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hematomes · 3 years

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I saw your post about ppl losing their shiz about Kaeya fanart being “whitewashed” when it’s literally darker than he is in canon. I agree btw I love like basically all Kaeya art out there I love one eyepatch man.

anyhoo, I have a story. I once saw a tiktok about a kaeya art. it was specifically labeled “IN PROGRESS” or whatever so you knew the artist wasn’t done. it was a gorgeous piece of art btw. So far, the only thing that had been colored was his hair and some of his clothes.

pretty much everyone in the comments started harrasing her about how he was whitewashed and the artist had to be a white supremacist and i think someone said “see I knew everyone who played genshin was racist just delete the game at this point.”

i was just like 😳 wow jeez it’s literally IN PROGRESS the artist legit said so.

the artist eventually posted the final version (after having to delete the first video and deal with several threats) it did turn out beautiful, but on the comments there and on every post of theirs after people are lurkign in the comments bad-mouthing them.

as much as I definitely am for characters not being whitewashed (especially Kaeya bc I love him your honor) I think some people take it way too far when the person they’re yelling at literally just wanted to get people excited about their WIP.

hi! sorry im so late this issue became quite sensitive lol i had to work up the courage to come back to it. it's gonna be a bit long, but i really need to say all this

if there's one thing i noticed about the genshin community on tiktok and twitter, it's that there is a whole, whole lot of social justice warriors and overall it's extremely toxic. it's something that surprised me because the people i interact with on tumblr are all super sweet and not one bit toxic so? idk, tumblr is just a different breed i guess

your story is extremely saddening. everytime there's a kaeya fanart, people forget about the color theory and the artists' style and claim it's whitewashed and i genuinely don't understand why. if someone could explain it to me, am i missing something? im not an artist so perhaps im mistaken, idk, but i've never seen a fanart where kaeya was whitewashed.

the thing that pisses me off the most is that most of the time it's white ppl calling something whitewashed. i'm not saying you shouldn't call out racism if you see it just bc you're white, just that these people aren't even right - and often you see poc coming into the debate and explaining it's not whitewashed/saying it doesn't bother them. moreover, i've literally seen fanart of beidou as a black girl, which isn't representation in my opinion - beidou is already a poc, and asian people need at least as much representation as black people, so it's plain racism. same thing with kaeya, i've seen edits of him with stereotypical african features, and it's really sad that no one is calling this out but yelling about whitewashing as soon as he isn't the exact same color as the official arts. hell, someone even said "so what if it's darker? it's still whitewashing" and i??? am flabbergasted. whitewashing is absolutely disgusting, but ppl keep misunderstanding what it means and just using it to gratuitously harass artists.

now, don't get me wrong. i believe that you can draw whatever you want. but the thing is - if you get mad when someone draws kaeya white (if they really do, i mean), you can't just applaud someone else's that draws another character black. racism goes both ways, and it's bordering on fetishism. i, as a poc (mixed-race, caucasian + african), am extremely uncomfortable everytime i see this double-standard.

but anyway, the fact remains that sjw have plagued the genshin fandom. and it's not just about kaeya's skin color (we don't even know if he's really a poc - we know he's tan according to paimon, and i believe she called him "exotic"? so idk) but also about the ships. everytime i see a shippy tiktok, there's plenty of ppl out here saying it's wrong, claiming their own ship is the most canon. if i'm not mistaken, kaeluc is the one that gets the most hate, and i genuinely, once again, don't understand why.

i talked about them before and explained how it's not incest bc they really aren't brothers, but i swear every now and then i see people throwing death threats and slurs anytime someone hints at them. idk if you are familiar with the eng va's fandom, but sometimes they play among us together, aether's va does some livestreams where he invites different voice actors. but diluc's va is never there, and i was wondering why - recently i learned that it's because he retweet a fanart of kaeya and diluc fighting alongside each other (not even a shippy fanart, apparently) and people harassed him and excluded him from the fandom. and now the same thing is happening to griffin burns, childe's va, bc he retweeted (or liked, idk) a fanart of lumine and childe fighting or something and people called it pedophilia bc lumine would be a minor. i'm not even gonna dive into this bc the travelers are canonically like 30 times childe's age, but what i mean is - people are so full of hate and i can't fathom living like this?

the point is, i totally respect anyone who doesn't ship something i ship. i myself don't like certain ships - like zhongli/xiao, jean/diluc - but im not gonna harass ppl who do just because i can? that's messed up, i just don't get it. i wish the fandom wasn't that bad bc i really enjoy this game

anyway, im really disappointed but still grateful, bc my followers & people i've interacted with here have been nothing but sweet and respectful. i hope none of y'all come across the toxic side of the genshin fandom. stay safe y'all!

#not a quote #answered #genshin impact #kaeya #genshin kaeya #whitewashing #racism #i'm so tired of the genshin fandom on tiktok you have no idea #and i don't even use tiktok that much #and im not even on twitter

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carpisuns · 3 years

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New anon, but I saw the last one and I have some thoughts. Specifically, I have been obsessing over ml for the last month or so, and I’ve only seen three episodes, and they were the three released before crocoduel. And you know what? I wasn’t that into it, it wasn’t bad it just wasn’t half as engaging as fanon and fanworks have been for me.

I’ve also done this with the Magicians, Supernatural, and a couple others. I think the reason that this works, for some people, is because it is a more familiar and in many ways, easier way to discover and become attached to new material and new characters. Fan writers and artists are coming from a place of love for their source material (no matter what issues they may have with it) and that bleeds out into their work. Time is spent developing the characters and their feelings, their relationships, in ways that canon so often can’t or isn’t allowed to, and reading that, it’s very easy to fall in love with new characters very quickly. There’s also common AUs and dynamics that make it much easier to start something new.

And also: comfort characters. So many fans find common ground with characters and further project onto them, particularly in fanfic. And because of that it’s often easier to identify with a fan’s interpretation of a character than it is to identify with the canon’s, since you have these more deeply explored feelings and relationships based on a combination of canon and the personal experiences of the fan writer. Also, with these kinds of fics it’s extremely emotionally affirming since for someone who doesn’t have much of any connection with the source material, it feels like the original, even if you’re reading a large body of work by a lot of different people. And I’m so used to fanfic as a substitute for the emotional work and character development that shows/movies/books don’t have room for or aren’t willing to get into, that approaching a fandom as it’s own original piece of media in a way, feels very comforting.

That’s my perspective on it anyways, and why I do this. I do think it is a good thing to engage with the canon to an extent, even if it’s just watching a few clips (how I found ml) but I also don’t think you need any real connection or knowledge of it to be deeply invested in the fandom. Sorry, this got very long.

you know, i totally get being on, like, the fringe of fandoms and interacting with fanon to an extent without a proper investment in canon (I have a couple fandoms like that), but i honestly just can't imagine becoming super invested in a fandom when I am not invested in the source material...maybe that's just a difference between you and me, idk.

but also, i gotta admit that i'm struggling a bit to understand the reason. you yourself pointed out that fan work is enjoyable because the creator's love for canon bleeds into it. and isn't that the reason that you would want to give canon a real chance? obviously there is fan content made out of spite lol (and sadly a fair amount in this fandom), but to me most fan content is like a love letter to canon. like, "i adore this thing so much that it inspired me to create and share with other people who adore it." and what better recommendation is there than that?? i would think people would wanna familiarize themselves with canon in order to better enjoy fanon(?)

i completely understand your point about fan content delving further into characterization and relationships where canon hasn't/can't, and that is such a big appeal of fanfic/fanart. but i don't feel like that's a reason to not engage with canon? on the contrary, i feel like you are missing something important in your understanding and appreciation of that wonderful exploration if you haven't experienced firsthand the foundation that canon set. and maybe that missing thing is just your personal interpretation of a character/dynamic.

for example, i could say, "adrien agreste is this, this, and this and he would do this but not this." and of course i will think im right because my characterization is always perfect 😌sakjdfaldjks but someone else might have a slightly different interpretation, and someone else will have another interpretation, and when you mush all those individual takes on a character together, you will get a good sense of who they are, but you still don't have the Original™️ to draw your own interpretation from. idk, to me it sounds like basing your opinion of chocolate ice cream on what other people are saying about it without ever trying it yourself? ajsldakljf maybe that's an oversimplification but i do think that without experiencing it for yourself, your understanding will always be kind of incomplete.

idk, i big agree with everything you said about why fan content is special, but everything that is a point in fanon's favor is not a knock on canon. to me fan content feels pretty inseparable from canon, so it just doesn't compute to me to take canon out of the equation? then we would have nothing.

i feel like it's almost kinda trendy nowadays to be like, "oh this show actually sucks lmao but the fanon and AUs are good." like it's shameful to actually...enjoy source material? 😭 i mean i completely understand that miraculous ladybug is not gonna be everyone's cup of tea and that's fine! but if you truly enjoy the fan content that much i encourage you to give canon a real shot. it's not that surprising to me that you watched 3 recent episodes and didn't vibe that much, since you haven't seen the 3 seasons of buildup that lead to them. miraculous has a neat way of tying a bunch of things together so if you aren't familiar with all of it, you're probably missing out.

personally my love for miraculous was kind of a slowburn at first. i only started watching the show because my sister and i made a deal that forced me to watch the first few eps lol. and i didn't really vibe either. but there must have been enough of a spark there for me to keep watching bc for some reason i did and the more i watched the more i fell in love with it until it became the thing that occupies my brain more than anything else. i started with canon and then got into fanon, but it could easily go the other way too. and if you're already invested in the story and characters, i have to imagine it would be much easier to push past the initial cringe of "this is a show about a couple of teen furries rated TV-Y7 on netflix" lol and give anything you don't vibe with the benefit of the doubt.

again, to be clear, i'm not trying to judge or gatekeep here! i'm just saying this because i genuinely LOVE miraculous. it's my favorite show. that's why i make things for it. that's why i have this blog. i want people to watch it. so maybe, pwetty pwease, try watching the show you like so much? 🥺👉👈

(source bc i was too lazy to make my own so i stole this from twitter)

#anon #ask #fandom #long post

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inknose · 4 years

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mdzs read diary part IV, the end

It’s inspiring how much self care wwx is gonna finally get now that his husband will go along with whatever he does, so he’s gotta look out for lwj’s well being if not his own. that is emphatically the STUFF

dragging my hands down I face as I read this, after all these chapters of getting up close and personal with ghouls bleeding from every orifice, slaying ancient beasts, rebelling against the entire cultivation world, the two of them are absolutely paralyzed by middle school crush sleepover math

chicken

he actually drew kissy doodles .... he....

IDK I THINK I JUST DOCUMENTED THIS PART CUZ I WAS STILL SCREAMING you cant expect me to have very useful things to say at this point

this is torture you are both so mushy you are so GONE

This part really stood out to me, it’s an attitude I feel like wwx implies with his inner narration a few times but most clearly says here: he’s not one for allowing himself to exaggerate how bad his circumstances are/could be even a little bit - he’s already lived through some extreme low points and found a way to keep going, so he never makes sweeping statements about what he couldn’t live without (Inner JingYi: you’re supposed to say you’d be lost without him here!!!) Instead he seems to accept as a given that being alive doesn’t guarantee him any pleasantness or joy at all, and as a result his feelings toward being in TRUE LOVE are surprisingly pragmatic, but also colored with such gratitude. There are a lot of things in the novel that struck me, like this, as being just a little to the left of familiar tropes/sentiments, and were more touching for it. Whether it be the influence of culture difference as opposed to what I’m used to reading in most western romance stories, or MXTX’s unique outlook, or a combination of both, it was really refreshing and made me pause over it. Not “I can’t imagine living without you” but “I could be living without you, but instead I get to be with you and I think that’s the best thing that could happen.”

ADJFDKFJ THE UST BEING SO STRONG THAT EVEN THE VILLAIN COMMENTS ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF EXECUTING HIS EVIL PLANS IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT WILL NEVER FAIL TO MAKE ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF. hes like god damn! here I thought I had problems

it was at this moment that I realized we were doing this Now... I’m still recovering. What a scene. I am so glad I saw the most incredible fanart soon afterwards, bc the fact that someone has already drawn a perfect comic of this part means I don’t have to

I love you so much, you are so annoying, you are perfect... I like how he’s been experiencing openly requited love for all of ten minutes but he’s already figured out how to weaponize it to piss people off

doing!!! his!!! job!!!!!

ahh... it’s a really good story. JGY is a great character. One of the most interesting differences for me between drama watching vs. novel reading experience is that without an actor to bat his vulnerable doe eyes at you and smile faintly with his cute dimples, the book does not go much out of its way to try to lull the reader into a false sense of security around him or *endear* him to you the way the show does. But just by seeing events through wei wuxian’s POV, its still enough to evoke pity or understanding towards him. The overall impression is a bit more detached though, there’s less emphasis on the spectacle of how he could manipulate everyone closest to him and more of a general feeling of resigned tragedy that everyones the worst on this bitch of an earth.

I CANNOT DEAL WITH YOU FOR EVEN ONE MORE SECOND!!!!

I clearly paused to take note of less and less parts at the end & the extras due to: a) too excited to reach the end b) too spicy to photograph and c) too sleepy cuz I kept reading in the middle of the night. but I absolutely took the time for Bro We Are Teens appreciation corner:

I’d absolutely read 40 more extra chapters of their monster-of-the-week field trip antics.

god... poor Jin Ling now basically has to deal with divorced parents that talk shit about each other to him whenever he is saying with one of them. except they are both his uncles. just a disasterhood of all uncles from start to finish. AUUUGH wei wuxian and jiang cheng have fucked me up completely, I dream of them reconciling but I also REFUSE to believe it would ever be easy. let me know if theres a fanfic that absolutely tortures you for decades before they hug

HAHAHA oh no this man ain’t making it to immortality thats for damn sure. HE’S JUST GONNA TRY AS HARD AS HE CAN HIS WHOLE LIFE NOT TO LOOK AT HIM BUT THEYRE *MARRIED* SDLKFJSF ohhhh it’s too funny, like... the mundane domestic family drama IN the fantastical swords and sorcery setting is what really ratchets up these things from amusing to fucking hilarious I think

aaaa the end... final random thoughts? No not final, I would like to please keep discussing at length and exhaustively, all the time please - CQL has gotta be one of the best TV adaptations I’ve seen. ANY adaptation of anything would be lucky to be so good!! reading the novel has just made me appreciate it even more.

- I don’t think I can do justice to what I find most fascinating about comparing the two versions briefly, to do that I need to get drunk and ramble at my friends for hours but... the condensed version is something like this. Really all the significant differences between the two versions (besides the ones which can be attributed to censorship and therefore aren’t worth discussing) are a side effect of the structure of how the story is told - there’s barely anything changed arbitrarily. Aside from having a cold opening, the drama sticks to a very linear version of the story, and I think for a TV show or film, that’s probably the best way to do it. We see everything, we get shocked and tricked and betrayed and surprised along with the characters, we feel the biggest impact at the climactic scenes having experienced all the build-up. The novel on the other hand is not only much more non-linear in WHEN we learn bits and pieces of information, but that information is also obfuscated under wei wuxian’s multiple layers of Unreliable Narratoritis, which are as follows: 1) difficulty remembering things because of personality/avoiding painful memories/actual memory loss, 2) No Homo Goggles still on, and 3) a wry sense of humor that makes the reader unsure of how much they can trust his attitude toward things, especially near the beginning. The experience of reading is a puzzle the reader has to mentally piece together through all of the above listed camouflage, and the puzzle itself is a three-sided mystery: One - How Bad of a guy was Wei WuXian really, and how exactly did all the bad stuff in his life go down; Two - wangxian epic pride & prejudice gambits; Three - political murder mystery. (I love stories like this btw... though I fully admit I’m glad I watched first this time bc it might have taken me a long time to tackle otherwise.) Because of this, where the drama wants to pull you in and submerge you in all the most potent emotional parts, the novel in direct contrast deliberately side-steps around these things and asks that you hurt yourself by filling in the blanks. In fact the more intense emotions and painful memories involved, whether it be his relationship with jiang yanli, his DEATH, the darkest days of war times etc, the more the novel evasively withholds details. I actually really like both styles of storytelling but each one is obviously way better suited to its medium. ANYWAY.... THATS BASICALLY WHERE MY BRAINS AT WHILE IM READING GAY SWORD WIZARD BOOKS

- The extras are so saturated with domestic married bliss that it’s a good thing I stopped taking pictures because I’d just take a picture of every page. this is too much for me to take... I did jump the gun a few times and read a few fanfics while I was still mid-read of the book (I tried to hold out but alas I am mortal) and at one point after finishing I was like “wow what fic was it in where lwj says something cute and wwx kisses him in public but they’re in the corner of the restaurant so no one really sees... OH NO WAIT that was actually in there.” and ... and that’s the LEAST OF IT... *stares into the distance* theyre married wow

- I ofc couldn’t help but see a few vague blogs beforehand so honestly I was braced for something like, wildly ooc for the sake of porn to happen in the extras... I definitely appreciate how the incense burner porn interludes could be uhhh a lot for many people and not my personal cup of tea in terms of smut however [here follows the words of a poisonous frog who has dwelt her whole life in the rainforests of BL] the concept is also surprisingly SWEET SDFLKJF like wwx sees lan wangji’s darkest mixed-up violent teenage fantasies and he’s just like aww babe you had a crush on me!! just... good for them

- I swear I’m not gonna rehash every cute married thing they do but wei wuxian grading papers in the tub........................rEALLY GOT ME

- I want to Draw - ok thats enough if I keep going I’ll just write “wei wuxian grading papers in the tub” seven more times probably

#mdzs readthru #this obviously has many spoilers

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theshinobiway · 5 years

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Isn’t it weirder to ship the characters with yourself than with other characters?

Hey There!

First, thanks for reaching out with a question like this. I want to do your question justice because it’s actually a complex subject. To start, I have a few topics I’d like to touch on:

What does it mean to “Ship” yourself with a character?

How can it be Beneficial/Harmful?

Is it Strange?

What does it mean to “Ship” yourself with a character?

“Shipping” would be best defined as the following: Initially derived from the word relationship, is the desire by fans for two or more people, either real-life people or fictional characters (in film, literature, television etc.) to be in a romantic relationship.

This is fairly broad, but actually doesn’t even seem to include a provision for self-ships. Does that mean that self-ships are too uncommon to even mention in the definition of shipping? well, no, not necessarily.

Because the question was phrased “Isn’t it weirder to ship yourself with a character” the implication comes across as though my writing is actually a self-insert of myself as an author. Let me take a second to address this:

When I write headcanons/scenarios, I’m actually not writing self x character. I’m writing reader x character, which separates me mentally and emotionally from the subject matter. I envision myself within my writing only as necessary to write sensory detail, such as the following:

“The alcoholic haze that blurred your vision before gave the world a surreal, almost painted expression. Scenes that would not have fascinated you before were prime entertainment for the intoxicated. Lights danced around the street, peeking out from the silhouettes of the passers-by as they went about their ways, unconcerned for the magical visions that surrounded them. And Kami, and the smell of the food stands was enough to make you hungry for seconds.”

When I write emotional and romantic scenes, I personally pull from my own experiences with romance. My writing has developed in this area only because I’m in a current, long-term relationship that has the emotional depth the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. It would make me uncomfortable to envision myself that intimately with a character because I’ve already got a real-life s/o. They’re the actual reason it’s easy to write the emotionally-charged romantic scenes that I’ve grown to love writing. It’s complicated to explain, but much of my writing is “purely business,” though the emotions are real.

That’s just me, though. If a writer does scenes more based on fantasy or puts themselves more explicitly in those situations, those habits are part of their private writing process and are entirely within their right.

So now, I’ve got two smaller questions to cover:

If someone envisions themselves in their own writing with a character, is it wrong?No. I’ll talk about OCs under the next heading.

If someone envisions themselves with a character at all, is it wrong/weird?Actually, it’s incredibly normal. But there are certain things to be aware of which I’ll explain in a second.

How is it Beneficial/Harmful?

Shipping of any kind, as we have seen in a variety of fan communities, can have the effect of being incredibly harmful. Shipping is not okay when the following is true:

One or more parties is a real-life person who has not consented to the ship. (Tom Holland x Spiderman)

Both parties are real-life people not playing a character (Sorry, K-Pop fandom, you’re getting called out here.)

Both parties are real-life people [who may or may not have already expressed their discomfort with being shipped, it doesn’t matter.] (Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, Zendaya and Tom Holland)

The ship is pedophilic in nature (Sebastian and Ciel from Black Butler)

Shipping of two fictional characters does not normally fall under this umbrella. Awesome! But wait, what about shipping with oneself? The real-life person has consented to the ship.

Fictional characters (fictional identities, such as Spiderman, Sherlock, and not Tom Holland or BC) are imagined and incapable of personhood, therefore they do not need consent the same way a real-life person does. The depiction of pedophilia is still a crime, therefore, they cannot be shipped.

All stories, by the way, were created because someone imagined them. I’ve often seen the phrase “self-insert” as a tool used to shame others who create an OC for a story.

What this says, on a literal level, is that the creator of the OC has absolutely no right to create a character to their liking that lets them imagine themselves as part of a story they love or to share an original character that they created for an established story, no matter how much they deviate from the author. Other authors who create an original story, especially female authors, have faced this criticism as well. (Interestingly enough, this doesn’t come up nearly as often with male authors, unless a harmful depiction of a female is involved.)

Personally? I do not regularly envision my authors as their characters, and I know from personal experience that in my own creation of OCs and Characters that they can be incredibly detached. Many of my OCs share none of the same character traits as me, or if they do, it’s a few insignificant details.

Still, if an OC shares much in common with the author (as most firsts do) then that’s not an issue either. It has little impact on the story. Some people actually like reading the author’s OC because they find the character to be relatable, likable, or to have qualities they enjoy.

The argument that “Self-Insert makes the writing bad” is faulty. Writing is bad because the writing is bad. It is not bad because it’s a self-insert. The issues are that the character is uninteresting, static, or unrealistic.

Character x Reader/Imaginer shipping is harmful only when the fantasy prevents someone from living healthily because of their attachment to the ship. I am not a psychologist so I cannot explain this in psychological jargon, but any fantasy that creates a detachment from reality that is:

Debilitating

Causes serious hindrance to the fantasizer’s perception of reality

Affects the real-life ability to connect to others

is a harmful fantasy.

Fantasies that are enjoyed with a sense of impermanence and can be openly recognized as fantasies are not harmful or wrong, or really even “weird.” They are, once again, a normal part of the very human desire to imagine oneself in desirable situations.

The same way people create, commission, or request fanart, there’s a similar demand for writers. That’s where this blog falls in with the fandom. because I can’t feckin draw

What are the benefits? Two. And they’re pretty great ones:

In allowing themselves to indulge in romantic stories involving a character, many people end up discovering different traits about themselves (I’m passionate just like them! We both love XYZ!), or they can eventually isolate qualities they like in real-life people (“Hey, here’s a picture of all the anime characters I like, can’t you tell I have a type?)

It’s also beneficial for the sheer sake of entertainment for entertainment’s sake. People are allowed to have fantasies. They are allowed to share fantasies with friends/communities where this is a welcome topic. They are allowed to envision characters as they wish. They are allowed to imagine character romantically, the same way they could envision that “perfect s/o” that they made up all by themselves.

Frankly, I could care less who fantasizes about what. It’s all meant to be enjoyed and it’s nice if my writing gets appreciated along the way. People’s opinions about other things I disagree with don’t even cross my mind on a daily basis.

And unless it’s put in your face, I firmly believe other people shouldn’t care about other opinions that much either. Isn’t it just draining? Let things just be.

Is it Strange?

Well, that’s relative.

A lot of people have preferences for ships in certain media, like Daenerys and Jon Snow. Other people prefer to just imagine about Jon Snow or Daenerys. There are just as many posts praising a single character as there are shipping them together.

So why is it then that reader insert can be considered strange if the celebration/admiration/crush on a character is fairly normal?

The reason for all of this is simple: Many people find that the sharing of fantasies is an uncomfortable topic. And on some level, it is. People are often sensitive about their own imaginations, keep that part of them private, and prefer not to share or have that shared with them. It’s a normal and acceptable boundary to have.

Would you gush to your boss about how much you love Bakugo from BHNA, or would you be more comfortable sharing that with a close friend who also loves watching the show? Other people are fine relating to others over shared fantasies. Which is why there’s a community for it, particularly here on Tumblr.

The only difference between a character that one person creates and enjoys in their own head and one that has been established in media, is that the latter character comes from another imagination already has a story attached to them that has been publicly shared.

Is it weird to have a piece of media—art, writing, what have you—that lends itself to the reader to be the main character?

Well, personally, that’s left to the consumer of media. Some people like the “choose-your-own adventure books,” some don’t. Some like video games where you create your own character (like Skyrim) some prefer a set main character with concrete traits (like Samus Aran from Metroid.)

All creators seek to replicate, on some level, an experience that they want their consumers to be a part of. They do this through the lens of their characters. This takes various forms in TV media:

Main characters that are “Stock” (like Kirito from SAO: Talented young Japanese male, dark hair, dark eyes, noble “hero” personality. He’s similar to many other protagonists from other harem anime)

Or that have “Strong” Personalities (like Naruto from, well, Naruto: Similar to other shounen archetypes but he can be differentiated easily, he has a strong personality, unique traits, and quirks.)

Watcher(Reader) x Character falls into the “stock” main character: Not many definable traits, easy to imagine yourself as the character to fill in the gaps, etc.

Thus, these types of character x reader stories exist in popular TV shows, with characters that the reader has the chance to envision themselves with.

It’s hard to do watcher x character when a character needs at least some physical form. Otome Games, Harem anime, Average joe-schmoe gets the guy/girl, High school girl in a movie gets her crush, etc. all fall under the same genre of the “main character with general traits that fits the most common denominator.” Surprise! The intent is that you do put yourself in the main character’s shoes and you can idolize the guy/girl they go after.

Thus, character x watcher(reader) exists in popular media already.

It’s basically the written form of “create your own character in a video game, now you get to marry/romance who you want!” Guess what other forms of media let you romance your preferred fictional character?

Mass Effect

Skyrim

Stardew

Dragon Age

Sims

Etc.

Yep, the most popular video games out there. Does everyone play these types of games? No. That’s perfectly fine.

Here’s the final answer, though: Some characters do not exist in video games that allow a romance option. Some do not exist in tv series that allow the teasing of a possible romance with a “blank slate” main character.

Reader-insert writing is only the written form of an open-ended particular romance arc with a character, meant to be experienced in the same way you could explore that option within a suitor-friendly video game.

If you find OCs “weird,” or a reader insert “weird,” then it’s because that particular form of media simply does not attract you. You are free to disregard that part of the fandom, just as much as I disregard shipping content that does not cater to my own preferences.

Thanks for contributing to the blog!

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primeadv · 6 years

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SITS DOWN

PULLS OUT 10 GIANT ALBUMS :)))

(this came out way longer than I intended im so fuckgkdsdf sory)

How I feel about this character: EVERYONE WHO KNOWS ME KNOWS I’M IN LOVE WIHT RATCHET. I love him in all iterations of Transformers because he’s always the tired, pragmatic one of the group. In contrast, he’s also almost tiredly optimistic in some ways. He won’t get out of bed, but if someone gets shot in the head he’ll spend however long and beyond to resuscitate them. There’s 2 halves to this--the me who identifies with the beating exhaustion he exudes, and the me who’s in awe that he’ll still fight his way through life. I won’t... get into each continuity...because that’s too much, so I’ll stick with probably the most unpopular version of him and that’s IDW (my impression, anyway). IDW Ratchet gets a lot of flack for being way too sour and like, maybe not selfish, but uncaring. He cares! A lot! He’s always thinking about everyone in really surprisingly thoughtful ways. Like when he’s 90% sure he’ll die due to Overlord and his last words are to promote First Aid to CMO (he’s ready!! god that’s sweet), and to give his hands to Whirl (though maybe a bit blindsided, he’s paid attention to some roots of Whirl’s trauma). Or yeah he’s hella mean to Drift in the beginning, but when Drift is dying in his arms he’s scREAMING at him “you’re gonna make it! You’re gonna be fine because I’m gonna make sure you’re gonna be fine”. He can be an asshole, but he knows the time and place. Death isn’t something to play with--he’s seen probably countless friends die, and he doesn’t want that to happen again. Even now, even after the war. So I feel very confused when ppl act like he’s this mean, cold person. He’s exTREMELY emotional. He’s probably way too invested in everyone’s lives, honestly? He interrupts a round table story for Rung just to reminisce on the veery last time he, OP, and Roller were together in the same room (not even hanging out or anything, just being together one last time. who remembers that after 5+ millions years??). He started an illegal clinic in the bad part of town because he wanted to put his skills to better use! Like! LOL. ALSO, a point that i think is unfair is that ppl think his atheism is just really mean. IT is! But I think it shows just how much of an emotional and extremely, deeply hurt person he is. It gets aggravating when he’s condescending of religion, because there’s no simple logic to it. He reacts the way he does because he’s a hurt person who’s gone through years of trauma and this is his way of coping. Is it healthy or right? Nah, but it’s humanizing. It’s why when he becomes closer to Drift he occupies this weird between space where he snarks but also tries to indulge more in perspectives outside of his own in his own dumb old tsundere way. He’s a person who believes in justice, ultimately, and religion to him doesn’t fall under justice. ALSO, can I say that his inability to say good byes is so.. like relatable? I have rly bad social anxiety, and so I’ve definitely ghosted people who’ve been nothing but really supportive for me. It’s not because I wanted to burn them, but it freaks you out needing to, not even say goodbye, but communicate with ppl. And for Ratchet--how many times was he FORCED to say good bye to friends + patients who were dying beyond his help? Maybe, if he could help it, he doesn’t want to say goodbye. And it’s tragic the times he’s just left, these were people who ended up either dying for falling astray into insanity, i.e., beyond his help. But he learns. He chases after Drift, who he actually said, in a way, good bye to (helping him off the floor after being attacked, also I should point out that a very tiny handful of people were comfortable interacting w/ Drift at all, and how much Ratchet just doesn’t give a shit abt how other ppl think abt him. he’ll help drift off the floor bc t’s the right thing to do). He says goodbye in his old dumb way--First Aid calls him out on it. ALSO his trust in First Aid is super cute. ALSO he’s like.. genuinely nice to Ten (he helped him get a date with Minimus!!!). And he’s not afraid to call out on other ppl’s bullshit (telling rodi straight you dont deserve to be captain which, at the time, was really true). He’s also SUPER smart. Also there’s that post on tumblr that pointed out that Ratchet immediately goes to deescalate conflict. He’s willing to put aside pride and anything if it means ultimately coming to a resolution where EVERYONE involved is safe. The only time he doesn’t is FUCKING OVERLORD who he rightfully, immediately, tries to briefly incapacitate to lockdown his medibay (protect patients/information). Ok I gotta stop I can go on forever just going page to page. Also, despite my love, I can totally point out his flaws. He’s grating when it’s unnecessary, he’s abhorrently bad at communicating, he’s privileged, he’s narrow-minded at times, etc. ec. But again what I love about him is that despite all that, he’ll throw his own self out the window for others’s well-being bc he genuinely, genuinellyyy cares about other people. If only he could care for himself //cries All the people I ship romantically with this character OH god... everyone. He’s my bicycle. ok look, ya’ll know I’m an intense dratchet shipper and I could literally write a god damn essay. ... here’s another essay???!! So, I’ma be real, I wasn’t a super dratchet shipper before. I wasn’t anti (i have no notps), but I was just “yeah they’re cute i guess haha”. But 99.99% the reason why I ship anything is all for super cute adorable fanart. and I kept drawing them because 1) ratchet’s my fav, 2) drift is super popular so I figured I should learn to draw him. And they became the only 2 mechs I could draw. I used to be way more into Scavengers + megarod. I used to only like 1 dratchet fanfic and that’s bc it was less romantic and more plot centric (still a fav tho). Then I kept seeing cute fanart, I would read posts by other dratchet shippers too about what makes them so nice? And I was yeah.. oh yeah. And it doesn’t help that in Lost Light, drift is CONSTANTLY by Ratchet’s side. He’s constantly checking up on him and holding him and touching him, like as if Ratchet is the thing that he needs to make sure, at all costs, is safe. In Drift’s life, Ratchet is the one who appears to him when he needs support the most but is in the most denial of it. When Drift is at the brink of death, overdosed and about to be broken apart and Orion brings him to Ratchet’s clinic. Ratchet patches him up pro-bono and tells him that he sees something special in him. like??? can you imagine how that feels? To have no one believe in you--you don’t even believe in yourself, and yet here’s this person who tells you “you’re gonna be great”. And it totally doesn’t hit Drift in anyway, at least in a way that’s tangible to him, until much later in life. Or maybe it does (hey, how do you weave character narratives when it’s been written by like 3 different ppl shrugs). And that statement means 2 different things to them. To Drift, it’s a reminder that he’s worth something, even if it’s a sliver of nearly nothing to hold onto. To Ratchet, it’s a reminder that the greatness he saw led to the deaths of thousands of people. HEY can you imagine this person you saved, patched up, tried to encourage, ended up being a mass serial killer in the future? (have you ever read Monster by Naoki Urusawa). Ended up killing people you loved? So it’s no wonder that a good part of Ratchet is absolutely mad at Drift. And I think if that was all, they probably would’ve ended up being amicable. But Drift also ended up being super religious and seeing the hand and primus in everything and oh my god is this person really waxing poetry on the value of life when he, himself, shot several bullets at me at one point? I also believe they are uncomfortably similar as they are different. The reason why they constantly butt heads is they’re two people trying to escape a past they don’t want and found complete opposite ways to cope with their losses. Drift found religion, Ratchet is gratingly pragmatic, and they see each other and go “how could this guy choose to be this way?”. I’ve heard ppl like to cite the annual as the reason why they could never work out. BUT, can I point out, that they act around each other in a way they don’t with anyone else? Drift gets SO MAD. Ratchet gets extremely talkative and incredibly personal (pulled out an electro slug from someone’s spark, holy shit that fucking traumatized you didn’t it??). They challenge each other emotionally, and it’s so fucking difficult bc they’re both extremely depressed and suffer from PTSD and would probably rather just go on their dumb space adventure and look at stars--take 2 emotionally constipated idiots and you get them. And hell no, don’t tell me Drift is in-tune with his feelings bc he’s 10000% not. He uses religion to cope with a past and life that he doesn’t want to think about. He tries to re-contextualize himself because he hates who he is. OUCHHH. And Ratchet MAKES him confront the parts of himself he hates--bc Ratchet has seen his worst traits and isn’t afraid to make him think about it. So why do they work out eventually? They realize how important they are to each other. Delphi, Drift saves Ratchet’s life while he’s barely holding onto his own because he probably feels like he owes Ratchet his own life. And that’s a huge turning point in their relationship--Ratchet sees that... Drift tries really really fucking hard. My friend Zig pointed out that post-Delphi, Drift is eating energon w/ chopsticks (what a fucking nerd), and you can see in a later panel that Ratchet (who chose to sit next to Drift) is using those chopsticks too. IT’s such a small thing, but they’re becoming closer by sharing and learning from each other. And then Drift takes the fall and leaves. And Ratchet realizes just how important Drift’s presence is in his life. I mentioned it already lol but the scene where Ratchet helps Drift up off the floor and it’s superimposed with the love message Rewind left for CD. They care about each other so much!! And Ratchet chases after him!! HOLY SHIT. If that isn’t romance, what is?? lol I kid, but it’s obvious just how important Drift’s presence meant to him. IT’s really because they became so so so close in a way that can’t be described as just friends. They deeply understand each other in really uncomfortable ways and bring out the absolute worst and absolute best in each other. And this point is where Ratchet again appears when Drift doesn’t realize he needs someone in his life. Drift thinks he can be a loner and just float aimlessly and voicelessly--hell no! He needs friends, he needs community. He NEEDs belonging, because he wants to belong somewhere. And Ratchet helps bridge him back to friends and found family. And Ratchet slowly changes the more he’s with Drift. He reads religious text and tries to brag about it bc he’s a dumb tsundere lol but he’s trying to understand Drift’s interests more even if it takes a decade and more to get there. And Drift values him for being his rock. That’s why he’s constantly making sure Ratchet is safe and unharmed, because he owes at least that much to him. And yeah they eventually fall in love because they value each other in a way they haven’t anyone else. IM EMO I CAN GO ONE, this all probably didn’t make a whole lot of sense but yeah. I’m just so soft to the fact that they’re horribly hurt people who don’t know how to redirect their pain, but by being together they come out healthier and more confident. IT’S RLY ROMANTIC IDKKK My non-romantic OTP for this character As much as I also love OpRatch, they are also great best friend platonic ship. They know each other best, they’ve been through SO MUCH together. It’s honestly a shame they barely interact in IDW bc the small tidbits we have, they obviously deeply respect each other’s opinions and deeply value the relationship they’ve had over the past millions of years. I’m also all for non-romanceOTP for dratchet because I can totally imagine they go to each other to talk about things they feel uncomfortable sharing with others (they’ve seen the absolute worst of each other afterall). My unpopular opinion about this character I don’t... think I ahve one. Some ppl view my love for his as grating lol. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. Medic spin off.

#ratchet #dratchet

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yukipri · 7 years

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I never experienced art theft until one of my works became unexpectedly popular- since then, I've found my work reposted, redrawn, and used as reference for cosplays. It's been exhausting, both seeing it, and not knowing WHERE I should stand on the issue. I've let redraws slide (with credit), but I plan on not allowing future ones from occurring. How do you deal with art theft? How do you continue drawing without thinking about the disrespect thrown at you during bad/failed confrontations?

I am so, so incredibly sorry this happened to you, and empathize very strongly with you. Art theft SUCKS, few things can be quite as demotivating as a creator than having something you’ve worked your ass off on swiped by someone else. And unfortunately, given the current internet culture, if you continue as an online artist it’s inevitable that it’ll happen at one point or another.

Because sure, of course part of the reason why we create is because we want to, but a large part of the motivation for sharing it is to hopefully get some response that people like it, whether it be in the form of likes, reblogs, comments, asks, tags, or anything else. That is the tangible PROOF that our work touched someone, and for someone who put in zero effort and has no idea how we felt while creating to receive all of that instead of us…sucks.

I think where you stand on the issue is up to you, and it’s okay for it to change. YOU always have the right to decide how you’re comfortable with people sharing your art, and your feelings are valid regardless of how they change.

Ironically enough, I just had another art theft on Instagram (my Anniversary post) super recently, so I was like HAH when I got this orz

This rant got a bit long, so the rest beneath cut but here’s a rundown about how my feelings towards art theft have evolved over the years.

For example, over the years I’ve gotten much, MUCH stricter. My earliest online art, I just put it up, no url, oftentimes no signature, no warnings in the comments or my blog bio. Admittedly I was starting out and didn’t have much viewers anyway, but the point was I still had Trust at the time.

Then the art thefts began. I started adding my url to all my illustrations, even if it was just small in the corner, as this’d let people at least find my website. Most people are too lazy to type out a url though, and I’ve seen people asking “Who drew this??” on art theft comments EVEN WHEN THE URL IS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE…

And then people started cropping my watermarks. I made my url bigger, and started adding an additional “DO NOT REPOST” to the image itself. I used to allow reposts with credits on platforms I’m not on, like fb, until I realized that people were then reposting from THOSE communities without credit and putting them into their videos and fics and I just…decided it wasn’t worth it.

I switched to no reposts PERIOD. I have lengthy disclaimers on all of my art that leads to an even lengthier FAQ post that, should people wish to look, leads to even an even more detailed post about WHY art theft sucks, as I’m explaining now.

(EDIT: ALSO, reduce the quality of the images you upload, and NEVER upload the full resolution, and try to keep you unmerged original files. This is for several reasons: no matter how much an art thief reposts your work, they’ll never have access to the higher resolution, and if they ever decide to try to print to sell for profit it’ll be shitty quality compared to anything you make with the original. ALSO, you having the maximum resolution with no watermarking with additional unmerged psd files will be proof that you are the true creator should you need to prove it, which I’ve heard is sometimes necessary to show when your art is stolen at say, an artist alley)

I also used to bother trying to talk to art reposters. I’d comment on the post, try to send messages, etc. It’s fucking exhausting, and while there are some exceptions, the VAST majority of art thiefs will feel attacked and immediately get rude and defensive. (the failed confrontations and disrespect you mentioned orz) If it’s a large community, they may even try to gang up on you. I’ve unfortunately experienced this most frequently in communities centered around other languages (mainly Spanish) because of different mainstream attitudes towards art reposting etiquette combined with a language barrier.

You will, and no doubt already have, encountered people who will argue with you, like the people I describe above. “You should be grateful for the bigger audience!” “We just want to appreciate your art, how can you be so horrible?” “We’re all fans together!” “This is fanart and doesn’t belong to you anyway!” Etc. etc. etc. It’s exhausting, it’s repetitive, it’s neverending, and you already felt awful before it even began and the stress just continues to build.

So I personally have just begun reporting people, if the service allows it. Use DMCA takedown request forms (and YES, even if it’s fanart it’s still yours if you drew it). This is stressful too because it sends your real name + info to the reposter (and wow I clearly can’t trust these people to begin with, why would I want them to have that???) but most sites (facebook, instagram, certainly tumblr, twitter) are very efficient and responsive, and in the end the relief of receiving that email that the art has been taken down is worth it. Especially with facebook, they also send a scary official warning email to the reposters which I sincerely hope will help educate them and discourage future art thefts.

I try to avoid posting public urls because yes I’m aware how mob mentality Tumblr can get, but sometimes it’s just too much. There’s no convenient form of getting my content removed (perhaps bc it’s in a compilation with a ton of other content), or for some reason my attempts to communicate have failed. In those times I have occasionally asked my followers to help, with a reminder to PLEASE always be polite and respectful, regardless of the offense. Y’all have been amazing, and this has saved me many nights of crying in the past.

I will sometimes also write lengthy posts (like this one!) to help educate. Because I do feel that art theft will continue so long as people don’t understand what it does to artists, and it’s up to the community as a whole to make that change, which also depends heavily on the consumers not just creators. A lot of art theft really isn’t intentionally meant to harm, but IS super ignorant.

But in the end, all I’ve ranted about so far is how I’ve dealt with actually removing/dealing with the shit. But the emotional pain, it builds. Sometimes, when it’s too frequent and the stolen art gets way more attention than my original that I worked my ass off on that basically flunked on my own platforms, I feel a bit of me break.

And in the end, it’s up to you what that threshold is, where posting art and feeling good about it is overwhelmed by the pain, fear, and anxiety of art theft. I’ve crossed my own threshold too many times, and once had to take an art hiatus because of it (fandom was BH6). This lead to a break in my productivity and motivation and my eventual complete departure form the fandom. I’ve seen many other artists just stop posting art entirely or moving everything to private. It’s terrible, but my feelings are with these artists, and I feel so, so sorry that they were hurt so much to the extent they had to do this.

With my current fandom and followers, I feel that regardless of how niche an audience my content tends to be geared for, I have a community that is really satisfying for me to create for, one that is responsive to me and gives me tons of feedback. This is the number one reason why i continue to feel motivated to post a ton of online content despite the risks.

The takeaway form this long meandering post: Posting online is a hobby, it’s for fun, and I don’t make any money off my public audience (unless they come to Patreon! LOL!), so I’m a firm believer that once the anxiety + misery starts outweighing anything positive you personally may get from sharing online, which for me heavily depends on my audience and their responsiveness, there’s no reason to subject yourself to that anymore and you are in no way obligated to stay. There are various methods to more efficiently get rid of art thefts without dealing with them in person which is stressful AF, and also ways of marking up your content in ways that may look less aesthetically pleasing, but will hopefully discourage art thefts, and at the very least give them very little leg to stand on should they do it anyway. How forgiving you are in art thefts also depends on you, but the more forgiving you are, the more it can get away from you. And in the end, YOU as a human are more important than any complaints about art looking less pleasing or the feelings of art thefts who don’t get to do what they want with YOUR hard work.

Sorry this was so disjointed and literally just me spewing at you, but I hope some of it was helpful ^ ^; Please let me know if I can give you any other advice, and I’m sorry again that you have to deal with this ;_;

(and to respond to your second ask, I do try to respond to most of my asks, but sometimes it takes a while (sometimes even months orz), especially if it’s one that requires a lengthy detailed answer like this one ^ ^; thank you for your patience!)

#YukiPri replies #Anonymous #art theft #I hope this was helpful ^ ^;#started getting really distressed myself writing this haha #in general i'm okay with my art getting little to no attention #i just asked that i don't get hurt for the trouble of posting which i feel should be fair #and sometime yeah it does get to be too much #hopefully won't happen in the near future for this fandom but #we'll see sigh #another reason i like drawing niche hyper specific content LOL #fewer people tend to want to reblog/share it #but fewer reposters are also interested in it haha #long post #longpost

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franeridart · 7 years

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But he isn't dabbing

smh at u anon Dabi’s constantly dabbing in his soul, it’s, like, an intrinsecal state of being, a neverending condition of his spirit, don’t doubt the dab in him why do you think he picked that villain name the fact that it’s the word for cremation is pure coincidence tbh

Anon said:aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh my fav artist drew my fav boy my day couldn't have started any betterr, BLESS UR SOUL AND THANK YOU FOR THE DAB

Anon said: hOLY SMOKES YOUR DABI IS A+++++ and I would die for his shoes

GLAD YOU LIKED HIM!!!!

Anon said: I just wanna say I really love your art? I know u get it a lot n stuff but like i love ur art style,it's so unique and ur colouring style is so pretty too. Your shippy art is just so wholesome and pure. And your poly art is a godsend a and the best portrayals I've EVER seen of poly ships in fandom. Bless u. Bless u for ur contribution to the fandom. Bless u for ur existence. Also i ask if it's weird that i kinda ship fatgum and rappa, i just really like rappa and don't wanna see him goooo

Thank you so much oh my gods ;A; this is!!!!! such a great nice ask I’m cry ;A; and also I dunno if it’s weird to ship them but if it’s weird I guess we can be weird together hi hello to the club here’s some good art for them I found on my dash yesterday and cried over

Anon said:A powerboat traveling at 24 km/hr relative to the water has a compass heading of 95°. A strong tidal current, with a heading of 35°, is flowing at 12 km/hr. Find the resultant velocity.

If you’re looking for physics answers anon you came to the worst place you could pick numbers and formulae are my worst enemy

Anon said:Hello!!! I just wanted to say that I absolutely L O V E your art!! It's simple but yet so pretty and unique and I just???!?! I just get happy whenever you post something and it really inspires me to draw too! I hope you have a great day!!!

THANK YOU!!!! HOLY SMOKES!!!!!!!! *O*

Anon said:I'll try to make this quick but, okay ever since I started following your Tumblr which was like about a year ago I originally did bc of Haikyuu and way before season 2 came out I begun watching bhna from seeing your fanart and talks about it, since then I never regretted it and I love this anime so so much I even continued reading the mangas when updated and everything and i've even gotten some friends into bc of you and I really wanted thank you for basically introducing bnha to me ily ❤❤

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I’m glad!!!!!!! Oh my god!!!!!!!! I hope you’ll keep on enjoying it for a long long time and make even more friends in the fandom, anon!!!!!!

Anon said:I was wondering if I could draw bakushima's children, Mako and taiyou? I thought they were super cute... credit for the characters will go to you of course!

SURE!! As long as you don’t change the designs and link back to me it’s more than fine!!!!! Thanks for liking them *O*

Anon said:Aizawa canonically had a bowl cut as a child I'm ehebdjd and I thought you needed to know this if you didn't already

I’VE SEEN IT I JUST. CAN’T DEAL. G O D. I think the Tokoyami part might be just speculation by the other 1A kids, I’m not sure, but Aizawa. W h y.

Anon said: Hello! I was wondering; how did you feel the first time you posted your art online? Were you really nervous about it? If you were, how did you get the courage to do it anyway? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm currently in a situation where I really want to share my art with people but am too scared to do it. I feel like my art might not be "good enough" to share with people online, or that people will hate on my art/ideas and call them "cringey".

Ah, the first time I posted my art online I was... between fourteen and fifteen and it was on a really small community made of people who were just learning to draw, like I was, so it wasn’t nerve-wrecking for me since I sort of eased into the whole “letting the world see my crappy art” thing, which means I can’t help with that specifically orz

What I can tell you tho is this: 90% of what I post I look at it and I’m like “w h y am I posting this” and “I’m the only one who’ll enjoy this” and “...man this is so fucking embarrassing” and so on. It’s nervewrecking and, uh, it’s that sort of feeling that doesn’t really ever go away completely - I have some comics that randomly come back around in my activities and I just sit there feeling incredibly ashamed I posted them to begin with and also wondering why people like it at all.

So here’s how it is, some things, mostly the self-indulget ones, are gonna feel weird to share because you feel like no one aside from you is gonna enjoy them, and because they keep a part of yourself in them you might be scared people won’t like, and that’s normal, and it’s okay. Through personal experience, I can tell you that in most cases you’ll manage to find someone who’ll love what you drew and will think “OH BOI exactly what I’ve been waiting to see god bless!!”, but believing this regarding your own art might be hard until you start posting and see it happen, and that’s okay too. If it doesn’t happen, and people actually don’t like your ideas, that’s okay too - mostly, you make art for yourself, because you love it and it makes you happy, and as long as it made you happy using your time to make it won’t have been a waste. And if the lack of response is too much to bare, you can always just stop posting! No one is saying that once you start you gotta keep at it! It’s your art, you do with it what you want!

But you won’t know what people’s reactions to your art will be until you start posting it - so take a deep breath, feel nervous as hell, post it anyway. Wait a week. If after that you’ll still feel like posting it was a mistake, take it down. It’s not a definitive decision, you’re free to go back on it whenever - I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you’re thinking right now, though!

#fran answers #hello yes this is me letting you all know that the blister is in fact back #see you in a bit i g u e s s #unless i get fed up way faster than the other time #in which case see you tomorrow #who knows!!#anonymous

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blackhatcannons · 7 years

Text

Casual Black Hatcannons

The people have decided. The list is long (so it’s under the read more.) Happy 324 <3

Prior to arriving on Earth, Black Hat didn’t need sleep. He can still go much longer than a normal human without rest, but his mood can become fouler and fouler without the occasional break from having to do so much stuff/be around other annoying people

He’s able to have dreams (even though they’re often weird and narcissistic), and will sometimes spend time sleeping just to see if his subconscious can generate any ideas for new inventions to sell

Honestly as long as he gets some time to just sit down and not have to do anything (or even keep up his normal physical form) he’s basically asleep. For eldritch abominations like himself, it basically means letting his consciousness wander freely as he shuts down any physical functions. His form tends to get a little... less human-ish looser, when this happens

Black Hat doesn’t brush his teeth. (or floss.) First of all, his body is self-cleansing, so he normally doesn’t have to worry about showering and hygiene in general. Particles of dirt and blood and other toxins are normally absorbed through his clothes and skin, and then broken down inside his body.

Not to mention he has semi-acidic saliva. It’s not extremely corrosive, but it works well enough to keep his mouth clean between meals.

That being said, he’s lost teeth before. Chipped them, broken them, misplaced them– It’s fine though. he has teeth like a shark. literally, there are so many of them holy shit. They grow in rows and the new ones can replace the old ones very quickly.

When he transitioned from existing in a multidimensional plane to a less-multidimensional one, he never really realized that human bodies and clothes were two separate things. When he first designed his physical shape, he made his suit out of, well, the same material as himself. The clothes are just as sentient and sensory as the rest of him, and if someone touched his coat he’d turn around and be like “what.” It’s like having really snazzy looking skin that doesn’t have to be fully attached to your body and can also start growing eyes and teeth whenever you’re mad.

He never really got a full course in human anatomy, but it’s close enough, he thinks..? it’s just missing like all the organs. and a soul.

As a consequence of not knowing what the fuck a human is, BH also doesn’t know what the fuck gender is. He just sees humans, and humans are fucking morons so honestly who cares what they call themselves. it’s just easier to go with whatever pronouns they say than actually try to guess their genders (congrats BH on not being transphobic)

The old flash shorts (pilot version) of Black Hat was actually BH’s first attempt at making a human form. He later reshaped himself to “be more edgy”: becoming taller, narrowing his face, changing the design on his hat, etc.

After a hard day’s work, Black Hat can sometimes be so lazy that he wears his coat (and hat) to bed. Won’t even take off his shoes. Nasty. (Ofc he has his edgy villain pajamas he could change into but, eh. too much time.)

He can still take his clothes off, but they’ll eventually dissipate if separated from him long enough. It’s easier for him to just change the appearance of whatever his clothes (skin) currently looks like. He can still feel sensations through them, but it becomes harder to categorize them as “good” or “bad” the further away from his nerves they get

BH used to eat food like an amoeba. (He normally eats as a way to regain mass if he’s injured or needs to shapeshift.) But when encountering “prey”, his physical form kind of turns to a fleshy goop of teeth and eyes and blades that encircle whatever food it is; then he reforms. He only stopped eating like that bc it wasn’t classy enough. Utensils and etiquette are crucial for fancy villains- only dinner parties

BH likes to stay unnaturally light though. more mass makes him slow and he doesn’t like it when people are faster than him. He can also rapidly change the density of the particles in his body, mostly for fighting. It’s hilarious to see a hero break their hand trying to punch you.

BH’s body temperature depends on the environment he’s in. In the summer, he absorbs light really easily and is therefore around 90 (it’s the closest he can naturally get to human-temperatured without purposely changing it), while in the winter, he can be 30 or 45 degrees. Normally he will be 70 degrees (around room-temp), which still means his body is unnaturally cool. He can modify that as well though, and can decide if he wants to basically be a walking black ice cube or the temperature of hell’s oven. BH can’t feel temperature though, so it doesn’t really matter to him.

Those claws on his hands are a fucking pain. He can’t use a smartphone bc he doesn’t have fingerprints and his skin can’t conduct electricity. So he uses a fucking Nokia flip phone or a Blackberry, anything with buttons he can actually press

then again he sucks at technology in general, he knows more about gramophones than iPhones. Flug has been teaching him, but it’s a ...work in progress….. (”FLUG I BROKE IT AGAIN.” “Boss you shouldn’t play Flappy Bird if you have claws that can pierce through phones....”)

His hands are kind of like cat paws, the claws will normally slip out if he’s angry (99% of the time) or if he’s actually relaxed enough to just let them go (1%– you may now picture BH kneading a blanket and accidentally fucking eviscerating it)

His toes are just like his fingers, but he can’t afford to let them slip out. Otherwise he’ll pierce through his shoes and then it’s a pain to get them unstuck; he hates it.

(He let Dementia paint his nails ONCE (it was her birthday) and still hasn’t taken it off tbh. Ofc he can never tell her that.)

Once he caught Flug watching “How It’s Made” and he was about to go on one of his angry lectures again. but then he got distracted bc “wait, THAT’S HOW THEY MAKE FILIGREE GLASS?”

BH actually sits down next to Flug on the couch and they just silently watch it together. “How… how the hell do they get that all the same diameter?” “It’s really incredible, boss.” “They just, change the shape like that?? What the fuck???”

BH doesn’t speak of it again. Flug forgets about it until he walks into his office to deliver a report and hears something about “now they set the haggis out on cooking trays, and pierce each casing so–”

Black Hat thROWS HIS COMPUTER OUT THE WINDOW. TRYING TO ACT CHILL.

“Boss were you watching–” “AH YES FLUG HELLO WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU.” “Boss, it’s okay. I mean, the haggis episode is disgusting, but i really don’t care. here’s the report... Should I buy a new computer?” “……..yes.”

when he’s not watching How It’s Made he watches cheesy telenovelas WHAT

Don’t you dare fucking tell me these guys dont all watch telenovelas together on the couch with a fuckload of snacks as they all eagerly await the next moment BH loses his shit

“JUAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOW COULD YOU BETRAY MARIA LIKE THAT?!?! That man is the most evil character i’ve ever seen, take notes 5.0.5″ “Boss... you’re crying” “WHAT NO I’M NOT HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT WHAT THE FUCK”

BH’s favorite genre of music is classical (you know. like a nerd.) Apart from that, he’s also tried listening to screamo and death metal. While he enjoys screaming in general, he’s not really a fan of the genre, but he can appreciate the effort

in his spare time he probably sips at a glass of wine and reads his fucking quarterly profit reports in a comfy chair by the extremely scary-looking fireplace haha. He likes the sound of thunderstorms as well, mostly bc of the villain aesthetic he’s gotta keep.

Speaking of the villain aesthetic, he used to have a cat. A nice, fluffy white one that he could have sit on his lap while he sat in his desk chair facing the window, just so he could do the thing where he turns around like the most cliche villain ever

unfortunately, he can’t keep that act up for more than a week. by then the cat really looks like it’s living up to the name “Appetizer” and, well. you can tell what happens next. (5.0.5 cries, that’s what. BH coughs up white fur later.)

BH’s room is, like the entire house, very edgy. he has a massive 4-poster canopy bed, various sculptures and paintings of himself, and an enormous walk-in closet. Why does he have a closet if his clothes are part of his body, you ask?

The only reason his room looks so clean is because he hides all his personal belongings in the closet. Confiscated materials? Closet. Assorted skeletons? Closet. His secret collection of scented candles? Closet.

The girl scout cookie hoard goes under his bed. there’s also always a pentagram or two on the floor, some with notes saying “5.0.5 DO NOT ERASE”

One of the huge marble busts of himself has a keypad hidden under the hat, with a code needed to open his vault. but that’s only one half of the key; he also needs to perform a small ritual in his demonic circle to fully unlock the vault and disable the alarms on it. then he can enter the secret room where he stores all his money

(Sometimes he’ll just go inside it and roll around in his piles of cash for fun. it’s very therapeutic)

all those pictures of himself BH either had commissioned or gotten as gifts. I’d say he painted the all himself, but he’s not patient enough to actually spend time getting better at art. instead he just hires artists to make his vain af portraits.

He can also see through any reproduction of himself, including sculptures, shitty post-it note drawings, and yes, fan art. (So don’t call your fanart bad, or else BH will be offended you called him ugly!! he doesn’t care what it looks like, he’s vain enough to accept any art of himself no matter what it is haha)

Once Flug got him a metal paperweight as a gift. Jokingly, he told BH it was a stress ball.

BH fucking crushes it in one hand

(“Huh, some stress ball.” “B-boss that was made out of tungsten!!” “So? You said it was a stress ball!” “That’s stronger than steel!….Boss are you okay”)

Black Hat actually suffers some pretty bad migraines. he’s not supposed to exist in such a “low-res” plane of reality. Most of his kind exist in at least five dimensions, and it’s kind of hard to have made the switch over without losing some of his power. Shunting your consciousness between planes is kind of painful, and BH frequently receives physical reminders that he really should not have done that.

The migraines are painful and make BH crabby for the rest of the day; "dimension sickness" is awful for his mood. Flug has been trying to work on a cure to help him, but it's hard when the only materials you can work with are eldritch blood, flesh samples, and any liquid void goop BH coughs up.

Black Hat actually would work with a hero, only if it was to stop a villain that was a greater danger to his company. He’ll go against his Villainous principles to keep his business secure from any outside threat. Anyone targeting his corporation and friends employees is an enemy, and enemies will be destroyed.

BH has no idea how to: change lightbulbs, replace smoke detector batteries, use a microwave, or clean literally anything. (In that sense, 5.0.5 is more competent than him.)

Surprisingly, Black Hat actually files tax reports for his company. He believes that despite being a governmental institution, the IRS is "the most evil organization to ever exist" and appreciates how much pain it inflicts upon people each year.

Black Hat is a master of paperwork and legal documents. He could have probably been more successful as a lawyer than an arms dealer tbh. Suing people copying his patents is actually a breeze for him, and he doesn't pull any fucking punches when it comes to penalties for reselling his property

This also explains why he hasn’t been arrested yet. Can’t prove that his corporation isn’t just a hat factory when all the evidence, tax reports, and products lean towards that conclusion

BH can't cook for shit. That doesn't mean he can't enjoy human food though (even if he doesn't need it). Some of his favorite meals are humans, raw meat, rare steak (only when 5.0.5 cooks), black caviar, black truffles, black food in general, live mammals, that one cake Flug bakes sometimes, any red wine that actually tastes good, souls, foie gras, expensive food, candy (when taken from babies), ice cream (when taken from 5.0.5), and anything that really fits his dark aesthetic.

Black Hat doesn't really have a birthday. But that doesn't stop Dementia, 5.0.5, and Flug from celebrating. They use BH’s “entering the human world” anniversary as his birthday, and celebrate despite all BH's protests to not (he secretly enjoys it, the vain bastard.

Flug normally works on an invention for him in his free time, little things that he thinks BH would find useful in his daily life. Like filing cabinets with auto-organizational systems, a voicemail system that can better filter out his calls, ballpoint pens that can write in blood. Stuff like that

Dementia makes coupon books. Things like "one free 'go away'” or “Shut up and be quiet for five minutes” or “stop destroying things for an hour.” BH always runs out of these within the month.

5.0.5 gets him cute things like mugs that say "world's best boss" and ties with nice patterns on them. BH throws a hissy fit about them, but it doesn’t stop him from wearing them

And finally, at the end of the day, even though his life is full of chaos and disasters, BH really doesn’t regret leaving his original plane of reality for this one. It’s weird and painful and he’s surrounded by annoying people, but he’d do it all again if he had to......... foR THE MONEY, OF COURSE. YEAH. BECAUSE HE’S A VILLAIN. GOTTA SELL THOSE DEVICES AND ELIMINATE HEROES RIGHT. YUP. THAT’S IT, THAT’S WHY HE STICKS AROUND WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S BC OF HIS FRI-- EMPLOYEES, WHAT? fucking wild

#villainous #black hat #dr. flug #dementia #5.0.5 #alan ituriel im sorry for writing so much ooc shit ive tried my best haha #hc #SORRY FOR THE DELAY I KINDA GOT BUSY WITH A THING #BUT ITS HERE NOW JUST A DAY LATE HAHA FUCK #anyways now commenceth the hiatus

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ivyschoice · 7 years

Text

The Murder Game (no actual murder tho, don’t worry)

@amelia-is-watching i hope it is the 31st where you live (what are timezones lol) and also that this is the right time bc i’ve not seen another gift given.. anyways this is your ‘secret santa’ gift!

Title: The Murder Game Rating: T

Note: first of all this got kinda long i hope that’s ok 🙈 also i hope the grammar and everything is tolerable (excuse me if i used weird expressions :D)

But most of all I hope you enjoy^^

the story is set in the beginning of book 2 or just in a time were everything was alright

“I’m so glad, we finished this assignment today”, Zack sighed as we walked back from the library to our suite. It was already getting dark. “Yeah”, I agreed, “That means we have the whole weekend to do other things…” “Like your girlfriend?” He grinned and had to jump to the side to avoid being hit by my elbow. “Zack! … Although…” We had reached the house and were now climbing up the stairs to the suite. “Gross, Amelia, I was kidding!”, Zack exclaimed walking faster, so that I had to hurry to keep up with him. “No, you weren’t.” “Yeah, you’re right”, he admitted and we both had to laugh.

“Oh, by the way”, he said while searching his pockets for the key, “I wanted to tell you about this great idea I had for…” He stopped as the unlocked door swung open and revealed a crowded living room. Kaitlyn, Tyler, Abbie, Tripp, and Edgar somehow managed to sit on the couch together, watching something on Tyler’s laptop. Brandon and Madison sat on the ground next to them and were looking at something on her phone. We stood there in the doorway for a moment – struck by surprise.

“Uhm, hey… all of you”, I managed to bring out and gave Zack a little push, so he would go inside. “Are you having a party without us?”, he asked. “And you’re here, too?” He was looking at Brandon. “Well, it was like that”, Kaitlyn started to explain, while coming over to us, “Tyler had invited Tripp and Edgar to watch the newest episode of The Crown and the Flame with us, Tripp asked Madison to come along and Brandon wanted to see you, so we told him he could wait here for you… Oh, and Chris had already planned a Bros’ Evening or something, so they’re here as well…”

I peeked around the corner and saw Chris, Logan, Darren, and James standing in the kitchen together. The latter spotted me. “Hi, Amelia!” “Hello..?”, I replied, not sure how he fit in this group constellation. “He actually came over to talk to you about the play”, Kaitlyn whispered in my ear, “But he seems to be having fun, so you don’t have to do that now.” Then she kissed me on the cheek and put her arm around my waist to guide me to the couch. I followed her willingly.

There was no more room on the sofa, so I had to take place on the arm rest. Zack, who had sat down next to his boyfriend in the meantime, looked up to me. “The idea I wanted to tell you about, is actually a game for a bigger group of people…” He grinned at me. “So we could play now?” Tyler shushed at us, but Zack stretched out his arm and hit the pause button, which resulted in several upset outcries. Tripp wanted to press play again, but Zack slapped his hand away and stood up.

“Guys, guys, guys! I just need you to listen to me for like 5 minutes! Please…” Chris and the others came over from the kitchen. “What’s going on?” “Zack is stopping us from watching the mid-season finale!”, Edgar complained. “That’s not true – ok, yeah, it’s kinda true – but I wanted to tell you about this game… I heard that the upperclassmen do this like every year – it’s called murder game-““Oh my god”, James groaned, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea…” “Hearing you say that makes me really curious about this”, Kaitlyn said with a mischievous spark in her eye, “Go on, Zack.”

“It works like this: Every player puts their name on a piece of paper and then you draw a name – which can’t be your own – and whoever is on your paper, is your victim…” “Victim as in murder victim?”, Tyler asked. “Heh, you got it. You have to ‘kill’ the person you drew by handing them an object – it can be anything, but the person has to take it voluntarily, so you can’t force something into their hand.” James let out a sigh: “This is gonna get so intense.” There was a smile on his face though.

Zack quickly continued, before any discussions could break out. “When you get killed, you have to give your murderer your piece of paper – so keep it on you at all times – and then they will have a new victim. The last person remaining is the winner. We’ll make a group chat where you can write if you’re murdered, but of course you can’t tell anyone who killed you or who you have to kill.” “That was a lot of explaining for such a simple concept…” “Shut up, Edgar!”

The game sounded really fun and I was excited about the idea of winning it. I just had to! We all put our name on little paper straps and collected them in a bowl. “Chris, go around and let everyone pick one”, Zack commanded, “And if anyone picks themselves, please tell us immediately, so we can start over…” “Aye, aye, captain”, Chris responded and held the bowl out to Abbie. She unfolded her paper cautiously and read it – a smirk appeared on her face. I was one of the last to get a name and I opened the paper while leaning away from Kaitlyn, who – of course – was trying to get a peek at it. Chris. That shouldn’t be too hard…

The evening went on with all of us being suspicious of each other and no one taking anything from anyone – well except for Logan, who fell for Madison offering him the chips, but after that we were super careful. Around one o’clock we decided to call it a night and said goodbye to all of our guests. After studying the whole afternoon I was exhausted, so I kissed Kaitlyn goodnight and went to my room, while the others went to the rooftop to stay up a little longer.

The next morning I woke up to loud voices coming from the living space. Was there a fight? I pushed my blanket aside and hurried outside. Zack and Brandon were apparently in a heated discussion. “You can’t just do that! That doesn’t count!”, Zack exclaimed, making wild hand movements as he talked. “Well, I sure think I can, because you didn’t say, that wasn’t allowed…” Brandon seemed a little calmer than his boyfriend. “Yeah, I didn’t, but it’s kinda obvious, that that’s not how it works, isn’t it?” He was clearly upset, so I decided to step in. “Hey, guys, what’s going on?”

They both turned around in surprise. “Oh, hi, Amelia”, Brandon said, “Didn’t see you there.” “Because you were busy trying to kill your boyfriend in illegal ways!” “What… so this is about the game?”, I began to understand, “If you got murdered, you just have to accept it, Zack…” “It wasn’t like that…”, he protested.

“Brandon told him to take his hand, therefore murdering him as he took it.” I hadn’t even noticed Kaitlyn on the couch with a cup of tea. “They’ve been discussing this for the past ten minutes and it’s way too early.” She gave them a look of reproach. “But a hand is not an object!” I tried to stifle a laugh. “That’s not funny, Amelia!” “Yeah, it is”, I responded, “I guess you just have to accept your defeat… And Brandon, good job! That was smooth.” He gave me an approving grin and then put his arm around Zack. “Come on, we wanted to get breakfast, remember?” “I guess”, he mumbled and as they walked out the door, we could hear: “I would never forgive you for this if you weren’t that cute…”

“Phew, they’re gone”, Kaitlyn sighed as I sat down next to her. “Yeah, you won’t try to kill me, right?” “Of course not… Wanna hold my hand?”, she said with a serious expression, before we both started laughing. “But really, I can’t promise anything”, she said with an apologetic look. “Well, same.” I snuggled up to her. “Good to know that my girlfriend cares more about winning than me…” I was about to counter, that she said that first, when I saw her teasing smile. “Ugh, shut up.” She giggled and gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “Oh, did you see the group chat?”, she asked, “Darren and Edgar were also murdered.” “Wow, this goes down faster than expected…”

Later that day we were all casually hanging out – except for Chris, who had training. Which was disappointing because I was still waiting for a chance to murder him. “So how do you think season 2B will pick up after yesterday’s episode?”, I asked, laying on the couch with my head in Kaitlyn’s lap. “Oh, oh, I drew something – I wanted to show you!” Abbie got up and disappeared into her room. “How did she make fanart so fast?” I wondered and got a bunch of nonsense answers. “Magic?” “Being a vampire.” “Time travel!”

“Ta-Dah”, she came back waving a piece of paper around. Tyler stretched out his hand. “Let me see first!” “Here you go”, she handed it over, “And you’re dead, sweetie, sorry…” She didn’t look sorry at all. Tyler’s face on the other hand was priceless. “B-But… I… you… I was supposed to kill you, too!” He fumbled around in his pockets and showed Abbie the paper with her own name. “Does that mean, I’m dead?”, she asked and started to look a little more sorry. “Ha!”, Zack was jumping up and down, “That is an even dumber death than mine, yesss!” “No, it wasn’t”, Kaitlyn commented, bringing Zack down to the floor immediately. “Oh, I don’t care, dammit, just look at my pic, ok?”

By Sunday morning Tripp and James were killed, too, and the six of us suitemates sat together for breakfast. I had made pancakes and bacon, so it was pretty awesome. “Hey, need some more syrup, Kaitlyn?” Chris held the bottle in her direction. “Ha ha, nice try, pretty boy…” His cheeks turned pink. “W-What? I wasn’t, I mean I don’t even…” “I think you can save it, we’re not buying that”, Zack said laughing. “No, really- ugh forget it, will someone just pass me the bacon?”, he sighed. My chance! “Yep, here you go!” I quickly picked up the plate with the bacon and handed it to him. “Thanks, Amelia, at least you-“ “Aaand you’re dead!”, I said with a wink. “Ugh, no…” “Just give me your paper.” He reluctantly gave it to me and I read the name. Kaitlyn. Oh, well.

I was still figuring out a genius plan to catch my girlfriend off guard, when someone knocked on the door later that day. “I’ve got it!”, I shouted and went to open it, since everybody else had disappeared to their rooms or wherever. Madison greeted me with a hug. “Hey, Amelia, it’s been really boring at the house – you know Sunday afternoon and stuff – so I thought I’d give you guys a visit. What are you up to?” “Not much really”, I said and let her step inside, “Tyler and Abbie are out and everyone else just found something to do…” “Oh, ok, then just you and me?”, she seemed unbothered, “Um, where can I put my jacket?” She held it in front of her. I automatically stretched out my hand. “Here, let me-“ I saw the glistening in her eyes and put my hand back down. “Just throw it over one of the chairs…”

“Guess what! I killed Brandon!” Kaitlyn came around the corner smiling triumphantly, “And that means-“ She saw Madison and stopped in her tracks. “… There are only three people left in the game”, I finished that sentence. We all looked at each other. This was going down. Now.

Madison smiled at me. “Can’t we just forget about the game for a moment? Let’s just hang-“ “Kaitlyn”, I interrupted, “I need to talk to you in private.” She nodded. “Give us a sec, Madison?” Then she led me to her room. As soon as she closed the door, I started talking. “Kaitlyn, you-“ “I know that you have to kill me…” I put a finger on her lips. “Yeah, yeah, but you have to help me! Madison wants to get me and she’s going to! She’s too powerful: She’s cute and innocent, so she can talk you into anything! I think she has the most kills in this game… Please be my ally and murder her! … Wow, that sounds bad out of context…” She put her arms around my neck. “And how do I know you’re not just saying this to get a chance to kill me first?” “Well, I don’t wanna die”, I said while pulling her closer, “And either way in the end there will be two people, who have each other’s name, so I would rather win together with you than not at all…” “Oh, wow, how immensely selfless of you”, she teased me and backed away right before our lips would have touched, “But it makes sense, let’s do this!”

She stormed out of the room and I heard her shout: “Madison! I challenge you to a duel for Amelia’s life!” I ran after her and met Brandon and Zack in the corridor, who were drawn out by the noise as well. We found Kaitlyn standing face to face with Madison, two swords in her hands. “Swords?”, Brandon asked with a puzzled expression. “Cosplay”, Zack and I responded at the same time.

“We will fight with these”, Kaitlyn announced, “And if you win, Amelia has to take an object from you. But if I win, you have to take one from me…” Madison considered this for a moment, then said: “Fine.” “Oh, damn, she’s putting her hair up, this is serious”, Zack whispered in my ear and I could hear Brandon asking him, if the blades were sharp. I hoped not. Kaitlyn put one of the swords on the ground so Madison could take it. “I really don’t think this is a good-“ I tried to stop this from happening. “You can’t stop us, the deal has been made!”, my girlfriend exclaimed and swung her weapon at Madison, who parried skillfully. Zack, Brandon and I fled behind the kitchen counter.

“I can’t believe, they’re doing this. Awesome!” Zack was thrilled. “It is kinda hot”, I had to admit, “but this is gonna end in a disaster…” “I’m prepared to call an ambulance”, Brandon said and I was not sure if he was joking. The swords clashed together again and again while the two fighters manoeuvred their way around the small table in the living room. “Why… are… you… so… good at this?”, Kaitlyn grunted and staggered a few steps back, because she hadn’t parried properly. But she recovered and thrust at Madison without hesitating. Fortunately she had amazing reflexes or Kaitlyn’s sword would have stuck in her shoulder. “We have to stop them!”, I said in a low voice. “Easy”, Zack whispered back, “We just need a distraction…” There was a groan followed by “I’m fine, I’m fine!” and more clanging swords. “…Yeah, now.”

“What the actual heck?!”, a new voice appeared – Tyler’s. We three dove up from behind the counter. Abbie and Tyler stood in the door and stared stunned at situation. Madison and Kaitlyn had both lowered their weapons. “Kaitlyn, now!” I screamed and she understood. With a grim expression she leapt forward, stepped on the table and jumped in Madison’s direction bringing her sword down so hard, that Madison dropped hers. Not the finest technique, but it worked. Zack, Brandon, and I started cheering. “Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn!” She held her hand out to her defeated opponent with the biggest grin and Madison shook it. Tyler’s eyes were full of amazement: “That was-“ “super dangerous”, Abbie interrupted with a stern look.

“Well, nothing happened”, Kaitlyn said with a shrug, “Except that we won, oh yeah!” I ran over to her and hugged her. “I can’t believe we won the game!” “What? No! You can’t win together, there has to be one best murderer…”, Zack protested. “Of course we can!”, I replied and took Kaitlyn’s hand. “Come on, my heroic lady knight, I need to thank you for saving my life!” She giggled and let me pull her to my room. “Gross!” “Shut up, Zack!”

#choices secret santa #playchoices #gift exchange #amelia-is-watching #by ivyschoice #the freshman #murder ment #i realise now i've use 'shut up' too often #whoops #writing #long post #choices

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