#here are my ship manifestos for these ships

[morethansky]

Do you have any clone ships?

Most definitely! Thanks for the question, anon! Honestly, I'll happily read fic and enjoy art of any combination of clones, but some of my favorites are:

Fives/Echo: A perennial fave of mine. It's childhood friends to lovers, except all their other friends died and they only have each other as they enter the warfront. That kind of bond is unbreakable. And it hurts so good that Fives lost Echo and then got a lot more cynical about his place in life—and about authority—and ended up dying, only for Echo to come back from the dead so soon afterward and have to find out that Fives was gone. I think a lot about Echo finding out about Fives not being around anymore contributing to his decision to leave with the Bad Batch. (Post–Order 66 situations where Rex is added to the mix in some angsty, complicated way are also excellent.)

Crosshair/Hunter: Currently experiencing severe brainrot for this ship. I'm always enchanted by enemies-to-lovers dynamics, especially friends/lovers to enemies to lovers, and I find how different Crosshair and Hunter both are in TBB compared to how they were first introduced in TCW absolutely fascinating. I'm obsessed with the little glances they throw each other in the TBB pilot, which imply this closeness we never get to see enough of. And then Hunter leaving Crosshair behind and Crosshair feeling so deeply betrayed and both of their reactions being to run away from each other is so delicious and interesting to explore. And then after everything, the icing on the cake is Crosshair saving Omega's life on Kamino just as Hunter is about to risk his life saving her, then choosing to risk his life to warn the Batch about Omega knowing it's Hunter who's particularly obsessed with her safety.

Jesse/Kix: They're just a natural pair. I'm so happy we were treated to more of them and their dynamic in season 7 of TCW. I think a lot about how when Maul looked into Jesse's mind, he must have seen so much of Jesse's sorrow and confusion about Kix's disappearance. What if Kix was abducted while Jesse was away at ARC trooper training, and he returned to find him gone? And when Kix wakes up on the Crimson Corsair and finds out about Order 66 and the chips, how does he feel knowing he wasn't there to help Jesse and his brothers?

Waxer/Boil: Like Jesse/Kix, they're a natural pairing, and I always love when a grumpy person falls in love with someone with a bubbly personality. I think a lot about how proud Boil must have been when Waxer got promoted, and then what he must feel after Umbara, when he can't find Waxer and then has to reckon with the fact that he was killed by a fellow brother.

Tup/Dogma: Whether it's Dogma pining while Tup falls for Fives, or Tup interacting with Dogma after the events on Umbara, or Dogma letting Tup get away with stuff he disapproves of, or Tup being defensive when Dogma is being bullied, or Tup getting with Fives after Dogma is taken away, or Dogma in prison finding out what happened to Tup, I love it all.

Tech/Wrecker: The TBB S2 finale really sold this for me. Wrecker's agony when Tech is in danger and when he realizes what he's about to do is so painful. And then the way he's shown crying and just sitting quietly by himself afterward... He reacts in a much rawer way than anyone else. I also like how they bicker in such a familiar way and how Wrecker is shown to be the most physically affectionate with Tech, always slapping him on the back and nudging him in the shoulder, and how Tech often starts what are clearly old arguments with him. They just feel lived in and Established Relationship™, in a way I like.

I'm just realizing these ships kind of all have tragic endings where the pairs are separated, huh... I'm an angst fiend, but I swear I like when the clones get to be happy together, too!

#cloneshipping #can you tell i love the umbara arc #and also pain #sorry for my rambling #we don't have ship manifestos anymore so #here are my ship manifestos for these ships #echo5 #crosshunter #jessix #waxerboil #tupdogma #techwrecker #arc trooper fives #arc trooper echo #corporal echo #commander crosshair #sergeant hunter #arc trooper jesse #clone medic kix #lieutenant waxer #clone trooper boil #clone trooper tup #clone trooper dogma #clone trooper tech #clone trooper wrecker #star wars #the clone wars #the bad batch #amph asks

[wlwcatalogue]

Valentine's Special ~ Aerith/Tifa from Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Compilation)

Since today is Valentine’s Day, and FFVII: Rebirth is releasing at the end of this month, it’s the perfect time to get caught up on Aerith/Tifa, a.k.a. Aerti, a.k.a. possibly the most unexpected F/F ship in gaming! Here is what I consider to be the most comprehensive compilation of Aerti scenes from FFVII: Remake, prepared by yours truly for your viewing (and shipping) pleasure :)

Quick sales pitch: While Aerith is famously The One Who Dies and Tifa is known for her sexy character design, they are also popularly remembered as main character Cloud’s two equally appealing love interests, as attested to by one Robert Pattinson. However, just as the elements present in the original 1997 game Final Fantasy VII were expanded on and added to in FFVII: Remake, the relationship between Aerith and Tifa was also fleshed out… to the point where it became very, very easy to ship them together. To put it in Tumblr terms, it’s like Betty and Veronica, but taken in a different – but still (subtextually) gay – direction compared to Riverdale. Check out the video above, it's just 1.5 hours!

(Longer sales pitch / commentary below the cut)

Originally from the hit 1997 Japanese role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, Aerith and Tifa, along with the main character Cloud Strife, were one of the most famous love triangles of video games at the time, and arguably even now. (Note: Think Betty and Veronica (Archie but pre-Riverdale), or if you’re more familiar with anime, Rei and Asuka (Neon Genesis: Evangelion) or Saber and Rin (Fate: Stay Night).) Although they barely had any interactions together and really were primarily love interests for Cloud in the original game (and subsequent related works), the relationship between Aerith and Tifa was significantly more fleshed out in Final Fantasy VII: Remake (2020), going beyond your standard box-ticking “look, girl power!” exercise. There seems to have been many a fan who walked out of playing Remake who found Aerti (i.e. Aerith and Tifa’s relationship) memorable – whether read romantically or platonically – resulting in many GIFs, fanart, and even compilations of memorable scenes of their “friendship”.

Not only do they interact with each other outside of speaking about Cloud or other male characters (scraping a pass in the Bechdel test, yay!), Remake gives the relationship space to develop from “strangers who hit it off” to “individuals who care about and trust each other”. Significantly, Aerith is the one who seems to take Tifa’s concerns the most seriously and comfort her, and Tifa is also able to see past Aerith’s cheery façade and reach out to her at her times of greatest need. In my opinion, each of the pair offers the greatest emotional support to the other out of all the characters – even more than what they do for Cloud (or what Cloud does for them).

So what makes their relationship romantic rather than simply platonic to me (other than sheer force of will)? Even though there isn’t really any direct flirting or explicitly romantic lines, there are a number of moments which are framed romantically or parallel romantic moments between Cloud/Aerith or Cloud/Tifa. Perhaps the most obvious of this is when Tifa protects Aerith from falling (twice), which is animated and shot in a way which suggests that it’s just as swoon-worthy as when Cloud protected Tifa from a fall in a prior scene. However, another notable example is how the high-five gesture is linked to Cloud’s opening up to Aerith (as he has to be persuaded over the course of several scenes to do the high-five), but Aerith also high-fives Tifa in other scenes later, effectively appropriating the gesture. So while I never expect it to ever become canon, Remake’s Aerti has been a wonderful surprise and I hope to see even greater developments in their relationship within this subtextual space as the FFVII: Remake trilogy progresses.

Let's all hope for the best-- in the meantime, please enjoy this compilation!

#i may write up a proper ship manifesto for them at some later date #“may” being the operative word here #btw my favourite moment is when tifa finds aerith in the train graveyard #truly a “surely any person with a drop of romantic attraction to women would fall for tifa if they were in aerith's position!” moment #final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii: remake #ff7 #ffvii #ffviir #ff7r #final fantasy 7 remake #aerti #aerith #tifa #aerith gainsborough #tifa lockhart #wlw recommendations #(but subtext) #femslash #list #final fantasy #jrpg #jrpg games #aerith x tifa

[yume-x-hanabi]

I thought of simply copy/pasting my twitter thread but you know what, we’re on Tumblr, we’re allowed proper paragraphs, so let me just ramble like in the good old days :p

Assorted B²TSM Headcanons pt.1: Worldbuilding

Honestly the funniest thing about this fandom is that the entire canon consists in four skits, two music videos, and a song. That is to say, BARELY FUCKING ANYTHING. Guys, I’m used to a video game with extensive lore developed over several games, eight guidebooks, thirteen Drama CDs, five short story series, and some manga. I cannot begin to tell you how different this experience has been 😂 Anyway, as frustrating it can be to have barely anything concrete to go with, it also means… it’s free real estate, baby 😎

A. The Time Machine

So, I’ve been thinking about the mechanics of the whole time-travelling thing for a bit longer than is healthy, and I’ve developed some potential ways it could go that could be fun to play with.

But first, a crack theory I’ve become very fond of: the "time machine" gave them new young & healthy bodies, but the creation of those bodies was influenced by whoever was operating the machine at the time. That's why they all look vaguely like Brett or Eddy—I mean, Bang YG and his assistant. That would also explain the fact they can all speak modern English (+ the accents).

Now let’s look at a couple ways they could have been brought to the future:

1. Actual, full-fledged time-travel

They were plucked from some point of their lives and dragged to the future with no warning. That opens up a few possibilities:

1.a. Continuity errors. Plucking them from their past lives will alter the timeline, and probably change the world of classical music irrevocably. Basically Bang YG u done goof. You’re gonna need forty Ling Ling stones to fix that mess. Oh boy.

1.b. The timeline is not affected, which means they’re fated to go back to their own time at some point, probably with some very convenient memory loss (this was a common plot in HP time-travel fics when I used to be into it /tangent). This one comes with high angst potential: knowing their time here is limited, having to make the most of it, and the worst is that they won’t even be able to use future knowledge to make their past lives better when they go back. Oh the drama, oh the angst.

1.c. The timeline is not affected, because this basically creates a parallel universe, in which history up to the use of the time machine remains unaffected.

Whichever scenario you go with in this category, this means they were brought over when they were still relatively young, and likely haven’t yet composed some of the great hits they’re known for. Imagine Tchaik and Shosty talking about Beethoven’s 9th symphony, meanwhile he’s like “huh, I have no memory of this piece”. That can lead to some complex feelings, knowing such-and-such famous piece is yours but in a way it’s not (not yet). Or, worse, learning about facts from their personal lives that haven’t happened yet. Momo realizing he’s got about five years left to live when he goes back to his era (in scenario 1.b.)

2. Kind of a reincarnation AU

So this summer I watched Paripi Koumei, which is a very fun and light-hearted anime (highly recommended), and I bring it up here because I really like the concept and think it could apply here. The premise of the anime is that famous strategist Zhuge Liang (Kongming) from the Three Kingdoms is reborn in modern-day Tokyo after he dies. He basically spawns in modern Shibuya with a youthful appearance and all his memories. So, I thought this could be a way to go with how the “time machine” works here: it brings the guys’ consciousness from the point of their deaths and gives them a younger body (a copy of their own, or *see crack theory above*).

That means they know exactly what they did in their past lives. That also means that they remember their own deaths. Very trauma, much angst.

On a brighter note, that means they’re here to stay. They’re basically given a second chance at life, in a world that’s hopefully a bit easier to live in than their past one.

B. The Band’s Concept

I can’t imagine the public being told they’re the real deal. I mean, imagine if people learned that there was a time machine out there that could bring loved ones back to life. That would cause unending chaos. And that’s if they’re believed to begin with—the most likely reaction would be to dismiss it as a prank.

So, the “official” version they’re going with is that it’s simply the band’s concept, that they’re roleplaying the composers (like I think there’s a kpop group whose concept is that the members represent the zodiac signs). So, in essence, they’re pretending to be random guys who’re pretending to be their actual selves XD

Regarding roles, there is much debate about who the maknae is. Is it Shosty, because his birth date is the most recent? Or is it Mozart, who’s the youngest in terms of actual years lived in his previous life? I like to think that the company never confirms either ways and lets the fans argue about it to their hearts’ contents. It’s part of the mystery~

(In truth, the actual members don’t give a damn about “roles”, they’re just there to make music.)

(Maybe that’s part of their unconventional side that makes them popular among some people.)

Also, Pag wasn’t meant to be brought to the future, it’s a result of a time machine mishap. He basically barged his way into their debut because “How dare they form a band without me, greatest violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini?! Mamma mia…” and now he’s hanging around. Not quite an official member, but often heavily involved (whether they want it or not). Mozart says he’s their mascot. No one is sure how to feel about that statement.

Lastly, since so far they’ve either been using their last names or nicknames to address each other, I’ve developed some headcanon that their last names are their stage names, but also simply the names they go by now in their day-to-day lives. Like they’ve shed their first names, it’s a thing of the past, an identity they can’t truly assume anymore. Maybe that’s why they’re so fond of nicknames, because it gives them a more personal touch (Mozart started the trend, and it caught on very fast after that). They do still use full names from time to time in certain circumstances, and that’s what’s on official documents, but… it’s complicated. I like to think they eventually start reclaiming their full identity between themselves as time passes and they grow more comfortable in their new circumstances and their bond grows closer. (Names as a sign of intimacy, in my fandoms? It’s more likely than you think!)

Anyway that’s it for the worldbuilding side. I have a few more posts planned about different aspects of this universe and their characters.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this, and your own headcanons if you have some!

#in which i subject my whole follow list to my new obsession #feel free to mute the tags if you're only here for Tales lol #anyway i have way too many feelings about this dumb fictional band #b2tsm #b²tsm #b²tsm headcanons #if we're not careful i'll have a ship manifesto ready by the end of the year #that's how deep i am atm #long post

[musical-chick-13]

I think the reason Javier/Natalia works for me is because their relationship is what the writers think they’re doing with Raúl/Sofía.

(tw for brief mentions of hazing/bullying and self-harm).

Raúl/Sofía is supposed to be the “I’d do anything for you” couple, but all of the “grand gestures” Raúl does for Sofía don’t actually make her life better and aren’t things she even asks for. The point is supposed to be that Raúl is willing to ruin lives for Sofía, but the end goal was never to help her or improve her life, it was to get her to be with him. Being the hacker in season 1 and trying to make her his emotional crutch in season 2, and meddling in her dad’s prison sentence/investigating Susana’s body removal in season 3 have nothing to do with Sofía herself and what would be best for her; they’re all just efforts to make her like him, either by manipulating her feelings or proving that he’s Not As Bad As People Say He Is :( Raúl can’t really be doing these things solely for Sofía because the ultimate objective is his own personal gain.

In contrast, Javier offers Natalia financial help-making it clear that he expects nothing in return-and when he threatens the group on the rooftop with the gun, he has everything to lose. The only reason he does that is because he’s worried about Natalia. He doesn’t stand to gain anything from the situation: Natalia isn’t even there (so she wouldn’t know what he did); his friends will be afraid of him if not hate him; and given his Dark Past™, if he intentionally instigates a violent act (or threat of one), he’ll lose the sense of morality he’s been trying to develop after The Soccer Incident, and have blood on his hands in an even more serious way. Obviously, don’t threaten your peers with guns, but if you wanted an actual example of Bad Behavior In The Name Of Love, then that scene is...right there...

Raúl/Sofía is also supposed to be the “I’ll forgive you for ANYTHING because I LOVE you” romance trope. But, imo, that trope only works if it goes both ways. Raúl never has anything to forgive Sofía for. She didn’t hurt him in any way at all. In fact, up until Susana’s death, she was probably the most innocent person in the show. Javier and Natalia both have checkered pasts. They both made selfish, ill-advised choices that hurt other people-Javier through participating in hazing culture to Be Cool (which led to someone dying) and Natalia through school fund embezzlement (which led to dealing drugs via working for The Local Mob and all of the consequent complications). And Javier forgiving Natalia for agreeing to sleep with his dad seems a little weird, but I think the important thing here is that it actually had nothing to do with Javier at all. She didn’t do it to hurt Javier (or help him somehow, which Idk how that would work logically, but also we have Raúl/Sofía, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), and she would have behaved the same if it had been any other man offering her a way out. She felt backed into a corner because she was desperate, scared, in danger, and running out of time. And Javier also understands what it’s like to be scared and backed into a corner come season 3. What Natalia did disturbs him, but he gets why she did it. (And in return, Natalia gets why he asked his dad for help and hid his removal of Susana’s body.) Forgiveness in this context seems a lot more plausible to me than Sofía forgiving Raúl for the extreme privacy violation of her peers, her dad’s imprisonment, her friend’s murder, and Raúl and Friends’ ableist comments. Raúl hurt her and the people she cares about directly. But Natalia and Javier, though they may have irreparably hurt people, didn’t irreparably hurt each other.

And the major “appeal” of Raúl/Sofía is supposed to be that He Becomes Better Because Love and that Sofía...Idk becomes more confident or spontaneous or something? Something something opposites attract/we aren’t so different trope. But Raúl...does not ever actually change. He never apologizes for ANYTHING, he’s still trying to manipulate things behind the scenes of Sofía’s life, he’s still blackmailing his peers, HE NEVER ACTUALLY GETS BETTER. In terms of Sofía gaining...anything? From this relationship? I guess she becomes more impulsive, but that’s hardly a good thing-on it’s own or in the context of the show. Her rushing at Raúl for sex in season 1 led to losing her virginity under dishonest circumstances. Self-harm (which she is shown to struggle with) is an impulse. Her biggest impulsive decision was confronting AYS directly, which led to The Game™, and fucked things up on a level that even this show hadn’t reached before. She doesn’t become more open-minded or forgiving, because the only person she forgives for terrible behavior is Raúl. She shuns Alex, she breaks up with Javier, she even walks away from her dad. Instead of confidence or loosening up, she just becomes a completely different version of herself, with no clear arc to show how she got there. Every time their onscreen together just goes to show how little they have in common and how little their relationship is actually based on. (I don’t have the energy to talk about Raúl/Sofía anymore, so if you need a more fleshed-out explanation of this, just read this and/or this post.)

Javier had a) already started on a self-improvement journey before the start of the show, b) as mentioned above, chose to help Natalia with no expectations because he was genuinely moved by her desperation, and c) when he fucked up with Sofía by lying to her about moving Susana’s body, he immediately went out of his way not to make the same mistake with Natalia. He tells her that he can’t be with her while harboring such a serious secret, and then when she offers communication with no strings attached, he opens up and is completely and totally honest with her. He even outright admits that he’s a shitty person. Similarly, Natalia is surprised and inspired by Javier’s kindness toward her, which-along with rebuilding her relationship with her sister-softens her edges and brings out her more compassionate side. She also becomes closer with the other members of the group through her relationship with him and comes to care about them, too. She even tries to help Rosita when she thinks the latter’s unique traits are being washed out by her romantic relationship. Javier and Natalia make each other better.

All in all, Raúl/Sofía was supposed to be an Opposites Attract/Love Conquers All ship, but they dynamic that actually accomplished those things was Javier/Natalia.

#if you had told me in season 1 I would be writing a #javier x natalia #ship manifesto I would have LAUGHED IN YOUR FACE #but here we are. this show does things to my brain lmao #javier williams #natalia alexander #control z #control z meta #anti raul leon #anti raul x sofia #sofía herrera #behold! a creation! #mc13 watches ctrlz

[crymeariveronceagain]

The floor felt hard and cold. The problems ahead of them unimaginable. But they weren't alone. And that made all the difference.

---Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger. Page 176.

#i TAKE IT ALL BACK I TAKE IT ALL BACK #NEW! FAVORITE! LINE! #KOTLC #kotlc keefe #kotlc sophie #sophie foster #keefe sencen #keefoster #sokeefe #kotlc sokeefe #kotlc keefoster #team foster keefe #ASLDKSAJKSALKDJ THIS IS MY SHIP MANIFESTO #THIS! RIGHT! HERE! #IF YOU DO NOT READ THIS LINE AND THINK THAT THIS IS WHY THEY BELONG TOGETHER IDK WHAT ELSE TO TELL YOU #they weren't alone #and that made all the difference #like KILL ME NOW?!?!?!??! PLEASE????!?!?!??! LIGHTNING FROM THE HEAVENS??!?!?! #ADKLASJDKSLAJDKLGHDJAKLFSDL #quotes #rant in tags #love #romance #aesthetic quotes #kotlc #romanticism #romantic academia #romantic quotes #love quotes #true love

[jazzforthecaptain]

For my harkstiel folks - give "TRUSTFALL" by P!nk a listen. I admit, my preferences for Captain Jack and Castiel run more towards songs that have a really strong marching/running beat. This isn't a quiet, reflective song. It's loud and full of big feelings. It was suggested by my fiancee, and when she suggests a song it means it cleared her Jack filter, and I trust her instincts there.

Harkstiel for me is always a negotiation of trust. It's two damaged hearts with authority issues, who've bucked unreliable leaders and still followed their own hubris into catastrophe. They don't believe in themselves anymore, and they love humanity for being the broken, violent, creative, affectionate, messy, untrustworthy megalomaniacs we are. They make moral compasses out of other people anyway, which is a mistake and they know it. And now they're here with each other, two terribly broken compasses. Equal parts fascination and irritation, threat and opportunity, pushing and pulling and inspiring and arguing each other into something that could be love, balanced like a feather on the finest wire of hell-forged trust.

They don't do relationships the easy way. They sweat and fight out the foundations one heavy stone at a time. It's hard to be a team when there's always someone being insubordinate, and they swap leads and fail and try and fail, until the failures start to look like something different, and that difference is theirs. But at some point, someone has to turn the key. Someone has to see if this craft made out of intimacy and broken glass is skyworthy. That moment is in this song, like all of my favorite harkstiel songs. It's the breathless moment of first contact, when all the shattered parts shudder into place. The hard work of becoming friends in spite of the labyrinth walls shifts and tumbles into a stunning freefall, and all the potential is visible, laid out like a sprawling sea of stars.

#harkstiel #me out here writing my ship manifesto again #superwood #superwho #castiel x captain jack harkness

[ao3commentoftheday]

Hi! I'm asking for advice, please. I'm in a small ship fandom, it's so small that most of us know each other here. Having a small, unpopular ship is not an issue in itself and most of us are okay with that, but the ship gets a lot of hate from the bigger ship fandom. I won't say much about the fandom situation, but I'd love to get more people to write for our ship. It's hard because our authors get a lot of hate reviews and our AO3 tag is a mess because the big ship shippers put their hate stories there all the time. I know there are tools to filter this unwanted content, like OTP:true, but people who don't know AO3 very well have a hard time finding the stories written by the few active authors that we still have. Our stories are not lacking in quality, but they're so scarce that readers get discouraged after a while. A similar thing happens to writers because of this situation with the hate comments and lack of interaction. I know that I can't do much about the hate the ship gets, but I would like some advice to motivate people in our fandom to write and support our writers more. I read, comment, and create as much as I can, but it'd be nice to get fresh ideas about improving this situation, maybe planning fan events and similar stuff. I will gladly welcome any helpful tips if you have them, please! I am aware that creating more content would expose our writers to more hate. I know that, but I also think that it's unfair that people have to refrain from enjoying the things they love just because other people hate it. That's why I'm trying to change things for the better, but I need help.

I'm so sorry your fandom is so awful to your group, anon ❤️ No ship is worth being mean to others over, and especially not worth making an entire group feel unwelcome in a communal space.

I strongly recommend that the authors of your ship restrict comments to logged-in registered users only (you can find this setting in Post a New Work form) and block any commenters who post hate. If anyone circumvents the block, report them to PAC for block evasion. To do so, visit the comment itself (by clicking on the thread button or following the link from the email) and choose Policy Questions & Abuse Reports from the AO3 footer. Don't delete the comment until after PAC have had a chance to read it and investigate.

Now, as for how to encourage more people to create!

It's always worthwhile to celebrate the folks who are already doing the thing. Create recommendation lists and share them around. Write a ship manifesto to encourage people to take a look at the ship if they haven't already. Reach out to fanartists who take requests or commissions and see if they'll make ship art. Get a group of writers together for an exchange.

Bring in new writers by messaging an author who is open to other ships and seeing if they'd be willing to write a oneshot. Post a list of ship-centric prompts and encourage folks to reblog it and fill the prompts. You could even create a prompt meme on AO3.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure the blog will be able to suggest even more. We're here to support you, anon!

#asks and answers

[in1-nutshell]

Hi!! It's me again! I absolutely LOVE the latest post so how about we switch it around this time?

Imagine being tfp Megatron's older brother who is WAY different from him, so hipper, pinky, soft and happy all the time just like pinky pie until he gets his hands on his guns and blasters as he starts shooting and blasting all the enemies while laughing like a maniac.

Also can you please make him and Optimus have a secret relationship? Thank you for doing my request(s) and i hope you have a wonderful day!!

Its fun doing these request when one sibling has the complete opposite personality as the other. As for the romantic side of this, I left it vague, but its there. Thinking it as pre relationship pinning. I chose random Con's since you did not specify which ones. If these are not the ones you want, please let me know.

Hope you enjoy!

Megatron’s older brother who is a softy and trigger happy for blasters

SFW, platonic, slight romantic, familial, Cybertronian/ Bot reader

No one knows how they are related. Many speculate that the older brother simply lost his mind. Others think it’s some sort of master façade he is pulling off. But he is known widely on both sides of the war for his insane usage of their blaster. A true agent if chaos behind that blaster.

Despite this Buddy is one of the softer Con’s onboard the Nemesis. When he is not wielding a blaster in the heat of battle, he is the other doctor besides Knockout.

He is a visible representation of the good side of the Decepticon cause.

Megatron

He loves his older brother truly.

But the way he acts irks him greatly, especially seeing how long the war has dragged out.

He loves seeing his older brother behind the blaster. He knows that he will hit his target and get things done.

As one of the only other doctors Megatron doesn’t bring Buddy out to the field as often as he’d like. But in a way it is good to know that his brother is safe on the ship.

Starscream is not allowed 10 feet from Buddy.

Megatron is no fool in how powerful his brother can be, whether with blaster or his words. He did after all help him with his manifesto before the war broke out.

He used to tease his older brother for having feelings for Orion Pax back on Cybertron.

“It appears we have soft spots for archivist, brother. Some of us however, softer than others?”--Megatron

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Megatron. Pax and I are just friends.”--Buddy

“I never specified it was Orion Pax.”--Megatron

“…”--Buddy

“You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me.”--Megatron

“…Not a word…”--Buddy

But now as Optimus Prime, Megatron does not let Buddy anywhere near him. He is afraid deep down that the Autobots will take advantage of him, or worse get him to defect to their side.

If Buddy ever defected to the other side, not only would Megatron spiral more into his madness, but he knows he won’t be able to hurt Buddy.

He just couldn’t do it if it came up.

“Prime?”--Buddy

“Hello.”--Optimus

“What seems to be the occasion? We are not by any energon mines or ships…”--Buddy

“I have come to ask you something.”--Optimus

“And what would that be?”--Buddy

“Will you—”--Optimus

“YOU WILL NOT!”--Megatron

“Megatron?!”—Optimus and Buddy

“Wait how did you get here?”--Buddy

“GET YOUR FILTHY SERVOS FROM MY BROTHER, PRIME!”--Megatron

“HE WASN’T EVEN TOUCHING ME!?”--Buddy

“DIE!”--Megatron

Soundwave

Soundwave is one of Buddy best friends aboard the Nemesis.

As the brother of his leader Soundwave comes to Buddy a lot to relay messages or give updates.

Buddy in return makes sure that his workplace is spic and span. For maximum work efficiency of course.

Buddy is often followed by Lazerbeak when they go out of the ship. Buddy doesn’t mind it too much enjoying the minicons company.

“Are you joining me on my patrol today Lazerbeak?”--Buddy

Lazerbeak bobbing up and down.

“Heh. Then let us go, my friend. The sooner we do patrol the sooner we come back to the ship.”--Buddy

During the early stages of the war, Buddy often teamed up with Soundwave’s minicons whenever he wasn’t called to Megatron’s side. Soundwave knew that if they were with him, they would be fine.

The one time he wasn’t there…

It was a day of mourning for the small group of Decepticon’s that had recently formed. Buddy held on to Soundwave as he mourned and did his oath of silence.

There is an unspoken respect for each other that runs deep.

If Buddy was ever in danger on the battlefield, Soundwave is the first to send a ground bridge to his location. Worst case scenario, he is going in there himself to get Buddy out of there.

“Prime, it seems we are alone on the battlefield again.”--Buddy

“It seems we are.”--Optimus

“Are we going to finish this? Or are we going to wait for my brother?”--Buddy

“Whatever choice you make. Though this would not be the case if you’d join—”--Optimus

Groundbridge opens as Soundwave is flying to get Buddy out of there.

“Till we meet again Prime!”--Buddy

“Till we meet again.”--Optimus

Knockout and Breakdown

These two are his best friends. They share the number one slot.

Soundwave is the close second.

At first the pair was weary of Buddy for his reputation on the battlefield and being the older sibling of their leader.

They are very much surprised on how soft Buddy was.

Over time they stop being so stiff and come to relax in each other’s presence.

There is a lot of gossip that happens in the medbay.

Knockout finds himself a new doctor friend to talk to.

“So, what did the human do this time?”--Buddy

“Well, this one decided to scratch my paint job. So, I thought it was only fitting to do the same.”--Knockout

“Is the human dead?”--Buddy

“…No?”--Knockout

“Knockout.”--Buddy

“Maybe? I don’t know.”—Knockout

Breakdown finds himself a new sparring partner and co-nurse/co-doctor. The two of them often look out for the Vechicon soldiers.

“Do you think we can get the Vechicon’s better rationings?”--Breakdown

“I’ll see what I can do Breakdown. I think I can do it.”—Buddy

If Buddy is in any danger while they are together, they are making sure that Buddy has their support. Knockout attends Buddy’s wounds and will snap at him for trying to mend it himself.

“Will you stop picking the welding! You should know that irritates the wound!”--Knockout

“… It itches…”--Buddy

“Oh my—Breakdown hold him down.”--Knockout

“Wait what?”--Buddy

“Sorry Buddy but this is for your own good.”--Breakdown

“You both are traitors to my itching!”--Buddy

Vechicons

All of them visibly relax when Buddy comes in.

Everyone knows Buddy and their reputation. It’s not a reputation anyone can take lightly.

But he does take extra care of the smaller troops that go out into battle. Besides Breakdown, Buddy seems to be the only other bot who actively worries about the lives of each and every one of them.

“Hello Steve.”--Buddy

“Oh! Hello Buddy—I mean Lord—”--Steve

“At ease. And you know how I feel about those titles.”--Buddy

“Of course.”--Steve

On the slower days on the ship, Buddy likes to talk to the crew to boost their morality or give them a shoulder to vent or cry on because this war had gone on for millennia and there seems to be no end in sight.

If Buddy was ever wounded in battle, all the Vechicons are on it. They make sure that he gets back to the ship as quickly as possible. Screw whatever mission, they are getting one of the only Cons that cares out of there alive.

Buddy is down! I repeat Buddy is down!”—Vechicon 1

“Get him out of there! Flank left and right!”—Vechicon 2

“On it!”—Vechicon 3

“Don’t worry Buddy we are taking you back to the Nemesis for repairs.”--Steve

“Knockouts not going to be happy about this.”--Buddy

Somewhere on the Nemesis.

“I feel like someone’s paintjob got horribly scratched.”--Knockout

“How can you tell?”--Breakdown

“I don’t know… but it feels wrong.”--Knockout

#maccadam #transformers #transformers x reader #tfp #tfp x platonic reader #tfp x reader #tfp megatron #tfp knockout #tfp breakdown #tfp vehicons #bot buddy

[saintsenara]

asenora i will listen to anything you have to say about these characters ever. please tell us what the tea is with dron

as i rummage through the backlog of messages in my inbox the thing that i have discovered is that you girlies [gender neutral] are absolutely clamouring for citizenship of dron nation.

[thank you to @spectral-kitty, @thesilverstarling, and two mystery anons!]

to which i say, the borders are open, baby. you just have to read the following manifesto:

why fandom needs to stop sleeping on dron

something i am continually banging on about, as regular readers know, is the harry potter series' fondness for assigning [male] characters to narrative mirror pairings.

exploring these pairings is interesting in and of itself without a romantic dimension being involved - i could talk for hours about the mirrored approach to guilt and grief in snape and sirius' characterisation - but it's also true that several of the most interesting ships which can be drawn [however non-canonically] from the text are between the two halves of each mirror pairing.

tomarrymort is the obvious one, snack [or starprince or snirius or whatever we're calling it] is starting to get the attention it deserves, but people are still sleeping on draco malfoy/ron weasley [and also, may i say, on lucius malfoy/arthur weasley and narcissa malfoy/molly weasley], largely - i fear - due to the sheer popularity of drarry and dramione.

i'll be honest that i really don't like dramione, and i'm generally ambivalent towards drarry, but i do love dron. and the narrative mirror aspect is entirely the reason why.

ron and draco begin the series as mirror archetypes within the genre conventions of a children's boarding school romp. ron is the loyal, humble sidekick of the everyman protagonist, draco is the everyman protagonist's posh, stuck-up rival. both are insiders to the world of the story - whereas harry, the reader surrogate, is not - who introduce harry to the positive and negative aspects of the wizarding world respectively.

as a result, ron and draco are mirrors in terms of personality, and are much more similar to each other than either is to harry or hermione. this doesn't, of course, preclude ronarry [a ship i adore] or romione [which i've defended here] or drarry or dramione [if ya nasty], but it introduces a specific - and very interesting - tension into the pairing which is absent from these other ships.

both ron and draco have shared positive traits - they're both loyal [and their loyalty is very practical and pragmatic - ron is not hagrid, whose faith in e.g. dumbledore is totally unwavering; draco is not bellatrix, whose faith in voldemort is the same], they're both highly observant, they're both quick-witted, they're both capable of doing the right thing - if not always immediately [which is, in fact, more admirable than being preternaturally willing to suffer and sacrifice], and so on.

they also have shared negative traits. they're both attention-seeking [ron fucking loves nearly being knifed by sirius and you just know draco was seething], self-aggrandising, insecure, sulky, and predisposed to jealousy.

and this is a gift for authors, because it means that dron butt heads in a relationship in ways which allow for real character growth... or otherwise.

one issue that i have with drarry is that it often feels like the change either one goes through within a fic is kind of out of character. for example, you have a harry who feels insecure and haunted by his ill-treatment of draco [this is a man whose response to committing attempted murder is to be raging that it reduces the time he has free to hit on ginny], or a harry who is chasing after a cool and sophisticated draco who eventually learns to open up [whereas if there's two things draco isn't, it's someone who keeps his thoughts to himself and someone who isn't a distinctly unsophisticated flop].

dron, however, react to conflict in the same way - which means that the two of them finding themselves in conflict with each other absolutely slaps. they also have similar levels of emotional intelligence, and are likely - if they're inclined to - to be able to communicate with each other and work through issues surprisingly effectively. they can be a mess, or they can be a happy-ever-after, and i like that in a ship.

but, while ron and draco are mirror archetypes, they are specifically children's literature mirror archetypes. ron's role as harry's guide to the world diminishes in the later books, as the series' horizons move beyond hogwarts to think about wizarding society and voldemort's impact upon it more widely [he is replaced by characters such as dumbledore]; while harry becomes considerably less bothered by the pettiness of draco's rivalry with him [concerned as it is with things like being good at quidditch and getting away with misbehaviour at school] as the enemies he's focused on shift to being the resurrected voldemort and his death eaters.

which is to say that dron makes considerably more sense within a hogwarts setting than drarry.

as i've said elsewhere, an issue i have with drarry is that it's frequently written in a way which suggests that harry and draco have a mutual obsession with each other - while the actual evidence of canon is that, while draco is [as his archetype demands] preoccupied with what harry's doing, harry rarely gives the impression of caring what his rival is up to unless directly compelled to by draco's own attention-seeking.

ron, in contrast, spends a lot of time noticing things about draco unprompted - he can, for instance, recall overhearing him boasting offhand about what broom he owns in philosopher's stone - and retaining this information in order to deploy it at the opportune time to get a rise out of him. he delights constantly in his misfortune [him being hyped for days because draco's annoyed harry gets a firebolt is beautiful]. he's ready to throw hands with him at any given opportunity, often giving those of us who thrive on cheap innuendo plenty of material in the process [draco finds himself, for example 'on all fours, banging the ground with his fist' after having ron's wand pointed in his face... same, girl.] and he tends to consider draco much more integral to the various shenanigans which take place in the castle than harry does [ron is the main proponent of the 'draco malfoy is the heir of slytherin' theory in chamber of secrets - and he is shook when draco reveals that he's wrong].

and draco does the same. he comes into the trio's compartment on the train in goblet of fire and immediately starts telling ron how unfashionable his dress robes are. he obsesses over ron's position as gryffindor keeper for months - and, of course, makes up a song about it, which isn't exactly helping him pull off 'i don't think about you at all', is it? - and ron is profoundly affected by the taunts in way that harry, who doesn't really care what draco thinks of him, isn't. and he constantly goes out of his way to provoke ron into trying to punch him [him shoulder-barging ron in half-blood prince just after harry's essentially outed him as a death eater in madam malkins... exquisite pettiness].

all of which is to say, their interactions feel very teenage and petty and silly all the way through to the end of half-blood prince in a way that draco's interactions with harry and hermione don't, and - therefore - i sincerely think that dron can be made to work much more plausibly as a pairing in fics set while the characters are at school.

my final point in favour of dron is that they mirror each other in their approach to their other relationships, and the tension this causes is really interesting to explore.

both ron and draco have mirrored attitudes towards their place within their own families - something neither harry nor hermione can have with draco for obvious reasons. ron is one of many siblings and feels overlooked in the crowd; draco is an only child and feels overburdened by the visibility, especially once his father is sent to azkaban. they both conform to behaviours expected of them by family [they are both in the same hogwarts house as generations of their family, they share their families' political views etc.]. they are of the same social class and their families both have a reasonably similar level of political influence [despite what we're told about his insignificance, arthur weasley is known to everyone in the ministry and he's able to throw his weight around to influence policy even before the promotion he receives in half-blood prince], but their material circumstances are divergent. they both heavily resemble their fathers - to the extent that they are immediately recognisable as each man's son - and spend their schooldays defending family honour by playing out lucius and arthur's own petty feud [lucius and arthur - and, indeed, narcissa and molly - are also narrative mirrors, and we deserve many more enemies-to-lovers fics featuring them]. and the course their lives take during the war is dictated as much by their role within their families as it is by their relationship with harry - the scrambling post-dumbledore order operating out of the burrow is a mirror image of the ascendant voldemort operating out of malfoy manor.

they are also obviously defined by their mirrored relationship with harry - most interestingly by a major similarity in their attitude towards him: that both struggle with how jealous they are of harry.

this leads to lots of excellent tension which just isn't possible in drarry or dramione. how do both sets of parents react to the news their sons are in love? how do ron and draco's relationships with harry change as they find each other? how does draco cope with the hustle and bustle of life at the burrow? how does ron deal with having to have dinner at the manor [particularly interesting because the world in which draco lives is one that's familiar to him - he's not going to be shocked by any of the weird stuff in that house, he knows how it all works, so he can ruin christmas by deciding to have his dad arrest lucius for fun instead]?

it's messy, and fun, and it sustains me.

and some recs for the lads?

collateral damage by @danpuff-ao3, which starts out with both of the lads working out their... issues with harry and ends with declarations of going to lunch with each other's mothers.

dance the night away (aka it's true love, you bastards) by evandar, which has as its premise ron and draco ending up, largely by accident, going to the yule ball together.

this great stage of fools by @nanneramma, which correctly demonstrates how ron is charming enough that him being supremely annoying is actually loveable.

#asks answered #asenora's opinions on ships #dron #draco malfoy #ron weasley #asenora fic recs

[amanitaphalloides]

what is the jopkey manifesto. if you can share it for those of us not in the gc 🥺

anon thank you for asking this question i have been trying and trying to bait someone into asking. here is it copy and pasted

Jopkey: A Manifesto

Jopkey in Brief

Jopkey refers to the romantic/erotic pairing of Thomas Jopson and Cornelius Hickey, a couple of guys who actually existed in real life and have been twisted into something beyond recognition by Dan Simmons, AMC, and now random people online such as us. Jopkey is commonly referred to as “the thinking person’s Terror ship” due to it kinda making you think.

Arguments For Jopkey

Let us review the nuanced and delicate appeal of Jopkey.

Potential Dynamics

Two tops fight to the death. In this formulation, Jopson and Hickey fight (mentally or physically) for dominance until one of them is (mentally or physically) dead. And they’re both tops. Credit Hannah @groundwater for being insistent about this final point.

Daddy’s candy babies. A popular (loose definition of the word) dynamic in which Jopson and Hickey are equally devoted to pursuing Francis Crozier’s attentions. But in doing so they find themselves irrevocably drawn to their freakass competitor…

Realizing potential. Jopson and Hickey recognize, in each other, great untapped potential—perhaps to be annoying and evil, but perhaps also to be intriguing, exciting, and to live life to the fullest. Whether intentionally or otherwise, they spur each other to explore all life has to offer them. Which given the circumstances isn’t that much.

Situations in Which Jopkey Could Happen

Hatefucking at any time.

Everyone else dies and they have to repopulate the ships.

Angry grief sex after Crozier dies. Perhaps over his casket?

Hickey happens upon Jopson’s half-dead form and attempts to eat him. Jopson simply responds, eat this.

Pertinent Jopkey Moments

“I’ll be there in a minute, Jopson.” Hickey refuses to call him lieutenant. Hot!

Jopson’s mouth twitches while watching Hickey be punished as a boy. Glee, eroticism, or simply an expression of sympathetic pain? Perhaps all three. 

When Hickey picks up Neptune's turd he says "Sorry sir the dog relieved himself before I could call Mr Jopson." This implies he has watched Jopson pick up dog shit before and would feel comfortable calling Jopson for help. Hickey doing a task that he thinks should be Jopson's = they have so much in common.

This is also an early indication of their dynamic wherein they see their respective relationships to Crozier overlap. See "Daddy's candy babies" under Potential Dynamics above.

Jopson guards Hickey while he’s on tent arrest. Hickey teases Jopson about his shooting abilities with his hand down his pants, Jopson brags about all the critters he used to kill and eat and says “My aim’s just fine Mr. Hickey” sexily. Implies Hickey is also a critter to be skinned and devoured! Okay!

During this scene Hickey is touching his own penis and Jopson puts his hand in his own mouth. Through the transference property this means that they have had oral sex.

They appear next to one another in the list of Terror crew members in a published book in the gift shop of the National Maritime Museum as pictured here (ie they are cuddling):

Arguments Against Jopkey

Despite the cold hard facts/group delusion depending on your perspective, some people are anti-Jopkey. Let’s take a look at the common reasons behind this unfortunate sentiment and resolve them one by one.

Anti-Jopkey Arguments and Resolutions

"Jopson simply does not think of Hickey."

Fortunately this is easily disputed. Jopson is constantly looking at Hickey like ARGH. Also we use our little imaginations. Sooooo.

The anti-Jopkey contingency argues "that’s just Liam Garrigan’s face" (re. point 2 in the above).

A typical argument and quite a simple one to dispel! We only need apply the “say yes to the text” ethos—by which we understand that everything present in the text is there to be explored and enjoyed, quite separate from the circumstances of its creation. Jopkey is not so weak as to be dependent upon the actors’ intentions. Regardless of whether or not AMC’s The Terror was filmed with the specific and singular intention of breathing life into Jopkey (which it was), all that truly matters is the effect. And ultimately the effect of Liam Garrigan’s face is eroticism, glee, intrigue, sympathy, and perhaps even romance.

The truth is there will never be consensus in the group chat or in the world, and Jopkey will never be true or untrue. It will remain Schrodinger’s Jopkey, and by offering insight into our psyches and groupthink dynamics, it is actually a vital and beautiful step towards world peace.

Jopkey Bangers

I Fucking Hate You - Godsmack

Since You’ve Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson

I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift

Jopkey Mood Board

Affirmations for Jopkeyers

I am so smart for shipping Jopkey.

My phone knows the word Jopkey. It knows that I am not typing about Jockey.

I understand British accents perfectly. Every word Jopkey says is comprehensible to me.

My words and actions honor Jopkey and my Jopkeyer compatriots.

I can think completely secret erotic Jopkey thoughts on this bus; my brain is closed to psychic attacks from the bus driver and other passengers.

I know who these characters are; I can tell them apart from other light-haired and dark-haired men who appear onscreen together. I can recognize their interactions as unequivocally Jopkey.

The Jopkey Anthem

O Jopkey Jopkey! Of thee I sing!

With Jopkey I can do anything!

Jopkey helps me laugh and play

So I ship Jopkey every day! 

Thomas Jopson — You always wow!

I know who you are by now

When first I watched I couldn't see

But you're not just Muttonchops #3

And Hickey lad with your sly grin

Reminiscent of delicious sin

Could you really be so wrong?

Not according to my Jopkey song!

[alternate hickey apologist verse] And Hickey — the perfect man!

Through thick and thin we’ll always stan

You’ve never done nothin’ wrong

And so to you we sing this song !

I pray this ship will never sink

Lest we approach the mental brink

May Jopkey sail forevermore

And far outlive Lieutenant Gore.

#the terror #this was a full gc collaboration in case that’s not clear by the fact that it contains arguments and multiple verses when we were trying #to write the same song simultaneously #jopkey

[devine-fem]

Why I think Hellbeetle is an adorable ship although it’s so rare and I want more people to see my vision.

I don’t mind it being rare and to be honest it has its perks but this is my manifesto.

1. They hated each other at first.

Rather it was about Eddie feeling replaced or ignored in his friend group, his hatred for Jaime grew slowly and slowly over time. Especially when it came to Rose finding interest in Jaime over Eddie, him having a crush on Rose and it rubbing him the wrong way. Although, people tell him over and over that if he just talked to Jaime then they’re sure they’ll get along and even become close immediately but Eddie refuses to accept this.

2. Scarab bonuses (1)

Because of Eddie’s high body temperature the scarab can find Eddie somewhat easily and track where he is and I think that is so adorable to think about.

3. There is a whole issue entirely about their hate for each other and blooming friendship which is the gayest thing to me.

Throughout the entire issue it talks about how Eddie irrationally hates Jaime when he’s done nothing to him, and it irritates him. They end up finding common ground to be able to track down a bad guy and prove to their teammates they’re more than goofballs and valuable teammates. This also means they have similar struggles which is so cute.

So when everything is said and done, they start over and become friends on a better note.

4. Undiagnosed telepathy. They always weirdly know what each other is thinking and that is so cute to me.

(This is shown more times than just here and throughout their entire relationship they share the same braincell.)

5. They get established as a duo, they are ALWAYS right next to each other constantly in almost every panel where they’re both in it.

6. Scarab bonuses (2).

I imagine that Eddie’s body is extremely hot, especially around his mouth and eyes so if he were to kiss someone, it would probably scorch them. Khaji Da would not like that Jaime would actively be pained when around Eddie if they were to display affection. That is so cute to me.

7. Making up a little nickname for Jaime.

I’m sorry, bug butt is such an adorable pet name for someone, especially Jaime and immediately Eddie starts to call him this and so often that other people like Jaime’s friends seem to catch on and EVEN joke about it’s flirty nature. This is sealed in the bag for me, to be honest.

8. When it comes to Eddie’s bigger secrets, he decides to tell Jaime first before anyone and Jaime tells him that he cares and even takes off his armor so he can be more vulnerable with him because he knows Eddie lost his powers too.

9. They have more content compared to most of their ships.

Jaime’s most popular ship is Bluepulse which doesn’t function outside of the Young Justice universe. Eddie’s most popular ship is JayEddie probably because Jason is a bat boy but they have like two interactions.

Meanwhile these two were big parts of each others lives and established so much chemistry with one another.

Even Eddie’s supposed love interest was not around nearly as much as Jaime.

I also realize that Jaime fans literally don’t have any like ships really so maybe you guys will like this. I wish he had more ships too.

10. They get formatted like the “other couple” and that’s just shipping fodder to me.

They also go on a dinner date. I’m so serious they go on a Dinner date and sit across from each other and chat/have a good time whilst also being formatted like the other couple which is literally just a date to me.

11. When Eddie thinks his life might be over, the last thing he thinks about is Jaime’s laugh. I wish I was kidding.

12. When Eddie passes, it starts to become painful for Jaime to gear up with the scarab and I’m not sure why but it felt like it had something to do with his feelings as a hero and how he was greiving.

13. Beyond Teen Titans Vol.3 Eddie shows up in Blue Beetle (2006) Issue 33 so they writers care enough to add him.

14. They also are together in a holiday special. 15. Aesthetics. They have a red and blue color palate meaning they contrast in a way aesthetically when they are together. Red and Blue has been a cherished duo for years. Red Devil, Blue Beetle. Also, the fact that they are both anthropomorphic based heroes in a way also helps.

In conclusion, I know this was a rare ship once upon a time that people talked about like years ago and no matter how rare it is I refuse to stop talking about them even if I get no interactions because I love Jaime and I love Eddie and I love them together.

#hellbeetle #jaime reyes #blue beetle #eddie bloomberg #red devil #teen titans #kid devil #dc comics #hellbeetle manifesto

[nydescynt]

Looking for the next Twitter but like.. vaguely ethical? Consider cohost.org

My main social media will likely always be Tumblr unless or until it finally dies, but I realize this hellsite isn't for everyone. So if you've escaped here from the sinking ship that is Twitter, but would really prefer a social media site with fewer ball-shaving ads: it's worth keeping an eye on cohost.org!

What is Cohost?

A social media site that (hopefully, potentially) sucks less than all the others. Cohost was created by a small group of dedicated people (the anti-software software club) who have clearly learned from the rise and fall of other sites. It allows for text, images, music, video, gifs, embeds, and (most importantly) memes.

What is the Anti-Software Software Club?

The ASSC helpfully has a whole-ass manifesto laying out the principles of the site! But I know statistically most of you will not click on a link, so here is an audio version of the manifesto I recorded Just For This Post:

What Does It Look Like?

Like this! The site itself feels very Tumblr-inspired, with a few functions + UI concepts pulled from Twitter, and an early-2000s aesthetic. A ton of functionality is still in the works, but what they have so far feels great and very comparable to Tumblr.

Can you say something funny before the post ends?

I leave you with this final bullet point on the 'Behaviors to Avoid' section of their Community Guidelines:

#cohost #twitter #twitter refugees #anti-software software club #social media #my posts

[jessaerys]

your fav mello/near fics??? thank yeww (also love your drawings!)

oohh this reminds me i should pick up my ff.net archival reclist project up again...

it is of note that it's been a looooong while since i've combed the archives and there's a couple of common tropes i don't usually read due to personal taste, so i'm sure there's a lot of good fic i'm unaware of and/or forgetting about! this has totally renewed my interest in making a comprehensive personal reclist >:) perhaps i'll come back and edit this post every now and then.

i owe comments to nearly everyone mentioned here i am SO sorry. it's a lost skill that i am working on developing again. at the very least i've got everyone in one place so i can go down the list this year. i encourage everyone reading from this reclist to leave a comment too!

i wrote "off the top of my head" but this got VERY long so under the readmore it goes

obligatory classics

• the famous @tierfal 's sidetracked (2010) and full of surprises (2009). rated e and m respectively. these are like the allegorical little black dress in the wardrobe of the platonic ideal of the mellonear oneshot. seem to be pretty well known across the ship fandom • stripped (2009) by blueberryash/@tka-trashfire on tumblr. explicit. i haven't read this in a while but i remember it capturing the delicate gossamer tension of the ship in a way that was sooo bittersweet and nostalgic. • to speak of rules and privilege (2008) also by blueberryash/@tka-trashfire, gen, a manifesto on tenderness, soooooooooo soft, changed the game, near being afraid of thunderstorms was immediately adopted into personal canon. big time influence for the way i write near and mello's pre-canon relationship re: big brother, little brother. • an understanding (2008) by blueberryash/@tka-trashfire, rated T, short and sweet, razor sharp prose, the aesthetics of the little piece live rent free in my head. • dual(2011) by ramasi, @ramasi here i believe. rated m. historians say this might be one of the first examples of mellonear choking kink ever recorded,

•scarification (2012) by gacrux11 on fanfiction.net, rated m, big time dead dove do not eat. sorry this one leans early 2010s era grimdark melodrama but i love it sjkdfkjfd. not enough dead dove fics about the boys if u ask me. • salt in the wound (2007) •tempus fugit (2007), and • white out (2006) by vaudevillain king on fanfiction. net. a beloved rare find. all of them are rather grimdark edgy products of their era, but some of the best the era had to offer. they make me so nostalgic for my teenagehood on fanfiction.net. i get the impression these might've been written even before death note was finished? • birthday smut (2009) by kleine_aster on livejournal. explicit. this one is SO funny to me because it is both really, really good, very in character, but unfortunately it suffers from almost satirical misogyny that afflicted fujoshis back in the day. near literally is like oh that bitch... like. he would not fucking think that but i can edit quickly in my brain as i read. bisexual mello rights! otherwise really sexy imo. i might be writing something that's kind of in conversation with this fic.

RARE finds

(please tell me if you enjoy any of these, i want to feel like an explorer that's brought back treasures from far away lands)

contemporary favorites:

• you've heard about it before and you will hear about it again: the archer ensnared (2023) by jabbernatty, rated e. a jessaerys obligatory syllabus read, the fic that made me go fulltime yaoi disease. i owe so much to jabbernatty they are my white whale my friend my enemy the writer i've psychically imprinted on from the beginning. honestly too scared to even leave a comment given the jessarys archer ensnared lore. may one day may contact and pray i don't come across as insane • postmortem (2023) by the_hemlock true gen, a favorite of ALL time. it's only tangentially mn really, it is 99% about near trying to piece together the mystery of lawlight post-canon, but the characterization and prose are some of if not the best i've ever come across. reads like it could be a piece of canon material. if you only read one fic on this list i'd pick postmortem. • it's friday i'm in love by neallo/@neallo rated m. possibly my all time fave in the neallo cinematic universe. something about the after-hours longing and the standing in the kitchen by the refrigerator lights, as the poets say. i love when stories feel like you're cutting out a window to peer into a larger universe that is just out of reach. perfectly captures what it is like to have a maddening crush • i want to hold you (hostage)(2023) by neallo/@neallo rated e. thee defining fic of this current modern mellonear era. manages to walk the line of kinky/sexy/sweet/fluffy all at once. plot twist of the century in the last chapter. near is properly as bananas insane as mello is in this fic, which is the marker of a good mellonear dynamic. really everything by morgan neallo is a safe bet for a great read • there's nothing i want but you (2023) by neallo/@neallo rated t. wammy's era mellonear obsessiveness that is soooo teenagery and yet a portent of just how codependent they might one day get. cute and ominous. • armageddon/kill game (2024) by bolide/@bolide-archive came out of nowhere a couple of months ago and ascended to the top of the game like a dark horse. rated m, chess au. one of my favorite interior mello narrations and one of the most similar to my own interpretation. such naturally talented prose. i rotate lines from this in my head all the time. still in progress but i have faith that it will be completed :') • how to burn down the sacred loom (2023) by dornishviper/@vriskarlmarx a contemporary CLASSIC. the less you know going in the better. beautiful prose, beautiful structure. they don't make fic like this anymore • the house always wins (2023) by mer_curia/@vivi-scera. screaming with my mouth closed. holds a special place in my heart given that it is my posting that convinced vi to give the ship a try, and i was rewarded with a fic that is so catered to my tastes i honestly had to read it through my fingers. SO good, the manifesto on wammyscest, so rather controversial. heed the warnings. • moonlight (2023) by tsukinousagi/@quicktimeeventfull rated t. an austere, cold little glimpse into a vampire au. it's giving let the right one in. so melancholic. one of the saddest near examinations out there. •proximity tells (2018) by abysmallypresent, rated m. truly lives up to death note's second-by-second minutia while managing to keep up the tension the entire time. great characterization. •silhouettes (2015) by bad blood/eroticcodependence, @wxmmyshouse on tumblr. unrated, post-canon compliant. made me CRY! elegantly short and simple, bittersweet and so so wistful. •arsonist's lullabye (2023) by tzviaariella/@tzviaariella. rated t. this one has a heart-wrenching air of realism to it that exists outside the chaotic universe of death note, one of those examinations of picking up the pieces after the titans have all gone away. very bittersweet.

honorary mentions

• let's die somewhere prettier (2020) by firesafinething also one of my absolute favorites, unfortunately it is discontinued and it is likely it will never be completed. sad! the premise seemed SO promising. in my mind i file it right next to postmortem mentioned above. the exploration of the tragedy of 27 year old near we could have had in a better timeline. one day i will leave a comment so good maybe it will bring back the fic from the land of the dead • august underground by me & @firebuggg rated e, in progress. >:) (shamless self promo)

#death note #meronia #mello dn #near dn #mihael keehl #nate river #mello #near #fic recs #this took so long to compile dfkgjfdjkgfdjk

[keikeu]

run2u :: park jongseong

synopsis :: being an idol isn't easy. having to deal with hectic schedules every day is hard, but dealing with a crush alongside makes it even harder. especially when rumors start to spread, the shipping begins and the fake dating starts to happen.

pairing :: idol! park jongseong x idol! f! oc

genre :: friends to lovers, social media au, idol au, fluff, angst

warnings :: anxiety and panic attacks, burnouts, toxic/weird fans, cursing

featuring :: enhypen members, other idols mentioned and used as face claims for the group

started :: march 25, 2023

finished :: august 11, 2023

━

chapters ::

0. enha boys | blast girls

1. number one 엔진

2. jay hyung's crush

3. 10/10

4. fan account

5. hiatus

bonus chapter - here for you

6. we back‼️

7. baragi 4 life

8. gift

9. fanart, fanfics and edits

bonus chapter - your favorite

10. pc collection

11. visiting the hybe headquarters

12. making a move?

13. to the moon and back

14. the photo

15. everything that's going on

16. burn dispatch!

17. fake dating

18. drowning under the comments

19. apology

20. let's hang out

21. world tour!

22. noel's idea

23. saying the L word

24. #jayelle is real

bonus chapter - date to escape

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

a/n :: WE BACK‼️ with another smau with the love of my life, JAY!!!!!!!<33333333 anyways,, i'm excited for this :)) and i hope you guys are too (just a little fyi, this is set in manifesto era and some chapters will be posed when enha was still on tour so don't be confused)

©keikeu

#jay smau #enha jay #enhypen jay #park jongseong #enhypen #enhypen heeseung #lee heeseung #enhypen jake #sim jaeyun #enhypen sunghoon #park sunghoon #enhypen sunoo #kim sunoo #enhypen jungwon #yang jungwon #enhypen niki #nishimura riki #oc group #chaein purple kiss #heejin #minju #chaeryeong itzy #yuki purple kiss #yujin ive #friends to lovers #run2u🤎

[sarahreesbrennan]

do you have a tag for your Word Of God in other lands/turn of the screw meta?

I'm afraid not... It would've been a good idea, wouldn't it? Specially as I love meta, and feel inspired by reading it for my own works and for other people's books. (A lot of Long Live Evil was inspired by me reading all the Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings meta I could find.)

Here are some notable In Other Lands text posts

Adara Cornripe:

Luke breaking noses:

What is UP with THAT GUY:

Sunbrat & Love

Meta on Character Arcs, Not by Me

My Ship Manifesto

As ever though, if it's not in the book, you can discard it, no extra credit in authoring!

#in other lands #meta in other lands #my books meta #better late than never #stumbling through publication

[fumiku]

Hear ye hear ye!

I come bringing two Dungeon Meshi marchil fanfics to share

Enough

He got crumbs of it in moments, here and there, and it would be more than enough to last the winter. Chil knew how to live on little, with only what he could afford. But love? Love he had had enough of for a lifetime.

I'll start with the shorter one that I wrote first, a quick Chilchuck POV 1.3k words oneshot that's bittersweet if not just plainly sad. It’s about repressing a crush essentially, but the marchil is mostly a front for a character study about Chilchuck’s complex feelings on his marital situation and love in general. I’ve been told many times in comments that even without shipping marchil it was enjoyable, so give it a shot if that sounds interesting!

He soaked her in, like hard bread softening in broth.

Grind Me Down Sweetly

Even years after their journey into the dungeon, Marcille wasn’t quite over her existential dread over short lifespans… And it showed. Every other day, she came by to Chilchuck’s locksmith shop with a shocking lack of locks to smith.

Coffeeshop au except it’s not an au and there’s no coffeeshop. This one is a long oneshot of 17k words, and contains flashbacks that are meant to loosely span over a year. This fic can pretty much be entirely read as platonic. They’re just close friends but they give married energy is all. Slice of life and cozy with a side of banter & tsundere behavior, and existential dread hurt/comfort as the cherry on the sundae. It contains some classic Dungeon Meshi things like storytelling through cooking and sharing meals~ If you like the Marcille and Chilchuck dynamic in canon, this is pretty much just a bunch of that, shenanigans abound!

She clung to her friends like time was always running out.

Blonde hair is the epitome of beauty to him meanwhile his greying hair brings her existential despair. I am composed and collected about this

"I am going to chase you out with a broom"

Some related-ish memes I made!

Extra author notes and marchil rambling under cut

With how chil is so irritable and private about romance and his feelings it makes sense that their romance would have passive-agressive energy. Are they just friends or pining? Oh wouldn’t you like to know. Are they just lightheartedly bantering or is he legitimately pissed or are they blinking in morse code their true feelings at each other? Yes

My post-canon timeline is Chilchuck lives a nice life living alone in his house-shop except his friends all visit him and care, and even though he likes living alone it’s also bittersweet and every corner of his life is haunted by the ones he loves and loved and the moments he had with them. That’s it that’s all I want… (mostly the nice life part lol)

My marchil manifesto is that she grows on him stubbornly like fungal yeast and it brings out his flavor like beer <3 Because she stubbornly puts her nose everywhere and refuses to give up on getting closer to her friends and it makes him open up and repress his feelings less and aaaa <33 Obligatory shout out to the dunmeshi discord serv for engaging with my rambles

For someone who dislikes alcohol I’m having so much fun working beer metaphors and stuff into the writing, Chilchuck has all the fun motifs to play with fr... Traps, lockpicking, married life, work, destitution, starvation, rejection, repression, opening urself up to the world. Give me the most domestic fluff and give it a subtle foundation of angst and hurt comfort 👌

And I do think that Marcille takes a particular interest in Chilchuck especially because he’s so set on being a closed book as well. Yeah she def is like 👀 at him. Aaah the way she wants to meet his family so bad 😭💕 I think she romanticizes him & his family life/idealizes him as a virtuous husband a lot too. Like how she tends to think of things in a more flowery story-like way.

I do compare him to bread and her to soup in that he soaks up in her warm vibes and softens up. Which has become a personal favorite. He was bread, she was soup, can I make it any more obvious /lyr Soggy bread Chilchuck is so funny to me. Like, you know that rock solid bread but then you soak it in soup and then it just becomes the softest crumbliest thing. I think Chilchuck is a really hard bread that will break your teeth if you don’t put him in some soup beforehand. Or wine. I wracked my brain a lot about what food Chil would like (because his Adventurer’s Bible profile just says he love alcohol and hates sweet dishes rip) and I end up giving him a bread motif a lot, since it pairs well with alcohol and whatnot.

With marchil I either do unrequited angst because Chilchuck will NOT allow himself to feel, or the most domestic fluffy shit ever but in a mostly platonic dimension because once again -gestures at Chilchuck- But in a true Marcille "If I was Chilchuck’s wife" Donato fashion she manages to get her nose into the most stubborn’s people stuff like a barnacle and it’s. So married people coded anyways. They’re a lil messed up but it’s ok they’ll iron out those bumps. Ironing because they are gonna do the most domestic chores together 🔥🔥 MARRIEDCORE I TELL YOU I should get around to making more fics and more different vibes though, I already have a bunch of prompts written down~

Even more rambling and headcanons!!

I hc that when he gets his shop all his living quarters are half-foot sized so whenever the party comes to visit they suffer sitting down at the dinner table and whatnot

There’s a very specific horror in not being able to grow old with your loved one… It’s gotta be rough being in a relationship where you don’t mature at the same speed/rate. It must be so heartbreaking to turn around and your lover suddenly looks 70 while you’re still like 26 Chilchuck living until he lives with either Meijack or Flertom or at the castle and spends his days grumbling about people being even more incompetent than they used to be real. He can live longer than 50 🙏 come on peepaw you can make it to 70. He’s got so many friends ready to nurse him, prob while he complains about it. This is why I find elderly half-foots a funny mental picture. For a while I wondered if half-foots aged visually much at all in the traditional sense, and then I remembered these.

In my post-canon headcanons I’ve adopted the idea that Marcille doesn’t do her hair, it’s always someone else making her hairdos like an attendant or Kabru and like maybe Falin learns. In the "it takes a village to raise someone" community mutual aid energy… And the rare times where the task befalls Chilchuck he learns how to put it in a single braid (even if it’s so much hair for him to hold in his small hands all at once rip) because the one time he braided it in two in canon it reminded him of Meijack and gave him psychic damage. WHICH. Ohhh my god you have no idea how much I care about Chilchuck’s daughters now. After writing the first half of Grind Me Down Sweetly I am forever changed I know them all by name and know everything there is to know about them, I am making so many headcanons every day… Meijack wears thigh-high boots because she hates when sand, dirt or snow gets in her shoes- I have fanart coming up of them over at @fuumiku and I’d love making fics centered around them as well eventually yippee The angst of old senile Chilchuck still tying marcille's hair... Old senile chilchuck confusing marcille for one of his daughters… "Have you gotten taller? Oh how much you’ve grown" -breaking his neck looking up at her- I want Chilchuck to get the top notch elder treatment.

Ok this is the alcoholism tangent. I really want to believe Chilchuck can be super old, but… Realistically he’s gonna drink himself to an early grave, he’s a work hard play hard kinda guy.

Marcille would be horrified if she knew the extent of it fr fr, but I do think it’d drive a wedge between them if she tried getting him to lay off of it… If he’s open to it though that’d be so nice and sweet. Hey hey btw did you know, Chilchuck is canonically underweight due to extremely strict dieting and alcohol can act as a good hunger suppressant! Lots of issues to dig into here It’d be cute if his daughters visit him often and collectively keep tabs on him in a caring way. It’s less cute actually beinh the daughter and having to deal with it but- CHILCHUCK IS WORTH IT okay!!! Where’s that meme of "You can fix him? So is 5 other people y’all look like a construction crew" bc this increasingly looks like ‘Marcille Senshi Laios Izutsumi and his family make sure he doesn’t poison himself like a dog with chocolate’ mission.

Truly for some people reason just flies out the window when it comes to alcohol, coherence gives way to excuses. He reminds of someone I know who got a grave disease that’s worsened by alcohol and just. Continues to take it regularly. You know that thing that’s said where "an alcoholic parent will have 2 kids, one will grow to be alcoholic too while the other will never touch a drop of alcohol" and Chilchuck is def the first I think. He gives the vibe that he’d say "An alcoholic parent puts a strain on familial relationships?? Pshh, my father was and look at me! I turned out great!". I don’t think Chil could really get shaken out of it at this point tbh, seems very ingrained in him, would prob fight it back. I relate with my own familial situation ughh. Maybe if he realized how it hurt the people around him and not only himself though…. I’d def like to see him ease up on it. Drinking is often a social activity though. That gives me hope, especially with the whole dunmeshi lesson of sharing meals, that he might be able to/have recontextualized how or when he likes to take alcohol, that alcohol is better when you have others with you and you’re still able to talk and whatnot. Chilchuck says that he’s pretty picky with alcohol tho, like he has specific tastes or a high bar. Laios can ban good beer in the kingdom and then Chilchuck just stops because it all tastes awful and he’s not rich enough to import. The brewery he likes mysteriously burns down in a fireball incident one night. Marcille risks prison for her loved ones part 2, now with diplomatic immunity! ✨

I have hcs about Chil’s family dynamic, about his daughters and how alcoholism or workaholism may have affected everyone (not me inferring that Puckpatti being the most idealistic and optimistic from Chil’s daughters is probably a result from her being the youngest and perhaps Chil being the most often at work during that time and so she was mostly raised by her mother without much involvement from him). That’s a topic for another day though, for now I leave you all with thoughts of Flertom painting flowers on a shitty ceramic mug when she was 3 and Chil begrudgingly asking Marcille advice on picking a birthday gift for Puckpatti :) Oh yeah, because if we look at the timeline in The Adventurer’s Bible and combine it with when Chilchuck said that "Due to certain circumstances he hasn’t seen his wife or daughters in years" in the Senshi backstory chapter, besides letters with Flertom he has seemingly not seen them in 4 years. 4 YEARS. Thank god dungeons disappeared, it took that much for him to retire

#dungeon meshi #fanfiction #chilchuck tims #marcille donato #marchil #CHILCHUCK IS UNDER ATTACK!! #Breaking news #old man who refuses to open his heart and accept love fighting for his life against nosy friend #Everyone thinks Laios is the rabid dog of the party but when it comes to Chilchuck it totally becomes Marcille and I love that for them #My favorite marchil dynamic is that they’re close friends but they give married energy #not casual reminder at all that Chilchuck is canonically underweight #Y’all that follow my meme dumps are getting a sneak peek #So many headcanons and so much rambling oops #A lot of it’s copy pasted from the dunmeshi discord hi friendos #fumiku fanfic #fumiku fics