCOMMITTAL HAND GESTURE*, YA KNOW?", MEANWHILE ALICE IS "OH RIGHT. SHE QUALIFIES FOR LOVEMUFFIN TOO. IM ALLOWED TO DENY ON HER ON TERMS OF HER BEING MY EX, RIGHT? BUT ALSO IM STILL GONNA INVITE HER TO OUR MEETINGS AND ALSO OFFER TO LET HER " LEAD" THE CULT IVE MADE THAT CONSISTS BASICALLY JUST OF MY VERY ABUSED OWN SON AND A VERY ABUSED TEENAGER WITH ME BC IF I CAN CHANGE HER MIND I CAN CHANGE ANYONES!"

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

Esmeralice, https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnP0Xop8gS5VdFNCP4Uetvq2pM5A9NZTe <- BAD PLAYLIST BY MY STANDARDS OF USUALLY A HUNDRED SONGS AT LEAST BUT ITLL DO FOR NOW

****

who makes up your ship?:

Res and Leo

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

Leo can’t remember anything that has happened to him before the age of twelve. All anyone knows is that he was in an accident that should have killed him, then he returned with an indestructible body and a void where his personality should be. He cannot comprehend good or evil, does not understand the concept known as ‘choice’, and cannot envision an existence where Res isn’t his Master. He imprinted onto Res the moment he met the other man and pushed himself into Res’ life without considering whether or not Res might want it. His first Master did not pass, he simply changed how he looked, and what he looks like now is Res. Period. He has nothing to offer, nothing to say, no emotions and no heart to give. All he knows are the facts, and the facts tell him that there is no Leo without Res. So he’ll make sure that there’s no Res without Leo. Res has always been very into science, but he isn’t too fond of how there are a bit too many restrictions on the experiments he can perform, and he’s even less fond of how they die whenever he tries some of his more ‘exciting’ stuff. Thankfully he has Leo, his little obedient puppy who will obey his every word and donate his body for research. Of course, he’s never asked him whether he was okay with that, but signing a consent form is so old school. He believes that we should be doers, not dreamers, and he’s always wanted to see what the insides of Leo’s body looked like. And all the resistance it’s putting up just makes it all the more exciting. Leo spells unending excitement, and that’s all the reason Res needs to make sure no one else has him. Res is life, but he is not Leo’s purpose for living, because Leo has not questioned whether or not life has a purpose. He doesn’t need to. Res is Leo’s Master, and Leo’s Master is the very concept of life itself. Without his Master, the earth does not spin, and the sun does not shine. Why would it be anything else? Leo is not a person, he is Res’ dream. The dream of a creature that would do nothing but obey his every word, and the dream of an anomaly that he could endlessly explore without an expiration date. A thing that Res will never get bored of. To Res, Leo is just an adorable lab rat who happens to be the only one in the world who can fulfill his dreams. He does not care for Leo, the person, because Leo is not a person, but he does care about Leo, the humanoid playground that belongs to Res, and Res alone. This is love, because love is when someone makes your heart race, and love is when someone makes you feel like you’re free-falling into obsession. Res loves him, loves him, loves him loves him loves himloveshim. Just as we don’t get emotionally attached to the oxygen that keeps our heart beating, Leo does not get emotionally attached to Res, and he doesn’t need to. This isn’t love, it’s something more than that. Love can change, fade and evolve- it’s fickle, fleeting and easily manipulated. What Leo and Res have is a constant. Res belongs with Leo, and Leo belongs with Res. Don’t argue with the facts. Because you’re wrong, and Leo will make sure you know you’re wrong, no matter who you are. It’s a good thing they’re with each other, and no one else. (Leo is Uno's oc, Res is Canada's oc. Above description written by Uno. Canada's description below) They're basically like those AITA stories where both are the asshole and its a good thing they're together and making each other worse. btw Res is the short pink one and Leo is the tall one.

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

#alice x esmerelda #res x leo #cantdanceflynn #adanaac #toxic ship tournament

[champagnepodiums]

Okay; I’m gonna request something and I’m expecting a full essay if you are down.

Okay so; In your honest opinion I want to know who you think are the top 5 drivers whom were truly the best in there respected times of driving but you don’t have to do fia racing (f1,f2 or f3) if you choose not to, it can be IndyCar drivers, NASCAR drivers and or rally or moto gp drivers; you Can choose whatever one you want but all 5 drivers have to have raced in that respected Motorsport.

This leads to the question why you think they are best drivers of there time and how you think these drivers made the Motorsport into what it is today.

But here’s the kicker one of these drivers have to be from the current grid; and I want to know how you think this driver(s) is/are gonna change the future of Motorsports.

OKAY so firstly, this ask gave me STRESS DREAMS last night because CHOOSING ONLY FIVE?!?!?!

My research focus at the moment is American Open-Wheel (which is what I personally use to encompass all of the different sanctioning bodies because it's easier than listing them all out) so I felt like I was most qualified and knowledgeable to select these 5 drivers (but it probably made it so much harder).

So here are the five drivers who I think are both the greatest in terms of racing talent and helped shape motorsport into what it was today:

Ralph DePalma: First and foremost, I do want to say that I wholeheartedly believe that every motorsport fan should know who Ralph DePalma is because his career was legendary. The Motorsport Hall of Fame of America estimates that over the course of his career, Ralph won somewhere in the ballpark of 2,000 races. WON. (Not entered). He was the winner of the 1915 Indianapolis 500 and was a dominating force for a decade, however he was continually plagued with mechanical failures that stole wins from him. In fact, Ralph DePalma held the laps lead record for the Indianapolis 500 until 1987! (Even now, Ralph sits third on the all-time list -- nearly a century after he ran his last Indianapolis 500). In terms of impact, Ralph has two big ones -- he was one of the first (if not the first) to take motorsport as an actual sport and to make it into a career (for the most part, the early days of at least American racing were almost exclusively either incredibly wealthy men or engineers trying to show how good their car, people were not making whole careers out of it). Ralph's second impact is really being the first greatest American Open-Wheel driver. He set a standard, not only with his statistics but with how well-liked and how well-respected he was. For further reading, this is a really good summary of his career, including a few anecdotes.

Wilbur Shaw: Wilbur won 3 Indy 500s (1937, 1939 and 1940), the second drive to do so and the first driver to win two consecutive Indy 500s. He was crowned the AAA National Champion in both 1937 and 1939. But Wilbur Shaw's impact isn't the races or championships that he won. Simply put, without Wilbur Shaw, the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would no longer exist. The Speedway shut down for the duration of WWII and the facilities were not maintained. Wilbur saw this first hand when he did a tire test for Firestone at the end of the war. He was told shortly after the rest that the Speedway was going to be sold to a land development company (which is a fate of many, many race tracks). Wilbur immediately went to work, trying hard to find somebody to buy the Speedway and preserve the race. He approached Tony Hulman, a local businessman and managed to convince Tony Hulman to buy the Speedway. After Tony purchased the Speedway, he installed Wilbur Shaw as the track president and they worked together to update the facilities and preserve the Speedway and the Indianapolis 500.

Bill Vukovich: Bill won two Indy 500s (1953 and 1954) and was in the lead when he was pulled into a wreck that ultimately was fatal. He was one of those drivers who just seemed to have Indianapolis figured out. He was respected and well-liked. But his death was, indirectly, part of the reason that AOW almost ceased (and frankly, is still recovering from). You see, 1955 was a Really Bad Year for motorsports. Like, it's a miracle that motorsport didn't end in 1955, bad. Manny Ayulo died in practice for the Indianapolis 500 on May 16. Ten days later, on May 26, Alberto Ascari was killed in a test session. Four days after Ascari was killed, Bill Vukovich was killed while leading the Indianapolis 500 in a wreck that was horrifying and it injured two spectators as well. And two weeks later, the Le Mans Disaster killed approximately 80 people and injured approximately 120 people. People were starting to lobby governments to ban motorsport. The sanctioning body that sanctioned both Indy 500s and other AOW races, AAA announced that it would no longer sanction races, citing both the Le Mans Disaster and Bill Vukovich's death specifically as why they would not. In response to this, Tony Hulman formed USAC. Yes, the owner of the Speedway formed a sanctioning body! I am not going to hash out all of The Split here but the formation of USAC later gave Tony George the power to split American Open-Wheel racing. Would he have had that sort of power if AAA hadn't quit sanctioning? I don't know.

AJ Foyt: AJ Foyt was the first person to win four Indy 500s (1961, 1964, 1967, and 1977). He won 7 National Championships and especially in the early 1960's, AJ was just an unstoppable force -- for example, in 1964, there were 13 races and AJ won 10 of them. But I don't think his impact on motorsports is that he was good at winning (because he was). His impact was in his versatility and his ability to win in virtually every racing discipline he tried (which -- even now, it's fairly rare for a driver to try different disciplines during his prime and AJ did and he won). He won the Le Mans in 1967. He also won the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1985. AJ also won the Daytona 500 in 1972. AJ is the only driver to win an Indy 500, a Daytona 500, and a Le Mans. AJ also is a case study in the longevity of a driver. He raced in 35 consecutive Indy 500s, his first Indy 500 was 1958 and his last was 1992. He was able to adapt to the rapidly changing technology in motorsport and he was able to be successful in not just one discipline but in basically everything he tried.

Scott Dixon: The driver currently on the grid that I think is a great of his time + has had a big impact can't be anybody but Scott. He has competed in 319 consecutive starts and when he won that race, he has gone 19 consecutive seasons with at least one win. He has 6 championships and is 2nd on the all-time win list. I think it's hard to put his impact into words while he's still doing it but I think his impact (to me) at least is that he has kind of bucked the stereotype that racing drivers are rash and have to run through people to be the best. He's shown that sometimes racing can be a mental game and keeping an even keel through it will set you up for success more often than not.

OKAY WHEW that definitely took me all day and boy did I struggle LOL. Pls feel to give me thoughts, questions etc. Thank you for asking this, it was honestly a lot of fun to do (even if I was Stressed but that's more on me wanting to get it right than anything)

#Kate talks motorsport history

[tssidesfics]

The Dreaded Fight Scene - Some Lesser-Heard Advice

A short list of what this post will include:

Perspective Problems

Decent Advice About Paragraph Length

Semi-Nuanced Advice about Sentence Length (Featuring: Either It's Boring or Somebody Could Die [again with actual nuance])

The Most Evil Antagonist: Suddenly (AKA Really Short Advice)

Death to All Adverbs

For the Love of God Stop Using Adjectives In the Place of Nouns

Verbs Should Punch Your Reader As Much As Your Characters

Immerse Me (Sensory, Sensory, Sensory)

Pacing (God help me)

Don't Write Like It's a Movie Because It Isn't (and writing like that means it never will be)

Keeping It Interesting (Featuring: Mix It Up, Advantages Should Be Temporary Until Asses Are Thoroughly Whooped, Cause Many Problems On Purpose and Hope Your Characters Are Smart Enough to Get Out, and If You've Got a Good Plot Twist Sic 'Em)

In case you can't tell I'm trying to be suave and charming and funny like a first person narrator titling their chapters with sarcasm (which is a trope I learned from Percy Jackson I have not fallen out of love with, even though I've fallen out of love with that particular series).

I am not a popular blog. As far as I know no popular blogs follow me. This will probably land with a thud. One day I will probably dredge up this post from the unnavigable dredges of Tumblr (watch Tumblr have finally gone extinct by then), pretty it up, and post it on a website I make specifically for writing advice and my original fiction once that exists. However, for now, I bless you with this that will likely be a complete dud. May the few souls who see it glean something valuable from it.

Disclaimer: I am not a published author. I've just been told I'm good at this. Do with that what you will.

Without further ado (God save me):

Perspective Problems

If you're writing from a third-person omniescent style (your narrator describes all characters in the third person (she/he/they/it/various neopronouns) and they know everything that is going on from every character's perspective), then I'll be honest: I do not know how to give you advice. From here on out this advice will be most applicable to limited perspectives--narrator fixed to one character's perceptions at a time. I write almost exclusively in third person limited and first person narrative; I have very little practice with omniscient perspectives, and the practice I do have either didn't have fight scenes or didn't care much about fight scenes because they weren't the point of the story. I also don't read a lot of omniscient perspectives--I have yet to make it all the way through The Lord of the Rings trilogy, although I really liked The Hobbit. That also didn't care about conflict much, and cared more about humor than maintaining tension. So I'm gonna stick to what I know. Like I said, I am not a master word smith. I have not studied every facet of this craft, I am not the most qualified to be writing this post.

That all being said, hopefully I can still help you.

Let's get the mundane, everyday, boring shit out of the way first.

Paragraph Length

Why am I starting here and not on sentence advice even though that might make more logical sense? Because I find this infinitely more important than sentence length.

My advice for paragraph length boils down to one thing: you want your single-sentence paragraphs to pack a punch.

Which means: on average, your paragraphs should be at least three sentences long. In a fight scene, I would say don't let them exceed five sentences unless it's a super-duper special paragraph, and even then that might be pushing it. (This advice may conflict for you: if you want single-sentence paragraphs to pack a punch but your sentences should be short in fight scenes, then don't you have to have paragraphs longer than five sentences? Yeah, wait for the second piece of advice.)

The reason? Single-line paragraphs are incredibly powerful. Have you ever read something where it was going along normally and then they suddenly smack you in the face with a single sentence or a single line, the shorter the better? One of those paragraphs that completely changes the tone or direction of a scene? A realization that shakes the foundation the MC built their world upon, a decisive defeat or miraculous victory, an irreparable betrayal, a plot twist that rattles you and the protagonists to their core. You remember the power in that?

You completely forfeit that power if your paragraphs are too short. And that can be very effective in a fight scene if you use it wisely.

Look elsewhere for advice on how exactly to determine when you need to change paragraphs. All I'll say is: walls of text are an accessibility nightmare, and for the love of Neil Gaiman new speakers get their own paragraphs.

Sentence Length

Actually, your sentences should not all be two or three words long. That actually takes your pacing and readability into the sewer, and not on an epic gross adventure. Anyone who tells you all your sentences should be short in a fight scene is either lying to you or leaving off a significant chunk of nuance.

Let me show you an example of "keep sentences short" taken to its logical conclusion without nuance.

He lunged. She parried. It almost caught her. He leapt over the divide. She stumbled back. He slashed her leg. She cried out. She punched him in the nose. He wiped away blood. She swiped for his neck. He dodged.

That is unbearably monotonous, and that was with me instinctively adding more nuance and variability to the fight.

Now then, that is not to say you should make action lengthy or wordy. However:

He lunged. She barely caught it in time, her own blade cool and stinging against her side. She tried to hold her ground, but another slash gave him opportunity to leap their divide. She stumbled back, searching for something else to put between them without taking her eyes off him.

He lunged for her again. She was too slow to parry the gash to her leg. White-hot pain erupted from the wound, blood gushing hot to the ground as she screamed, but she channeled that pain into her fist, slamming it into his nose with all the might she had.

He wiped away the blood with a snarl, but more poured behind it. She tried to take his head, but he dodged it too easily. She wasn't going to leave here with her life if she didn't think of something soon.

(Note I used several different techniques we'll get into for that last excerpt, but all of those are difficult to use if you stick to the advice of short sentences relentlessly.)

Which brings me to:

Either It's Boring or Somebody Could Die

This advice should not be taken literally. It is possible to have a fight scene where the stakes aren't "somebody could die." It could be someone's pride. It could be the respect of a mentor or trusted friend. It could be the interest of a romantic partner for all I care (although except in rare instances I find any sort of "fighting for the love interest" distasteful and toxic).

What should become clear to you: stakes are very, very hard to establish if your sentences are too short. Furthermore, emotion and sensory experiences are extremely hard to insert with short sentence length. Your fight scene lives and dies on whether the reader feels like its stakes are imminent; a fun sparring match is just not going to be interesting, no matter what you do. Unless you're inserting a plot twist about how the opponent is actually trying to kill them while maintaining the plausible deniability of "it was just an accident!" let it establish its point with character or world-building and then move on. (Fighting lessons count toward both, as far as I'm concerned, so as long as it's doing that you're fine.)

Another thing you should notice about the above excerpt: the protagonist is consistently losing. More on that in a bit.

The Most Evil Antagonist: "Suddenly"

Just cut it. If you're doing everything else right cut it. You do not need it. It contributes nothing. It does not make things more clear, it just slows down your pacing. Cut it.

Death to All Adverbs

This is pretty average advice, and it should be applied to everything you write, but for the love of God use barely any adverbs in your fight scenes. Avoid them everywhere at all costs but they will only screw up your pacing. Pick a better verb, and if there is not a better verb then you're forfeiting the reader understanding exactly what is in your head to tell a better story. Sometimes you've got to do that as a writer: it is impossible to make them see it happen in front of them like they're watching a movie (which is another thing we'll get into). Just focus on the pacing.

If you can really, really stand there and justify that adverb, then I respect you. But very, very few. Very few. Make 'em count.

For the Love of God Stop Using Adjectives in the Place of Nouns

This goes to my fanfic writers (who admittedly make up a predominant amount of my reading material anymore because gifted kid burnout is real).

No "the anxious man," "the blonde girl," "the bubbly friend" or whatever. I read Sanders' Sides fanfiction and I feel personally affronted by the words "the anxious side." They've committed war crimes against me personally and I will sue for emotional damages.

Unless your narrator does not know the character's name or you have not revealed their name yet, you should not be using adjectives in the subject of your sentence. Full-stop. It screws readability all to hell. It's confusing. It's cliche and annoying. Either it serves a demonstrable purpose in the scene or you need to use a name.

And if you're worried about names getting repetitious, to a large extent they're like "said." They will largely disappear in the reader's mind except to establish who the rest of the sentence is referring to. You wouldn't feel that way about pronouns, you shouldn't feel much worse about names.

(Obviously description is different and oftentimes you will preface a noun with an adjective then, as well as some other instances. Mostly, your writing decisions should be deliberate. If you cannot justify it, then really ask yourself why you're doing it.)

Verbs Should Punch Your Reader As Much As the Characters

We touched on this in "Death to All Adverbs," but your verbs should pack a punch in a fight scene. I won't exhaust the subject here, but there are multiple lists online of verbs and other parts of syntax useful for fight scenes. I recommend going through them--and recognizing your internal reaction to them. Certain words are going to create a more intense reaction--"crack" versus "break," "wound" versus "gash," "jostle" versus "jerk." Obviously you start getting into what exactly those words mean, but if the more visceral option works for your scene, it will probably improve it.

Immerse Me

Some good practice: before the fight starts, or in a lull in the action, describe your setting. You don't have to describe every facet of it. Focus primarily on parts relevant to the scene or plot; throw in a couple fun facts that don't take up too much time so you can keep your reader from guessing every twist and turn. And then use your setting. White room fights are boring. Use the space. Have characters switch out on the high ground (in one-on-one fights that's basically useless, if it isn't more advantageous to have the low ground, but changing angles changes dynamics). If a character is disarmed, let them use something in their environment. Kick dust into your enemy's eyes. Throw things at them. Eat up your scenery. It will help, but to do that your reader needs to know what things look like first, or using that environment in the fight is gonna feel like deus ex machina after deus ex machina.

Don't stop at the visual aspects of the scenery, though. Tap into every sensation your narrator has. Taste, smell, hearing, sight, touch. Even their kinesthetics (how they feel their orientation in the space they're occupying). It suddenly gets a lot harder to fight when you're dizzy (though not impossible--I had a temporary disability that made me chronically dizzy for about two years, and I continued training in Kung Fu in that time; accommodations were needed and my Si Gong and classmates had to be made of the problem in case something went wrong, but I was still able to do it). That's a great way to keep your character on the back foot, depending on how dizzy you make them. Temper it, though--if they're badly concussed and the world is spinning so badly they puke, they're not going to be able to defend themselves.

To a (limited) extent, feeding your sensory information through the character's emotions will also strengthen the prose. Don't go overboard on this because you will grind the pacing to a halt.

Speaking of pacing:

Pacing

(God help me)

This video is better than anything I'm going to give you here, and it tells you what to do on a plot level, too. Pacing is impossible to explain and I hardly understand it myself. Frankly I don't think I'm that good at it.

However, that video isn't specific to fight scenes, and I'm going to try to give you some satisfactory advice for writing fight scenes with strong pacing. Bear with me.

First off: if your fight scene is short, then keep it quick. No adverbs, sharp verbs, pretty short sentences, and then move on.

But here's the thing: short fight scenes are boring.

There's no time to establish stakes. There's no time to feel like the narrator is losing. There's no time to gnaw your fingernails off and cuss passionately at the page. It also doesn't feel all that much worth it. Your fight scenes should all have an impact on the plot and if it genuinely doesn't need to be long to serve its role in the plot, that's fine but if you want to write fight scenes that are engaging and epic, they need to be longer.

Part of that is going to be keeping it interesting, which we'll get to in a minute. But another huge part is varying your pacing.

Generally, fight scenes should be fast. Your reader should be trying to read as much as they can as fast as possible because they're worried they're gonna die. But a fast pace for too long gets tiring; when you're going for a run, you don't sprint for the whole way. You sprint for a few seconds, then jog, then sprint again. Pace in a fight scene is going to be the inverse of that balance--it will be predominantly fast-paced with short breathers, but you should still give your reader moments to collect themselves.

Now there is a type of fight (that is absolutely impossible to write) that is incredibly effective and maintains a fast pace for pages upon pages upon pages. If your antagonist is absolutely unstoppable--everything the MCs can throw at them only slows them down, and they keep coming--then you can create a very engaging horror atmosphere of stress. However, then the pace is going to be more middling--it's not as ruthless or sharp or quick like it is when both parties are trying to win as quickly as possible because losing could mean death. This is a character who knows they are not going down any time soon. They aren't in a rush. They're persistent, but they don't need to hurry. Think The Terminator or Predator.

High tension also leads to more intense pacing. We'll touch more on tension later.

Don't Write It Like a Movie Because It Isn't (and it never will be if you write like that)

This is coming from someone who was a master at making fight scenes immensely boring. I'm a black belt, and for years and years I wanted to channel my lessons into my fiction. And there is a way to do it, but it is not with blow-by-blow narrative. If your characters are wailing on each other with swords, most attacks and defenses in that fight are going to be very routine.

I'm going to try to give you a solid understanding of what to skip or summarize and what to dramatize. This will likely not be exhaustive.

First thing you want to keep: shifts to the status quo. If something changes in the dynamics of the fight--someone gets or loses an advantage, new challenges arise, someone's (especially your perspective character) injured, scenery shifts--then definitely include that. Otherwise the resolution is going to come out of nowhere.

It's also good to include anything that increases tension--AKA your reader's and character's stakes in the fight, or how close they are to losing. Monotony does not help this--again, blow-by-blow is useless.

See this example of a blow-by-blow:

I lunged for his thigh. He blocked with a clang that shook through my arm. He swiped for my knees and I dodged. He moved for my neck; I parried; he tried again and I parried. I advanced with a lunge; he retreated but pushed me back with a slash the next minute.

Imagine that continuing for several more paragraphs, as opposed to:

Sweat poured down my neck, into my eyes as my sword weighed heavy in my hand, each block shuddering through me. I panted, struggling to see, struggling not to block out from lack of oxygen because every parry, every lunge, every attack just wore me down further. If something didn't change soon I wouldn't be able to go on. I was losing. More blows rained; I held my ground. But none of that would make a difference if the exhaustion thickening in my veins did me in before it did him.

The latter doesn't bog itself down in minutiae; what matters is how the character is faring in the fight, how close they are to losing. Obviously this would be interspersed with described action, but just for the back and forth, focus on how the exhaustion is getting to your character. How the pain is affecting them. Establish what's at stake if they lose and focus on status-quo changes.

There is a way to utilize monotony well, but it's through an emotional lens. If your character is disillusioned with violence, has done this a thousand times and is just tired, then blow-by-blow within reason communicates that numbness really well. There's no emotion behind their side of the fight; they don't feel the stakes. This is how it's always been, what they can't escape. But still, use it sparingly. It gets boring fast.

Also, don't use technical names for any fighting moves. They do not translate to most readers and between martial arts. Use words everyone is going to understand, and if you can't find ones sharp or quick enough, pick the closest you can that maintains pacing and settle for your readers not perfectly understanding everything that happens precisely as it does in the scene.

Keeping It Interesting

Here's where we enter the arena I am really actually scared of. This is also the part I cannot find any advice for anywhere on the internet: in a prolonged fight scene, how do you keep it engaging?

Let's take this piece by piece.

Mix It Up

Constantly switch up the dynamics of the fight. What weapons are they fighting with? Wound them, take away advantages. Change up the setting if you can. Add advantages and then take them away. Change up how they're fighting, on what terrain. Let your characters get clever. Engage your inner tactician. Do not let something go on too long without something changing up the dynamic. That being said:

Advantages Should Be Temporary Until Asses Are Thoroughly Whooped

This is where we get into tension. If your protagonists are winning, it's boring. Occasional victories are great, especially if they give your character a moment of hope that is immediately squashed by the antagonist having already thought of that, or having a plan to counter it, or what have you. Any victory while the fight is still going should be brief. Hope should be wrested away from them repeatedly. Brilliant ideas in the heat of the moment should fall apart. The longer the fight goes, the more disappointments, the thinner hope becomes.

If you need to, you can give them a more dramatic victory, but if the fight continues after that then you are going to end up in the fun situation of coming up with a reason why the antagonist is still winning even when they just got their ass handed to them. From experience, that is not an easy position to be in. It's hard to climb out of that hole.

I am serious. I don't care how epic and accomplished and cool your MCs are, if they're winning it's boring. You need tension. You need the stakes to stay high. You need there to be a real and imminent threat they could lose, with whatever consequences come attached. Otherwise your reader is going to find it monotonous and not care. If it doesn't feel like your protagonists are about to lose, then you're not going to keep your audience.

Cause Many Problems On Purpose and Hope Your Characters Are Smart Enough to Escape

Here's a fun fact: it generally doesn't read as a deus ex machina if it screws over your main characters.

I'm serious. You can introduce things you barely set up, if you set it up at all, into a fight scene as long as it makes things worse. If your characters happen to repurpose a grave inconvenience as something they can use, then that shows ingenuity and quick thinking.

Constantly throw up barriers to victory. You can't get too generous with evil deus ex machina or it will start to feel trite, but you can definitely throw in a few depending on length. Turn the heat higher steadily; every time they escape one issue, throw another one at them.

This does however mean your himbos are probably going to need countered by someone with brains. Dumb is not a great combination with "ends up in progressively shittier situations and has to climb back out."

And for the love of fuck, this is your chance to make your smart characters look smart. Actually show them resolving problems it doesn't look like your characters are going to get out of. Craft a scene where the protagonist is still able to be cool but they do it in collaboration with the smart one--not by telling the smart one what to do, but by coming up with a solution together, or reading some clever way the smart one is communicating their plan to them and enacting it. They can edit it as they go if the smart one doesn't do well under pressure. I am tired of reading books telling me how super smart someone is and then they do absolutely nothing about the conflict.

If You've Got a Good Plot Twist Sic 'Em

Here is what I mean by "good" plot twist: it contributes to the themes of the piece, it had actual evidence for it planted previously and does not break any established rules of your universe, and it (generally) makes things worse. Plot twists have twice the impact if they're screwing you over than if they're making it better, but if you can write a protagonist or side character pulling out a brilliant plan they carefully enacted behind the scenes to save them, by all means.

Of course, developmental edits are always an option. If you're writing the fight and you get an excellent plot twist idea in the middle, you can write it then and double back to edit in the evidence. If you're writing fanfiction chapter by chapter and uploading it, you're gonna have a harder time, but fanfic readers are generally more forgiving. Still, this is why I write each installment in completion before uploading (although I still write series, so invariably I get to some intallment down the road that fucks up what's been uploaded and I still have to edit things, but that's the reality of fanfiction).

You will hear from every angle that you need to outline. Outlining would save you a lot of grief. I am not going to shove Outline Gospel down your throat because I have an irrational, consumptive hatred for outlining; everything I've ever outlined made me so viscerally angry I abandoned it and couldn't go back without reawakening that ire. You won't hear me condemn you if you're a discovery writer. It does make your life harder, I'll grant you.

How to write a good plot twist is trickier. You either want four or five little clues, subtle cues, or one or two bigger ones, I'd average, but mastering that balance is hard. I still don't know where I fall on that continuum. I've gotten some awesome feedback on my plot twists from people surprised but cussing because it feels obvious in hindsight...more or less, but it's not easy and readers for original fiction generally read closer. It's hard. Best you can do is a little bit of research, a lot of developmental editing, run it by a beta (or several, if you're publishing for money you need several), and pray. As long as you have something there better than a very minor throwaway line three books ago, the worst you'll probably have to deal with is people guessing your plot twist ahead of time. If you paid any attention to The Owl House fandom, you'd know: audiences don't care. They'd rather the plot twist be predictable and earned than for you to chicken out of it partway through and throw in something completely random or leave obvious plot threads dangling without explanation because you're trying to clumsily plant seeds for a whole new plot twist they haven't guessed yet. (Looking at you, Marvel...and Game of Thrones...and basically every other media property, fucking hell.)

There you have it. Here's hoping this was useful to you and gave you something new to work with than what you had before. If not, I gave it my best shot. I'll work on it and get it right eventually.

[xaharadesert]

7 More of My Favourite Horror (Adjacent) Movies and Why You Should Watch Them

(Not in any particular order or subgenre. TW are vague, spoiler free, and from my memory, but you should Google any of these before you watch them. Not all triggers are listed because it’s horror and stuff like death and murder is common)

Part 1 here!

1. Fractured

A man waits in a hospital for his daughter and wife to return from some tests, but they seem to have gone missing.

If you like being sad and also confused (like me), then this is a great film for you! Don’t worry, the end will clear things up, but until then you’ll have a hundred of your own theories developing. Definitely a movie that you have to pay attention to, but it’s not difficult once the mystery begins.

Scary: 1/10

Gore: 2/10

Disturbing: 4/10

Psychological: 9/10

Actual genre: psychological thriller

TW: insanity

2. The House

An animated anthology of three short films all centring around the same house.

Gorgeous animation, fast paced, and constantly off-putting. Each of the short films is vastly different, but they’re all very unsettling in their own way. The second was my personal favourite, but I’d say the first was the most disturbing. The third one is a nice way to ease you out of the absolute horror of the first two so you can go about your day without letting the film consume your thoughts.

Scary: 3/10, 3/10, 1/10

Gore: 0/10, 0/10, 0/10

Disturbing: 6/10, 5/10, 2/10

Psychological: 3/10, 4/10, 2/10

Actual genre: horror comedy

3. I Saw The Devil

After a man’s wife is brutally murdered, he puts his life on hold to hunt down the killer and make him suffer.

As far as non-horror movies go, this is by far one of the most disturbing. The murderer is one of the worst you’ll see play an extended part in the movie, which would be awful if it weren’t for the fact that most of the film is the protagonist purposely letting the killer get away just so he can hunt him down and attack him again. The protagonist isn’t an objectively good character either, but there is something very satisfying about watching him take out his extended revenge.

Scary: 3/10

Gore: 7/10

Disturbing: 7/10

Psychological: 3/10

Actual genre: action thriller

TW: rape, sexual assault, graphic gore, cannibalism

4. Hard Candy

A 14 year old girl decides to meet up alone with an older man she met on the internet and go to his house.

Elliott Page my beloved. One of his earlier works, but still amazing. I’m not sure if these one really qualifies as horror, as it’s definitely more of a revenge fantasy, but the first 20 or so minutes had me very worried. Definitely an unsettling atmosphere, but after the first little bit it’s absolutely amazing. Would recommend to anyone, but especially to women who are tired of seeing other women and girls victimized by the narrative.

Scary: 2/10

Gore: 2/10

Disturbing: 4/10

Psychological: 3/10

Actual genre: psychological thriller

TW: pedophilia, surgery, suicide

5. Last Night in Soho

A young girl rents a room while off at college and starts dreaming of the life of the girl who lived there before her in the 60s.

This movie made me cry more than once (but in a good way). I genuinely forgot it was a horror movie for the first 45 minutes or so, and then was very rudely reminded. Gives off the same vibes as Coraline, but in a more adult sense. Absolutely gorgeous cinematography and the character arcs make me feel so many emotions. Also it has Matt Smith, and that immediately sold me on it. Another movie I would recommend especially to women.

Scary: 3/10

Gore: 3/10

Disturbing: 6/10

Psychological: 8/10

Actual genre: psychological horror

TW: rape, prostitution, suicide, insanity

6. As the Gods Will

Every high schooler in Japan is abducted by aliens and made to compete in murder games to determine who is the most worthy.

Absolutely batshit insane movie with some of the weirdest… everything. Genuinely hilarious at times, but also immensely gory and occasionally heart touching. I urge you to go into this with zero expectations. Just have fun. Probably the type of movie to watch with your friends when you’re drunk, or alone at 3am when you’re sleep deprived.

Scary: 2/10

Gore: 6/10

Disturbing: 5/10

Psychological: 3/10

Actual genre: supernatural horror

7. Tusk

A podcaster visits an old man’s remotely located home to interview him.

OKAY HEAR ME OUT. I know this made the rounds on TikTok for being awful, but it’s seriously one of my favourite. Also batshit insane, but with a perfect blend of comedy, psychological horror, and really creepy practical effects. There’s no one to root for in this film; everyone is awful. But seriously, a great movie to watch if you have no expectations. I’ve seen it 3 times. Also, oddly specific, but I feel like if you like Angel’s of Death for the psychological aspects, then you’ll like this too.

Scary: 3/10

Gore: 2/10

Disturbing: 6/10

Psychological: 4/10

Actual genre: body horror comedy

#horror #horror movies #horror movie recommendations

[mdhwrites]

🦝 This question is simple but I thinks it packs a lot. How does TOH write/treat it's male characters?

Short version: They're either villains at one point, incompetent or comic relief. There are literally only three guys (at least that me and one other person) could figure out who do not fall into one of these three categories and many of them end up in multiple over the course of their time on the show. That's pretty shit for an entire gender. Okay, so I should preface that I'm not trying to call the crew of TOH Femi-Nazis or anything like that. I don't think the treatment of male characters in the show is a conscious choice or anything. Reminder: It's okay to hate a piece of media, it's another to hate the creators for making it. As far as I know, the creators of TOH are good people. That doesn't change that how the guys are treated is pretty fucking shit. And kind of always in the same ways. Even from S1 you get my three main versions of male characters. (Caveat: This doesn't stop any of the male characters from potentially being good characters. You can like them with them falling into these things. However, these are also roles with little respect or care attached to them and that does matter in aggregate). They are either evil (ALMOST all of the one off villains in S1 count for this. It would be all who aren't actually monsters if not for Once Upon a Swap.) or bare minimum start as evil which is why Darius doesn't avoid this. And if you want to claim "But they were just pretending," then why did they go so hard on trying to kill Raine once it was just Raine, them and Eda? Comic relief, at least for the majority of their appearances: King, Gus, Hooty to name a couple really obvious but REALLY BIG DEAL ones. And by comic relief, I don't just mean having jokes. Darius has jokes but is taken seriously (and is one of the only two 'straight men' (the comedy term) in the entire series despite it claiming to be a comedy). No, when I say comic relief I mean that their presence is commonly inconsequential, their plot lines are jokes if they have any and the characters themselves aren't taken seriously. And I named a main character, part of the main character's house so a major part of the setting, and a main supporting character. All of whom are guys. Or they're incompetent. This actually gets tacked onto a lot of the guys. Part of Gus' joke is how bad his illusions are at actually helping at any time. Alador may be capable as a craftsman but as a human being he has the attention span of a gnat.

And people can fall into multiple categories really easily. I already listed Gus in two of them after all. How about Hunter though? He starts as a villain but by his third appearance is the "Mad but sad boy" with no one taking him seriously. That problem only gets worse in Sport in a Storm where he somehow can't get anyone to want to join the EMPEROR'S COVEN and is a complete buffoon doing. I don't know if I could claim he is comic relief most of the time but he starts falling into being incompetent (especially since the only truly trained fighter in Hexide Squad is easily the least capable of them if we go off of how effective any of them are in combat) REALLY QUICKLY. I did mention that there were characters who didn't qualify for this. That means there's some good, right? ...They're more exceptions to the rule. One is Manny. Who is dead. One is Bump who... I'm kind of being REALLY generous to here. One could make a claim of him starting as a villain since the first time we meet him, he's there to dissect Luz but that's more just doing his job and he's definitely not the primary antagonist in that episode. He also never shows extreme incompetence or made out to commonly just be a joke. He is actually allowed to be serious, a good guy and a fairly decent character... With very little screen time and impact. And then you have Dell. Eda's dad. Who has all of five minutes of screen time. Those are your good, competent, taken seriously, male characters. Good job TOH. Now... A few days ago, I would have actually talked about TOH not having this be a gender thing as much as it's a flipping of what happens in male, main cast focused shows. Those shows will treat their female characters pretty poorly. Only problem is that that hasn't been nearly as true since... the 80s or 90s? If even then? I mean I grew up with Danny Phantom and Kim Possible, Total Drama Island, etc. from that time period and I'm not going to say the gender balance was always great but it was better than TOH. If we go even younger for me, there was a show called Recess that was AMAZING with its diverse, six character main cast. The shows that do still fuck this up... Aren't shows you want to compare to TOH. They're your garbage that's not being given a lot of care because 'it's a kid's show'. It certainly isn't what you get from the good shit nowadays where you have Amphibia, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, etc. just to name a few off the top of my head. So if it's not because they're guys, but I also can't excuse as just a writing trope... Why are all the guys shit? I mean... It's probably just because TOH doesn't see its characters as characters. A lot of little touches are missing in even the girls. Remember, canonically, Amity is a skater. A skater who is good enough at it, and dedicated enough, that when her and Luz need to get out of somewhere fast, she summons a skateboard for her, Luz and Kikimora in Falls and Follies. Is it effective and technically works? Sure. Does it fit high society, book worm Amity Blight? Fuck no. And that's one of the characters obviously care a LOT about. So yeah, the guys, none of whom until Hunter and Belos are ever taken that seriously in the show, are going to get shafted. Most of the characters do just filling in whatever role or joke the writers need them to. And seeing as honestly very little humor in TOH plays into wordplay or interplay between the characters, you are left mostly with slapstick and punching down on other characters and their traits. And that sucks for the whole show. =========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#TOH #Hunter #Gus

[iammrcollins]

The Ultimate Galaxy's Edge Activity Sheet

I don't know how many of us will visit any of the Galaxy's Edge parks soon, but even if not, I think you should still keep this list handy, and feel free to add to it.

Anyone who completes this activity list will prove they are among the most elite of Star Wars fans!

When someone says "May The Force Be With You", make sure to reply with "By Grabthar's Hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged."

When at Oga's Cantina, ask why you can't order Romulan Ale. Is it banned in this quadrant as well?

Also at the Cantina, ask if Rex can play any of Lynn Minmay's songs.

Examine any part of the Millennium Falcon you can, and see if you can find an Autobot or Decepticon symbol.

When getting ready for Smuggler's Run, the gunner should ask where they put the button to fire the death blossom.

Also the pilot should ask how it can go to hyperspace now the the mass effect relays have been destroyed.

Any time during the actual flight, someone must advise the pilot to do a barrel roll.

After the ride is over, ask if you qualified to finally join the Spacer's Guild.

If you see stormtroopers, present them a list of guests you suspect of being cylons.

Be sure to remind the stormtroopers that taking off and nuking the site from orbit is not the only way to be sure to catch the rebels here.

When confronting Kylo Ren, say he can't fool you. It's clear he's really Char Aznable.

Ask why Captain Phasma isn't there. Is she hunting metroids again?

When you meet Boba Fett, ask what it's like to fight Mega Man X.

If you meet Rey, tell her "It's an honor to finally see you, Ms. Harrington. No pun intended!"

When seeing all the BB-8 toys around, ask how we can tell who is the original. Maybe we should ask what are the contents of his underwear collection.

At the Droid Depot, ask where are the parts to make V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and B.O.B.

Also where are the parts to make a protocol droid like Kryten.

If you ask how to program the droids with prime directives, don't be afraid to ask for the secret one about OCP executives.

Don't ask why there are no shiny metal ass parts on the shelves. It's obvious people kept biting them.

If anyone complains about Batuu being a desert planet, say it's better than being a frozen one, like Mondas.

Ask where there's an exchange office, since no store here will take your meseta.

When you construct your lightsaber, and are asked to hold it up, proclaim "By the power of Grayskull!" or "For the honor of Grayskull!"

Whenever you see a hologram, say "Hi, Cortana!"

If you see a waist high wall, charge at it in a half crouching pose, and then duck so your head is barely above it.

Finally, when buying items at a store, present your wares in this format: "I want to buy Star Wars the T-shirt! Star Wars the soda pop! Star Wars the plush toy! Star Wars the water bottle! Let me guess, you keep Star Wars the flamethrower in the back?"

#disneyland #disneyworld #star wars #galaxy's edge #star trek #galaxy quest #spaceballs #he-man #she-ra #halo #metroid #mst3k #battlestar galactica #mega man #doctor who #red dwarf #gundam #dune #star fox #mass effect #transformers #the last starfighter

[mcl38]

Lando should make you nervous to watch f1 at all. it does not have to be a race start for him to choke. it can be a race end or even qualifying

so fun fact abt lando is that in his 5 years of formula 1 he has had a lovely grand total of zero driver error dnfs (not counting OTHER drivers errors gasly and stroll u are both on my shit list). one of the reasons i enjoy watching him is because im an anxious bitch with minor heart issues and he is by far the most risk-averse and one of the most consistent drivers on the grid. id argue he was too risk-averse at the beginning of his career - a pattern for 2019 was watching him give out hard-earned place after place to his competitors during the race after qualifying super high, bc he was too shy to actually properly fight tooth and nail for track position.

so, in a perverse way, altho spa 2021 was scary to watch and sochi had me retching over a toilet seat (partly bc of how horribly motion sick i was after trying to watch the beginning of the race in a moving car) and then crying on the floor, i am kind of glad they happened, bc until then lando hadnt quite pushed against the famed 'limit' kind of at all. it took him 2 whole years to reach it, which is super unusual for a driver that enters f1 so young, and why a lot of other drivers of his generation had reputations of recklessness or overzealousness in their first few years in the sport - i mean even verstappen was the laughing stock of the paddock for the old guys, which was also totally fair, bc he was a 17 year old with a monthly pass to the bowling arcade bothering a retirement home's garden game of badminton. point is - i welcome lando's 'choking', which doesn't happen often, because it means he's grown balls and not just in the high speed corners. i think theyre few and far between and make him a better driver, as much as those self-flagellating post-session interviews r torture to me.

and to be totally honest i dont actually really care abt the qualifying mishaps at all. not only bc he makes up for it in the 95% of qualis where hes sooo sexy and fast, but also bc the two times he fucked it up in quali and then the race actually happened (rip spa) he was on the podium both times. and i loooove seeing lando climb up the field, its fun and rare bc, again, he usually qualifies right where his car should be or even higher than that. thats y imola 2021 is probably my fav lando podium and one of my fav lando performances in general

so this is why (long winded explanation ik) im better off following lando on track than pretty much anyone else (i think the universe is compensating for me being an alex fan in 2020). thank u for giving me the opportunity to go off on a tangent abt that!! im always ready to talk abt how lando is a pussy (beloved), and how that actually makes him both super consistent and also relatable to me, also a pussy, as opposed to the adventurous adrenaline junkies that make up most of the rest of the grid bc unfortunately f1 is an extreme sport and tends to collect that type.

oh and also ik u or a couple of u have been sending lando blogs hate anons for the last week i think u should suck some dick and cock and then also kill yourself hope this helps! kys<3 ur so lame

#ik i shouldnt be giving u attention however i love talking abt lando too much to pass up the opportunity #hiii! come visit again my askbox is always open and i love arguing #lando #anon #ask #the lando hater