#and that one post that has gotten multiple thousand notes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shubblelive · 7 months

Text

— NOT MUCH LONGER

summary : wilbur has always been dedicated to his viewers, sometimes too much. his fans are aware of this, you are aware of this, and he is aware of this. so when you go multiple days without seeing your boyfriend because of how hard he's working you take matters into your own hands, not realising that thousands of people are there watching you do it.

genre : fluff

warnings : mentions of eating/food, a few swearwords, wilbur not taking care of himself, very small panicky moment

pairing : cc!wilbur soot x fem!reader

pronouns : she/her, reader is called wilbur's girlfriend/wife

featuring : cc!wilbur soot

requested : Could you do a fic where the reader isn’t a very public person (in regards to the internet) and one day, wilbur’s streaming and she goes in and brings him some food and kisses him, not knowing he was live, and when she notices, she just gets all red and embarrassed and wilbur goes out of frame with her and its just all fluffy, and the chat goes craaazy

word count : 1.3K

note : hi lmao. i know, i know it's been nearly 2 months since i 've posted anything. school really caught p to me, i was so stressed out i was crying like multiple times a day for a few weeks. i wanna thank you guys for your patience, i have one more week of classes before spring break and then exams are right after that so i am really unsure of how much free time i'm gonna have until like mid-november.

There was a lot of things that you loved about Wilbur. Of course there was, the two of you had been together since university, nearing on 5 years. Knowing for someone that long, though, and there were obviously aspects of your boyfriend that you were less than fond of. There weren’t a lot, but the main one was the fact that he was a major workaholic.

You were completely understanding of how important his job was to him. He had been doing it longer than you’d even known each other and you’d never want to do anything to make it seem like you were anything less than supportive.

But the last couple of weeks had been driving you crazy.

He’d be out all day filming for twenty different videos or in the studio - that was fine, you had your own work and hobbies to keep you occupied. But then he’d get home and it was straight to editing, or writing, or meetings for merch, album art, new videos. It had gotten to the point where you hadn’t even seen him in two days. You knew he’d been home, you vaguely heard the shower running while you were asleep, so tired you couldn’t bring yourself to lift your head. Clothes had been added to the laundry hamper, and water glasses had been added to the sink. He’d messaged you, of course. You were high on his list of priorities, it being a no-brainer that whenever he got a free minute he was texting you to let you know where he was going, promising that he’d be home soon.

When you got home from work, you were pleasantly surprised to find his docs at the front door, neatly kicked to the side so they were out of the way along with the rest of your collective pile. You put your stuff down and practically floated around the house, searching for your boyfriend. Not in the kitchen, though the dishes had been done for you, left to dry. Not in the living room, though there was a coat draped over the back of the couch that you picked up and deposited in the bedroom (also empty, but his side of the bed was rumpled like he’d fallen straight on top of the blankets).

You were walking down the hallway when you finally heard him. He was talking softly, not outside of the norm for him. His office wasn’t soundproof, and you often heard him through the walls as you went about your day, whether that was laughing loudly as he streamed, or the muffled sound of him strumming his guitar, trying to write a new song. He was being quiet, probably editing a video. You knew he had his own room in the group office, just for him to edit, but he liked to bring them home sometimes.

You went back into the kitchen to dry the dishes for Wilbur and you noted that there weren’t any new plates added to the pile. You knew that Wilbur had eaten while he was gone, he’d texted you every time they ordered food, but you also knew that it had been a couple of days since his last home cooked meal. You, admittedly didn’t have much in the pantry, but it was made with love, which was the thought that counts.

That was the thought on the tip of your tongue as you knocked gently on the door, a plate of mac and cheese and a glass of water in hand, smile breaking out at the sight of your boyfriend at his desk.

Wilbur’s viewers had always been aware that he had a girlfriend. He mentioned you for the first time after you guys had been together for a year, and since then you were a sporadic presence in his online life, maybe a mention every couple of weeks or months. They didn’t know anything else though, not even your name. His viewers, over the past couple of years had developed their own nicknames for you. It started from one of the first streams you were mentioned in, someone in chat asked if you were Wilbur’s wife. He’d laughed, said no, and then tried to say you were not his wife, and instead pronounced it “wiff.” It got slightly out of hand over the years, with most people lovingly referring to you online as wiffleball. Wilbur had apologised profusely for the slip up, but you found it too funny to actually care. It was definitely weird for you to see, though, the phrase ‘Wiffleball’ randomly trending every couple of months.

So, they didn’t know your name, and they definitely didn’t know your face. Wilbur was usually on high alert for even your footsteps outside the door, let alone you wanting to come inside. He’d yell that he was live, and you’d wait dutifully at the door for him to come outside. It was more for your sake than his, but he cared just as much about your right to privacy as you did. But today, he was so preoccupied with the fact that he hadn’t seen you in nearly three days that he completely forgot to.

The monitor with his own face in it was tilted away from the door, and you were so entranced by the smile on his face that you didn’t notice until it was too late. He was standing to meet you, pressing a kiss to the corner of your mouth. “Hi, lovely, I’ve missed you.”

“Missed you too, Wil,” Your hands were on his arms the second you placed the food down, and you were right about to kiss him properly when you saw a fast movement out the corner of your eye. His chat was whizzing by so fast that you almost couldn’t read it. You backed out of frame immediately, almost out of instinct, wide eyes meeting Wilbur’s. “You’re streaming?”

“Fuck,” Wilbur made sure that you were definitely out of the frame before putting his stream back on the loading screen and going back to check on you.

Your breathing was much faster than usual and he could all but see your heart jumping out of your chest. “I am so sorry, darling, I was too busy being happy to see you that I completely forgot that I was even streaming. Are you okay?”

Your hands found Wilbur’s shirt, clenching it between your fists and burying your face in the fabric across his chest. His hands were securely on your back as he held you while you calmed your breathing. You weren’t crying no, he could tell you just needed to slow your breaths down and you’d be alright. He was whispering reassurances in your ear and within a few minutes your heart had calmed down. “I’m alright.”

“I’m so sorry,” Wilbur launched immediately into apologies again but your vice grip on his shirt stopped him.

“I’m alright, Wilbur.” You strangely were alright. What you could see on the chat were all nice things, they were all so excited to see you. “Never want to go back on your stream again, but I’m okay with them seeing me.”

“You don’t have to be okay, love, if you’re not. I’ll get the VOD taken down when I’m done and edit you out and say something about not circulating the video, I am so sorry-”

“I’m fine, Wilbur.” You pulled the fabric closer to your chest, the movement effectively silencing him. “Like I said. I am still good not showing up on your streams and stuff, but you can leave the video up. I’m alright with it, I promise.”

He softened at your determined face. “I love you,” he said in place of another apology. “I love you, and I am still sorry that I forgot to tell you. No more until you say so, I promise.”

“Thank you,” you said earnestly, loosening your grip on his shirt. “I’ll let you finish up now, do you think you’ll be a while?”

Wilbur kissed you softly before sitting back in his chair and looking up at you full of love. “Trust me, I definitely won’t be much longer.”

#wilbuh #wilbur soot fluff #wilbur x y/n #wilbur soot imagine #wilbur soot x reader fluff #wilbur soot headcanons #wilbur soot x y/n #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot fic #wilbur soot x you #wilbur soot fanfiction #wilbur soot angst

599 notes · View notes

decepti-thots · 1 year

Text

Wayyy back in 2021, a good two years ago now, I wrote a post on a bad brain day that was less actual meta and more just me rambling that was me trying to unpick a specific thing I have a problem with in Dying of the Light as a kind of springboard into my bigger thematic issue with the arc. And I've always wanted to go back and redo it but never gotten around to it. But now I have! That's what this post is! You see what I am doing here.

Right, so. Hear me out here. The crux of it is that I think the turning point of DotL works a lot better in a scenario where Rodimus saves Megatron against his will. (This is a lie, the first thousand words of this are actually just about Rodimus and Megatron's narrative roles, but I swear I will get to the DotL bit.)

Let's back up a bit. One of the things that gets pointed out about the back half of MTMTE a lot is that Rodimus' arc quickly loses a lot of focus, and that this is jarring in a comic that had previously used him for a lot of its forward momentum narratively speaking. Rodimus didn't just get a lot of focus in early MTMTE in the sense of character spotlight, but also in how the same things that drove his "personal" arc drove the wider conflicts in the comic and pushed its overall story forward. That is to say: when Rodimus fucks something up for himself, or fixes something for himself, it has broader impact on the surrounding narrative. Rodimus' low point when the mess with Overlord comes out is also the comic's low point when a bunch of people have died and things reach a nadir. And when Rodimus resolves to change things after Remain in Light, it feels like a similar moment for the entire cast and story as a whole, this sense of "OK, now we're back on an upswing post-finale".

Megatron's introduction to the story massively reduces the degree of symbiosis like that between Rodimus and the story as a whole. Rodimus stops feeling like an ostensible protagonist among the ensemble even when he still gets pretty decent page time. I think the reason why is that a lot of the connections that were previously being drawn between his arc and the overall story progression shift to instead draw those links between Megatron and the direction of the story. Which causes a few issues, but in my opinion the biggest one is: Rodimus' entire character is designed to be a character who works like that. His arc is about understanding that his fuck ups have wide ranging consequences and how to be a leader that does not hide serial killers in the basement that ruin everyone's day. (He's very relatable, isn't he.) If you meaningfully reduce the degree to which his arc drives the broader conflicts of the plot, you can't really... do much with him. Because now, a ton of the page time when things go tits up in a big way gets handed over to Megatron for reasons of pursuing his arc, which also requires he face Big Consequences head on. And page time is scarce! But without Rodimus being the character whose investment in those big stakes is the focus, you don't have those opportunities to drive his character arc forward anymore, and frankly he was way too central for that to ever be anything but awkwardly noticeable as a dangling thread.

And I was scratching my head about why all this was such an issue when this is a comic that can pride itself on narrative efficiency above all else. Listen, MTMTE is really good at having almost everything pull double duty. The first issue is a masterclass in this on its own; every scene is using character dynamics to introduce multiple characters and often multiple relationships at once, foreshadowing is used to drop character notes, interpersonal dynamics are used to lay groundwork for bigger stories that will be told down the line. So the obvious answer to this issue is surely just that you need to incorporate the new character you're finding room for in your story into one of those dynamics.

Which I do think winds up being the issue. The comic never really manages to find a 'hook' for that Megatron-Rodimus dynamic that allows them to both occupy the same narrative space, as it were, where more than one or the other character they and their dynamic are driving the story together. So we wind up with this effect of Rodimus fading into the background of it. The problem seems to me to be that their arcs don't wind up with enough overlap for them to both occupy these story beats together without one of them- overwhelmingly Rodimus- seeming superfluous. The thing is, the arc set out for Megatron can't really be about his interpersonal issues with Rodimus. The scope is too big. You're never going to be able to turn them bickering due to a personality clash into fodder to drive the actual themes of it. Not in a way that feels actually relevant to what's at stake there.

Which means that to make them foils that can function as a tighter and more cohesive narrative unit, so that both of them can take equal billing in the "this is us moving the overarching plot forward" moments, I think the conflict between them needs to be operating on a thematic level. Because in MTMTE, it's... not? Seriously. It feels like it is, because it resembles what that setup looks like in other stories where characters are these ideological foils. But in what way is Rodimus, in MTMTE, a foil to the themes and aims of Megatron's arc? He's, errr. Not someone who has been an evil warlord? He's an Autobot who has... always been an Autobot? His arc just isn't obviously complementary because it's not an arc about redemption, or even really morality at all. (Note that characters don't really talk about Rodimus' fuck up with Overlord as a moral failing, but as a personal one. The moral framework doesn't tend to come into it with Rodimus, because that's not what the story is really interested in exploring with him.)

Which makes sense, because Rodimus' arc wasn't conceived to be a counterpart of Megatron's. And Megatron's wasn't designed around Rodimus. They are two lead characters whose arcs need them to be in very different stories for things to go in a direction that will bring out the beats of their respective arcs. And Megatron's got catchup to do in series two, so Megatron wins out.

But I don't think it actually has to be like that, because there is a way I think you can take the arcs as they're shown to us and intertwine them much more, which is where I can finally circle back around to the question of Dying of the Light.

At that point in the comic, I think you can say that the one really obvious parallel between the two that can be drawn is that (on admittedly different scales) they have both struggled to work out what accountability is supposed to look like. You have Rodimus who has been through the Overlord debacle and then Remain in Light, and you have Megatron who in DotL has the whole thing where he is confronted with just how many people he's killed. Rodimus in RiL especially has a whole thing where he dismisses the idea of dying heroically to make up for his mistakes getting people killed because it's cheap, and this is a defining character moment for him. It frames everything he does going forward and answers the question of "is Rodimus capable of taking actual responsibility", which sets us up for the vote and all that stuff. Rodimus is asked to risk dying to fix things and correctly identifies this as an easy way out and says "no, I'll do one better than that", and the remaining arc we get for him before Megatron's introduction is him dealing with fallout.

Dying of the Light has the scene for Megatron with the spark flowers, and while that scene does not tend to land for me overall, I can acknowledge that it has a really specific purpose: it's the point that Megatron's later attempt to just die with Tarn is calling back to. It explains his change in behaviour. What we've seen of Megatron up to that point suggests him as someone who is trying to make amends in the sense of balancing the scales- yes, he's done bad things, but now he's doing good things, and eventually this will even things out. The flower scene is there because it provides a visual metaphor for the sheer scope of what Megatron did, and importantly it provides that perspective to Megatron. It makes the point that doing this is clearly not possible given what, exactly, Megatron is making amends for. You can't just community service your way out of that graveyard, essentially.

So this allows us to look at Megatron trying to die alongside Tarn in DotL through the lens of him basically being like "there's no way for me to actually fix this, so all I can do is die for it". And this is where we run into the change that I think would allow this to be a point where Rodimus and Megatron's arcs could be tied together by a larger overarching theme: Rodimus thinks that's bullshit. Specifically, he thinks it's cheating. We know he does, because it's what he rejected in Remain in Light.

Rather than frame Rodimus as reaching for Megatron because of his personal investment in him as someone he's now come to care about, and Megatron accepting as a gesture towards accepting that friendship, I'd offer an alternative. Megatron does not accept and Rodimus hauls his ass out of there unwillingly. Not (just) because of their developing relationship, but because Rodimus is articulating an ideological disagreement with Megatron's conclusion; he thinks that Megatron accepting he has to die because there's no point trying to do anything about it is a cheat. Cowards' way out and all that.

This reintroduces Rodimus into the parts of the comic that are now mostly being progressed through Megatron's arc because now all of that is Rodimus' fault. He's the one who decided to save Megatron when he didn't have to, and any further consequences aren't just the consequences of Megatron trying to deal with what he's done and how it continues to impact everyone; they're also the result of Rodimus' decision to save him when he didn't have to. It also means that there's now a clear thematic concept being explored in the space between these two characters and how they differ. What does accountability look like? What does punishment look like? What investment do these characters have in those concepts? These are now disagreements that can not only fuel the panel-to-panel petty conflicts between these two characters, but their actual arcs. You can draw much stronger parallels between them than just 'this one's hotheaded and rash, and this one's not, and they are Bickering', which can drive individual character interactions but not the actual wider ideas the comic wants to engage with.

It opens up a lot of narrative space for these two characters to align their personal arcs in a way that engages what is at this point driving the overall plot forward, and it therefore allows them to both occupy that walking-inciting-incident position as opposed to just being like. Well I Guess Megatron Is The Protagonist Now. Their relationship becomes a central argument about what the comic is about that they can embody and express together, and conflict over whether the right choice was made can push them through the upcoming story beats.

Overall, MTMTE has an issue where it wants Megatron and Rodimus to be foils but can't actually find a place where they are outside the surface level. But they are both characters whose arcs are about being gigantic fuck ups and living with it, so the material like... exists! The text is there if you massage it right! And that's why I think they should have been even more dysfunctional. Megatron would be sooo mad Rodimus ruined his big death scene, and if nothing else, can we all please agree that would have been really funny.

#there. you're not allowed to say i don't ever write megatron meta now.#i wrote you one (1).#idw #meta #megatron #rodimus

133 notes · View notes

moodymisty · 8 months

Note

Hello🌻I hope you are doing well✨ Do you write in Warhammer? I saw this in the list of fandoms, but if not, I apologize a thousand😅 So, Sanguinius/reader-eternal. A moment of rest. Suppose there was some kind of difficult battle, and returning to his chambers after a victorious battle, Sanguinius feels tired and empty, he is dirty from blood and dirt, his hair is tangled, his wings have also lost their whiteness. And so he enters his chambers and smells a pleasant, but unfamiliar smell. The reader, anticipating in what state he would return, prepared a bath and took out her personal bathroom things (gels, shampoos, salts, candles, perfumes - with such smells that no one in the Imperium had seen since the Dark Era) and even more valuable to her (let it be a gift from parents or something) some kind of music player. Well, the reader comforts Angel, turns on music from his youth (maybe Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky or whatever you like best)), bathes him, takes care of his hair, nails and all that. How you can make his wings comfortable, I can’t imagine🤔 but in general, the reader was able to wash them somehow) Tells stories of plants, fruits, and animals that no primarch could ever see. About your favorite music, some kind of warm memory. Well, something like that😅 sorry if this is too long. In general, you can change the conditions to suit your comfort❤

Author's Note: So I was actually thinking of something somewhat similar to write in my own time because I'm a lonely primarch/astartes fucker for Guilliman (or pre-heresy Lorgar but that's just my 'I can fix him' mental illness talking) So when you sent this in I just about ascended. Emperor save my heretical ass for making this way too fluffy for Warhammer.

Relationships: Sanguinius/Fem!Reader

Warnings: It's 40k lol so references to war and all sorts of violence but other than that, just fluff. Also the slightest hint at the BA astartes being a bit platonic yandere for their Primarch's beloved because it's my headcanon. Enjoy petting the pigeon primarch y'all

For someone as primped and perfect as Sanguinius- A beautiful angel with not a hair out of place or word said without the most careful of consideration, his personal quarters are an absolute mess.

Feathers of all sizes lay scattered across the floor and the giant bed that adorns the massive room, its blankets strewn about and slept in multiple times without being made up in-between. In all of it’s disheveled look, it looks comfortable to say the least.

It's not as if you actually mind the mess, it's not bad enough to even really call it one, but it's simply amusing to think of someone as borderline ethereal as Sanguinius sleeping in a messy, wrinkled bed adorned with his own down.

The Blood Angel guards posted in the hall had allowed you to pass into his quarters without fuss, one of many privileges that you're still getting used to. They nodded towards you and spoke with that Astartes specific rigid but technically polite prose; Seeped in a level of respect you don't feel entirely deserving of.

Sanguinius' angelic sons are, intense. Any other word you think of is too negative in it's definition, or doesn't accurately describe this feeling of heavy downward pressure on your body you get whenever you are close to them. They have a protective quality that has only seemed to intensify the closer you've gotten to their genefather, as you can feel eyes on your back until the door closes behind you and the guards only then return to their vigilant watch of the palace halls.

Sometimes, you swear they're following you.

A pondering for another time perhaps, as you look around the messy quarters holding your things in your hands.

Sanguinius is due to return to Terra at any moment now, and after so long with only vox messages and handwritten letters, you've decided to attempt to surprise him. You probably won't be able to do so, but you can at least prepare him something that will hopefully brighten up his spirits. You can tell from his slip ups in tone that some things have been grating on him like waves on a cliffside.

You'll do anything to make sure that the Angel, your Angel, never looses that glow that seems to follow him; And perhaps steal some of those rare snippets of time to have him just to yourself. Even if only for a moment.

In the separate room that serves as his private bath you begin to run hot water, billows of steam quickly rising to the ceiling and covering the metal adornments around the room with dew. It pours out the open door, as you sit your bag on the edge and pull out various different things. Some sourced from other planets, one from your father who all but fainted upon your asking of it for a Primarch, all being hard to obtain; Little bundles of rare luxury. You fully intend to make use of them all. They smell like flowers and sea salt, far better than the scent of the iron and filth-covered armor aboard the Red Tear.

Though your ears prick to the sound of heavy footsteps before you can fully finish setting up, and you lean up and away from the massive bath and leave the room only just as Sanguinius himself enters. In saying any moment, you seem to have been perfectly accurate.

The first thing you notice of him, besides your joy of seeing him, is he has primary feathers that are bent and sticking out away from the natural pattern of his wings, a few even cracked and torn. He's already gone though the necessary process to remove his armor, and now he's clad in the usual and more comfortable garb he would wear when originally on Baal.

While Sanguinius himself is unharmed, not a single wound and the blood dried on himself not his own, he still is disheveled and messy; Hair tangled from being blown in the wind and getting caught in the raised collar of his armor. You can see mud staining the tips of his wings where it splattered upward, unable to fully protect them from whatever muck he came in contact with.

"I know,"

He sees the look on your face, and his gentle stoicism parts ever so slightly as his lips part. His eyes show the glint of irritation through his long lashes as he looks slightly downward and to the side with a furrowed brow.

"I look a mess. there is no need to point it out. Believe me when I tell you someone else has already done so." He normally wouldn't be fond of something laughing at his current condition, but he supposes he can find the entertainment in it. It's an easier thing to swallow when it's his little beloved doing so. The sound of your quiet, breathily laugh is soothing more than aggravating, and he enjoys the look of sweet mirth plastered on your face. While it may be somewhat at his expense, he doesn't mind all too much considering.

"Well, then you might like the surprise I made up for you even more." His lips crook upward in the most gentle of smirks; Though he was more than likely instantly cued into your gift by the feeling of steam wafting from the other room into this one.

"If not just to get all the dirt from your wings."

At the mere mention of it you watch his wings stretch, shaking slightly as he attempts to right feathers stuck out of alignment. He reaches for the front of his robes as he walks towards the bath.

"I hope you didn't prepare all of this only for me to enjoy it alone. I'd find myself dreadfully bored without any company." You shake your head, following the angel into the bath while he quickly begins to slip into the hot water. You move in not long after, the water almost too hot on your skin, but the feeling of the steam on your face is pleasant.

He attempts to stretch his wings; Though not many rooms can handle his wings fully unfurled. The main room of his quarters when his bed resides can, but in here he finds the tips of his primary flight feathers brushing against the wall. When you attempt to move closer, he furls his wings back up to avoid you bumping them. It lets you reach close enough to his hair, where you wet it with the hot water and watch his eyes gently close. You watch as his hair slowly becomes clean even after so long, golden sheen returning as the soot washes away.

"I have been so besieged by the smell of crude oils and sweat as of late, I swear I'd forgotten what flowers smelled like..."

He smiles when the sound of your quiet, breathy laugh hits his ears, though you still continue treating him. He might have normally apposed to such obnoxious pampering, but you seem to enjoy it, and he’ll partake in a moment of selfishness.

“Let me enjoy this moment without your mockery, will you?” Your fingers weave into his golden hair, just a bit wavy even with the water weighing it down.

"Terribly sorry, Lord Primarch." How he hates that stuffy title; His nose wrinkles. When you notice his doing so, you laugh again.

"It's the title my father used when I told him I needed some of these things." His eyes open to watch you for a moment.

"They're made of flowers from my home planet; When I said they were for The Angel Sanguinius, I swear he choked on his own spit then and there. Thought I had finally killed him."

He listens to you mumble about their origin for a short while, if for nothing more than to fill the silence. The water is no longer running, so other than the occasional splash of water the room is near silent.

You feel the brush of his feathers against your bare skin as they adjust, the water turning color as the grime slips from them and they return to their pristine white color. After all this time he finally feels clean, such a luxury he's been unable to indulge in for quite some time. Perhaps he’s odd in that regard, hating it far more than some of his fellow Primarchs.

He feels you ever so gently brush along a feather to align it with the others, fingers gentle like touching the thinnest glass. His eyes are still closed while you do so. Your gentleness of it isn’t lost on him, as he feels lips against the corner of his mouth.

A rare moment of peace; He'll indulge in it while he has the chance.

#we romance primarchs here sir #primarch x reader #wh40kcrack #warhammer 40k x reader #sanguinius x reader #mywriting #reader insert

112 notes · View notes

365-days-of-taylor-swift · 6 months

Text

❣️IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT❣️

To all my fellow swifties and lyric lovers 🫶 I have something special planned for this december that I hope y'all enjoy! It's called the:

❄️ Back to December - Challenge ❄️

What's the idea?

This lil end of year challenge will include the tradtion of a good ol prompt list for each day of the month ! Every prompt is focused on a reoccuring word in Taylor's music and our fave lyrics including it!

Who can particpate?

Literally anyone who wants to create for this challenge or has in the past created smth that fits the prompt list!

I would of course love and be immensly honored, if any of you get inspired to create smth new for this! However! The whole idea behind this "back to december" challenge, is also that you get to revisit your past work that might not have gotten the recognition it deserved, or that you would simply love to show ppl again! ❄️

I'd love for anyone who likes this idea or is even considering joining the challenge, to rb this and spread the word! 🫶❣️

Promptlist and more details under the cut

❄️ Back to December - Challenge - Daily December Promptlist❄️

One/once 💚

Two/twice 💛

Three 💜

Four ❤️

Five 💙

Six 🖤

Seven 💘

Eight 🤍

Nine 🧡

Ten/hundred/thousand/ 💯

Week 📅

Rose 🌹

Birthday/party 🥳

Drink/Alcohol 🥂

Light 🕯️

Fire 🔥

Water 🌊

Stone 🪨

Air 🌬️

Twenty 2️⃣0️⃣

Gold 🪙

Sun ☀️

Family 👩‍👧‍👦

Star 💫

Christmas 🎄

Moon 🌕

Animal 🕊️

Card ♠️♥️♦️♣️

Month 📆

Year 🗓️

Midnight 🕛

What are the rules?

So as I've mentioned you don't need to create new stuff for this challenge! If you've ever done smth featuring lyrics that involve a word on this list then you can join just as easily as someone who wants to create smth new!

What types of media are allowed?

Any you can think of! Whether you have drawn/painted smth, made a lyric edit, did an lyric analysis, wrote a piece of (fan)fiction, made a video or if you crafted anything irl (like embroidery or collages for example); anything is allowed as long as it fits a taylor lyric featuring a word on the list!

How do I participate?

Well there are multiple options that will all lead you to a similar result!

1. You want to create smth for this challenge or have simply never posted about the work you're considering for this? then you can either

a) You can make your own post, tag this blog in it and schedule it to post on the day of the prompt

b) You can submit it to this blog and I will post it on the corresponding day

2. You've already created and posted about smth that would fit within this challenge?

-> then you can just tag me in it anytime until the day of the prompt and I will schedule my reblog of it for that day!

-> work you did on other challenges like inktober etc is ofc welcome as well! (as long as it's alright with the og creators of the respective challenges)

❣️IMPORTANT NOTE❣️

No matter which way you choose to participate in this challenge, I will post/reblog your art to this blog and add commentary on everything I loved about it!

Everyone deserves to get recognition for their beautiful work and I'd love to be able to spread some joy to y'all during 'tis damn season!

I'd love to participate!, but I can't think/choose a lyric for a day I like...

No worries, I got you! If anyone wants some inspo, just dm me. I have a huge google doc with all the lyric examples for this challenge and I'd be happy to share it 🫶

Or if you don't feel comfortable dming, you can send an anon asking for about inspo for a specific day and I will post the lyric examples there ♥️

I might want to participate but I'm not sure (if I'll remember) yet...

First of all no worries or pressure with this lil challenge! If you're unsure about whether you'll have the time/want to participate, you can:

send me a dm asking me to remind you about this challenge again before november ends

ask me to tag you when I rb this post once a week etc

-> asking me to do this is in no way binding to you! I simply want to offer a little help to those who (like me 🙈) struggle with forgetfulness even with stuff they might like to do! ❣️

If anyone has additional questions about this challenge, feel free to comment or sent me an ask/dm I'll be happy to answer them!

Additional Q&A

What if my creation features lyrics that fit multiple days?

That's totally okay and you can submit one piece of work/art for multiple days at once! More info here

What happens to this blog during december?

Besides hopefully <;3 rbing and posting your wonderful submissions, I will be posting polls featuring the lyrics I found for these prompts as polls on each day!

Bonus (aka some explanations why I chose those specific prompts for that day):

12 = Roses bc I couldn't just leave them out, since they feature in btc and "a red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground"

13 = ofc the birthday of our lord and savior

15 = Lights bc it's the last day of Hannukah this year

22 = Sun bc of the winter solstice

26 = full moon that day!

27 = apparently it's national zoo day and I lowkey love that

28 = same as above but with card games lmao

38 notes · View notes

princeanxious · 8 months

Note

Hi! I was wondering about your Lost Guardian au from ages ago, do you think you’ll ever plan on updating it and if not, could someone else take up the fic?

So heres the thing. If someone wants to write a fic *inspired* by The Lost Guardian, i’m not gonna stop them, and i’d probably feel super honored so long as the inspiration was correctly credited!

As for ‘taking up the fic,’ the short answer is no.

I have active drafts and the rest of the story already planned out to its finish, notes, even a branch-off fic set post-story that will likely go up on my nsfw blog if i ever get around to editing it. The Lost Guardian hasn’t been abandoned, it’s simply on hiatus. (And yes, i recognize 3 almost 4 years so far is a really fucking long hiatus. The Chapter 9 draft doc was made in december of 2020, and last edited in July 2022)

I started writing that fic whilst still in highschool, a time where I was 17 and didnt have to worry yet about getting my license or maintaining a part time job, i had an over abundance of freetime even partially to my detriment, the fandom was booming and I had plenty of feedback, and this fic was (and still *is*) a story im proud of.

But i’m 22 now, working a full time job to pay rent and account for a number of minor ‘disabilities’(best word i have for them atm) that I cant ignore or push to the side nor treat poorly, from the lasting effects on my body of stunted growth to celiac/glutent intolerance to adhere to that directly determines how easily my body functions for the week, to dealing with glasses i cannot afford to break and taking care of teeth i cannot afford to fix, taking care of my mental health and using the free time i have to do what brings me the most joy at that time.

The sanders sides fandom has heavily quieted down with the season finale hiatus and I’d like to think I did pretty well for going six long years dedicated solely to that without cracking under the silence, because *I knew* when I caved to something else it’d be a long while before I had the drive to come back with any sort of resolution to my active works. Thats just how my hyper fixations work. I cannot focus on multiple at once, it’s too much to process simultaneously and takes away my enjoyment bc I tend to watch/consume things repeatedly to catch every little detail i missed. And it doesn’t help when one loses steam because their content barely breaks 100 notes(80% of which are likes, 15% are reblogs with the occasional comment, and 5% are self-reblogs) when back in the height of it all, a few thousand notes was pretty average interaction. This blog still has about 11.5k followers, almost all of which came from the height of the fandom period. So for now i’ve moved onto the FNAF DCA fandom, bc it is fresh and new to me.

I know you didn’t mean to poke the bear here, I get it, but like.. C’mon. Any other fic of mine likely wouldn’t have gotten the same reaction in full but, still. I’ve had to answer this question a handful of times over the years at the point, which might be why this response feels so charged, and i’m sorry.

I don’t mean to come off as snippy or rude, but it *is* kind of invasive to offer to finish one’s creative work when it’s taking too long and theres very little payback for it. I’ve got adhd, delayed satisfaction isn’t a thing I experience. Just guilt that it wasn’t finished in a way for me to post it in time before I broke and lost all motivation to share it.

In my head, TLG has been long finished and held the ending for years, theres just been no energy to put in the effort of finish writing it for others to read. I’m still trying to get my life together to change that, don’t get me wrong, but the American economy is literally in shambles so who knows how or even if i’ll manage that. Call me selfish for being content with only mentally having my creative story’s ending and a collection of rambles and notes to show for it, but at the end of the day, it’s still my story, and i dont feel comfortable with people trying to ‘take up the mantle’ to finish it, when they don’t know how it ends.

I’m glad you like it enough to want to, though, I really *really* am. I’m just sorry I haven’t been able to finish it for you all. And i just don’t know when that will be, I just know that I *want* to do so, however long it takes.

#luka answers #sanders sides #tlg fic #the lost guardian au #luka’s aus #luka rambles #luka rants

49 notes · View notes

cookinguptales · 9 months

Text

I almost wrote a small essay in the tags of that "fanwork as content" post but realized that it would probably be better off as its own post. So now it's... a large, rambling essay. lmao

Like... to preface, AO3 is great, it's a great resource for fandom, it feels good to have a centralized location that works well. That said, there has been a steady decline in how I've felt treated as an author since we switched to an archive-only model of fic.

For people who are newer to fandom, pre-AO3 (and even in the early days of AO3), people often crossposted fic. Sometimes to websites, sometimes to journals (particularly LJ/DW), sometimes to communities, sometimes to kink memes...

AO3, while certainly one of the primary places you could upload stuff, wasn't necessarily where you would get most of your primary interaction about your fic. It was always designed to be an archive, not a social media site.

But since we moved to an archive model (and away from LJ/DW) I've noticed that fic gets almost no traction on sites that actually are intended for social interaction. I'm not saying it's easy for any creator in fandom, but god. The numbers on fic posts are just downright demoralizing.

I don't mean to sound arrogant here, but I think I'm a pretty good writer. People seem to really connect with my fic. In multiple fandoms, I've written fic that most people have read and enjoyed, to the point where people have just taken it for granted that if someone reads fic in the fandom, they've probably read something I've written.

All this is to say, I know I've written fics that people like. I know I've written fics that people connect with. And I know those posts still only get like 5 notes sometimes on Tumblr.

I'm proud of my work and I'm happy that it's gotten such a warm welcome on AO3!!! But there are times when I feel like all this means that I could write literally the best fic on earth and still no one would talk to me. People still wouldn't want to interact with me on social media sites.

I wrestled for... honestly, a long time with all this. I had a hard time putting into words why this felt so uh. Bad. Was I just self-conscious about my own writing? Yes, but that's a separate issue. Was I just jealous of others' popularity? Sort of, but it went deeper than that.

I had an issue with a fandom that I don't write in anymore. I got a lot of fanart based on my fic, which was great, which was amazing, there were even fan comics made. Visual media travels better on social media than fic. That's just a fact. And I had to watch as repeatedly, art based on the fic I wrote got thousands of notes while my fic got maybe 12. And I realized the power of social media vs. AO3 because it did get to audiences that weren't familiar with my fic and people started to give those artists credit for my ideas.

I remember watching the tags of those posts because it was occasionally the only way I'd hear feedback on what I'd written (imagine getting one comment and 5 notes on a fic, then seeing dozens of people in the tags of fanart saying that it was their favorite fic in the fandom! it was weird!) and seeing the tags gradually devolve into "oh, this is such a neat idea for an AU, artist OP" or "wow this dialogue is perfect [artist] I love it" and like

It's weird to feel so happy because so many people are enjoying your work in a transformative way but also so unhappy because you have been completely removed from the equation. No one... even knows you wrote those things anymore. You have been removed in favor of a more "marketable" version of your work.

It's uh. It's a bad feeling. I stopped writing in that fandom eventually.

So again, I felt like... idk, like there was no point in me even trying. Because I could write the best fic on earth and still somehow get erased as a person. People would want my "content," but they wouldn't want me.

I think that's what hurt my feelings so much.

What I've realized is this: what I miss is the sense of community. On LJ, you could post a fic, cross-post it to a community, and there would be comments that would become conversations that would become lasting friendships. Not always! But often. I still talk to some people daily who I met through fic on LJ over a decade ago.

In the archive model, there has almost become a death of the author. The me on social media and the me on AO3 are very different; more importantly, it's almost like it's viewed as the "me" is on social media, but the work is on AO3. I am absent. There is only the fic, not the person who created it.

And that's okay, but when you try to combine those two things on social media and it goes over like a lead balloon... idk. There's an odd sense of dehumanization. I don't mean it in like... I don't know, a dramatic human rights violation kind of way. More that I literally feel like less of a human person the way I interact with fandom these days. Like I'm no longer a person who writes fic as a way to connect with my fellow fans and more a "content creator" whose human side is separate from my creation and never the twain shall meet.

(And I'll admit it feels especially galling to be forced into the capitalistic "content creator" box when it's not even a thing I can make money off of, lmao. It's like the worst of both worlds. I feel like if I can't make money off fanfic, I should at least be exempt from capitalistic social trends during its creation.)

I'm not so much complaining about my current fandom; WWDITS has actually been one of the best fandoms for interaction I've been in since the birth of AO3. That's one of the reasons I keep writing stories for fellow fans to read -- many of those fans feel like my friends, and I want to make them happy.

I think that poster was right when they talked about how the pivot from fan to "content creator" has fucked up fandom. There is this sense that we should be treating fandom like a job, often a fast-paced one with no pay. There is this idea that we should be separated from our "content" like you might a worker from their product, and blah blah blah alienation of labor, Marx, I get it, but damn if that isn't a shitty thing to do to your fellow fans who are making art for the love of art.

There are so many things I do love about AO3. I like having a central, organized place to put my fic. I like not having to worry about my work being lost to the ages. I like having an organized comments section I can return to on bad days to cheer myself up.

But I don't like the way that fic has kind of been relegated to a portion of fandom where people aren't particularly social. I don't like the way that authors are separated from their writing. I hear people complain sometimes about A/Ns because god forbid an author leave any trace of their actual personality to distract you from their content.

I can't have DMs with someone on AO3. I can't add someone to my friends list. There are no "beloved mutuals." There is just my work and the people who are kind enough to comment on it, even if they never actually engage with me elsewhere.

It's... a weird feeling, to feel so loved and unloved at the same time. Like you keep writing trying to make something good enough that people will talk to you but like. That's really not how it works. lmao. The best fic in the world won't make you friends anymore. It won't make people see you as a fellow fan rather than a pen name under a title.

My fic is some of the most personal stuff in the entire world, but my personhood is stripped away from it. It's so fucking weird. People like my fic, but they don't like me. They remember my stories but not the person who told them. It's bizarre. It feels like having your life and experiences strip-mined for content, and then the rest of it is just... left behind.

Frankly... I work in the publishing industry IRL and I have had opportunities to write professionally. Real, tangible opportunities. But I turned them down because I've seen it, the way that trying to fit such an intensely personal art form into a capitalistic framework can be exhausting, dehumanizing, and stressful. I don't want that for my work. Fandom has always been an escape from that.

But now fandom is starting to conform to those exact same capitalistic frameworks (and ofc without any kind of capitalistic compensation) and I hate to see it. It's so stressful. I feel like we're losing a lot of what makes fandom fun for writers and we're getting pretty much nothing in return. I'm not surprised that so many writer friends I know in fandom have quit.

like damn, I just wanna have fun with a bunch of dumbshits who love to overanalyze vampires and cry over their dumbshit shenanigans, not take on a second job. one that, I reiterate, I am not being paid for.

(Note: I am not asking for payment, just that I not be treated like a worker. The tradeoff for treating someone like a worker is that they get compensated for it. If I'm not being compensated, no one gets to treat me like this is my fucking job.)

It's a weird thing, because for a lot of people, fandom has become their job. Fanartists at cons selling fanart, youtube essayists making money off videos, professional cosplayers with sponsorships, etc. And so fandom is becoming more corporate, more capitalistic, more marketable. It's frustrating for those who don't want to capitalize on our fannish output, and doubly frustrating for people who are legally unable to do so.

I'm realizing as I write this that I'm most upset about the nonconsensual capitalization of fandom, particularly when imposed on people who are unable to access the very meager benefits of capitalism. I didn't ask for any of this!

Feels like when I'd be forced to go to assemblies for the US military when I was in high school. Like I'm morally opposed to all this but I'm also not physically fit for "service" anyway, so it's doubly insulting. I feel like I've been opted into the, ah, corporatization of fandom when I'm not even eligible for employee benefits. None of this should even apply to me! ;;

Okay!! I'm all het up now so I'm gonna go eat lunch and go for a walk! No monetization of hobbies, only trees.

#I need to go look at a tree lmao #just me #vent post #ask to tag idrk

48 notes · View notes

ziteyra · 8 months

Text

A good soldier

Chapter 4

Chapter 1 and Chapter 3

🐟 Synopsis: Lyle gets you to leave the facility with him and you find out a bit more about him and the others.

🐟 characters: Quaritch Recom, Waynfleet Recom (🥳)

🐟themes: same as the last chapter. A bit of cursing, roughing around but nothing serious.

🐠Note: i dont even know what happened hsgaddajh sorry i was gone so long! I swear ive got multiple chapters finished im just gonna post them one by one. Ahhh my Avatar addicition finally got the best of me. Love y'all 💙

Tagging: @babyduk213 💙and @skellie88-blog 💙

Still in a kind of shocked state, you finally manage to free yourself from Lyle's grip while he carries you on his sacred mission to the outside gates.

“I haven't even put on my mask.” you mumble while fiddling with the equipment, and your fully charged oxygen mask “What has gotten into you, Lyle?!”

“Nothing little scientist, I just realized what a treat of a human we happen to have here with you. So much so that even the captain takes a liking to you. And even if I suddenly was possessed by evil spirits of bad intentions, admit it you like the idea of getting taken out of this hell hole by a strong soldier like me y/n?”

You need a second to answer, not only because you hate to admit that he is kind of right about your happiness regarding your escape from the facility but also because you clearly heard him say that even the captain would like you. And that was definitely something to stomach especially so early in the day. “ You dont mean our captain” you scoff at Lyles remarks as you finally manage to pull your Oxygen Mask in the right position and properly adjust it “ Id honestly expected him to rather go back to the jungle alone than admit something like that.”

“Aww little scientist, don't think so bad of yourself. You didn't realize he liked you? Well, i admit it's kind of difficult to tell but in practice, it's nothing you should waste your energy on. And even so, you know he´d love going through the jungle all by himself and murdering every single living alien he finds. Especially in his new body.”

You admit that Lyle’s knowledge of Quaritch's character might by far exceed yours but still seems not convincing in the slightest. Nonetheless, you don't even get time to focus on that thought anymore as you start to pass the final gates and checks of the facility and you realize that quite a few more people than usual have laid eyes upon you. Particularly at the final airgates, you can see quite a few of your colleagues eyeing you and your big blue escort as you prepare to enter the Pandorian wilderness.

“Well, your little buddies definitely seem jealous of us y/n. As they should be huh ?” Lyles not so quietly exclaimed while you more and more wished a banshee would just kidnap you and take you as far away as possible. He gives you a little nudge and you can see how happy all the attention seems to make him. It was almost surreal seeing him like this since you couldn't really think of a moment outside of a battle where he seemed to be enjoying himself that much. But then again you knew so much and so little about this crew of recom soldiers who had thousands of research papers and articles written about them but still surprised you every new day you managed to work with them. That was probably the truest not for Lyle but for his captain Quaritchs.

His stone-cold gaze still could not leave your mind even as you entered through the last metal door into the scorching sun of Pandora with Lyle by your side.

#i swear theres more Quarritch and longer chapters coming #agahahaha love you all #avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #colonel miles quaritch #james cameron avatar #miles quaritch x female reader #na'vi quaritch #quaritch x reader #recom quaritch #lyle wainfleet #lyle x reader #lyle Wainfleet recom #na’vi wainfleet #recom wainfleet #atwow fanfiction #fanfic #avatar twow #avatar way of water

24 notes · View notes

darklydeliciousdesires · 11 months

Text

The Dream - Chapter Twenty One.

Huge thanks to everyone for their continued support :)

Previous chapters - Prologue One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty

Tag list - In the comments, please DM to be added/removed (note: those not engaging will be automatically removed from the tag list, FYI)

Words - 3,294

Warnings - 18+ content throughout, minors DNI!

“Hello, Keri, my love! I am so sorry, a thousand apologies for calling you on a Saturday morning when I know you’ve likely been out last night getting very, very drunk!”

Those warm tones of a mostly Indian accent, punctuated every so often with little American twangs, were the last she expected to hear at 10am that morning, getting out of bed and heading into the bathroom so as not to wake Angel.

“Uncle Sunni!” she gushed excitedly, softly clicking the door shut and closing the toilet lid to take a seat.

“The one and only!” he chirped, Keri grinning widely. She swore, for every year that she’d known him, his accent had gotten stronger for returning to his parent’s homeland. “How are you, darling?”

“I’m really good! How are you and aunt Bee? And my cousins?”

“We are all very well, thank you for asking. Saanvi has decided she is a Miley Cyrus girl now, so this is all we have playing in the house, Sita is doing well with her dance classes, and Sanjay is awful. Please come and take him away!” His joke about their youngest had her in soft fits, Sunni continuing. “Listen, I was calling to get a hold of my brother-in-law, is he around? I cannot get through to his cell, your mother’s neither,” he spoke, hoping that all was okay with the family.

“Well, mom is in at work today doing some overtime, and I think David might be working on his truck. I don’t know, I’m not at home right now,” she revealed, finger combing her messy hair.

“Ahh, I shall keep trying him, then. He is probably listening to that bloody god-awful Rainbow music. Since you’ve been gone? Since I wish you would go, more like!” he exclaimed, snorting with laughter.

“That’s a classic!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, classic nothing!” Sunni yelled, his volume making her laugh. He always got louder by about twenty decibels whenever excited or trying to make a point. “That and his Boomtown Rats! I don’t like Monday’s? Nobody does, Bob Geldof! Bloody sit down and be quiet!”

She sat there in hysterics at his usual comic observations. Sunni was one of very few people who could legitimately make her cry laugh, her sides hurting. Usually from the hilarious banter he and Bee got into together, or the berating of her stepdad’s taste in music.

“So where are you, then? You say you’re not at home, are you in work? Did I disturb? I am sorry if I’m getting you into trouble,” he then asked, courteous as always.

“No, I quit my job recently. I needed more time at the weekends, plus with leaving college approaching and not wanting to have anything to tie me down so I can travel a little, I needed to do it soon anyway,” she began in explanation. “I’m at a hotel right now, my boyfriend is up visiting from Southern Cali.”

The noise of interest Sunni made had her in fits once more. “Oh! There is a new boyfriend on the scene! Have you been with him for long? Would I approve? What is he like?” She sat and gave him a brief outline of Angel to pacify his multiple questions, Sunni making little ‘umhm’ noises as she spoke.

“It sounds like you are very happy with this man, early days or not! I would fetch your auntie for you to have your obligatory girl’s talk, but it is her turn currently trying to get Sanjay to bed, and he is being an absolute horror about it!” Her youngest cousin Sanjay had just turned two and was most definitely living up to the term terrible two’s. “Anyway, I might as well tell you why I was trying to call David, share with you our news. I have been accepted for a post at Utah Valley Speciality Hospital, so good news, darling. We are returning to America.”

“Oh my god!” she screamed, suddenly clasping a hand over her mouth. “Oh my god, that’s amazing!” she then added much more quietly, drumming her feet softly against the tiled floor. “I can’t wait! When do you come back?”

“Not for another three months, just while we finish getting everything sorted at this end, selling the house, etcetera. We didn’t tell anybody, just in case it didn’t come through, but now that it has and there is also a chance that your aunt could have a job also opening up at the same hospital, now that Sanjay is of preschool age and she can return to work, we felt confident in sharing the news.” he explained, delighted at his niece’s reaction.

They chatted for a short time longer before ending their call, Keri absolutely ecstatic to have some of her favourite family members returning. Tying her hair up, she brushed her teeth and took a quick shower, coming out to find Angel checking his phone.

“What was all the excitement for? I heard a squeal of ‘oh my god’,” he grumbled, still sounding half asleep as he placed his phone back down, a hand sliding into her towel to stroke her hip.

“That was my uncle on the phone. He was trying to get a hold of my parents, but they’re not picking up. Anyway, he told me he and Bee are moving back over here, he’s got a job at a local hospital, so I’m over the moon that I’ll be able to see them regularly instead of once a year,” she shared.

“Yeah? That’s great, baby. I know you hated that they lived halfway around the world,” he replied brightly, just as his stomach began to growl. She raised an eyebrow, shaking her head as she leaned to kiss his abdomen. “I think I need feeding.”

An hour later and they were sitting inside a small restaurant, hard wood surfaces, Edison light bulbs and plants strewn over the large shelves that flanked the black walls, Keri bouncing in her seat with excitement at one particular dish on the menu.

Angel looked over at her with a smile. “You just saw the peanut butter pancakes, didn’t you?”

“I did!” she squeaked. How well he knew her. Anything with peanut butter, and Keri was on it in an instant.

Reaching for her hand, he squeezed it gently, thinking how adorable she was. “Y’all a hundred percent too cute, mamacita.” Her beamed smile made his heart skip a beat, sitting there feeling like he was the luckiest guy in the world. While the waited for their food, they sat and discussed her ever nearing departure from college, meaning that for the following three weeks they wouldn’t be able to meet with her workload going into overdrive in preparation to finish, but when she did, she had some plans.

“I’m going to book going over to Galway, but not for as long as I originally wanted to. If you could come then that’d be great, I think Aaron and Rachel are down, Frankie too. Jaime won’t be because of work. So yeah, we’re planning on that to be for two weeks. Then I was thinking of driving down to Santo Padre, maybe basing myself there for a while, travelling around Cali. If you don’t mind, that is?”

He put on a thoughtful face, scratching his chin. “Hmm, do I mind having my beautiful, sexy, funny, amazing girlfriend around more often? Hmm, lemme think on that.” She began laughing softly through her nose, leaning over to kiss him. “Of course, I don’t mind.” Despite the joviality of his statement, he felt a pit in his stomach at hearing her plans to travel. He pushed it down, though, reasoning that she wanted to stay with him in her time between.

“Good, because you’re stuck with me now.” There was truly nobody he’d rather be stuck with. Their weekend went by in a blur, Keri holding him tightly before he departed, crying in his arms at how much she anticipated she was going to miss him. He hated leaving her behind whenever he had to go home again, but the buzz inside of knowing he’d get so much more time with her over the spring and summer alleviated the sadness of being separated from her.

While they were parted, he took his mind off it by putting in some serious time around the yard, taking on extra shifts, deciding to re-decorate his bedroom and make it look a little better than the mismatching bare essentials vibe, seeking some advice from a certain lady.

“You need a theme!” Sharise exclaimed, taking a cart from the front of the local homeware store, buzzing already. If Mrs Reyes thrived on anything, it was a decoration project.

He viewed her with mild disgust, his nose crinkling. “A theme? Nope. I saw a picture online and I want that. Dark green walls, white ceiling. I got new furniture on the way, too. I just need things to make it look less empty.”

“Rug, lamps, artwork, candles,” Sharise began to list.

“No candles!”

“Yes, candles!” she stated emphatically. “Keri likes them, she told me which is her favourite. Black coconut by Yankee, and they sell them here.”

He took a pause for a moment, his brow creasing. “Are you two making plans behind my back? Is this a little scheme you’ve cooked up to get some damned chick litter all up in my space?”

Sharise threw her head back, entertained at the chick litter term. “No! We were chatting the other night, she replied to one of my stories I put up with my candle collection all burning, and she mentioned she liked Yankee candles about as much as I do. Us girls talk about things like that, you know.”

“Hmph.” His mutter was then followed by a speedy swerve around the cart, Sharise attempting to put some large cushions into it. ”No cushions! My couch is fine as it is!”

“These are for the bed,” she clarified, gently slapping his arms, grabbing two more that were slightly darker.

“I got pillows, I don’t need ‘em!”

“They’ll finish the bed nicely, add a little depth of comfort.”

His face was a picture of confusion. “They add... what?”

“And when you’re having sex, you can pop a couple underneath your lady and they’ll tilt her hips in a way that means you get to hit a whole other host of different angles.”

He nodded, gesturing to the previously frowned upon items. “Alright, they can stay.” She grinned, tossing her braids over her shoulder as they continued, smug that she knew exactly what to say in order to get around his protests. He was, as she expected, still difficult, though.

“Sharise! Put it back,” he ordered, pointing as she wrestled with a giant, white sheepskin rug from the rolls gathered at the back of the store.

“You’re going for bare floorboards, right?”

He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I am.”

“Then you need a nice rug to tie the room together!”

Depth of comfort and tying the room together. Her chosen language was completely lost on him. “But then I gotta vacuum the damned thing!” His complaint was accompanied by a little show of drama, folding his arms over the cart handle, resting his head down and regretting his decision to involve his sister-in-law.

“No, because the fleece is too long, it’ll get caught in the rollers. You just go shake it outside, et voila! Done.” Into the cart it went, Angel muttering in mild despair. Fluffy rugs. Was this what his life had become?

The rest of the store was browsed rapidly, Angel actually being able to make his own choices, loading up on photo frames he planned to put some of Keri’s photographs into after he’d had them blown up, a set of white plaster skulls that looked remarkably like the real thing, Sharise adding bits and pieces as she went for both him and herself. The large, black and grey vase with black birch twigs was not one of his choices, but he allowed it. Begrudgingly.

“So, you seem to be very content with Keri, then, with this talk of her coming to stay for a while,” Sharise observed, finishing the large mouthful of Cuban sandwich she’d just taken at a bar she’d driven them to, telling Angel she’d at least buy him lunch in apology for terrorising him in the home décor stakes.

He smiled, thinking of her. “I really am, she’s cool. Can’t wait to have her come kinda live with me, even though I think it’ll only be temporary.”

She noticed he sounded a little dejected by that. “Because of her travelling? You two are so sillily in love with one another, I can see her making Santo Padre her base when she isn’t, you know. I know it’s still early days, but you two fit together so well.”

He scratched the back of his neck, his brow furrowing. “I sometimes wonder if I’m the one who’ll be temporary. She’s so ambitious, and young still, too. Makes me wonder if we’ll last.”

“Well, just see how it goes, but don’t write off a future with her just because she has ambitions!” she gently suggested, reaching to squeeze his hand. “She doesn’t have to be around you all the time to be in a committed relationship with you.”

He snorted softly, looking uncomfortable, clamming up as she predicted he would. She would press, though. She’d heard of this before. “I did wonder, when you’d have your wobble.” His frown prompted her to continue. “Lucy told me, that back when you guys got together, you had a little bit of a freak out over whether she’d meet anyone else, and I suppose that’s rearing its ugly head again, with talk of Keri going off travelling around. You think she’s going to meet someone you assume to be better, don’t you?”

He grunted.

“Angel,” she spoke softly, reaching to stroke his face, tilting his head up. “You need to start putting to bed these feelings that you aren’t good enough. You are. Did Lucy find anyone else? Nope. So, there’s no saying Keri is going to. She’s crazy about you, for heaven’s sake! And I know what you’re gonna say, that other women in the past have only seen you as a short-term fling, but my love, that’s because it’s all you’ve offered to them, whether consciously or not.”

“Yeah, yeah I guess you’re right," he finally admitted, realising that it was his self-sabotage coming back to haunt him. As soon as he fell in love, it was only a matter of time before it came bubbling up to the surface, his fears of loss, of not being good enough.

He’d been pushing it down into his darkest depths for the last two weeks, ever since they’d confessed their love. It had been festering a little closer to the surface since her talk of travelling over breakfast the last time he’d seen her, though. The little pit in his stomach he’d felt? It had predictably taken root, no matter how much he didn’t want it to.

Looking over at Sharise, he felt his little padlocked gate begin to strain. If there was one woman he always opened up to, it was her. “I don’t want to wreck it all, but I’m kinda scared I will. I can’t just be happy. My fucking brain has to freak out and cause drama. Which I usually then fuckin’ thrive on.”

It suddenly clicked with Sharise, the sprucing up of his home. He wanted to hopefully make Keri feel as if it was hers, too. He wanted to find more ways to entice her return, hence doing away with the bachelor pad look, albeit with slight reluctance. Oh, he was too adorable, in such a beautifully, partially broken way. From what Keri had told her in exchanges messages, chatting online in order to get to know each other more, he had no reason to feel insecure. Of course, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. People were rarely so simple.

“Angel, the only way you’re going to wreck it is by listening to that toxic little voice in the back of your head instead of Keri. Have faith. She came into your life for a reason. There’s no way that dreaming of her before you even met her is anything less than destiny. Believe in it. You were doing great until you let the panic creep in.” Taking another bite of her sandwich, she winked, Angel determined to take her advice on board.

It didn’t help that he was only a week into a three-week separation from her, but he did work hard to keep Sharise’s advice in mind. As if the universe had heard his doubts, he received a notification one night, painting well into the small hours after returning from dealing with club affairs, wiping his hand on a spare piece of cloth as he crawled over the painting sheets to grab his phone. Keri had tagged him in an Instagram post.

‘I don’t even know how one man can be so amazing. He’s the sexiest, the funniest, the loveliest, the best. I miss you, gorgeous. Can’t wait until this is us again.’

He smiled at viewing the image, one Keri had taken in the hotel room on the bed as she’d sat astride him, her hand reached out cupping his cheek, Angel smiling up at her as the sun shone in through the window and bathed him in bright light. He remembered just how happy he’d felt, when she’d taken it, his heart fluttering at the memory, scrolling to his call list and tapping her name.

“Hey, you free to talk?”

“I am, I have a few spare minutes,” she replied, waiting for her coffee to pour, prepared to work right on through until the morning and then sleep for a few hours before she started again. “How are you? I hate that tomorrow is Saturday and I won’t have you here. Sucks.”

He was surprised to hear she was still up doing her work, since she’d mentioned earlier when they’d messaged that she’d be spending the entire day doing such. “You got some serious dedication there, for it to be 1am and you’re still working. As for me, yeah, I’m alright. Missing you like fuck, though.”

She made a soft noise in her throat, picking up her large mug of coffee (a two-pod creation) and turning the machine off. “I miss you too! Two weeks and I’ll be free, though, get to come and spend ten days with you before Galway. Did you ask Bish, if you can swing that kind of time away?”

“I did,” he sighed, “and I can’t. I could come for a week, but he can’t lose me for two.”

She was bright in her reply, all optimism. “Well, that’s better than nothing! Come out with us for the week, then head home. How about that? I’d rather at least have you there for a short time rather than not at all. These places I want to travel to, having you there by my side would mean so much. I know it’s corny, but the whole making memories thing is important, you know?”

Her words made him smile, the more rational side of him seeing clearly how stupid his self-doubt was. He knew he wouldn’t likely overcome it immediately, but what she told him had helped. “Yeah, querida, I know. I love you.”

“And I love you too. Listen, I have to hit the laptop again, but I’ll call you tomorrow, after I’ve had some sleep. Night, gorgeous.”

“Night baby.” Ending the call, he looked around at the half-painted walls. They weren’t the only work in progress.

#angel reyes #Angel reyes fanfiction #angel reyes fanfic #angel reyes fic #angel reyes smut #Angel reyes imagine #mayans mc #mayans mc fanfiction #mayans mc fanfic #mayans mc smut #mayans mc imagine

32 notes · View notes

anti-dazai-blog · 9 months

Text

32-33- Thousands of lives risked on a gamble (and other complaints)

Welcome back to the Anti-Dazai Series!!

School starts late August this year, meaning this will be the final entry I’ll post before my classes start. But rest assured that no matter how long the gap between entries becomes, the Anti-Dazai Series is NOT dead or abandoned! So long as I never explicitly say that I’ve gotten bored of this, I will continue posting here–

Now onto what you’re here for—

—-------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 32 has no Dazai content, since its focus is Poe and Ranpo. Meaning we’re moving right on to chapter 33–

Dazai and Ranpo have a strategist meeting to decide the agency’s next move. Dazai went into this meeting with ulterior motives: to present the idea of Atsushi infiltrating the Guild’s Moby Dick alone, as to have him team up with Akutagawa once they’ve both already boarded. With that in mind, the way Dazai and Ranpo’s conversation plays out is rather interesting. Rather than going back and forth putting multiple ideas on the table, Dazai throws in a few specific combinations of agency members to send in, knowing they’re a bad match for this mission. Ranpo knows this too, and points out why each of these combos wouldn’t work. Once those purposely wrong solutions are shot down, Dazai suggests sending Atsushi in. Since this would technically work, Ranpo approves of this suggestion and allows the agency to go forward with it.

Dazai’s tactics here are classic but effective. He suggests subtly bad ideas, knowing that Ranpo will see through the flaws in each one, and then hands him a plan that wouldn’t automatically fail, knowing it would have to be approved. It also casts the illusion that all other options were analyzed, even though only a few specific combinations of agency members were considered. In a way, it’s also a standard “make them think it was their own idea so they’ll agree”. Dazai prompts Ranpo into giving the solution he’s aiming for, so he could move his “create a rivalry-partnership” plan forward.

After Dazai’s done ensuring Atsushi will have a Very Bad Time aboard the Moby Dick, he goes to visit Ango to negotiate Kyoka’s release. Ango, as you may recall, is currently recovering from a car crash. That Dazai caused. He’s stuck in a hospital bed in a full body cast. So Dazai’s greeting of “You look lovely! ;)” just seems like rubbing salt in the wound. But let’s be real, this kind of cruel mockery is exactly what can be expected of him.

Note that Dazai not only caused the accident to begin with, but also removed the airbags on Ango’s side of the car, to ensure he gets as injured as possible.

I’ll give him credit for negotiating for Kyoka’s release– Kyoka doesn’t seem to have any part in his grand Atsushi-related plans, so for once he’s doing something good for someone else without it being a part of his grand schemes. However, negotiating for anything in exchange for medical attention for the grievous bodily harm you intentionally caused someone is Very Messed Up, to say the least.

And now it’s time for the long-awaited mission.

Dazai, as per his previously stated plan, sends Atsushi into the Mody Dick alone. Atsushi is reasonably stressed about this, and being the world’s most encouraging mentor, Dazai explains that it makes sense for him to be the one chosen for this, since “[Atsushi’s] the guy who runs away the fastest.” I’m sure Atsushi found courage in that reminder.

Once he boards the Mody Dick, he discovers that the mission was misrepresented to him (in more ways than one, but we’ll get to that). Or to put it more simply– he was intentionally lied to to get him to agree to do this in the first place. He discovers that the Moby Dick is set on a course to crash in Yokohama, and the only way to stop it is to retrieve the control terminal guarded by Francis. Dazai and Ranpo were both aware that this was the Guild’s plan based on their previous conversation during the strategy meeting (“mountain?” “no, sea”). This could have easily been relayed to Atsushi to allow him an opportunity to mentally prepare himself or plan ahead. Yet they allowed this to be suddenly sprung upon him by Melville, causing more unnecessary panic in an already tense situation.

But let’s draw our attention back to the problem itself: the Moby Dick, a giant airship, is about a come crashing down upon a densely populated city. If only we knew of an ability user who could prevent this from happening– Perhaps someone who could… simply decide whether or not any object should fall in the first place? If only we knew someone like that! Unfortunately our easy solution to this problem is in the Port Mafia, and as per Dazai’s conversation with Mori in this chapter, we know that per Dazai’s request, the Mafia is not to interfere with the agency’s current mission to stop the Moby Dick from killing everyone.

Let me reiterate: Dazai made sure to make a prior agreement with the mafia that they won’t interfere in stopping the Moby Dick from crashing–something that could potentially kill thousands of innocent people, that a single specific mafia member could easily solve in a matter of seconds– all for the sake of putting Atsushi and Akutagawa in a situation where they would have to work together, thus forming his rivalry-partnership that he’s so invested in. THOUSANDS of people’s lives were risked for a gamble that had no guarantee of paying off.

Atsushi is, of course, unaware of all of that. And Akutagawa thinks he’s acting on his own free will when he disobeys his boss’s orders and boards the Moby Dick. And now that Akutagawa’s here– yet another factor that Dazai orchestrated in advance, Atsushi has yet another one of Dazai’s pawns here with him to add to his ever-growing stress.

And that’s that for this week’s entry of the Anti-Dazai Series!! Join me next week when I talk about how Akutagawa is just a traumatized child who desperately needs a great therapist and a hug. And so does Atsushi. So does everyone who has to deal with Dazai. Actually while we’re at it can we get Dazai a therapist too? He probably needs one just as much as everyone else.

#anti dazai series #Atsushi needs to be wrapped up in a little blanket and given some hot cocoa and a tiny little kiss on the forehead #He’s just a little guy and he’s been through so much #No but seriously the stuff this guy has been through #We all overlook his trauma in favor of the characters with the more unique brands of Trauma #Also why does the government not have any magical healing ability users on staff #Why does Ango not have access to proper healthcare without access to Yosano #Someone check Ango’s healthcare plan #Tell me if my guy’s properly covered #Because it sure doesn’t seem like it #Bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #dazai #atsushi #ango

13 notes · View notes

sweepseven · 2 years

Text

Cirque du Soleil: O and KÀ viewing notes, post-pan edition!

First trip to Las Vegas since the pandemic and holy shit!! Was it a TIME. The When We Were Young festival was my excuse to be there, but I can’t set foot in that town without fitting in at least one Cirque show. I managed O and Ka and a last-second Atomic Saloon decision and oh my god did I have the visit of a lifetime. I’ll keep this post strictly to the circus shows, but like. Truly it was nuts.

Anyway! O! I cannot overstate how happy I was to see this show again. This turned out to be my 50th ever Cirque performance and I couldn’t have asked for more. The detail most worth reporting is that according to a friend in the box office, whispers say the show is due for a refresh in January! It's been 24 years and O has never had a facelift! This is so so exciting! There's so much new technology they can integrate into the show, potentially new acts (though I can't imagine O without any one of its current acts), maybe even new music...I can't wait.

Richard MacDonald refreshed the sculpture gallery the very day I arrived in town and of course they're all incredible. He was there and apparently I just missed him when I went to pick up our tickets - too bad, I wanted to say hi!

Our performance was flawless, as always. One flyer fell during bateau but every other detail in the show went beautifully. I had three contortionists, and for some reason I am cursed to only ever see solo swinging trapeze but whatever, it was amazing regardless. The singers were going fucking hard, especially on Tzelma, and their little dance during Simcha was worth the cost of admission alone. I just love seeing them have fun. Crowd was solid, probably 75% full, which for O is more than plenty. There were nothing but empty rows behind us so my friends and I moved back a little ways so we could chat. I've never gotten to talk through an entire performance and it was such a treat hearing my friends react, ask questions, and just engage with the show with so much enthusiasm.

Last thing for O is that the day of the show I received a kind of "keep the magic going" email from Cirque offering up to 50% off LOVE and Ka, which is insane! Like, an almost alarmingly steep discount! And of course everyone likes to say both those shows are on the eternal chopping block, so I was a little 👀 about it. Still, hot tip for all: if you're seeing multiple Cirque shows in LV, maybe take the gamble on seats and wait until the day of your first, get that email, then book the others. I wouldn't expect to see an offer for a discount on O or Mystere, but worth a shot!

That said if anyone would like this offer, lmk and I'll gladly forward you the email. It's good until 12/31 and I won't be back in time to take advantage of it!

Next up was Atomic Saloon and I'll just say that show is an absolute fucking blast and if you can go, do. Fernando Miro is living his best life times a thousand. There's a dog. There's some of the most convincing physical acting I've ever ever seen, and I won't go into more detail for the sake of preserving the surprise for you. See this show. The end. Period.

So now Ka! By this point in the trip I am utterly fucking tapped. We had seen and done so so much between the shows, the festival, the partying, everything. I had the wildest nights I've ever had in that city and by that point it was all really taking its toll. So my attitude going in was very "Ka, I love you, but Jesus fucking Christ." Until then I thought it was impossible to feel disappointed that I had Cirque tickets. But I achieved it. Like that's how rough it was lol

That feeling lifted like a fog the minute the music started. I was so exhausted and out of it that I got an almost totally fresh perspective on a show I've seen now six times: it was just happening before my eyes and I was along for the ride. The boat rowed in and I was immediately transported. I forgot how much I missed this show, and watching each character go by as the stage rotated honestly felt like seeing old friends after years apart. And in a way that's exactly what happened! Watching the Chief Archer's Daughter put on her makeup so slowly and gently, the Firefly Boy sprinkling a handful of petals, the Jester eating his grapes, all of it felt as warm and welcoming as a long delayed embrace.

I'll be quick about acts for the most part: Pageant has some updated choreography that was very fun, Icarian games killed it, Storm isn't quite as fun to watch up close as it is from further back, the turtle scene was shorter and tighter (YAAAY), Pursuit was exact as tense and exciting as you could dream, batons remains perfect, idk why I can't care about that wheel of death act but I can't, and Battle was fine.

But listen!!! Kerren McKeeman as the Twin Sister is! A! Revelation! She's a phenomenal performer and utterly shines in the role. The straps act has some updates to highlight her strengths, and at one point she based the Firefly Boy in a lift and I lost my goddamn mind. Their chemistry together is unmatched, probably the best I've seen for this act. At the end she kisses him fully on the lips. Girl just goes for it. I wanted to cheer. I'll reiterate that I wanted to cheer, I who has spent thousands and thousands of words writing out the Firefly Boy entirely to make room for an impossible romance in goddamn clown fanfiction. Amazing act by amazing performers.

Other details of note: Forest has new bugs! The potato bug is BACK and badder than ever. Firefly Boy pets it like it's the family dog or something. Adorable. The snake was out tonight for some reasons, but there was a giant dragonfly-like one instead that I'd never seen before. There was also a green scorpion-ish thing that I don't think is new new but I don't recall from other viewings. The Counselor had new eyebrows - thicker and more sculpted. Both Firefly Boy and CAD had new, more extravagant costumes for the curtain call. Love Dance and Firefly Both have updated arrangements that I'm not sure I like yet: both give a more theatrical, sparkling impression but might not fit as well with the rest of the show's style. Def didn't hate either one. And did they turn up the volume on the seat speakers? Because holy shit were we rocking. The band killed it all night. The power of this show’s music cannot be overstated.

Okay, character details! Ie the most interesting part to me by a mile:

We had Tricia Woo as the Twin Sister and I completely adored her. She was so energetic and expressive and her chemistry with Peng was adorable. Specific shout out to her raw emotion as the ship sinks. She calls out the nanny's name over and over in this desperate scream, and never has that act had the impact on me that it did tonight. It made The Deep so much more powerful.

TS is visibly afraid of the Counselor's Son when he and his pops crash the function. In fact most everyone was, which was new and interesting to me. CAD isn't just perplexed by his pursuit of her, she's actively nervous of it and him. She turns from him in the Den, she startles when he touches her, and she cowers at his finale reappearance. It was a little chilling - you can’t help but wonder what he has done to get such a reputation.

Jason Biltz delivered yet another excellent turn as CS but it lacked the clarity I've seen in other performances. Tonight the character seemed to favor the path of least resistance and and tbh comes across as a master gaslighter: on multiple occasions he puts his hands up defensively as if asking "why are you so upset?" when he has clearly done something out of line, and he hunches his shoulders as though trying to appear smaller. He does appear to court CAD for 90% political reasons, but come Love Dance he looks truly heartbroken. And then later he doesn’t seem to give a remote shit that she just watched her father die right before her eyes, nor is he at all bothered by the way she's held with a literal knife to her throat. And if he’s always looking for an easy way out, why does he still protest the attack on the Imperialists at the beginning? What's the truth, Rensai, you goddamn snake??

Despite somewhat hazy motivations, Jason plays this bastard as ruthlessly, brutally passionate. It's honestly remarkable. His pride at his every entrance, the deliberate dramatics of his firepowder presentation, his restless and energetic pacing during the wheel of death’s construction, all of it makes him look like the real powder keg about to explode. And when that's exactly what happens, you can't help but feel like you should have seen it coming. I stand by my claim that almost every other singular character in this show could be written out except him: he is essential to the narrative and theme.

The first archer to try to present CAD with a gift was a WOMAN. It was something new, some weapon or something I don't know the name of. Kind of a weighted chain that she whipped around like water meteors. Regardless: BI CAD???? I lost it.

If anyone ever asks you to describe non-sexual human intimacy, show them Shadowplay. It is just desperately tender. The Court Jester tends to the Twin Brother's hand with such delicacy - he removes the bandage, of course, but then has TB hold his palms up so the jester can smooth them with his own. He passes the bandage gently over them, and the gesture is miniscule but it feels like something out of a broader practice. A way to prep TB for the shadow puppets to come while also guiding him away from the tragedy of what they just escaped and into this deliberate moment of peace and rest.

My hasty post-show notes say "TS and FB FUCK but TB and CAD are taking it slow :)" and I'm still kind of laughing about it. There's a distinct difference in the way the twins approach each of their new relationships. TS and Firefly Boy are magnetic and give the immediate impression that they can't keep their hands off each other. Meanwhile TB and CAD are very reserved - more whispers in ears, blushes, and hesitation to hold hands. It's an adorable contrast.

Noriko continues to reign supreme. She gave the most adorable, startled little sound when TB kissed her.

Peng for president. He’s the best. He’s the best. He.

And to cap it all off, I swear that theater was 80-90% full. Better than I’ve ever ever seen it. I was thrilled for the artists to get the recognition they deserve in a space so massive. I hope they felt the energy because what they gave to us that night was utterly electric.

All in all a wholly epic weekend. And O got to be my 50th! See ya at 100, CdS. Feeling very lucky, grateful, and verrrry tired. Back in LV in January for Mystere and hopefully LOVE. 💛💚

#cirque du soleil #o #ka #atomic saloon #reviews #las vegas #circus

10 notes · View notes

stormingthebeach · 10 months

Text

GOTG 3 made me cry

I just watched Guardians of the Galaxy three, cried my eyes out, smoked a bowl, and now I'm feeling naaaaaustalgiiiicccccc.

The lockdown allowed me to improve my writing a ton. The better I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized just how bad I was when I first moved to LA. I came here thinking “I know I’m a good writer, I just have no idea how to get my stuff read.” And I solved that issue in four months when I landed a job at a fucking a-list development company. Those were the days.....

Just a little over a year in LA and I had an executive producer -on TV shows like The Rookie, Designated Survivor, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, and a handful more- read one of my first ever pilots. It's crazy that I had access to him so quickly. Ah yes, more of the good ol' days...

The first guardians of the galaxy movie came out in 2014. I started working at that a-list company in November of 2013. Maybe that’s part of the reason this movie hit me so hard. But also, Rocket’s emotional trauma is way too relatable. The most good of the good ol' days... Anywho!

Here I am, nine years later, and some of my absolute best friends are legit-ass executives and writers. My network is insane. And it’s filled with people I love. Although it took this many years to finally just win a screenwriting contest, I have zero regrets. I’ve been fucking grinding. This pursuit gives me life.

I thrive off of feedback. I honestly enjoy getting notes. I often can't see the forest through the trees. So, a new perspective, even if I disagree with it, always gets me thinking about my stories differently. But I’d be lying if I didn’t secretly hope that every time I sent off a script, the feedback would be “Oh my god, stop everything! Here’s a billion dollars this needs to be made now!”

Although I haven’t received any praise that high (yet), I did receive this--

“VESSEL has all the essential elements found in a successful supernatural thriller! It is a smart, fresh approach to demons, possessions and exorcisms, as well as priests and heavenly angels.”

“This high concept idea has many solid story elements to recommend it to studios and production companies.”

“Overall, the story is well-conceived, expertly written and the characters are layered and engaging; while you can’t second guess Hollywood, this script may well secure the interest of multiple venues.”

“NOTE: I very much enjoyed reading your script and will watch impatiently for its premier in whatever venue it appears! Well done!”

Not too shabby :)

But listen, I’m not out shopping for a Bentley because some random reader (who's bio says has been a reader for 15 + years, reading thousands of scripts of all genres and budgets from shorts to full-length features and novels. Past clients include the major studios, production companies of every size, and European sales agents. No big deal). Besides, compliments feel good. Clapping and cheering, as I run this marathon, is very much appreciated.

Even though I'm not making room in my garage for that Bentley just yet. ( I don't even own a parking spot) What I am doing is getting the confidence to finally show a script to my friends who could actually do something with it.

There was a post years ago where I referred to this one guy as Scoobie. I still don’t know why I did that, but Scoobie is my dear friend Eric. Eric was the weird assistant who sat behind me at the A-List company I first worked at. Nine years later, Eric is a VP at a major studio. And we sit around and make boner jokes. I love him with my whole heart.

Just yesterday, we were on his balcony, and I asked him what kinds of movies he wants to make. And this man looked me in the eye and unknowingly described Vessel. Am I over exaggerating? Of course. But his description did fit my genre. It got me excited about the possibilities of my little story.

I officially asked him to read my script. But he’s one of my best friends, so I already knew the answer.

Wait, weren’t we talking about Guardians? Ugh, I loved it so much. The ending hit me square in the chest. Seeing the characters going their separate ways and starting new chapters. Tears.

It’s always sad when chapters end, but what really made me emotional was thinking about how badly I want my next chapter to finally begin.

And then “Dog Days Are Over” started playing. I balled. That song has been one of my anthems. Ten years in this city and I’m still trying to break in. It sounds insane. And although this pursuit does give me life, I’m so fucking ready for these dog days to be over. Sing it Florence!

As Eric and I were sitting on his balcony, talking about Vessel, he asked me “You want this script to get you repped, right?”

Do I want to get repped...? Here I am, sitting in front of a studio executive who happens to be one of my best friends, and all I dream about is selling scripts for seven-fucking-figures. I want to be in rooms with other creatives. I want to collaborate. I want to learn. I want to grow. I want to entertain. I want to put butts in seats. I want to make them all laugh and cry. I want to make them all think and feel. All of them. Even you! I want you to laugh and cry! Do it now! lol

My current chapter is begging to be finished. I want it all. And I want it now. But of course I responded with, “Yeah, I want get repped.”

0 notes

bleuflowerfields · 1 year

Text

The Donation of a Lifetime (writing prompt, oc)

Author's Note:

Ok, so I got Tumblr recently, so why not use it?

I did a little bit of writing in class today, so I decided to post it here. Writing prompt was used and will be sourced before you see the writing.

Besides that, enjoy! I hope this piece is at least a little foreboding.

Prompt:

(sourced from pinterest, x.writingprompts)

______________________________________________________________

I sneer at him through the window as he sits in front of a computer, a tiny smile on his face every time he gets a donation. The red reflecting off his screen adds some sort of eerie glow to his room. The color represents the Red Room, an immoral scheme he was running was ready to throw away many unwilling human lives and in turn, gain money.

He was quite rich, I would have presumed. For every kidnapping and murder requested by his fans, his bank account grew in numbers. I knew the system inside-out. His anonymous livestream ran 24/7, and viewers bet varying amounts of money on unwitting humans who haven’t even touched the dark web, or would never touch it. For each fifty-dollar superchat, a robbery. For each one-hundred-dollar superchat, a kidnapping, a hitman with one thousand, and the crimes escalated from there. Murder, trafficking, you name it! It was all there on the Red Room livestream.

He hasn’t been caught for years and has stayed anonymous this whole time, even when the feds were actively manhunting him. Well, until I moved in a few months ago.

I had needed to escape as I almost had gotten caught for a string of murders around an hour north of here. I had a decent alibi, too, though it was a relatively rushed one. New face, new personality, the usual. I had met this chap out and about, at a community college. I knew at first glance he had some secret that would threaten his life, and it was running this highly-illegal scheme. I knew a dangerous person when I saw one. He likes me, thinks I’m a fellow student and thinks I'm his next victim. Little did he know, he’d be my next victim. Unfortunately, the next donation I would send to this sorry sack would be the one that kills him. That’s what happens when you happen to be neighbors with a psychopath. After all, two can play that game.

My computer awaited me, the same red screen staring right back at me, the same screen staring right at him, from dawn to dusk to midnight. I had quickly booted up the streaming website on the Dark Web, and I was just about eager to place a bet on him. The only thing I had to do to see his mangled and lifeless corpse was to put my money where my mouth was.

He didn’t know how rich I was. But I damn knew that I had enough to give him a run for their money, and their life. I pulled up the “Superchat” feature from his stream and typed in a hefty number. Then, in the description, you could send the target’s name and address. Usually, a set donation would set the victim’s fate in stone. But he was donating enough to be able to pick and choose multiple crimes. He knew exactly what he wanted. And so, he stared at the exorbitant amount he put in the Insert Amount field.

One million dollars.

This amount gave me the leeway to at least choose four crimes. Because after you donated over 250,000 to the stream, you were allowed to pick and choose more than one crime, and every increment of 250,000 after that would have been one more. He already knew exactly what to do. I almost felt giddy with the power I would have had over this anonymous streamer, the power to plan his murder. I quickly typed in his name and details, and then added a string of crimes for a group of anonymous hitmen and criminals to commit, in the description box. I decided to settle for kidnapping, trafficking, battery & assault, and murder combination. Should bleed the life force out of him for a few days before they’re done with him.

I clicked submit.

The donation went through on his stream and showed up on my screen, and presumably, his.

I then discreetly looked over the computer and through the window, to see his neighbor let out a sharp gasp, sporting a look of surprise. He slowly got out of his chair, and backed away from his computer in a mix of fear and confusion. Perfect! The ruse I planned His panicking wouldn’t help him in the end, anyways.

This was the end of the Red Room livestream, and the beginning of my wicked, psychotic fantasy.

#original writing #writing prompt #creative writing

0 notes

pearlcaddy · 2 years

Photo

[Image ID: An AO3 comment by an unregistered user who named themselves Updates pls. Comment reads: “I know it’s been 500000 years but I am respectfully requesting updates. This is my favorite universe atm and I will die if u don’t give me more of it 😐” End ID]

Okay.

I’ve gotten a lot of these lately, and normally I just delete them and move on with my life, but I got this on a completed fic, so it really sent my irritation to new heights.

If I’m being generous, I assume people who leave these comments don’t realize how awful and entitled they are. They think the fact that they’re demanding More™ is inherently complimentary, or they think that throwing a wee compliment in the middle makes up for the rudeness, or that words like respectfully or politely are magic spells that somehow counteract everything else they’ve said.

(This is the second one of these that I’ve gotten in the past twenty-four hours, and I’ve noticed a formula to it: A reference to how long it’s been since you last posted something, as if you’re an employee overdue on an assignment. A very brief compliment, immediately followed by a demand that you update, or else they will suffer/die/cry/whatever guilt bait they’re using.)

But to be honest, I don’t really feel like being generous because I never get the sense that people leaving these kinds of comments have thought about the person receiving them at all. They’re basically treating the writer like a vending machine: insert enough guilt and demands, and a fic may fall out.

So here is your daily reminder that fic writers write and post fics for free in the available time we find in our lives. We make time around our work, school, loved ones, caring responsibilities, health needs, etc. to do something that brings us joy. We write for ourselves, and when we share what we’ve made, the one thing that most of us are looking for in return is that readers who like what we’ve shared let us know in whatever way they’re able: a kudos, a reblog, an encouraging ask, a comment, a fic rec.

The things that have brought me back to fic writing in the past are comments that actually make me feel good about my writing. That remind me what I loved about a particular verse/fic/ship. That tell me my writing has some kind of impact on people who read it. Comments that make me and my writing feel valuable and enjoyable for both me and readers.

So what do I do when I love a fic and hope a writer updates it or creates more things in that verse? Comment. Or comment again if I’m re-reading. I let them know how much I love the thing they’ve made and tell them the things I like about it. And if I want to encourage more, my go-to phrase is “if you write anything else in the verse, I’ll be first in line to read it”—centering my enthusiasm for their work rather than screaming for More.

I can’t speak for other fic writers, but personally? Whenever I get update pls comments, I put off writing for longer. Because sharing another fic starts to feel Sisyphean if people are just going to keep banging on the table demanding More no matter what I do.

Part of the reason this particular comment set me off so much is that the fic is complete. In fact, there are multiple completed fics and tens of thousands of words in that verse. There is a lot of More already.

And one of the aspects of fandom that I’m finding really disheartening lately is how loud the screams for More are, as if a thing only has value as long as there is a constant stream of new stuff coming. As if a TV show is only worthwhile if there are new episodes being released. As if fandoms are only relevant as long as hordes of fans are actively creating new fanworks. As if WIPs only matter if they’re being updated.

Instead of valuing and celebrating works for existing even if they’re short or unfinished, there’s such endless demand for More that it feels like things are only valued if they’re infinite. And to quote Angel:

It just don't work. It's like a song. Now, I can hold a note for a long time. Actually, I can hold a note forever. But eventually, that's just noise. It's the change we're listening for. The note coming after and the one after that. That's what makes it music.

Stories end. Stories need to end. Both for their own sake and because creators need to move on to new stories. And even if a note is cut off early—if a show is cancelled or a WIP isn’t completed—it doesn’t diminish the beauty or value of the note. It usually makes things even more beautiful: the flash of lightning in a bottle, the thrill of promise suspended in amber.

Instead of always demanding More, could we not show appreciation for what already exists?

Or, at the very least, could we stop being entitled brats in AO3 comments?

#ao3 #fanfiction #ao3 comments #fandom #this comment was on the milder side of Update Pls bullshit but the fact that it was ona completed fic and not one of my wips fucking sent me #the irony is that i was thinking of sharing a prompt list this week and writing more stuff in some of my verses #but now i'm grumpy and i don't want to #i'm like the pouting luke meme #also #very very sick of the number of people who tell me they'll die if i don't write more!#fuck off with that!!!#even as hyperbole how do people not get how fucked up that is??#pearlcaddy.txt #500

541 notes · View notes

olderthannetfic · 2 years

Note

Re: DNIs WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree DNIs are terrible. But for multiple reasons beyond 'no one sees it'.

Even ignoring the fact that 90% of the DNI criteria is either 'people who would never respect a DNI', 'people who wouldnt count themselves as in the x-ist category of a DNI', or 'wibbly vague criteria that means whatever the creator wants it to mean at any given time';

If their purpose was to be sure someone saw their boundaries before they interacted, theyd put it at the bottom of every spreadable article of theirs or not use a site that their content can be spread outside of their control, which they arent.

If they really needed certain groups to not interact with them, social media like tumblr isnt the site for them. Twitter most certainly is not the site for them (unless they go private and stay that way). But knowing that its totally out of their control they have DNIs that imply they need boundaries the site and site culture cant provide they use them anyway and seemingly ONLY use them there.

By the very fact that no one in their right mind is going to open a blog and try to locate their unmarked dni page thats often like 1k words in the most ugly unreadable color and font combo known to man and they know this because I can GUARANTEE they aint doing it themselves, they demonstrate that its not that they are big on boundaries because they arent hypercareful with everyone elses- just with theirs.

If they just needed a list for follows, they would have a BYF that states who they would prefer following them on that platform and what people need to know about their opinions or blog topics and can give the same social clout of flashing your opinions for likeminded people that DNIs do.

The only reasons left for people(besides 'thats what everyone else is making- a list of people they dont like') to use a DNI on a postsharing socmed that doesnt coat all their posts are 1- sowing a performative message that you are The Most Pure So Much So That You Dont Allow The Unpure To Touch You or 2- that in many circles violating boundaries (like DNIs) gives people the license to harass that person.

This is the primary reason, I feel, that many people, esp antis have a DNI then interact with people on their DNI. I have seen it so many times at this point its not even funny. Someone has their dni buried in their desktop only tumblr theme without indicating they have one, some rando reblogs a post with thousands of notes and then they get a public callout for being a evil boundary violator for not knowing about the DNI. Someone gets a hate comment on their post so they reply and get yelled at for interacting with somoene who interacted with them first. Someone gets a callout on twitter for leaving a positive comment on an a03 fic because the person didnt go to their profile first and follow the link to twitter then their carrd then to the dni there.

If people wanted a nice list of opinions, theyd call it 'opinions'. If they wanted to control who interacts with them because they really have serious triggers theyd go private or migrate somewhere else. If people really needed people to see their boundaries theyd put it on their posts. If they wanted to control who follows them loosely and dont care about reblogs and such, theyd have a BYF not a DNI.

But they dont. So its not about that. If it was, theyd be doing those other things. But they arent.

Its gotten to the point that DNIs are a strong yellow flag in people I dont already know because so many people I do know have gotten harassed with them.

Yup.

209 notes · View notes

lycorisketch · 2 years

Text

Here to talk about Security Breach. Lots of people have been complaining about stuff, so I wanna give my thoughts.

Please read entire post before commenting

First off, I'm only halfway through the game, so no, I have no experienced everything in the game personally, but I've seen every ending, multiple playthroughs, and many other analysis posts.

Also I'm sorry for the large post, but this all has made me upset and I wanna talk about it.

(Also everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but still, please read)

-------

So to start, to the people complaining about bugs and the game being unplayable, etc.

I have experienced 3 bugs in total so far, only one of which actually hurt my gameplay, but it was minor and was easily gotten past. It was a bug that gave me the camera layout for an area too early, as it first required you to beat a mission. Because of this, I was unable to properly track the animatronics on the cameras. I died three times, but managed to survive the last as I found a way to do it without the cameras. Overall, not a huge problem and was easily gotten past with a bit of thinking.

Bugs do not mean a game is unplayable. Multiple players have gotten through the game completely, even with some minor bugs. Yes, there will be AI problems with collision and such, but that is how game programming works. So to those of you complaining about the AI being stuck on a door, I suggest you think about how hard it was for developers to even program the AI to track you through a diverse location in the first place.

Some other bugs to note are ones that can stunt gameplay completely. Such as a bug that causes the 3am recharge station to be inaccesible. I have also heard of bugs that have crashed the game on consoles or pc, but games will always have those problems. Even in popular games such as World of Warcraft, which has had thousands of players and development experience over the years, still runs into this type of bug.

I understand it is frustrating and annoying, but Steel Wool has already spoken and said they are working to fix these types of bugs and to optimize the game. You have to understand this will take time. Steel Wool is an indie company who has already had a lot of pressure on them since they began to make this game, and with the delay last year it only worsened for them. Not to mention we are nearing Christmas and these developers and such deserve time to spend with their families. Not listening to people bash the game they have spent 2+ years on.

So to those of you who have spent time complaining about the "gamebreaking" and "annoying" bugs that you yourself may not have even faced, please take this all into consideration. The game should not have been delayed again. Not only because its a function and fun game as is, but also because had it been delayed, you all would have thrown a fit. The game had been delayed 18 hours and people were in outrage because of it. Imagine what would've happened if it had been delayed longer to fix every bug in the game (which by the way isn't even statistically possible given most bugs are found until a large playerbase has played the game and found the bugs as each bug has a slim chance of occuring and would most likely not present during play-testing). No game has been released perfect, so bugs will continue to be found for quite some time.

I will say, if you haven't played the game for yourself, please do not come after me because you watched someone encounter bugs. Bugs will occur, and sometimes the bugs you see in videos were forced by the players (intentional or not). You yourself have no played the game and cannot say whether it is unplayable or not. I respect those who watch gameplay videos or don't have the ability to buy or play the game, hut understand theres a difference between seeing someone play, and actually playing.

--------

Now onto another topic of complaints. The story. I've seen many posts bashing the game for a lackluster story that doesn't make sense to players or that there is little to no story at all.

I argue against this. Obviously.

As a long time fan of the franchise I have heavily enjoyed this game and its story. The game doesn't force the plot in your face like many other games might. It allows a gameplay experience in which you can choose to either a. pay attention and dig for more info or b. play the game and give only minor or no concern to any plot.

No, you do not have to have read every single book or watched every single Game Theory video to understand this franchise. From day 1, this franchise has prided itself on gameplay first, story second. But to those of us in the community who have actively dug for the story and followed it, this game makes sense.

To find the story you have to get different collectibles, messages, and find references throughout the game. From the old posters of Fazbears Family Diner, the inclusion of certain animatronics, to even as far as design choices, this game has a concrete place in the FNAF story.

The problem is that a shocking small amount of players actually look and acknowledge certain aspects.

There are 6 different endings, with 1 being locked being a hard mode. This itself is not shocking as many story elements have been locked behind a more difficult area of gameplay (ie. Sister Location Ennard fight ending, UCN 50/20 mode, even as far as to include the different minigames present in Fnaf 2 and Fnaf 3). Many players could play 1 ending and call it quits. But I've noticed a lot of people complaining they simply don't make sense or are too happy cheery to be right. And that is a key problem. Some endings are meant to be 'gag' endings that make no sense, while others are heavily linked to the story itself. Sadly, it seems few people have realized this and have taken everything at face-value. And yes, I understand not every player can do the hard mode (I can't even do it myself), but that's why we are meant to work as a community and figure stuff out together.

Some story elements are also locked behind secret areas only accessible at end-game. But if you are to truly look at these areas and their contents, you'll find a lot of story that many have complained was left out (ie. Vanessa backstory).

To those of you complaining about things being removed that were shown in trailers, or accusing Steel Wool of changing the story midway through development, please think. Some aspects from trailers aren't in the game yes, but thats not odd for a game. Some dialogue only serves purpose to engage people into playing the game (ie. Male voice [presumably Afton] at the start of one trailer speaking over the Vanny mask). This dialogue seems to serve only as an engagement tool and to give us as players an idea on the characters. I don't see a way this dialogue would have fit in any capacity no matter if they had changed something or not. It is simply not spoken in a way that could smoothly implemented into gameplay without disrupting the flow.

To those saying Vanessa was supposed to be sweet and caring because of dialogue presenting in one trailer. No. She was never set up to be a character that we as Gregory would trust. The dialogue in which she speaks of 'getting out together' and that the animatronics 'will never stop hunting you' serves only as an engagement and story tool. Vanessa is shown as a character we do not trust, even in the trailer, so those lines serve only for us to link to the story (which I believe I have figured out for the most part).

I will also note, to anyone complaining about a lack of Afton or Vanny presence, the main antagonist in the story is never fully present all the time. Even throughout the other games, we onyl saw Ennard at the end of Sister Location, and heck, we didn't even see Afton for the entirity of the first two games (unless you count the minigames). The Fnaf franchise has always kept secondary antagonists in more light than the primary antagonists, allowing them to pull the strings without being seen.

The FNAF franchise has never outright given its story to players and has always been about picking out the real truth from red herrings, as well as the clues in the game itself. It is a complex puzzle that requires time and effort to put together.

(P.S. To anyone claiming that Fnaf VR and forward are non-canon and should be treated as a separate entity because Steel Wool 'ruined' the story. Kindly leave this community. Steel Wool is an indie company who has poured their hearts into these games, working alongside Scott for it all. So everything you see has been approved by Scott as part of the story.)

So no, the game is not terrible from a gameplay perspective, and no, the game is not lacking in story.

For anyone struggling with the story in Security Breach, whether you have seen the secret stuff or not, feel free to message me. I can discuss how I believe it all fits together, just give me time to respond.

Sincerely,

A Fnaf fan who has been here since the start and is tired of people bashing this game

#fnaf security breach #fnaf #fnaf sb #fnaf security girl #fnaf vanessa #fnaf fandom #fnaf sister location #five nights at freddy's #Im tired of this game getting bashed for little to no reason #Please actually research and think before hating on it #Its been in development for 2+ years by an indie company whos poured their hearts into it

130 notes · View notes