#got booted off of the internet for school reasons

[redmelawashere]

Alright I got woken up at like 3 AM with FORBIDDEN MEMORIES™️ and remember that MelloNear literally had a fandom video game. What other fucking fandom has SHIPPING VIDEO GAMES.

I think it just hit me since recently I've been thinking a lot about how fandom spaces shift over time (especially as we have re-boots, live-actions, or other media that helps reinvigorate fandoms like currently with A:TLA) and honestly, MelloNear has had so many ups and downs and like…as someone who was in this fandom WAY too young and grew up with it I want to see how many people on tumblr, who were there in ye olden wild west days, remember the stuff I do and also for those of you who weren’t around back then but are big now, here’s the insane history that I remember:

1 - LiveJournal (LJ) and the LOST FICS LJ was initially one of the better places to find fics – but a lot of authors jumped ship when FF.NET started to take over and for other reasons that were before my time. Finding fics on LJ that haven’t been deleted was/is hard and their UI is trash I never could get a grasp on it. (The irony of FF.NET now being dead and people jumping ship to AO3 and Tumblr lol.) Astyzia_ii used to write really fucking good MelloNear stuff there. She was one of the first people I ever read that had insanely good Near characterization. Unfortunately, her account no longer exists. But some of the things she wrote were things like:

Near being a total brat (at the time, no one else was really writing Near like that. Including Near lying to Mello about being assaulted by other children at Whammy's, just generally putting him in his place, etc.)

Mello painting Near’s nails black (then this trope just went off on FF.NET and everyone was writing fics like that - I really like when stuff like this comes out of fandom)

Mello finding out that Near, despite being in love with him, thought Mello was so unapproachable he had sex with someone else (implied Giovanni) and Mello is basically confronting Near about it at a time when Near was treated as a prudish virgin in fandom

Finding each other in the apocalypse AU

Mello and Near being like high school sweethearts (salthearts?) and Mello wanting to go to a University in the BIG CITY but would ignore the offer if it meant staying with Near (and super tragic fic too. They pull over on a freeway after an argument about it and then Near just straight up gets hit by a car after pushing Mello out of the way 💀 and you don't know if Near survived)

And obviously, many more really creative AUs

2 - KurosakiAkane and VIDEO GAMES Akane, as Spanish artist and the original “cursed moons” drew some of the most viral and prolific MelloXNear doujinshis and EVEN MADE FANDOM VIDEO GAMES. Like I can’t believe I forgot about this. Akane literally made fandom yaoi video games and they were SO GOOD. What other fandom has shipping video games you’d think it’d be the norm I can barley wrap my head around it

Pretty sure her website (www.cursedmoons.com) is down so you can’t download them directly from there or see her full doujinshis anymore

Her DeviantArt account is still live so you can see some stills and teasers from her doujinshis.

Her LJ account is also still live but more so as an archive.

Her first game “D.nD Poisoned” can be downloaded here if you scroll to the bottom (but I haven’t checked the link so be wary…) but it was basically taking place during Whammy’s days, and yes, Mello has a knife cause he’s unhinged since those were just the times ig.

“D.nD Infection” was her second, unfinished game, which would have been when they were mid-Kira investigation post Mello blowing up the base. I found a website that hosts the short demo she released.

Her games literally inspired a new wave of AUs for the fandom in the fic department and she was just a titan who kept everyone together on all corners of the internet. When she decided to leave the fandom in like 2011 after 2010’s great FF.NET purge of M rated fics it kind of felt like the beginning of the end.  

3 - Doujinshis (fandom comics) Most doujinshi artists had their own websites and MANY were Japanese / Chinese translated into English (pretty sure Akane was the first one to create them exclusively in English...). There are so many archived on YouTube that I used to watch all the time. You can even still find some of Akane’s doujinshi’s on Youtube like:

January

Lost Innocence

The Last Birthday

Game Over

Chocolate Kiss

One of the ones that was most impactful on me was this one that I cannot remember the name of, and it wasn't by Akane, but basically Mello, freshly 16 trying to stay alive, resorts to prostitution, and the big revealer at the end is he’s just kind of left there, alone, opens up his hand and there’s a little white puzzle piece he stole from Near and pretty sure the last line was something along the lines of “no one else” and I just 😭

4 - Lost Art and the Famous Water Colours

A lot of that water-colour MN art you see floating around was from, if I'm not mistaken, a Chinese MelloNear artist and their website I think was just "w" or something and she had created 100s of MN art.

5 - ForbiddenSoul562 and FF.NET Beef and Fan Fic Rap Battles

Soul was one of the BIGGEST creators on FF.NET (and luckily, she’s still active both on FF.Net and here on tumblr!) I remember when she had like a fic battle with another creator FragilePuzzle (who is also on tumblr and active – but they post M-ll-M-tt stuff now and pretty sure they deleted all their MelloNear fics... Their active handle on tumblr is mizzmellos I think? Anyways, they’ve also switched from writing to art and its really good!) And there was like a whole “vote who you think wrote the better fic” and it was like Clash of the Titans. Shame that Fragile, as they used to go by, doesn’t like MN anymore since they also wrote a lot of really good stuff. When Fragile stopped posting and Soul went on an extended hiatus that also felt like another beginning of the end loooooool (pretty sure Soul and Mzz had an interaction here on tumblr reminding each other of each other and I had so much social anxiety I was like headbanging watching this interaction go down and if I'm remembering correctly it started cordial but didn't really end well but I could be 100% misremembering the tone of the interaction but if you dig through Soul's tumblr you can probably find it or mzzs for that matter.) 6 - Kids Writing Dark Tropes

I feel like I should make another post and just…describe how Mello and Near were portrayed individually and in a relationship during that time since it was honestly insane. Very toxic, very star-crossed lovers who revolve around each other but are devastating together and are healthier a part, and so much more. I’m much happier with where their characterization and how the fandom has evolved currently from those times lol. But I think over the years I’ve also realized how fucking young all of us were (I was literally like…13 consuming all this media which retroactively, I’m like YIKES 18+ is 18+ for a reason and I even realized some of my favourite authors / creators who I thought were way older than me or like “cool teenagers” were also close to my age and not that much older so no wonder we were all writing crazy unstable relationship shit like that - which can be fun! - but this was literally all. the. time.).

Honestly that’s all I can remember for now but what a wild ride. I know FF.NET is like, a super hard platform to use now (and just gets worse every day 🙃) but if anyone wants some MN fic recs from the vault lmk and I’ll make a post about it.

-Redmela

#redmela screams #redmela rants #death note #mn #mellonear #meronia #cursed moons #like shit I wish Akane could have at least finished Infection I can't even begin to grasp the talent of writing/scripting/drawing/codding #ALL BY YOURSELF #FOR FREE #FOR THE FANDOM AND THE PEPOLE #mEANWHILE I have like 50 WIPs for multiple fandoms byeeeeeee #Mello | Mihael Keehl #Near | Nate River #D.nD Poisoned #D.nD Infection #Fandom video games #fandom culture #fandom history

[twilightknight17]

Yesterday on P3R, I genuinely wonder how anyone is learning anything at this high school. For fuck’s sake. XD

I did finally manage to get a readable picture of the warning screen that comes up when you boot the game.

Again, I think this is a good idea, considering… everything. I mean, going off the movie characterization, even Mina is mildly passively suicidal this whole game. It’s a lot.

So I joined the track team, because no one answered when I knocked on the swim team’s door. After attending one practice, I’ve learned that Minato can apparently run marathons with no problem. Going to Tartarus one time should not have done that, so like… what is this kid’s routine off-screen? XDDD

Also oh my god, guys, I didn’t “go out with” Yukari. Please.

I live with Mitsuru, too. Just go ahead and treat me like a god.

Went back to Tartarus to train a little and get some more personas. I’m fascinated by the fact that apparently you can’t go at all if Mitsuru is busy in the evenings. I wonder if that’ll change once we get a proper navi.

I’m also sharply and suddenly reminded that P3 has a different demon set. Like, not only did I get Forneus at level 8 instead of level 50-something, I also got… this thing???

Fucking baby-Azathoth looking son of a bitch. But I needed zio, so okay. X’’’D

Anyway, this school is absolute madness. I got asked before about some historical thing and managed to logic out the answer, but now we’re in math class and god help me.

In the words of Po, who I sent this screenshot to: “OH GOD NOT AGAIN”

The explanation doesn’t even help explain why I got it wrong! I picked C. But no, A is apparently a logarithmic spiral, and MA’AM? Did we actually learn this in class or did you just pop this question on everyone out of nowhere???

All the teachers in this school are nuts. The history teacher is glossing over everything at the speed of light so he can get to samurai, the literature teacher just wants to talk about haiku, and then there’s… this guy.

Who is also the school nurse, so like… oh no.

My education and my health feel in danger. X’D

Meanwhile, on the social link side of things… Ehhhhhhh. I don’t know how I feel about these people so far. Track guy (Kaz?) considers me a rival, which is cool and all, but my Magician, Kenji is… uh…

I am literally just a guy eating ramen.

I feel a less intense version of what I felt for Mishima, I think. Just a general, like, “I don’t think I actually want to be friends with you, but you have latched on for some reason.” He’s still on about asking out a teacher, which, again, godspeed my dude. Please don’t expect a shoulder to cry on when you get shot down. I'll be busy wishing my link was with Junpei.

...the ETHICS TEACHER? Oh man my dude. Forget shot down, you’re gonna get shot into the sun.

Moving on! A wild Shinji appears!

And then he is gone.

But now the internet at the dorm is fixed, so I can spend my birthday looking at… single-use computer software. Which is apparently a thing. Somehow. Whatever, time to try a virtual diet to make myself more charming!

...okay, I laughed.

And to round off my in-game birthday (mine, not Minato’s XDDD), a nice visit from Pharos, warning me that a terrible challenge is coming.

So, yay! Next time, I’ll probably make it to the first full moon, and maybe I can finally smack some sense into Junpei so he stops being passive-aggressive about not being the leader.

Bonus: God, I wonder who made this game. Baofu, are you out there?? This Side's Kozue??? Anyone?

#Li plays P3Re

[rothjuje]

My sister would be 34 years old today. I normally get the Cheesecake Factory (her favorite and where her husband proposed) or sushi (another favorite) but I normally go with her bff, who is still back in TX. Sigh.

That’s the worst thing about being all the way out here, missing birthdays and holidays with loved ones. I’m dreading Thanksgiving.

Anyway. George has had a great few days at school! I think he has finally adjusted. Monday was his first day with no tears at drop off. Today was his first day completely tearless. He is now saying hi, bye, yes, no, please, and goodnight regularly. Can’t believe how far he’s come in less than two weeks! He has the sweetest little voice. (Before his regression at 21 months he was saying about 10 words).

I am working with Gen on emotional regulation. I think I have to start here. Instead of reacting, I get down to her level and in a soft voice remind her to breathe and use her words to tell me what’s wrong. It’s still a full body tantrum with screaming and throwing but more like 30 seconds instead of 3 minutes now. Alyssa and George very rarely throw tantrums and when they do it’s easy to tell exactly what it’s about. Gen it is the smallest stuff and it’s more rage/screaming than sad/crying (Alyssa and George get more sad than mad). I also get more sad than mad when upset. It is so interesting to me how Alyssa and George got my height, lips, and demeanor and Gen looks and acts nothing like me. It’s like raising Justin’s clone.

Got all the kids’ winter gear. Duplicates for George and Alyssa to leave at school (I hear that’s a thing). Their boots and hats and gloves and mittens are all adorable. The only thing left is boots for me and Justin.

Btw, our driveway was slathered in layers of leaves. Yesterday on my way back from dropping George off, I got halfway up the driveway and lost traction and slid all the way to the bottom of the hill. I guess wet leaves can be as slippery as ice per the internet. I was so scared I almost peed myself. Needless to say I’ll be less lazy with raking from now on.

After splitting the knees open in the one pair of jeans that fits me, I finally decided I deserved to have two pairs of pants that fit. So I took Gen to the mall. Nightmare. How can one child cause so much destruction? Anyway. Replaced my fav jeans and found two more on sale at Lucky Brand and having multiple jeans that fit is pretty amazing. Why did it take me 3 years to buy pants that fit?!

We are getting closer with the other Jews in town. They actually moved here a year before we did for the same reason (land). So they’re also in making friends mode. They have bees (my dream). And kids the same exact ages (daughter in kindergarten is Alyssa’s bestie and a son about to turn 3). And they’re very chill which is so nice.

I am less eager to make mom friends. The mornings George is at school go by so fast and I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed by the current amount of chores and errands I need to get done. I’m sure after the chaos of Halloween dies down I’ll be more open to attempting library events again. Thankfully Gen gets lots of time with peers between the neighbor’s daughter, the Jews’ son, and ballet class (and her brother of course).

It’s been nice this week to get more settled into a routine. We used to have dinner at 7 and put all the kids down around 8:30. Now we have dinner at 6, George goes down at 7 (he needs more sleep) and the girls go down at 8. It is very functional. Everyone wakes up happy. Justin and I could actually spend time together if I wasn’t so burnt out. I think I’m still mentally recalibrating from the intense move/back to back visitors/Justin leaving on two work trips/George starting school. We need to get back to our weekly stay at home date nights. That sweet sweet silence after the kids go to bed though..

[secretgamergirl]

Can we talk about this sniveling little worm for a moment?

So I’m still locked out of my twitter account (and consequently bleeding followers on Patreon and probably going to freeze or starve to death soon) but people keep posting fresh examples of the new CEO finding new and innovative ways to run the whole thing into the ground, and while I’d love to check the actual ratio, of what I see, something like 80% of the statements people are pointing and laughing at come not just from standard out there posts, but stuff he’s saying in the replies of this particular little worm here. Which is odd for a number of reasons, but the thing is I have a pretty involved history with this particular random nazi loser that makes it feel extra surreal.

Once upon a time, starting around the summer of 2014, there was a big ol’ nazi uprising on the internet. Which came weirdly close to coinciding with when I started this blog, especially after I nuked some of the earliest posts for safety reasons, and as I certainly hope everyone knows I got pretty heavily involved in countering nazi BS, both independently and networking with other people fighting that particular good fight.

Somewhere in there, I wound up as part of a sort of combination support group/think tank/resource center for major victims of nazi crap, and that’s where I first encountered this particular little worm... and if it wasn’t clear I’m going to continue to refer to him as such for purposes of not coming up if he goes vanity searching. Among other things he has a history of stalking me which I’d like to keep as just history, you know? Anyway, the hell of a thing with it is he DIDN’T first come to my attention as a gross little nazi, but as an anti-fascist activist beyond reproach.

So that angle makes this tricky to talk about because it makes someone else look real real bad and I don’t want to go starting THAT fight, but there was an individual who was a major early target people were aware of and had a lot of faith in, and who frankly was an absolutely terrible judge of character and particularly vulnerable to flattery. So this little worm wrote some messages to that major target, who proceeded to present him to everyone else working to do anything about the whole mess as “one of the few good reporters out there on this” and later because of course this came up, talked him up as a “former nazi” when in reality there was nothing former about it, and he was just using this person’s susceptibility to boot-licking as a way to undermine anti-nazi things and/or make himself feel important by proximity to people who were in headlines.

Anyway, I’d never say anything this cruel about someone who isn’t a literal, wrote a high school essay about how much he loves Hitler nazi, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was as generally worthless and oblivious as this little worm. Like, in the brief period where I interacted with him, I remember him coming to me for advice because he’d boot-licked his way to editor at a very minor game review website (I’ve held such a position) and a woman was complaining about being harassed by a coworker. Totally taken off guard by the only sensible advice anyone could give there, fire the creep. He instead wanted some magical trick to make this woman just somehow be OK with it. Shortly thereafter, there was basically no staff left, he’s trying to hire someone new to write for the site, and is deeply confused that nobody’s interested in committing to writing... I want to say it was 8 thousand-word articles per day, 7 days a week, for a grand total of 80 dollars a month. He was also thoroughly thoroughly convinced that all political unrest in the country would just stop completely the day a video game he was looking forward to was released.

I’d speculate on how he managed basic tasks to get through the day like meals and hygiene, but he’s highly infamous for ranting about his bed, keyboard, and various other things being covered at all times in ants and being at a complete loss as to what to do about it besides just crush them by sleeping/typing right on them. So, there’s that. Look him up and you’ll find plenty of other stories of just how jaw-droppingly bad at just existing and having thoughts this guy is.

This guy who the rich idiot running Twitter into the ground is discussing every single move he makes with. It’s just weird, right? He’s still this generally clueless, still an outright self-applies the term even nazi, still in deep last I checked with outright child sexual exploitation sites, and here he is playing evil vizier. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say he’s playing Brainy Smurf. So far as I can tell he’s just repeating all his bad ideas back to him and trying to rephrase them into something sensible enough to get a “yes, exactly!” back. I’d say bootlicking is the one thing this guy is good at but... no. People who are actually good at that sort of thing get something out of it, materially. This weird little clown just stays in the spotlight with no real benefit.

But the important thing is that yeah, the current head of what’s left of Twitter is actively palling around with a notorious neo--nazi and is enthusiastic about all his feedback. Heck of a thing to see.

[everydaygremlin]

Tell me about computers

WELL ILL START WITT TALKING ABOUT MINE ANDSEE WHERE IT GETS ME

rn im typi ng on one of my laptops, a macbook from 2012 named Barnaby, who was much harder to repair than many of my other laptops, which all had issuese with being too slow (i just reset them), barnaby had a blinking question mark symbol on boot, whcih means that there was no system found, and that was because it wasnt detecting the hard drive, because the cable had decayed, which is a common issue for 2012 macbooks pro's. This was the sole reason my dad replaced barnaby with his new laptop, as he could not find a fixfor his issue, after hours of searching. During a power outage i looked it up and found a fix. I then found the model number of the broken part, and borrowed my dad's card to order a replacement. He then decided that i can have this laptop, becasue due to issues with the third party hard drive contained within, there was an issue with the system being unable to read the drive occaisonally after startup. It usually goes away after a couple minutes, but its vry inconvinient, espicially with how sensitive the drop sensor within is, but its a worthy compromise for a laptop with a good amount of processing power, a better battery life than my other mac, Grace (more on her later), and practically every port known to man, as well as a disc drive. Not to mention the fact that Barnaby has been to many, many countries. Okay, onto Grace now. Grace is also a 2012 Macbook, however this time a macbook air. My mum used to run her whole buisness from it, and due to that, when apple decided to stop updating those laptops, she immeadiatly bansihed grace to the cupboard, as a "spare" aka "i dont want my kid taking this laptop i think they have eniugh". Of couse i found her whilst trying to find a 20 dollar note, and cleaned her up, both internally and externally. Theres not really much more to say, i used her as a replacement chromebook for a while, becuase i got sick of chromebooks, and wanted to use spotify, but by the end of the schol year i was getting pretty tired of the broken K and L keys. I have a chromebook, and a microsoft surce which my brother took the charger for and never gave back. Finally, i have my pride and joy, my main computer, Charlotte. She has a top of the line CPU from 2015, a disk drive, 2,4 ghz internet support, a dedicated graphics unit, fans tgat can spn upward of 1000 RPM, and of course, a disk drive. Me and my dad built her together when i was 5, and then i started playing minecraft. My dad then tought me how to install minecraft mods, and i was off. I quickly caught onto hwo to use the windows file explorer, and am now better at using windows than my own dad! Charlotte and barnaby are my main two, one for bringing to school (even though its like 3 kilos) and one that stays at home.

I have reread none of what i just typed, and liely sound insane, This was fun tho!

[oraclememehacker]

Haru and Futaba’s Bonding Moment

“I’m surprised that you’re still around Futaba. Usually, you’re squirreled up in your room at this point.” Sojiro remarked with a good-natured chuckle as Futaba was sitting at one of the booths with her switch out. Who knew what she was doing but apparently it was important as she was laying on her back and playing it pretty intently. Her mind was an enigma to the old man, but she mattered to him immensely. “Oh, I’m here for a reason. One of the others is coming over.”

One of the others meant her friends, the group that she hung out all the time. Sojiro knew that much anyways. “Ah. Which one?” He was more curious than anything, and with Futaba, he never knew what the answer was going to be. “You’ll know when they arrive.” She told him in a casual fashion as she was playing on her switch still. As always, she wanted to be cryptic. Oh well. “Should I prepare them the usual then?”

As he asked, the familiar chime of the door could be heard as the door opened, and who was it? None other than Haru Okumura, who was here for the express purpose of seeing Futaba. They had chatted via text about meeting up, and now was the time. There was a warm radiating energy coming off Haru that seemed to have the ability to cheer up even the most disheartened individuals. It was like a superpower really.

When Haru saw Futaba at the booth, she immediately got more excited. “Futaba-chan!” Futaba put her switch on the table and got up, seeing the floofy woman. “Haru!” The two rushed towards each other and gave each other a big hug, getting caught up in the moment as the two were simply really happy to see one another. It had been a little bit, and now they were going to just chat it up. Whilst playing Stardew Valley, which was the main plan.

“You want the usual, Okumara-san?” Sojiro asked and got a little nod of confirmation. “Coming right up then. You two enjoy yourselves.” The two of them let go of the hug and were beaming. “I haven’t had a chance to play this with you in a while Futaba-chan. I’m glad we’re getting back together for this.” Whilst Haru didn’t play many games, Stardew Valley really did hit the spot for her, and playing with a veteran like Futaba made it all the better.

“I know. I’ve been making sure the farm is doing alright. Just a few little things, don’t worry. We haven’t missed any major milestones or anything. Okay, let’s get to it then.” They would sit in the booth, getting ready as Haru joined via local play. Then they would start things up, tending to their farm which was coming along quite nicely with it still being the first year and all that. As they were chatting amongst themselves about their plans for the rest of fall in game, Haru spoke up.

“So, how have you been Futaba-chan? Has school been well for you?” Haru figured with a genius like Futaba, she probably wasn’t having much trouble academically speaking. The problem was with the socialization. She had heard about how much Futaba was bullied in school growing up, it was part of what lead to her to being so anti-social after all. “Yep, school’s been fine. Honestly, I think it’s been quite dull.”

“Well, I guess dull is better than having a bunch of bad stuff happen. Are your grades doing well?” When she got the answer of yes, that made her feel good. “Good. I bet you’ll be top of your class easy. You’ve taught me so much about computers and other assorted things.” Like the fact that booting didn’t mean kicking it with a boot. Though the term did come from bootstrap, so it had more to do with a boot than one would expect. Along with just some other basic computer maintenance stuff.

“You didn’t make it easy though.” Futaba told Haru with a sweat drop. “No offense.” Of course, there was no offense taken. “But you learned pretty well all things considered. I tried to teach some people on the internet through forums and it was like trying to teach a cat how to not hate water. Some people can be so dense and stupid I swear.” That just got a good hearty laugh to come from Haru. “Anyways, yeah, things are going well. How about you?”

“Me? Just fine all things considered. I’m getting ready to head to college for business. That way when I take over the company properly, I’m well versed in the ways of keeping the company going. Plus I want to open those cafes and keep growing my own food.” For Futaba that was like learning Greek, but she was quite proud of Haru for all of that. They both had goals and were heading towards them. It was quite nice.

Sometime would pass, and they kept playing, Haru eating her curry that was prepared by Sojiro, getting towards the end of fall in game. They loved their little bonding session, as it was a way for them to just relax, and for Haru to not have expectations placed upon her. As they were playing, a curious question entered Haru’s mind. She wasn’t sure why it did, but it was nagging at her and if she didn’t at least ask it, it would probably bug at her heavily. “Hey Futaba-chan, I have a question. It’s a weird one, but I’m curious.”

“Hmm? What’s up?” Futaba had an inquisitive tone to her voice as she was wanting to know what this weird question was. “I know boss is your father basically at this point, but have you ever wondered about your biological dad? You only seem to talk about your mom after all.” Well, that was certainly a weird question anyways. And one that was out of left field.

But it wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about it before. Hell, it was something that she asked her mom a long time ago. She had seen plenty of parents with mothers and fathers, but Wakaba was an only mother. Even when Sojiro was in the picture, they just stayed colleagues for most of it, even though it was clear there was quite a friendship, and had circumstances been slightly different, possibly been together romantically.

It took her a little bit to get over her surprise of the question before shaking her head. “I haven’t really put much thought into who my actual father was. Because my mom only told me he was “a scumbag who didn’t want anything to do with her” and told me not to worry about it.” Haru was slightly dumbfounded by that, but also curious. “Huh, she must have had her reason for that.”

“Yeah, she did go into a bit more detail about it.” Now that Futaba didn’t have the truth of things clouded from her mind due to all the guilt, she remembered so much more from her childhood. Even things that didn’t really think about all that much before her death. This was one of those things. “My mom had gotten her master’s degree and was planning on working on a doctorate when she met him and ended up getting pregnant with me.”

She went on to explain that whilst the pregnancy wasn’t really in the cards at the time, and she was worried about how this would affect her future, in the end Wakaba found that taking care of a child could be a good challenge, and that she wasn’t planning on having an abortion or anything like that. And then apparently, he told Wakaba that he wasn’t going to take care of said child and they got into a massive argument and left. From there, they never spoke again and of course, that was the story of how Futaba was born. Hearing that made Haru frown, but she also understood, at least a little bit.

But that didn’t make what that guy do acceptable, at least in Haru’s eyes. And she now understood fully why Futaba’s mom didn’t really want to bring it up. “Yeah, I get it. Sorry if I brought up anything uncomfortable.” She didn’t want Futaba to feel bad or to ruin the mood or anything. It just popped up in her mind after all. “Nah, I was young and after the explanation she gave me, I mostly stopped thinking about it. That’s why I said I didn’t put much thought into it.”

Though now that she was thinking about it, the thought about Haru’s father came up. How he had put her in that awful arranged marriage, how he treated his employees like they were robots, and his unfortunate death thanks to Akechi killing him, all for the sake of putting a target on the Phantom Thieves back. She wondered how Haru was feeling still, since the pain of that was farther away now.

“You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but how do you feel about your father and what happened to him, Haru?” That definitely changed the subject a bit, and Haru just let off a sigh. “Now that I’ve had time to really think about it, I mostly still just feel angry about his death.” It was a perfectly reasonable feeling to have, considering the circumstances.

“When I think about all the awful things that my father did, you would expect for me to hate him. And there’s definitely a part of me that does. There’s however a bigger part that knows that he wasn’t always that way and needed to be showed the errors of his ways. That’s why I don’t regret helping you all change his heart. And it seemed like he was going to have to face all the sins he did head on.

But of course, that wasn’t the case, and he died, live on air. While she was understandably upset at it, the fact of the matter was, in her mind anyways, she saw this as an escape for him. It was a way for him to ultimately get away from dealing with his guilt. It was like a get out of jail free card and that made her more frustrated than anything. She just wanted him to get better and deal with the consequences of his actions.

And instead, he was robbed of that. It made her grit her teeth momentarily before she calmed herself down. “All because of Akechi. I know he’s a victim just like the rest of us but…he still willingly did what he did. It wasn’t like Shido put a gun to his head and made him do all of those stuff.” A sharp exhale escaped her nostrils before she managed to calm herself down fully.

“Yeah…” Was all that Futaba could muster, at least initially anyways. Her feelings about Akechi were complicated as well. On one hand, he was someone who was incredibly talented and smart, and she could respect him for the stuff he managed to do. But on the other hand, he hid behind masks and his true self rarely showed. And who knows if the Akechi they saw whilst Maruki had the ideal reality going was his true self.

As Haru said, even though he was a victim like them, he made his choice when it came to that. He did what he did in order to gain favor with his illegitimate father who was merely using the power that he acquired in order to gain more and more power, and to ultimately put Japan in ruins. Futaba could never claim that she would willingly want to be friends with Akechi, but she wouldn’t outright state how much she hates him. Merely mess with him in the way that she always did.

Futaba then did pull Haru into a hug as the two were calming each other down. The conversation had gotten quite personal and upsetting, so they needed this. “Let’s just agree that Akechi was a complicated person, like a heavily multi-faceted person, and agree that we don’t hate him, but can’t exactly forgive him either.”

That seemed to be one thing that they both agreed on. They could never forgive him, not fully for the crimes he committed, but wouldn’t downright hate him either. That would be the way they would feel about him for the rest of time, since he seemed to not be coming back, due to being well, dead. But if he did somehow come back to life, that’s how they would feel.

Pushing that aside, they finished playing Stardew Valley, and had to stop as their Switches were going to die. Plus Haru had to get home so nobody would be worried about her. They both got out of the booth and gave each other another tight hug. They really did enjoy their time together like this. And Haru even gave the orange nerd a kiss on the cheek. That made her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink.

“Thanks for having me today Futaba-chan. We must do this some other time, sooner rather than later.” An agreement was made on that. “Oh and thank you for the meal boss.” Sojiro shrugged it off like it wasn’t all that big of a deal. “I’ll see you later, you two!” And with that, she was off, back home. Futaba just let off a little happy sigh before heading back to her house as well, opting to lay on the bed in her room and just think about things. A lot of things.

#Hacking and Memes (Futaba Sakura Musing) #The Oracle Navi (Futaba Sakura IC) #Kind and Gentle Presence (Haru Okumara) #Short Stories (Drabbles) #long post #slight Futaba/Haru implications #Post Persona 5 Royal #death implications tw

[boohoo-cracker]

that’s right boys, i learned how to draw pigs for the harbinger of death himself

#technoblade #dreamwastaken #dream smp #tommyinnit #my art #fanart #that's right y'all #i'm back #got booted off of the internet for school reasons #but. i have returned for the funniest bit i've seen in the past few months from the kings themselves #i'm a little out of practice b/c i haven't drawn at all while i was gone #but i'm trying to get back into the groove of things #i probably won't upload as regularly for stress and grade related reasons #but i still really enjoy drawing art for the smp #so i'll try my best not to stay gone for long! #back to the bit though #because 'dream's evil bathroom' made me laugh so hard i got cramps #our master manipulator everybody #drawing pig techno was actually a lot easier than i was expecting #it was almost relaxing #i still really like my old techno design though #so i'll probably switch between them depending on what the context is #feels good to be back y'all #but y'know what else feels good #being hydrated #y'all go grab water!! get a snack!! pop them bones!! stretch em!!! #is it late? go to sleep! i know i need to! #these tags are devolving b/c i haven't slept in 43 hours!! don't be like me!!! #stay safe y'all

[milk5]

that last post is only kind of a joke, i really do think that pretty much every popular multiplayer game switching from server browsers to matchmaking does have a legitimate negative impact on youth

as a kid, i was much more introverted than i am now; besides a few exceptions, i didn't really hang out with friends from school or do any sports or participate in any clubs. when i got home, i could boot up TF2 and go to my favorite server and have fun with my online friends on what was essentially a digital playground. there was no objective, no elo, no winning or losing, it was just messing around and hanging out! it was a way that i could be a part of a community, even if it wasn't physical. i met most of my closest friends from that server OVER TEN YEARS AGO. it certainly had its flaws, but i feel that it was ultimately beneficial for me.

matchmaking as the primary, and often only, way of playing a game sort of uproots that entire aspect of community. there's a reason that, albeit in a jokey internet way, gamer is pretty much synonymous with shit person within the common online lexicon. instead of having longer-term relationships with other people on the table, you're tossed into a competitive environment with strangers that you'll probably never see again. to a lot of people, there's so much less to lose by being an absolute shithead in this setting; so why not? i assume that it rarely starts as a conscious choice, but the competitive aspect enables it. by removing the *choice* to have tailored, community-run experiences, you end up with the utter cesspools that form in dota lobbies or CS:GO servers.

imagine thinking "hmmm, i would like to go on social media right now" and instead of being able to visit your preferred site, you would press a big "GENERATE EXPERIENCE" button that'd randomly make a feed using different posts and accounts from every possible subject and every possible person. after an hour, the feed expires and you can hit the button again to make a new one. you can add friends to browse with, but there's no block function. at best, you can temporarily hide their posts by manually selecting each one. the worst penalty for being shitty is being removed from that "experience" prematurely and having to generate a new one, but that's not really an issue since it's all short term anyways. you might have some abysmal experiences, but the good ones might just be good enough to justify doing it again. if you're stuck in a bad one, may as well tell off the people responsible, right? they probably deserve it, after all.

as inconsequential as it might initially seem, i do feel like it makes an impact. when someone spends so much time being present in such nasty environments, especially during their developmental years, how unlikely is it that their personality starts to reflect that?

[astaroth1357]

Brothers Finding Out a Lesser Demon with a Crush is “Moving In” on MC

You know, I like to show the good sides of our boys a lot… But how about the ugly for today? Let's let them just being mean, nasty, possessive little demons, huh? 

Full disclaimer: I almost didn’t post this because I received an answer post from @diavolosthots that ended up being distressingly similar to this idea about 3/4th of the way through drafting it. I’m posting it anyway because of the time I’ve already sunk into it but in exchange I will absolutely encourage you to read from @diavolosthots if you aren’t already. They’re a big reason why I’m making content to begin with and I love what they’ve done. Warning: their blog is a LOT less fluffy than mine (they probably wouldn't be into my stuff 😅) and has NSFW content so be prepared for that going in. If that’s not your thing then just give them a pass, cool?

Check out the Masterlist for more!

Warnings: Violence, Bullying, Cyberbullying, Cannibalism(?), Murder, Yandere-ish

This is all for the purposes of fantasy and in no way an endorsement for these behaviors in real life. Be nice (and smart) with your lives, my friends.

Lucifer

Is honestly offended for them.

Don’t they know the caliber of demon MC rubs elbows with every day? Do they honestly think they’d stand a chance? Any one of his brothers would be more deserving than some lesser demon suitor and that even INCLUDES Mammon.

But of course, the real reason they’d stand no chance is because he wants the MC too and he’s not planning on sharing with or losing to someone who isn’t even worthy to be stuck under his boot...

He may lay down some… “discreet” hints for the poor demon to look elsewhere.

Things like advising Diavolo to make some emergency changes to the classes at RAD so they no longer share any class together or watching the demon extra closely for any minute slip up he can flag them for. If he could have them expelled for a dress code violation, he’d do it no sweat.

Okay, "discreet hints…" Flagrant misuses of power… Same difference right?

He may never come right out and say they should leave MC alone (why dignify the guy with such a response?) but if looks could kill then his “competition” would be utterly decimated by now. Especially if he ever catches the two in the same room... Yikes.

Mammon

Oooo buddy, he ain’t happy. He doesn’t even like sharing with his brothers and now some rando wants a piece too?? Nuh-uh. No way.

Takes the more direct approach and just confronts the guy when the MC isn’t around. It's good for the demon that Mammon doesn’t like resorting to violence if he doesn’t have to. Heated words and a threat or two will be exchanged then they can go their separate ways.

That can be the end of it if the guy backs off (as anyone with sense should). But if not…

When he makes a threat, and he’s serious about it, Mammon makes good on them.

He’ll come back to the House one night a little beat up, maybe with a few nicks and scratches. Of course he’ll want the MC to play nurse for him and he’ll be delighted if they accept (even if his tsundere ass won’t say it).

The lesser demon apparently dropped out of RAD the next day. No explanation given. He didn’t even step foot back on the school grounds to do it...

Of course, everyone’s sure there’s no relation between the two. I mean, this is the same Mammon we’re talking about… right...?

Leviathan

It’s a miracle he even found out but now that he knows he’s pissed. He’s not the Avatar of Envy for nothing.

Look, he might be a shut-in and not worth all that much but he’s got to be better than some lesser demon guy! He’s the third born and he has a freaking navy for crying out loud!!

Will likely leave his room for the first time in who knows how long to follow the MC to RAD. Once he’s got a face to the name, that’s all he needs for his hatred to really get going...

He will make this dude’s life a living hell with the best tool a shut-in has, the Internet. 

He’ll dedicate a freaking week to digging up dirt on this bozo then start releasing it out to everywhere he frequents. Not a single sock of that dirty laundry is getting left out. All of his most embarrassing secrets are laid bare for the Devildom to see.

He’d cover his tracks, of course, so nothing can be traced back to him. The MC is probably none-the-wiser to who’s spreading all this hot gossip but his brothers know right away.

Once the dude’s social life and pride are in utter ruin, he’ll invite the MC over for a movie marathon to celebrate! He might even get a little more cuddly than usual... His MC is with him and that’s how it ought to be.

Satan

Pffft… That’s cute. Real cute they think they stand a chance. He’d wish them luck but he also kind of wants to stab them so…

On the one hand, he knows he probably shouldn’t waste his time but on the other he just can’t resist the call to absolute devastation that his inner rage is forcing on him...

His new goal is to utterly undermine the new competition in every way, mental and physical, which means he will take every opportunity he can to demonstrate just how much on another level he is. 

Gets nitpicky and corrects the guy’s every move. If he says something wrong in class, he’ll berate him for it. Make a social faux pas? Well now the whole school is going to know about it.

Doesn’t stop there, though. He will do everything in his power short of throwing the first punch to try and instigate a fight with the him. He knows that if he technically starts it then the punishment will be on him, but the other way around he can say, “Hey, he’s the one who punched Wrath incarnate. What was he expecting would happen?”

Any resulting fight between the two would be a very one-sided bloodbath. He will not hold back at all and stop when he damn well feels like. The guy will be in whatever the Devildom equivalent to a hospital is for weeks...

If the MC tries to ask him about his behavior, he’ll gaslight them and change the subject. He doesn’t really like indulging in the more violent side of himself in his day-to-day life but some things just can’t be helped, can they?

Asmodeus

Honestly not as bothered as the others are. He knows they stand zero chance, so why worry? It’s bad for the skin.

But that doesn’t mean he’s going to sit back and do nothing. Oh no, a zero chance could always become a one, even five percent chance if you’re not careful.

Asmo’s preferred method of ridding competition is like a mixture of Satan and Levi, but Oh. So. Much. Worse.

Lesser demons can be astonishingly easy to charm without them noticing and he is the best charmer of the family. He’s pretty popular to start with but suddenly he’s talking to almost everyone he comes across until, well, he’s got the whole school listening.

From there it’s child’s play. Suddenly, the demon’s friends won’t talk to them. People stare and whisper about them in the hallways, is what they’re saying true? Doesn’t matter. Asmo could feed them anything and they’d believe it.

He’ll make sure they feel isolated, alone, and hated by everyone they speak to and they won’t even know why. Going to RAD at all will be like walking into a prison. Ideally, they’ll just stop going, and then tada! Competition no more.

Of course, he could just charm the competitor to look elsewhere, but then who’s going to be the example to the others? Nobody needs any more “Zero-Chancers” popping up around the MC, right? You’re welcome, sweetie~! 😘

Beelzebub

He’s trying not to be that guy, he really is… but since the MC is involved… Really? You actually think you got a shot there, buddy?

Probably going to be the brother most likely to try and let the guy down gently at first, but make no mistake he will make sure he knows it’s a lost cause.

If the other demon still insists on being a competitor though… Alright.

MC pretty much goes under his “protection” from that point on. If they’re at RAD at all, Beel is not far behind. Not exactly looking outright intimidating but always just…. there.

But if the dude so much as enters a room with them he’ll be sure to stare him down and mention that he’s hungry a little louder and a lot more often.

To the MC that may just be typical Beel, but everyone else there knows Beel has swallowed lesser demons whole in the past. And for a lot less reason than this...

When Beel gets territorial he can be a subtle about it, but terrifying nonetheless.

Belphegor

Would laugh in their face and give zero shits about it. 

Like, even as the weakest sibling he could snap them like a toothpick and that’s not even getting to how they probably know jack all about the MC anyway. What even is this idiot??

Starts pulling some casual “pranks” on the guy to grief him at first. Little things like tripping him up with his tail or taking his things and hiding them in inconvenient places.

The lazy part of him hopes he’ll get the message and back off but that sadistic side really hopes he doesn’t so he’ll never talk to him directly...

When, of course, the dude doesn’t back off because he doesn't know he's supposed to, his pranks start escalating. A textbook in the school pool suddenly becomes an explosive curse put on their backpack. A kind of homicidal passive-aggression, if you will.

By some unholy miracle the guy manages to last a couple days after a barrage of progressively lethal murder attempts pranks, Belphie’s inner laziness and frustration will finally get to him and he’ll cut the passive from his aggression.

Much like with Mammon, everyone finds out that the demon dropped out of school quite suddenly. But he’s also seemed to have gone dark from all his socials and his friends can’t seem to find him anywhere... 

Concerns were raised with Lucifer but he doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about starting an investigation... It’s not the first time he’s covered for his brothers after all. 🙄🤷‍♀️

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me asmodeus #obey me satan #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me scenarios #obey me headcanons

[seroqueldreamer]

Turning Red: An ode to middle school memories

This will not be spoiler free. Read at your own risk.

Turning Red is a movie, dedicated to the awkwardness of middle school, puberty, and finding your identity. I want all of you reading this to remember yourself in middle school.

In 2011, I started sixth grade. I was loud, abrasive, silly, and I lived with my grandparents, this is important. I wore spiky flats, gogo boots, an ugly patterned floral biweekly, jeans, leggings with sequins on them, mismatched socks, a leather jacket, and eventually a Pikachu jacket.

I was a mess, and I was jealous. I didn't have a mom or dad for the time. My parents were getting divorced, and my dad was working overseas. I was staying with my grandparents and I was trying to stay relevant with the times. I wasn't allowed on the computer, I didn't have a phone that was a touchscreen. I had a 3DS and a tablet I was only allowed on for 30 minutes every day.

I was angry too. I hated being the new kid and branded as a weirdo. I was the weird kid. I moved on to seventh, a little less weird, but more depressed and soon my entire grade knew I was in therapy. I was now the psycho weirdo. I got past it eventually and wore the insults with pride. Like I wasn't ashamed of it. But I still was. I was insecure.

My dad came back in the summer of 2013. We had to move, again. I fucking despised it. I started 8th grade, the week after school started because of when we moved. I was once again, the new kid. But I made a new friend. His name is irrelevant for the rest of you. The next week, we had a sleepover. It was my first co-ed sleepover. he slept on my couch, I slept on the love seat.

My personality shifted a lot. I had access to the internet again and I wound up branching out, exploring new identities, and eventually found my label. Artsy and into spooky things, I loved anime and spooky cute things.

Mei reminds me a lot of myself at that age. People pleasing, trying to be the best at everything, out to be the perfect child. I wanted to make my dad proud of me. I looked after my sister, I tried really hard in school. But I didn't feel like I was good enough. I'd never be perfect enough.

Periods were already awkward. I had a single dad, who didn't know the first thing about pads vs. tampons, the cramping, the mood swings. I was angry and frustrated.

Mei wants to be her own person so badly, and we can all see it. How after she gets the panda and starts the side hustle to see 4*Town, she starts changing how she presents herself at school, wearing a choker, stick-on earrings, cardigan wrapped around her waist. But when she gets back home, she takes the earrings off, buttons her cardigan up to her neck, hiding the choker. She becomes the version of her, that her mom wants her to be.

When the opportunity comes up for her and her friends to get $200 for the tickets, they jump at it. Ming, overwhelmed with this love for her daughter, and misses her so much because she's attending 'mathletes', wants to go with her to this meeting. We can all see how Ming loves her daughter. But Mei, Mei feels smothered. She lashes out and tells her mom, "I don't want you to come!" and we can all see how hurt Ming was at that moment.

There's no reason for this fandom to lash out at Ming. She's well... a mom. She's being a mom. She wants what's best for Mei and is inadvertently, becoming like her mom, seeking this perfection from Mei, the same as her mom sought from her. There's a lot of hate Ming is receiving as if, none of you have had a mother who wanted nothing but the best for you. I can't relate. I had an Abuelita who wanted the best for me.

Mei sneaks out to the party after the surprise visit from her aunties and grandma, and while she's late, she still makes it. Things are going great. Spectacular even. Meanwhile, at home, Ming goes to check on Mei who did the old stuff under a blanket trick. She notices a broken picture on the ground and finds bad grades, everything for their ticket ploy, and invites to Tyler's party under the bed. Ming wants an explanation.

But she then discovers the old blanket trick and is furious. She drives to Tyler's party and finds Mei on top of Tyler after he'd insulted her mom. She was shocked. Tyler's parents are irate and angry, and Ming is apologizing. Ming draws the conclusion it was Miriam, Priya, and Abby who made Mei do it, despite it being Mei's idea.

At the ritual, to seal away the panda, Mei questions if this is what she wants to do. She decides, in the realm of Sun Yi, she doesn't want to do this and the ritual 'fails' her parents, aunties, and grandma are worried for her, but Mei tells them, "I want to go to the concert!" and Panda's up, and darts toward the Skydome, shifting between Panda and human.

She spots her friends and apologizes after they call her out for just throwing them under the bus like that in front of her mom. Ming is furious when Mei yells at them, embarrassing her in front of her mom, who blames Ming for not controlling Mei. Ming's necklace was broken after falling, and her Panda comes out with this rage and frustration.

Cue this kaiju red panda. furious and looking for her daughter, who she finds at the 4*Town concert. Ming steps into the Skydome, ripping the roof apart, and picks up Mei, grounding her, telling her "This isn't you!" and Mei yells at her, this is who she is. She likes loud music, gyrating, being herself. Mei then bites her mom and the two hash out their fight, while they once more try to commence this ceremony, and it ends up with Mei headbutting her mother, unconscious and they drag her into the circle.

They aren't singing loud enough until they get 4*Town in on it, her friends are helping too, the aunties, the grandma, and Mei are doing the chant and they're all transported back to the realm of Sun Yi. Mei meets a young Ming and comforts her like Ming has comforted Mei.

They go back to the portal, and Mei decides she still wants to keep the panda. It's part of her. The movie subsequently ends after that. It's a good movie. But it's also important to remember, this movie is meant for children, not the grown-ass adults on this hellsite.

#turning red #meilin lee #ming lee #jin lee

[autumnslance]

About Plagiarism

I left a long, planned essay on Twitter tonight. I will copy the meat of it here for y’all, as recently a friend was copied (a rarer ship in the fandom, so very noticeable by the writer and their regular beta reader) and it seems we need a Talk, kids. Links and screenshots and my rambling underway.

------

Apparently we need to discuss what is and isn’t plagiarism. Especially in FanFic where we're interacting with the same characters, settings, ideas. Let’s start with the dictionary and continue the thread from there (I like the word origin/history personally):

Definition of plagiarize

transitive verb  : to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source

intransitive verb : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

The Kidnapping Roots of Plagiarize

If schools wish to impress upon their students how serious an offense plagiarism is, they might start with an explanation of the word’s history. Plagiarize (and plagiarism) comes from the Latin plagiarius “kidnapper.” This word, derived from the Latin plaga (“a net used by hunters to catch game”), extended its meaning in Latin to include a person who stole the words, rather than the children, of another. When plagiarius first entered English in the form plagiary, it kept its original reference to kidnapping, a sense that is now quite obsolete.

“Ideas” is fuzzy in the Merriam-Webster definition. There are story archetypes that exist in many forms. Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth/Hero's Journey outlines many famous stories. And it's popular to say that “Avatar” is “Dances with Wolves��� is “Pocahontas” is “The Last Samurai” etc.

But note how while those films have similar plotlines--”Military Guy falls for Native woman, learns to appreciate her Culture, stands up to Evil Bosses”--none of them execute those ideas in the same way. Sully’s story is different from Dunbar’s not just cuz one’s a Science Fiction epic and the other a Western. Disney's “Pocahontas” Very Loosely takes history and uses the same story beats. The Last Samurai uses the Meiji era Westernization. Same ideas, different executions, even beyond settings.

None of these are plagiarizing each other though the ideas are similar. They’re told in their own ways, own language; both in the genres they belong to (Western, Pseudo-History, SciFi, Animated) and how characters interact with each other and settings. Original dialogues (variable quality).

We also see this in books as similar novel plots get published in waves so we end up with bunches of post-apocalypse teen revolutionaries or various vampires or lots of young wizard stories all at once. Sometimes ideas just happen like this; multiple discovery, simultaneous invention, concurrent inspiration, cognitive emergence are all phrases I’ve seen for it. So it happens in original content as well, and legality gets fuzzy (Also why you don't send authors your fanfic ideas).

In existing properties, this gets trickier but even “Elementary”’s Holmes and Watson are nothing like the BBC’s “Sherlock” characters. Who are nothing like other versions of the Detective and his Doctor pal over the decades in various media properties.

FanFic's in a similar position where like Sherlock Holmes we play with the same characters, setting, and storyarcs but give our own spin to them. People can and will have similar ideas about plots. Trick is to use your own words. Take the characters and make the story your own.

I have a good example courtesy of @raelly-writing​. We both ship Wolcred. We both wrote soft post-Paglth’an scenes with Thancred and our WoLs. Both features the couples helping each other undress, examining injuries, bathing, bantering. My fic was written soon after 5.5 part 1 came out. Dara’s is much more recent. Yet at no point reading hers did I feel she was copying my words. The PoVs differ. Our characters focus on different things. Mine has a mini-arc concerning the Nutkin.

The links for comparison’s sake (and maybe leave kudos/comments if so inclined please and thanks). Note while the scenes are very similar no phrases are written in the same way. Mine: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25417882/chapters/76059467 Dara’s: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26067565/chapters/81832915

Dara and I both hang out in certain Discords and I know conversations about Thancred and WoL caring for each other post-battle has come up in those channels and we've both participated. It’s a stock FanFic scene to boot. Cuz it's soft and feels warm and snuggly.

I HAVE been copied before, back in WoW. My case is pretty clear cut so here are the images of my old RP Haven profile (1st, old RP website) and the plagiarist’s RSP (2nd, an in game mod to share descriptions and basic info). 

This was a decade ago on Shadow Council and I think the character deleted so any Availa’s in WoW now aren’t the same person. I left the names to point out what changed. Just the names and a word or 2 to make sense for the class changes as well. Otherwise lifted directly from my RP profile.

The funny part is how the person got caught. Literally walked into our weekly RP Guild meeting that I was running and asked to join. Folks noticed right away the similar backstory; after all there may have been more Outland-born Azerothians. My initial excitement at a character I could weave into our story turned to gut-twisting rage and grief as I recognized my own exact words though. Words I’d carefully crafted and constantly iterated on to improve over time (before and after this incident, until the site died).

When caught they tried to claim their significant other had leveled the character for them and made up the backstory based on Skyrim. If you know WoW’s Outland story and Skyrim’s plot you know how ridiculous that is. Also tried to lie about other drama I knew about thanks to roommate's characters but hey. I had to be blunt that I’d shared the info with Haven mods and other guild officers Alliance and Horde. That we would not “laugh about this” one day though lucky this was “just” RP not original or academic work. Cuz if it'd been monetized or academic I would've raked them through the coals.

I felt violated. Hurt. Had anxiety attacks. They took MY WORDS and tried to claim them as theirs. Have another character born in Outland trained by Draenei; Awesome! Our characters have an instant connect in similarities and differences of that experience. Don’t steal my characters wholesale!

Then the audacity of trying to come into my guild as if no one would notice. ShC wasn’t a large server by then, still active but not nearly Wyrmrest Accord or Moon Guard big. My character was well known due to my writing and RP. Speaking of how easy it is to get caught in specific spaces...A case of a self-published novelist getting noticed for plagiarizing fanfic was discovered recently (explicit erotica examples through the thread).

One way they got noticed was how much content they put out in only a year, lifted from fandom. The examples in Kokom’s threads show how the material was altered but still recognizable. In some cases, just the names are changed as in my experience. In other passages more has changed but you can still see the bones of the original fic poking through in the descriptions and character interactions, even with adjustments made.

Similar ideas happen. Similar plots exist. Same 'ships with friends are fun! In FanFic we’re working with the same material. It’s possible to write a similar scene differently. To make that scene and characters your own. All we’re asking is not to copy others' words. Others' characters. Others' specific phrases and descriptions used to bring those words, those characters, to life. Use your own. In the end you’ll be happier.

I get wanting to have what the perceived “popular people” have. I get seeing concepts others succeed with and wanting some of that too. We all get a bit jealous now and then for various reasons. Sometimes we don't even realize it, consciously. But do it in your own way. Maybe check to see if you’re getting a bit too close to the “inspiration” you admired, maybe reread often. Don’t hurt your fellow creatives. If you do and get caught don’t try to double down. Have the grace to be abashed at least and work to do better. Eventually you WILL get caught. All it takes is once to throw all else you've done into question. Ao3 doesn’t take kindly to plagiarists. Nor do a lot of fan communities focused on writing and RP. Getting back that trust is hard. The internet doesn’t forget easily, for good or ill.

#writing #blogging #about me #social media #plagiarism #fanfiction #Ao3

[shih-coulda-had-it]

Headcanon gran was mute in his younger days like the only people who hear him talk was people close to him nana etc. But still a man of few words like hearing him talk was if hell froze over (after nana died he had to start teaching so communication was a must) defiantly know sign language.

I like this headcanon! It fits well with what's been given to us, which is Sorahiko being relatively silent until Nana's dead. Extra notes: From multiple Google searches, JSL is mainly taught to the deaf, and even in the community, there are divisions amongst vocabulary. Japanese Sign Language (JSL) has three forms, and uses fingerspelling and mouthing as supplemental context tools.

This ficlet is in Toshinori's POV because I couldn't quite lock down on when I wanted this version of Nana and Sorahiko to have met.

//

It’s Toshinori’s first time meeting Shimura’s partner, and he is not ready.

He had thought he’d been ready for anything, that first afternoon he chased Seventh Wonder down the path along the canal: a gentle pat on the shoulder before discouragement, derisive laughter, or worse. But against all the odds, Toshinori’s earnest (and frantic) pitch found a willing listener.

Seventh Wonder introduced herself as Shimura Nana three months ago. She advised him on workout routines, and on weekends, she went through grappling maneuvers and recounted stories about life as a pro-hero.

Toshinori hadn’t dared to let himself think Shimura was treating him as anything but a charity case. But last month, Shimura’s stories had acquired a different, almost conspiratorial tone. She also began instilling in Toshinori a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese Sign Language.

(This latter development is blithely reasoned away as dexterity training. As for the former...)

Last Sunday, Shimura revealed herself to be in possession of a transferable stockpile Quirk.

It remains a miracle to Toshinori that Shimura trusts him not only with the knowledge, but also the actual future of holding One for All. Of potentially fulfilling his dreams to lift Japan out of its paranoid, panic-ridden state. Sure, the drawbacks are scary (All for One? Blowing off his limbs?) but Shimura assures him that she has plans.

One of these plans is her partner, Gran Torino.

Toshinori knows practically nothing about the man. Shimura doesn’t gossip, and no matter how Toshinori scoured the Internet, he couldn’t even find a picture. The most he has is what’s on the Nippon Hero Association’s online registry.

Gran Torino. Quirk: Jet. Active for three years as opposed to Seventh Wonder’s nine.

He reflexively slows his pace to the meadow where Shimura trains him, eyes widening at the stranger standing beside Shimura. Tall, imposing, clad in a brown leather jacket and denim jeans and Western cowboy boots. His hair is silver. He is gesturing at Shimura and mouthing in time with his decisive hand movements, but try as Toshinori might, he cannot hear a sound.

Shimura signs back, smoother, until Torino (it’s got to be Gran Torino) disgruntledly brushes his sternum and sets his fists waist-high for a second. A concession. For what problem?

She glances around Torino and spies Toshinori, who is stock-still because he might have been the cause of an argument between Shimura and her partner. She smiles; Torino grimaces with a tight-lipped frown. “Yagi-shonen! Come over here, don’t be shy!”

“Shimura-san,” Toshinori greets, rushing to close the distance. “Sorry if I’m late!”

“Ah, no,” says Shimura. “It’s more like we’re early.”

To Gran Torino, Toshinori executes a quick bow and comes up with his hands fumbling through an introduction. “Good morning,” he says, clumsily spinning and crooking his fingers. He’s learned this. He’s learned this. “My name is Yagi Toshinori. It’s nice to meet you.”

Torino blinks down at him. His expression is unreadable.

Toshinori gulps. “Did I do it wrong…?”

As Shimura hums a noncommittal sound (which is universal for, ‘Well, it could’ve been better,’ which Toshinori is certainly not about to disagree with), Torino critiques Toshinori’s attempt in a single soul-evaporating word.

“Hasty.”

“Sorahiko,” Shimura chides in a fond tone, and she knocks her shoulder into his, friendly and affectionate. Torino exhales through his nose; he shoves back before straightening his spine. The difference between Torino and Toshinori’s height extends.

“Gran Torino,” the man introduces himself in a low, clipped voice. He fingerspells this, and his actual name, until Toshinori crabs onto the impromptu lesson and commits the signs to memory. Once he’s met Torino’s standards, Torino says, “Hn,” before falling silent.

Shimura seamlessly picks up the thread of conversation. “Have you had breakfast yet, Yagi-shonen?”

“Ahahaha,” says Toshinori. “I had a slice of toast?”

“Hm. Well, it’s your lucky day. We haven’t had breakfast yet either! Here, here, take this,” and Shimura hoists a picnic basket into Toshinori’s arms, “and Sorahiko, you’ve got the duffel.”

Unimpressed, Torino signs, “And you?”

“I,” says Shimura, offloading a meter-long duffel bag into his arms and unzipping it briefly, just to pull out a rolled-up blanket, “am picking out a breakfast spot.”

Torino snorts.

The breakfast spot ends up being under a tree; the blanket absorbs the dew leftover on the grass immediately, but Toshinori would be willing to suffer the dampness every day if it meant being gifted a bento for breakfast. The ovular box is filled to the brim. Rice, egg, pickled vegetables, grilled salmon…!

“Shimura-san,” says Toshinori, awed, “did you make all this?”

“Nope! I wasn’t even allowed to touch the pan.” Shimura passes over an additional thermos. Uncapping it allows miso-scented steam to waft away.

“Torino-san, thank you for the meal!”

“Hn,” Torino grunts.

The first few bites are pure, uninterrupted bliss. A good breakfast, however, comes at a price. Toshinori is only halfway through the pickled vegetables when Shimura announces, “Sorahiko is here to help you prep for the entrance exam into U.A., Yagi-shonen.”

“What?”

“They’re increasing the difficulty of the exams,” she informs him. “The physical component in particular.”

“I thought it was just an obstacle course,” says Toshinori, a tad bewildered.

“Ha! That information is outdated by, uh, Sorahiko, when did Recovery Girl complain…”

Torino flashes three fingers, and doesn’t seem to need to add any other signifier, because Shimura gets the answer right on the first try.

“Right, right, three days. So three days ago, Recovery Girl called us up to complain about how her colleagues are reacting to the escalating pro-hero turnover rate. Lots of, ‘we need to demonstrate the reality early if we’re going to winnow out the spineless applicants,’ y’know?”

“Oh,” says Toshinori faintly.

“So,” Shimura continues,”you should expect to walk away from the entrance exam with some bruises. Lots of bandages too. Unless!”

“Unless?”

“I’m right, and having the Gran Torino here providing, ah, supplementary combat training will put you ahead of the legacy students!”

“That’s not… illegal?” It’s one thing to mask grappling maneuvers as play-wrestling in an abandoned meadow, and even then, Shimura was quick to tug them both back onto their feet. It’s a whole other thing to train Toshinori, whose records will show him distinctly unconnected, to beat out his peers.

“It’s a little bit illegal,” she confesses. “But so is giving you One for All, and we can’t exactly do anything about that.”

“I don’t have to go through the heroics program,” Toshinori says, even though he really, really wants to. “You could save One for All until I graduate high school, and then I won’t be a minor.”

Shimura smiles at him like a promise. “If I say you’re getting One for All before U.A., then you’re getting this Quirk and getting into your dream school, Yagi-shonen. You will, of course, be earning it. And then everything is unquestionable!”

Gran Torino clears his throat. Shimura looks over, and her brow furrows in concentration. Toshinori catches a few words by lipreading.

“Questionable relationship,” he signs.

“Ah. Yeah, that’s still true. Can I get away with ‘Shimura-sensei’ without a credential?”

“Flimsy.”

Toshinori has a sudden idea. “Ah, Shimura-san… what if I called you Shimura-shishou?” Hm. That sounds wrong. This is the pro-hero who’s practically giving Toshinori a second chance at life; she is deliberately fixing fate, intending to give a Quirkless kid a Quirk of unimaginable potential. Seventh Wonder, Shimura Nana - she deserves the greatest respect. “Oshishou?”

Her eyes widen. So do Gran Torino’s.

“Ah,” says Shimura, stunned.

“The Nippon Hero Association was talking about apprenticeships,” he reminds her.

Torino signs to Shimura, “How old is he?”

“Fourteen.”

“Less than a year to fifteen,” Toshinori adds. He may or may not have looked up apprenticeship laws. So long as the administration doesn’t pry, then he could just be a scrappy student with civilian origins. And then once U.A. would get into the swing of things, Toshinori would be old enough to potentially be apprenticed.

Not that they would ever sign paperwork. Shimura has been adamant about keeping Toshinori safe, and being safe means his civilian life needs to be squeaky-clean.

“I’m definitely not certified to be a master of this profession,” says Shimura. “Are you comfortable with this, Yagi-shonen?”

“Yes,” says Toshinori. He says it firmly, implacably, trying to invoke the same tone that once persuaded Seventh Wonder to stay on the ground and hear out a Quirkless kid’s dream. “Without a doubt, oshishou.”

She huffs and looks down at her half-eaten breakfast; her ears are turning pink. Silently, Torino reaches over and touches her wrist. Toshinori hurriedly returns to his own meal, feeling like he’s intruding on some moment.

And softly:

“Alright, Yagi-shonen. Alright.”

#bnha #yagi toshinori #all might #torino sorahiko #gran torino #shimura nana #nanahiko but like pre slowburn #shih.txt #asks #thealphabearart #toshinori is too polite to ask why and when jsl became a thing for them #therefore it's up to the reader :)

[the-ghost-king]

you have any nico headcanons where he’s ftm trans but then realizes he’s also nonbinary (he/they/she)? just struggling with gender identity lately ig.

Alright, anon, I hope these help you some, my gender has been rather ~~~ lately, if that makes any sense... I would also like to remind everyone to bind safely and if you need resources on how to safely bind without a binder feel free to reach out to me:

Nico always just knew he was a boy, dresses were a no-go, couldn't stand to wear anything that wasn't undeniably boys clothes

In the beginning Maria thought maybe it was just a texture problem, but when Nico was three she came home to see him cutting all of his hair off she knew it was deeper

This is why they ended up moving to America eventually, Maria decided that if they started over then Nico would be able to be himself

Bianca named him on the way over, she liked the name because they were "winning" by leaving Italy

Nothing really signifigant happens in regards to Nico and his gender through this point, he is able to play freely with other boys, and he goes to school with them and such

The same in the Lotus Hotel, nothing signifigant

When he and Bianca go to Westover Nico is kind of scared the whole time, because he is worried about being "caught", changing for afterschool soccer games and having communal shower spaces at the school is difficult for him to feel comfortable

He usually tries to shower late at night or early in the morning when nobody is around, and that works out okay for him

His chest starts developing around this point and he freaks out, he has no clue how to hide it or how to deal with the new stress

He ends up trying to find Bianca one day, and they do all sorts of crazy stuff to see if they can help, eventually they figure out how to use a piece of cloth they sew together

When Nico ends up at camp alone without Bianca, there's the problem once again of communal showers and they're rarely ever empty

This is how he befriends the Stolls

At some point the pair of them notice Nico is weirdly panicky about the bathrooms so they go stand outside and keep people out when Nico's in there... It's honestly how they perfect their pranking techniques

When Nico runs away from camp upset, just the day before his binder had quit fitting and he had been upset by that because he had to make a binder again

Although his sister dying pushed all other thoughts out of his head, the emotions from previous events were still leftover

This is why he buys his jacket TM, because the layers help hide his chest more and the weight is comfortable

At some point during the Labrynth he ends up binding with ace bandages (AN: Don't do this)

He also starts his period at some time around this point and kind of freaks out "oh no" and it's not entirely that his period bothers him, but more so that he just doesn't know how he's supposed to hide it

He also realizes at some point around here that he likes Percy, which makes him feel odd and more freaked out

He's struggling because "boys are supposed to like girls" and also he's struggling because if most boys oon't have periods and he does... why doesn't his bother him?

Despite Nico himself being trans, he doesn't have the vocabulary to describe anything he's going through, and he doesn't know there's other trans people, or even queer people of any sort

So he sort of begins to question "am I really a boy?" but there's so much going on in the world and he's got so much to do, so he can't really devote much time to thinking about it

Everything continues about canonically until he's in the jar after Tartarus

During a fight with a monster or something he was knocked over, and combine this with the fact that Nico was binding with ace bandages, he definitly breaks a rib

Which makes breathing with little air a lot harder

Eventually he's saved and through ambrosia and nectar Nico manages to heal his ribs a little

He isn't able to bind that whole time though, so he does his best to keep away from The Seven

After Cupid outs him to Jason, Jason asks a few days later if he wants to talk about it, at first Nico is like "no go away I don't like you don't talk to me"

But eventually he opens up to Jason, because Jason was like "I'm sorry you had to do that I promise I won’t tell anyone and if you want to talk we can talk"

Anyhow eventually Nico kind of just breaks down and he's like "I don't know if I'm a boy or a girl? I think I used to be a girl, but now I am a boy and I don't really remember how it happened” or something similar

It takes Jason a moment but eventually he’s like “Oh you’re trans?”

And Nico;s like “heh? What’s that?

And so him and Jason talk, but Jason is only kind of well versed in this topic, so he only covers “basic” MtF and FtM transition because he doesn’t really know enough about other genders to feel comfortable explaining it

And Nico’s like “there’s people? Out there?? Like me??” and he’s just Happy Nico ™

Nico is like “and there are people like me who like boys?”

And Jason is like “Yeah totally!” but internally he’s like (I think so??)

Anyhow Nico feels a little better, but he doesn’t feel perfect, he’s still struggling a little bit internally to recognize that there’s other people like him and he’s not wrong for being him

Anyhow, Jason doesn’t know enough about this stuff to know binders exist, Jason just has a little bit of secondhand information from tv shows and from being from California… He promises he’ll look into various things more when he’s back at camp or has decent access to internet

On Nico’s quest with Reyna and Hedge he obvious evaporates Bryce, and Reyna and Hedge find out

They find out he’s gay as in canon, but they realize he’s trans when caking him in mud

Hedge just goes into dad mode about the situation and is like “son”, “sport”, “kiddo”, “my male child” etc

Reyna knows a little more about trans stuff than Jason, but she’s kind of in the same “ehhh I’m not really sure of a few things” boat, but she’s supportive and she’s like “I will beat anyone who gives you a dirty look up so fast”

Eventually they get to camp, and all that happens

Three days in the infirmary happens, and basically Nico has to tell Will for medical reasons that he’s trans because Nico needs stitches or something

Anyhow Will is like “Oh yeah cool me too, can you take your binder off now?”

And Nico is like “heh???”

Anyhow Will finds out Nico is binding with ace bandages and he’s like “no, don’t do that” and then he goes and finds a proper binder in Nico’s size which he gives to him after his stay is up

When they befriend one another they have a short conversation about gender and Will is discussing like gender theory 101 type stuff, and he’s like “wait why dont you know this- oh yeah you’re from the thirties- wait do you even know what nonbinary means??”

And Nico is just staring at Will like he has three heads for the whole conversation

So Will teaches Nico about gender and pronouns, and gender presentation vs gender identity, etc

And so Nico goes “wait so there are people like me who are also gay?”

And Will is like “I like boys and girls and everything in between so yeah”

And the whole enby thing doesn’t really stick with Nico at that point he’s just like “hmm interesting, so testosterone?”

It’s just not his biggest concern, he’s just happy to know there are in fact others like him, and no he’s not crazy for not being dysphoric over his period, and that’s normal too

And he’s just like “oh so that’s top dysphoria?”

And Will is like “yeah :/”

“Oh :/”

“Mhmm :/”

Anyhow they become like good friends and they start dating sort of on accident, like they’re too close to just argue they’re friends anymore, and at some point Will just shows Nico how to give him a T shot and it’s like chill, they’re chill

Anyhow one day someone is kind of confused by Nico’s gender so they use the word “they” and it makes Nico really happy for some reason, so he goes back to Will and he’s like “tell me about this whole nobinary thing again?”

And Will is like “yes absolutely”

And Nico goes “I think I might be nonbinary can we try new pronouns?”

And so they go through all sorts of new pronouns, and Nico decides he still likes he/him but he also likes they/them and xer/xem… They likes she/her too but Nico finds it too uncomfortable sometimes because it reminds him of dysphoria

Nico decides xyr uncomfortable with using she/her but they like using female gendered terms so he does that

(Listen, I know Will saying “this is my boyfriend” was a big moment but Will calling Nico his “wife” is 10/10)

Nico’s friends are all super supportive and they do their best to learn more about gender and such things in order to better support and care for Nico

They all use different pronouns for xem and some people alternate pronouns too, but Nico knows that takes more practice

But it’s just like good and positive in Nico’s life

And he begins to play with fashion a lot and xe finds out xyr love of skirts with tights and combat boots because it’s 10/10 the best fashion

Nico also loves their big jackets and they just looks so comfy all the time everyone is like “I want to be him” and Nico grows their hair out long again, and gets his ears pierced and xe’s just a nonbinary fashion icon

They are just so cool once they figure out gender more and Nico’s just happy to play around with xyr gender and he just enjoys it

Will doesn’t play around with gender so much, he’s 100% a binary trans guy but T helped make him comfortable enough in his femininity to wear skirts a little bit on the occasion (Will in a cat maid dress 10/10), but heels and skinny jeans for some reason are still big dysphoria triggers for him so he does have some limits on what he’ll wear

Will gets top surgery when he’s like 17 because Naomi is an extremely supportive parent

So that’s how Nico meets Will’s mom and she’s like “it’s so nice to finally meet you!” and Naomi just immediately falls in love with xem and Will is like “I know they’re amazing”

And Nico is just really supportive and they sort of role reverse and Nico plays nurse while Will recovers from top surgery and they has to like brush his teeth and stuff

The experience (despite the fact that Will had an easier recovery) assures Nico in how much he wants top surgery, and he’s sad he’ll have to wait another year until he’s 18 to get it done

Anyhow Hades finds out and agrees to sign the wavers, so once Will is healed up enough to wear he can put his own clothes on and stuff, Nico decides to go through with xyrs own top surgery then too

Reyna comes to help Will take care of Nico, and Jason does too

Originally Will was supposed to help more with Nico’s care but he wasn’t able to do as much as he thought so they had to phone their friends

Eventually they both heal up really well and they’re happy to be done with that

Nico spends time debating testosterone, while Will spends time debating lower surgery

During this time Nico starts art school and Will starts medical school

Meeting more nonbinary people makes Nico feel at home and he determines that xe doesn’t want to go on testosterone but it’s still a maybe in the future

Will however decides he does want lower surgery, so Will and Lou Ellen decide to get lower surgery together as friends so they can share in the pain (Lou Ellen is a trans woman as far as I’m concerned this is canon)

Nico takes some time off to do school from home so he can help the two of them, and Naomi comes to live with them as well for a bit

Will and Nico both finish school eventually and they decide to adopt trans kids to help them out more

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy all of that anon! I'm all ideaed (idea-ed??) out and so I hope this is at least similar to what you were looking for, and this is helpful with your dysphoria somewhat <3

#anon #Asks #nico di angelo #pjo #hoo #will solace #solangelo #i tried to keep it mostly Nico centric