#tagging both so people can insert their own opinions in the notes

[youwouldntdownloadapizza]

The Gates of Jackson | Joel Miller x F!Reader - Chapter 1

masterlist | ao3 | follow @youwouldntdownloadapizza and turn on notifications for updates

You showed up at the gates of Jackson with hands covered in blood and no memory of how you got there. That was two years ago. Since then, you've become Maria's right-hand woman and the person in charge of Jackson's logistical backend. Patrol schedules, inventory—all your purview. When a patrol gone wrong forces you to get to know Joel, memories of your past begin resurfacing—along with their consequences.

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pairing: joel miller x f!reader

rating: 18+, minors DNI

word count: 1.6k

tags: no use of y/n, eventual smut, no beta we die like sarah, jackson era, other additional tags to be added, slow burn, ellie needs a hug, joel lives, good parent joel, reader-insert, reader insert, forced proximity, only one bed trope, nightmares, childbirth, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, soft joel, cuddling & snuggling, fluff, masturbation, pining, joel falls first, possibly demisexual reader (tbd), ptsd, ptsd flashbacks, panic attacks, amnesia

chapter warnings: childbirth (mentioned)

Chapter 1

The first time you met Joel, he stank like shit. Literally, he smelled like he had rolled in it. You issued him soap, and sent him on his way. That was a loss to Jackson’s ledgers you were more than willing to take.

The second time, he smelled better. Unremarkable mostly, more of a neutral scent tinged with man smell around the edges. Nothing to write home about. Still, you issued him deodorant. Couldn’t take any chances.

He requested bullets, a basic first aid kit, and warm clothing. With Maria’s approval, you made the relevant deductions and issued the items at hand. You even sprung for wool socks. With a winter like this, he could use all the help he could get.

“You’re headed south, right?” you asked him as he packed a worn duffel bag.

“Colorado,” he replied. You waited, but that’s all he gave you. Guess he didn’t feel like elaborating.

“What about the girl, she need anything?”

He considered the offer, then asked, “You got any pens, pencils or anything? Notebooks? She likes to keep track of things, take notes. Draw, mostly,” he trailed off, scrubbing a hand over his face, “And we’re almost out of paper.”

You smiled at that. A girl after your own heart . “I’ll see what I can scrounge up.”

* * *

You asked Tommy about him, once the two of them were gone. He didn’t have much to say.

“Barely talked to the girl. Probably know about as much about her as you do. Joel… Well, Joel’s an enigma.”

You rolled your eyes at that. “Come on, Tommy. I’m asking for the basics, not his social security number.”

Tommy sighed. “He’s brash, he’s protective, he’s opinionated… I don’t know what much else to tell you. He’s just Joel. One of those people you gotta get to know just by knowing ‘em, I guess.”

You blinked twice. “Supremely helpful, Tommy.”

* * *

The next time you met Joel, he smelled better but looked worse. You only half-remembered his eyes, but something in them last time had been warmer. The ones you saw now were… dead, almost. Like something within them had been destroyed. Whether he’d been the one to do the destroying or it had been done to him remained to be seen.

You’d seen him and the girl with Tommy and Maria in the dining hall that first time they’d come to town, wolfing down chili like they’d just discovered, well, chili. They ate slower now, both of them, not like they weren’t in a rush but like their heads were elsewhere. The girl seemed to stare into nowhere—not all the time, but it was distinct when she did it.

Joel didn’t zone out. No, if anything he was zoned in . On that poor girl who had been so full of life just months ago, now hollowed out like far too many others. You’d see about filling her back up later. But for now, he was the one that perplexed you. Why was he so focused on her? What had happened out there? Part of you never wanted to find out, but part of you really, really did.

Regardless, she needed new shoes. So you joined them. The man stopped mid-chew, looking up at you with trepidation.

“Hi,” you smiled, “glad you two made it back in one piece.”

“Me too,” he replied, turning his attention back to his cud. You couldn’t tell if that was supposed to be a joke or not. You turned your attention to the girl.

“You’re Ellie, right? I’m Doe. Or that’s what most folks around here call me, anyway.”

“Doe?” She cocked an eyebrow. “Like a deer?”

“A female deer,” you winked back at her. She stared at you blankly. 

“It’s a song,” Joel muttered to her softly, “from before.”

“Oh,” Ellie nodded. The silence dragged, but thankfully you came prepared.

“Cobbler?” you offered bowls to each of them. It was fresh from the oven, still steaming and smelling of cinnamon.

“Yes, please!” Ellie yanked the bigger bowl towards herself, broccoli forgotten. She got a few bites in before Joel intervened, pulling the sugar aside and reinstating the vegetables. The girl frowned at that, but his pointed look said not to bother arguing. So she didn’t.

“Don’t worry, it’ll still be hot in a minute.” You tucked into your own cobbler, savoring the warm sweetness as it glided across your tongue. Even in Jackson, it was a delicacy. But it was spring, and the cherries were here. And you’d accounted for everything.

“Did you want something?” Joel asked, finishing his own plate and reaching for the cobbler.

“Ellie needs new shoes.”

“We’ve got it handled,” he said.

“Do you, though? You haven’t got much to trade with, and we’ve got plenty in inventory. That’s kind of what it’s there for. Why suffer blisters when communism’s got your back?”

“Can I?” Ellie’s face lit up. You liked seeing her eyes like that: brighter. They belonged that way.

Joel swallowed his cobbler, mulling over the idea. “After lunch,” he agreed, nodding to the eager teen. “Finish your cobbler first.”

* * *

Ellie’s new light-up sneakers lit the way as you exited the storeroom through your office. Joel had insisted on a sensible pair as well, but you couldn’t deny the kid a little whimsy.

“Maria give you your patrol schedule yet?” you asked him, nodding to the well-worn chalkboard in the corner. Routes on the left, days and times up top. Names filled in the boxes in between, a testament to your logistical wizardry.

“Not yet,” he said, crossing to examine it. “Guess she doesn’t need to, now.”

“I’ve got you paired up with Tommy. Seemed easiest, to get you started. You’ll be headed up to the lodge, it’s a pretty standard route. Get the occasional runner, but it’s wildlife more than anything.”

He nodded, heading toward where Ellie was already scampering out the door.

“See you Tuesday, I suppose. Guessing you’re the one to check-in with?” he asked.

You smiled at his correct assumption. 

“Sure am.”

* * *

You didn’t know Joel well enough to make assumptions about his punctuality, but Tommy was never late. Even you were late from time to time, often getting swept up in tasks and losing track of things. But the man was annoyingly punctual. According to Maria, that’s part of why she fell for him.

Tommy was late today.

You crossed to the large observation window lining one wall of your office. It gave you a clear view of the front gates and surrounding guard stations, but there was no sign of Tommy anywhere. Or Joel, for that matter.

A knock on your door interrupted your analysis. It was Eugene. The grizzled old man acted anything but, a smile breaking out across his face at the sight of you.

“Hey, Doe! How’s things?” He asked.

“Fine. I’m looking for Tommy, actually–”

“Didn’t you hear?” He interrupted, “Maria’s gone into labor. He’s with her at the clinic.”

Your stomach dropped. Here you were preparing to chew Tommy out for his tardiness when the whole time he’d been busy becoming a father. A very valid excuse.

“And Joel?” you asked. “They were supposed to patrol together this afternoon, lodge route.”

“Not sure. He wasn’t with them. Listen, I gotta go grab the baby blanket I made and drop it off, but you and I need to have a drink one of these days. I worry your hair’s gonna start falling out in clumps if you don’t take a break eventually.”

“Yeah, but then what would you do, patrol out to the dam with Jesse? There’s a reason I don’t pair you two up anymore.”

“Because you don’t like blackberries?” he chided.

You frowned, “No, because you spent so long harvesting them your 8 hour patrol took 12. I was this close to sending out a search party. A little planning prevents a lot of headaches, Eugene.”

He turned to leave, looking back over his shoulder to get the last word. “You know what else is good for headaches? Whiskey.”

You sent Eugene on his way with instructions to give Maria your best. You’d visit her when the baby was here. For now, you had a community to protect. 

With Tommy out of commission and Joel MIA, you’d have to find someone else to help you cover this patrol route. Dina was always a solid partner, if she was around. Devon the bartender could generally be counted on to have your back. Eugene would be ideal, but you didn’t want to make him work a double.

You headed to the stables to see who you could find. Upon entering, the warmth of the building and company of the animals soothed your unease, if only slightly. 

You found your horse’s stall, the gray spotted mare whinnying at your arrival.

“Hey, Bailey,” you smiled, offering her a slightly bruised apple. She took it gratefully, big brown eyes closing in enjoyment.

“She’s beautiful,” a voice said from behind you, making you jump.

“Sorry,” the voice stepped into the light, “It’s just me.”

“Joel,” you took a deep breath in an attempt to slow your racing heartbeat.

“Sorry I’m late–” 

You cut him off with a raised hand, looking him in the eye. 

“You’re not with your brother,” you finally said, more of a statement than a question.

“You’re not with your best friend,” he replied, offering no further details.

You sighed, debating arguing with him about it before deciding the subject was better left untouched. You had your reasons for staying away from childbirth. If Joel had his own, he was entitled to that. You weren’t going to press him on it, so long as he didn’t press you.

“Come on,” you said, swinging your leg over Bailey’s back and settling into the saddle, “We’re making up for lost time.”

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#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller smut #joel miller fluff #joel miller angst #joel miller series #joel miller fic #the last of us #tlou #joel x reader #joel x you #no use of y/n #joel miller x f!reader #jackson era #joel lives #ao3 #fanfic #fanfiction

[tequila-starlight]

Welcome to my blog! You can call me Star, and I go by any pronouns!

Below is my DNI, About Me, Asking Rules, Tags, Fandoms List and Works and Masterlists! Please don’t reblog this specific post, as it’s constantly updating!

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I do not condone the quote unquote ‘problematic’ things I write in real life. Fiction is different from reality. You, and only you, yourself are responsible for what you consume. My only job is to warn you.

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With all of that out of the way, let’s move on to my About Me, Asking Rules, Tags, Fandoms list, Works and Masterlists!!

About Me

This blog is mostly to answer questions and post my AO3 stories! While I usually write M/M ships, I do write F/F, M/F and others as well!

I’m a multishipper who loves ships, whether popular, rare or even crack! Characters are great too, especially underrated ones!

Both characters and ships for me range from neutral to absolutely love! There’s no such thing as hate!

All images were taken from Pixabay!

Header by Lk_Drak

Post Image (Dark) by ctvgs

Post Image (Light) by majacvetojevic

Post Image (Pink) by JillWellington

Avatar is drawn by me with my mouse on MS Paint :P

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This is strictly a positive, fandom-only blog. I will not answer asks involving politics, real world events, real people, and anything hateful.

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•Inform me if you find anyone using my works (You can message me too!)

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Examples:

User A said

Ns/fw

I want Character A and Character B to -insert highly erotic headcanon-

Or

User B said

Cw: Age gap

I think Character A and Character B being 50 and 70 respectively and in a relationship is hilarious

Tags

All not safe for work fics are tagged with ns/fw and will not be tagged with the fandom’s main tag. They will instead be tagged with ‘-fandom name- ns/fw’

Example: Tags for an explicit fic with Character A/Character B from Fandom C will be…

•ns/fw

•Fandom C ns/fw

•Character A

•Character B

•Character A X Character B

•Character B X Character A

•Character A/B’s ship name if there’s any

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For works with uncomfortable/triggering content, they will be tagged with ‘cw: -insert warning-’ and ‘cw -insert warning-’. Content warnings will only be applied to posts where the warning in question is part of the main story!

Current content warnings are…

•cw/cw: character death

•cw/cw: toxic relationship

Current tags are…

General

•got a drink? (When answering asks)

•a drink to remember (For ALL stories and masterlists)

•masterlist (For masterlists)

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Pokémon

•pokemon (non ns/fw only)

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•pokemon -character name-

Genshin Impact

•genshin impact (non ns/fw only)

•genshin (non ns/fw only)

•genshin impact -character name-

•genshin -character name-

Fandom List

Feel free to chat to me about any of the fandoms in this list, even if I’m not writing for them!

Fandoms I write for:

•Pokémon (Most often written about)

•Genshin Impact (2nd most written about)

Fandoms I don’t write for (I do make exceptions sometimes though!), but otherwise am familiar with:

•Avatar: The Last Airbender

•Bayonetta

•Beastars

•Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)

•Bungou Stray Dogs

•Cookie Run

•Cookie Run Kingdom

•Cute High Earth Defense Club Love! (Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE)

•Danganronpa

•Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba)

•Ensemble Stars!

•Ensemble Stars!!

•Free!

•Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

•Hazbin Hotel

•Helluva Boss

•Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu)

•Kakegurui

•Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni)

•Link Click (Shiguang Dailiren)

•Mario

•My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia)

•Mr Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san)

•Paradox Live

•Promare

•Puella Magi Madoka Magica

•Revolutionary Girl Utena

•SK∞ the Infinity

•Sonic the Hedgehog

•Soul Eater

•Spy × Family

•The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong)

•Thunderbirds (1965)

•Thunderbirds Are Go

•Twisted Wonderland

•Yuri!!! on ICE

Works and Masterlists

I hope you enjoy all my labours of love!

NS/FW works/Masterlists containing NS/FW works and/or Content Warnings are bolded!

Remember to read all tags before starting!

Pokémon Works

Stormy Night, Warm Embrace (Friede/Amethio)

Pokémon Masterlists

TSME Week 2024 Masterlist

Genshin Impact

Fears and Fantasies (Arlecchino/Furina)

Genshin Impact Masterlists

-None so far!-

Other Works

-None so far!-

#blog rules #welcome to my blog!

[zgvlt]

As a writer I wanted to ask if numbers (specifically likes or reblogs) matter to you? I want to start posting on Tumblr (reader-inserts for TWST too) but I'm scared I'll end up getting demotivated due to a lack of traction :( I know people say to just write for yourself but what would the point of posting it be then? I just wanted to know your opinion on this.

Oh my answer is going to be a little lengthy! I'll be answering this based on my own perceptions so it's totally fine if people think differently than me :>

Short answer: mostly yes, and i don't think it's a bad thing to care about numbers 😌 but dont let it consume you and as much as possible try not to let it discourage you from writing what you want!

Long answer: Personally, above all, feedback matters to me the most! Hearing what people think/if people enjoyed my fics is much more important that seeing numbers go up.

However in most cases feedback does count towards the numbers— other than feedback through asks, feedback tends to come in the form of reblogs (both reblog in text and tags) or in replies on Tumblr, which contribute to the notes count. Plus, because the tagging system isn't always... working, reblogs, which also contribute to notes and therefore numbers, are incredibly important in getting your work out there, thus getting feedback, which in turn usually gives fic writers the motivation to keep writing and posting. Likes, well, don't really do anything to get your stuff out there even though your notes will mostly be comprised of likes, but they're kind of cute to see, especially when it's a name you recognize like a "it's you again!" or a "wait that's someone i follow they liked something i wrote?"

Plus, I'm just a really big fan of looking at numbers, which is why I said my perception might be different. I like math and love statistics, so it's kind of satisfying seeing something go from 8 notes to a hundred.

Still, I honestly think the TWST community (even with some bad apples) has a lot of very supportive people when it comes to writers, who love giving writers attention, especially newer blogs. The community isn't perfect but it's a community consistently growing and a community that can never get enough of content, so there's always room for more fic writers, and artists in general, you know?

I think it never hurts to at least try and dip your toes in writing and posting! See I think the key thing when people connect writing for yourself to not caring about the numbers is to actually write for yourself and at your own pace? In my years of experience writing there were a few things that got me to stop. The first was just losing interest in the fandom, it's normal and it's okay, the second is lack of feedback, which if you've put out work you're happy enough to post it's on the audience's part to provide it, and the third is burnout from requests.

The thing is when you get requests, you work on it and there's this added pressure of getting it out quickly and making sure it has to be good enough for others to like it and not just yourself, and then if it gets little feedback and numbers, it feels like a double whammy? basically awful. of course writing for yourself doesn't mean never take requests, go for it especially if it's something that motivates you and you enjoy! but what i'm saying is try not to be too harsh or give yourself too much pressure so you enjoy the writing process and you have less regrets overall...

and well, sometimes you just have writing slumps and that's normal. If you ever encounter it I promise there's no harm in taking a break, maybe do other things until you find the motivation to write again. Most people do not have the motivation to pump out fics regularly without pause and you shouldn't pressure yourself to do so! Some days you'll probably find yourself writing a lot and some none at all and that's normal!

Anyway this post is getting long haha but yeah, I think just find a healthy balance— it's okay to care about the numbers but try not to stress too much over it, try your hand at posting, and if you do find yourself demotivated then remember to take appropriate measures whether it's to take a hiatus or writing for a different fandom or whatever you need to do

Plus, you know, general reminder that many writers leave due to lack of reblogs replies and feedback in general, and seeing people leave might discourage others from even starting, so as much as possible show your writers love even if it's just an ask 💖

#—nathyask #—anonnie #wow this post got long oops #hopefully my wording was alright #personally itd be a lie to say i didnt care about numbers #bc i do but mostly bc of what the numbers represent #like i enjoy writing for myself i still do write for myself above all #but its a wonderful feeling when something you wrote for yourself others also enjoy #but yk i also dont wanna be discouraging to say yes care about numbers only #just yk healthy balance care if you want but dont let it consume you #—banathyaqueue

[sparklesandmarvel]

I posted 3,262 times in 2022

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@samwilsonsb4be

@xo-tough-love-xo

@samwontshare

@jemgirl86

@keepsitonehunned

I tagged 160 of my posts in 2022

#marvel - 121 posts

#mcu - 119 posts

#sam wilson - 74 posts

#tfatws - 59 posts

#captain america - 54 posts

#the falcon and the winter soldier - 47 posts

#anthony mackie - 42 posts

#wakanda forever - 36 posts

#black panther - 30 posts

#bucky barnes - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i didn't include shots of like the sink area where you can see the scrub brushes and the sponges and all that this post was kinda long as i

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I would've liked Bucky to be in Cap 4 but honestly, there's such a sense of relief that he isn't because now we can finally focus on Sam without having to hear from bucket fans about him all the freaking time. Sam can lead his own project and I'm excited for it. Isaiah Bradley is back Joaquin Torres is back, I hope Sam's family (Sarah and Aj and Cass) will be back but so far we got all we need for a Cap movie.

Just because Bucky and Sam aren't together doesn't mean they're on bad terms it just means it'll be a bit until we see them together cause they got separate lives and hero journeys. Also it's Marvel, Bucky could very well show up for 30 seconds.

Either way I'm not pressed about it, it's Sam's time to shine!

110 notes - Posted September 10, 2022

#4

And Cap 4 has a Director!!!

I'm 😊 excited!

113 notes - Posted July 8, 2022

#3

See the full post

229 notes - Posted October 27, 2022

#2

This is why people annoyed me when they thought that Sam was being overdramatic and was wrong for giving up the shield in tfatws, it was never about him not feeling worthy. It was about having to deal with constant racism like this shit here (among other things).

People constantly not giving him the same respect that they gave Steve. People constantly inserting their opinion "Bucky would've been better," for no actual reason. Constantly having to deal with unnecessary stress and judgment simply because he's Black and taking over the mantle from Steve. They would NOT be acting like this if Steve gave the shield to Bucky.

The Steve yall love so much choose him to be the next Captain America both in the comics and in the MCU. Get over it! At this point you're just being racist. Sam Wilson IS CAPTAIN AMERICA, deal with it.

Anthony Mackie is more than Capable of being Captain America and will do an amazing job. He's more than deserving of the title.

477 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

1 Year Ago Sam Wilson Reclaimed the Mantle of Captain America

Let's hear it for Captain America!

See the full post

511 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[elminx]

I posted 1,014 times in 2022

That's 306 more posts than 2021!

412 posts created (41%)

602 posts reblogged (59%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@elminx

@a-witch-named-crow

@windvexer

@serpentandthreads

@hexfeathers

I tagged 903 of my posts in 2022

Only 11% of my posts had no tags

#witchblr - 660 posts

#mine - 499 posts

#words - 495 posts

#personal - 221 posts

#astrology - 207 posts

#transits - 106 posts

#energy update - 70 posts

#photography - 66 posts

#plant allies - 56 posts

#kitchen witch - 55 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#also if you have any good trigger warning about a particular astrology book feel free to send me a message about it and i'll include it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

There are no "laws" in witchcraft - everything that I say, and everything that every other witch/magician/sorcerer says (even if they claim you HAVE TO DO IT!!!!1111!!!!) is merely a suggestion.

Your magic should fit you - your belief system. Your strengths. Your lifestyle.

Nobody knows what that can mean except for you. You have to make all of the difficult decisions.

I personally find this to be incredibly terrifying (at first) but also freeing.

This isn't grade school anymore - there isn't only one way to think or act. You can choose to work with deities, or not. You can choose to be a mostly ascetic witch. You can cast a spell once a year or every day (though every day is probs exhausting). You can primarily use affirmations or only work with herbs. You can create long-drawn-out ceremonies or yell emphatically at your cup of coffee in the morning.

You can tell the gods "No". (I promise - I've done it)

If it works, it works.

Magic is a completely personal thing.

If you are the kind of person who tends to believe everything that you read, stay aware. Don't absorb other people's thoughts/beliefs if they don't work for you. Don't let somebody else talk you out of the magic that works for you.

There's no boogeyman coming to get you if you do it wrong. That also doesn't mean that there aren't consequences, but that's a different discussion for another day.

177 notes - Posted March 10, 2022

#4

I've gotta tell you something (and this may be an unpopular opinion but oh well...)

I've been doing spirit work since ~2000 and I never needed to have any significant protection on myself or my house until I met an unhinged witch.

People are, generally, more dangerous than spirits.

196 notes - Posted June 19, 2022

#3

Here's the thing: it takes absolutely NOTHING to assume that somebody else on Tumblr has done the work, knows what they are talking about, and is sharing what works for them.

Sometimes I read people's posts and I'm all "Whut?!?" about it, but I assume that means that it's not meant for me and that's fine. I hope that it reaches somebody else who it resonates with.

On the other hand, sometimes I read people's posts and it breaks my mind that I haven't thought of that before now.

Both are great, in their own way.

I absolutely love reading about people using magic in a way that I will never - maybe ever could never - do. That's fascinating AF.

I also love being affirmed by finding people's stuff and feeling a bit of kindred spirit or inspiration.

Maybe it's my Gemini Venus shining through but I'm legit curious about it allllllllll.

336 notes - Posted June 7, 2022

#2

I'm not saying that I do spirit work right (because, IMHO, there is no right), but I treat the spirits that I meet like I would a random cat on the street.

Something like this: oh my gods! you precious thing! thank you so much for showing yourself to me! you are the prettiest (insert type of spirit - often rock, flower, tree, sometimes wind, etc.) I've seen all day.

I'll be real here. It's worked out really well so far. I don't get attacked. I don't get followed home (well, I do, but not in a malicious way). Occasionally I get a "meh" in the same way as I get at "no human, no way can you pet me" like I would get from a random cat.

And it's totally fine. Spirits have as much right to choose to interact with me as I have to choose to interact with them.

380 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Re: digital taglocks

They work. Quite well.

This is why if you have valid reasons to suspect that a person in your life has the means and intent to do you magical harm, your first step in protecting yourself should be the make sure that they do not have access to your digital footprint. Block them from seeing all of your social media, if possible. Make sure your photos are not public.

If you suspect that they may have photos of you from the past, change how you look. (Cutting and/or dyeing your hair is the easiest way to do this)

This is not meant to be scare tacticy. Most people will not get magically attacked by other people. This is meant for somebody who has a REASON to assume magical harm.

420 notes - Posted October 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#year in review #hmmmm interesting #at least I agree with my top 5 posts lol #that would be awkward if I was all nah #I didn't mean that #ooops #lawlz #personal

[autisticandoddlyspecific]

I feel like I gotta talk about shipping Spinel. Specifically in regards to each party member's mental maturity.

I find simultaneously some people saying "why would anyone be attracted to Spinel, isn't she like mentally a child?" and some saying "why would anyone ship Spinel with *insert minor here* they're literally a minor"

The way Spinel is written and shown in the series gives different people entirely different ideas of Spinel's mental capacity/maturity, and different people of the same general opinion will still give you different reasons as their primary for why they hc Spinel to be the they do.

and I gotta ask: Is it wrong to think that both interpretations are valid? bc I totally see how a person could interpret her mental maturity either as more like just an adult with some issues and/or is ND, or interpret her as more like an actual child. I don't even think it's ableist or anything to read her as "mentally a child" or similar just because I personally read her are more similar to autistic adult like myself. And fictional characters aren't like real life people. They are who we make of them, and who you intend/interpret them to be is who they are in the reality that is your mind.

In my mind, in order to deem all Spinelx[minor] ships as pedophilic, I would need to deem any and every interpretation of Spinel someone has in which she has a mind more like that of a minor than an adult as wrong and not valid. I don't really comprehend physical age the same way NT people do, but I can tell when characters are written the same age by their thought processes and the decisions they make. Maybe there is a way for people to genuinely not have this same kind of requirement somehow so if so, do tell me i am very curious and it can even potentially help me in confronting certain situations down the road.

But what I do when I encounter any ship with Spinel in it, is to see how she and her partner(s) are written. I judge on a case by case basis if a ship involving Spinel is one where everyone in it is "on a level playing field" as I like to say. Same deal with aging up characters. Are they written like they're the same age? Because I am well aware that the label can say "goose" but the contents look a lot like gator, to put it metaphorically. I have to take a look for myself to judge the content of each work/series(this may include checking the author's page for sexually charged content featuring minors)

So I don't have the whole "stevinel" tag blocked, but I have blocked/blacklisted several fics and authors who i found ship Spinel in a "mentally uneven" way that I'm uncomfortable with.

I am, indeed, looking for feedback on this. I want to know what everyone's mindset is, and why they feel the way they do(if you're comfortable with sharing of course). It's something that is part of exploring my own self and gaining new skills. Maybe it's that it's hard for some to get past her appearance, maybe the way she acts just reads to them are more like a minor with mental issues than an adult with mental issues. Heck, maybe some people do deem her as immature for the same reasons people deem autistic/ND adults immature. I depend very heavily on observing others to even begin to think of the possibility of things most people don't even think about, like how I had a discussion recently about applying different lets of logic to fiction and reality. And only after people saying that was something they could do did I begin to feel like that was something I could do. Just please keep it respectful, or at least not telling other people they're terrible people who deserve terrible things like death or famine or whatever in the notes.

#geez this seems longwinded - but i did the best i can #Spinel #su spinel #spinel su #spinel steven universe #steven universe the movie #steven universe #shipping #steven universe future #su the movie #steven universe spinel #is that all of them? #idk I just want to get enough eyes to get some actual responses bc I get little to none usually unless I use every single possible tag #y'know stand on one leg... put in the konami code... sacrifice a pure white male lamb #that's what it feels like trying to be seen

[dduane]

Hi, I was wondering, what is your opinion of cryptocurrency and NFTs? I am in an argument with a friend. I say wizards would not support them. My friend thinks otherwise. Figured I'd go to the source. Thank you!

It’s always fun to be asked to do Word of God stuff, and always tempting to just say whatever first comes into the God(dess) Mind and then move on. But sometimes, with questions that are going to demand complicated answers, this is unwise. So please forgive me for sitting on this response while I teased out my own gut reactions and separated them from what suits a YWverse-based answer.

The tl:dr; version: I suspect that most thoughtful wizards would right now be deeply suspicious of both these manifestations, for a complex but somewhat interlocking set of reasons—not least the temptation to environmental vandalism in the pursuit of either wealth or perceived progressiveness.

(And always in the back of one’s mind should be the question that enables us to view these issues sub specie aeternitatis, as the Powers that Be would do: with the very longest view implied in the question, “Does this [thing or behavior] speed up entropy?”)

(...BTW: yes, many far older technologies and innovations—like banking and capitalism—are also deeply problematic in what they’ve become. Don’t think I’m not aware. But our subject here is the newer tech.)

(You will also note that in this post I am being cagey about calling these things by their mainstream names or acronyms. Naming them by their, uh, “true names”, tends to attract the unwanted attention of bots. Wow, it’s almost like what happens when you mention a specific major YW-verse character by name. How interesting...!* ...But this being the case: I’d appreciate it if people didn’t use those mainstream names/acronyms in the tags. Please & thank you...!)

…So here comes a cut, as cripes, this is a long post even for me.

...So let’s take the subject piece by piece. (And at all times bear in mind that it’s almost certain that others’ opinions will vary from mine, but [shrug] when I’m acting as God, that’s their problem.) (insert extremely dry smiley here)

The kickoff question: What are crÿπtocυrrencíes supposed to be for?

If you ask their creators, the answers you get can sound, on first reading, quite positive. (This Forbes article--bearing in mind Forbes’s essential conservatism and capitalist slant—is as good a grounding in the subject as any.)

Yet once you’ve turned these answers over and looked underneath them... at least to me, it becomes impossible not to notice that baked into these systems from the start are techniques and conditions that seem almost custom-built to shelter them from both regulation and transparency in financial transactions. These currencies are built so that you can pay people for things and not have the transaction be traceable back to you.

Now, naturally there are honest reasons for wanting to do such a thing. (For example: what if you want to make a digital charitable donation without having it traceable back to you? Or: What if you need a way to keep some of your financial transactions private from an abusive partner/spouse/other? ...And I imagine it’d be easy enough for anyone reading this to think of various others. I’ll leave that as an exercise for the readership.)

But there is a really, really big dishonest thing enabled by setting up a currency this way: money laundering -- both the laundering of “real money” currencies so that their value can seem to have been achieved legally (and so can be used to buy other currencies to spend), and inside/among the digital currencies themselves.

The regulations that most governments have set up, these days, to interfere with money laundering, are a serious thorn in the sides of both big-time and small-time crooks. Among such people a more or less constant search for ways around these regulation goes on, and indications are that a lot of people with laundering on their minds have their eye on the various digital currencies.

Add to this situation the understanding that in such currencies, transactions are meant (as stated in the foundation document linked to above) to be irreversible, and a couple of other more or less unavoidable human behaviors immediately intrude themselves: theft and fraud.  Any system devised by human beings can be defrauded... and people are busy at that (exactly as in more traditional financial venues) right now.

(Here’s one recent example, proving once again that [as if we didn’t know] naughty people are everywhere. These two bleeding-edge would-be influencers quite happily participated in a huge crγptοcμrrency theft and were busily attempting to launder the stolen coin when they got caught. [As to how they did it: a look at the vulnerabilities of the system is here.] ETA: And just today, as I’m writing, another biggish theft from one of the major énn-ëff-têe marketplaces has left many digital investors with empty wallets... and no way to find out who emptied them. Yes, the blοckchαin records the pseudonym of the person who seems to have taken the money. But how can/will the thief/thieves be pursued without the pursuers having to go to the very regulatory and governmental bodies they say all this was supposed to free people from...?)

No matter when you’re reading this, I don’t think you’ll have to Google very hard to find that something dodgy-sounding has happened in this area in the last day or three. (This one caught my attention a week or two ago. The combined sense of breathless credulity, ill-concealed greed and not-really-having-thought-this-through had me alternately laughing, moaning, and waiting to hear that Netflix had bought the story to make a miniseries out of it, something like the tale of a digital Fyre Festival.) ETA 2: Also, if you’re presently invading another country and desire to avoid the effects of international financial sanctions against you, these currencies are just the thing.

Regardless of all the talk about getting ordinary people out from under unfair regulation and allowing them to make and receive payments without a middleman, not very much of this seems to be happening at the moment. (The estimate is that very very little mining is being done by “ordinary people” because it’s simply become too expensive: you need a lot of extremely pricey equipment to make enough digital money to be worth your while. One stat I saw suggests that a majority of digital currency is presently owned by 1% of the people using it [does this sound at all familiar?...]. For all the noisy claims of future good effects these currencies will have for “all kinds of people everywhere”, there seems to be precious little of this kind of thing going on at the moment. 

To me, therefore, the digital currencies seem at this point to primarily be a toy for well-heeled investors and those with “money to burn” to play around with: a way for rich people to get richer. And the hugely extravagant energy costs of “mining”/producing digital wealth in such currencies at a time when the planet’s environmental health already stands on a razor’s edge makes it seem to me that such behavior is either idiotic or deeply selfish: as I said above, a continuing act of ecological vandalism. 

...So. Here’s the shape of the scale in which this phenomenon must be weighed within the YW universe’s frame of discourse.

We are not the Powers that Be. We inhabit a 4D space, and unlike life forms inhabiting more central/multidimensional spaces in which time is just one more direction or vector in/along which they can move at will, we have no power to quickly or easily determine whether a given act or intention or phenomenon will eventually improve people’s lives or become a technology that will change the world for the better. And lacking more accurate data, it would be most unwise and probably actively unethical (the Powers would say) to assume that one can safely go ahead and act to enable such technologies secondary to anyone’s reassurance that they could (or would) someday do wonderful things. Indeed such choices would become even dodgier when the technologies in question are doing bad things right now.

For those of us stuck in a one-way timeflow, there is neither virtue nor wisdom in supporting a concept because of some vague unproven good it may possibly do in the future. The place where our home timeflow is in contact with the eternal is here and now, the present—and the only logical way to make choices about what concept to support is to see what is being done with it now.  If human nature, or human behavior, appears mostly to be handling a new technology, however promising, in ways that are exploitative, cruel, dishonest, or are otherwise increasing entropy now... then the wise wizard would take that as a hint that the tech involved is (at the very least) problematic, and to be handled cautiously... if at all. Because there is no guarantee that promises will necessarily ever be kept.

As regards the theoretically-not-fúngïble end of things:

Again, when you look at what the positives are supposed to be, a lot is said about how good the concept is supposed to be for artists. And as an artist (in a couple of modes) myself, naturally this sounds interesting. So I’ve looked into it as it started to unfold.

Yes, one does hear stories about an artist who’s doing well out of it. Some of the people in this article have made amounts of money the very thought of which makes my eyes water. But if this technology’s all it’s cracked up to be, surely there should be a lot more stories about how well it’s worked for “average artists”, yeah?

What I’ve seen, though, is that most “average artists’” experience with this tech so far seems to have been negative. In particular, lesser-known artists, or those with low or modest profiles—and theoretically a lot less (monetary...) ability to fight what’s happened to them—are being targeted for scams and ripoffs. Here are some stories about this kind of thing:

https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/who-stole-my-art-how-nfts-are-disrupting-the-art-world

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/nft-crypto-scams-how-to-not-get-scammed-1286614/

https://circleid.com/posts/20220125-nfts-and-emerging-scams

https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/24/nft_users/

(I forget whether it’s mentioned in any of the above, but artists posting to DeviantArt have had so many problems with having work posted there lifted for en-nef-ts that the platform itself has had to install a warning system for when it’s happened.)

...Finally: I’ll grant you that tales of technologies working beautifully, exactly as intended, with no bad circumstances for anybody, are (no matter what the technology) going to be thin on the ground. And it doesn’t mean such things aren’t happening. The question is: even if they are, is it good to assist / become involved with such technologies when they are also doing so many crap things? At least tapping on the brakes would seem advisable.

My current reaction to the ėnn éff têe end of things—as regards what wizards would make of it—would be that at present, these paired techs are increasing entropy at a considerable rate, and should be handled with the utmost caution, if not avoided entirely. Maybe some day this trend will reverse. But signs of that, at the moment, seem pretty thin on the ground. And lacking any useful hints from the Powers that Be, I’d stay well away until the technology stabilizes ... if it ever does.

HTH! And thanks for asking.

*And isn’t that by itself a little peculiar? Why are the people behind those bots trying so hard to sell these currencies, or artifacts, to everybody in sight? You have to wonder...

#Young Wizards #Young Wizards meta #new technologies

[buckybarnesdiaries]

i'm not the winter soldier anymore, i'm james buchanan barnes

© @captaincentenarian

bucky barnes x reader. ⎢ masterlist.

SPOILERS — 1x03!!!

you help Bucky with a panic attack, after coming back from Madripoor.

word count: 1.145 words.

warnings/tags: ptsd situation, panic attack, reader insert.

author notes: none of my stories contain reader’s body descriptions to be inclusive.

Join the tag list here.

It wasn't inevitable for you to not notice that Bucky had been absent-minded since the three of you came to the bar. The beers were rolling on the table as the chat turned from their mission to Sam's war stories. You were having a good night, sharing laughs and past adventures, disconnecting from work, until Bucky stood up while having a long sip from his bottle. I need air, he just said, causing your other partner and you to look at each other a little confused. You glanced at him leaving the place before putting back your attention on Sam. He waved his head to the exit, urging you to follow the soldier outside.

You didn't need anything else to do it, leading your steps throughout the crowd of people there to find Bucky. Once outdoors and zipping up your jacket, you glimpsed a shadow coming into the next corner to a dead-end street. Rubbing your nose, you continued to the alley without hesitating, hearing some grunts echoing between both buildings. He was there. Hands placed against the wall, head bowed and eyes closed. His chest rose and fell furious, trying to breathe. You didn't think about your actions, putting a foot wrong when you rested your fingers on his middle back.

His whole anatomy shook, walking away from you almost sweating and scared, but ready to attack. Until Bucky laid his eyes on you.

“It's okay, it's okay… It's me”. You intoned using a soft and calm tone of voice.

“Sorry, uh… I just… I can't bre— breathe”. He waved the vibranium hand close to his chest, gasping like a fish out of water.

He was having a panic attack and you knew exactly why. Taking two long strides, you landed a hand on the back of his head and grabbed his flesh hand strongly, guiding him to the closest wall to rest him on it.

“Hey, hey, James… James focus on me, c'mon, focus on me”. You called him, sliding your fingers across his neck to force him to look at you. “Breathe with me, okay?”

Fixing your orbs in his, you show him how he had to do it. Inhaling through your nostrils, holding the air for three seconds, and exhaling it by your nose. He followed your instructions, once and again, until he was respiring quietly and normally.

“Now, repeat with me. I'm not the Winter Soldier anymore, I'm James Buchanan Barnes”.

“I'm no— not the Winter… Soldier anymore… I'm James Buchanan Barnes”.

“That's it… That's it... One more time. Can you say it for me one more time? Please”. Your honeyed tone made his pulse slow down, nodding with his chin.

“I'm not the Winter Soldier anymore. I'm James Buchanan Barnes”. His voice was firm now, finally believing his own affirmation.

“You back?” You whispered caressing his rough cheek using your thumb.

“Yeah… I just… had all those voices… screaming inside my head. I couldn't shut them up”. He explained, squeezing your hand between his digits, rested close to his heart. “That… That… I, uh… In Madripoor… I… I heard Zemo saying how easy was for me to… y'know, come ba—”

“Don't do that to yourself, Bucky. You've worked really hard to be where you are right now”.

“You mean in an alley that smells like peed and puke, having an atta—”.

Again, you didn't think about your actions, slapping his face with your free hand and furrowing towards him. Bucky's mouth dropped to the floor, more than surprised and gulping a complaint.

“Why…? Did you just…? What the hell?”

“You were wandering again”. You excused your gesture. “Want another, uh?”

“Hell, no!” He pouted at you, looking through his eyelids trying to make you feel sorry. “Why a slap? Did you think that was a good way to calm somebody? Why not a kiss?”

“Oh, god… here we go 'gain”. You couldn't help but roll your eyes with the intention of drawing some distance between both, but he pushed you closer till your chests were practically stuck to the other.

“'M not stupid”. He scoffed securing his vibranium arm around your lower back to not let you go.

“I was worried, Buck”.

“See? You call me like that”.

“Like what? It's your name”.

“Uh… Not actually”. The soldier replied, shaking his head to both sides briefly. “Only Steve called me like that, he was my friend”.

“So am I”.

“Are you?”

His gaze made you feel weak, breaking down the walls around your heart that too much time costed you to build. You licked your upper lip with resignation, leaning and resting your forehead on his clavicle. You afforded to close your eyes and tour his neck back to his scalp to tangle your fingers there, slowly, gently, fondly. It was a step to admit your real feelings for Bucky, and he accepted it without refusing.

The soldier kissed your temple to put his chin on top of your head, holding you tighter and rolling down his eyelids to only focus on your caresses. For an instant, everything disappeared around you. The world got emptied. The noise got shut down.

“I was scared. Not for me, but for you”. You confessed, not needing to explain why. He was conscious about your reasons because he was too somehow. “But that's not gonna happen again”.

At the moment you raised your face, Bucky took the advantage to press his lips on your forehead. “How could it, if I have you to remind me who I am?”

“I'm just a plus, Buck. Don't give me a credit you earned by yourself and your constant work. You did it alone, I just supported you”.

“Like fewer people did, and like fewer people do”.

“You've never cared about people's opinion”.

“Yeah, till my relationship with Sam changed. And till I met you”. Bucky affirmed very securely.

“But don't forget you're a fighter. You're strong, you deserve good things to happen to your life”.

“I won't”. He responded, bringing your hand tangled to his flesh one to his lips, placing a kiss on the back of yours. “Thank you…”

“You don't have to”. Clicking your tongue, you couldn't help but roll your eyes. “Let's come back to the bar, we need another round of beers”.

“I can't get drunk, remember?”

“You have so much fun watching me being drunk, remember?”

“How could I forget it? You always make that… horrible impression of my arm, with those… robot noises”. Bucky chuckled, pinching your side and causing you to jump slightly under his grip. Your laugh made him feel better.

“C'mon! You love it!”

“Oh, yeah, I do”. He opened his eyes a little more, nodding his head while placing his vibranium arm on your shoulders, but without loosening the hold around your other hand. “I'd like to see you imitating Sam tonight”.

“Nasty boy…” You joked with a giggle.

feedback is appreciated. lemme know in a comment if you enjoyed it. and REBLOG!!! 🤍

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#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x female reader #james bucky barnes x reader #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan x you #bucky barnes #bucky x you #bucky x reader

[bucky-barnes-diaries]

NSFW Alphabet (N-Z)

Part 1 | Part 2

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

Pairing: Sam Wilson x Female! Reader

Summary: A-Z of just smut (and some fluff).

Word Count: 1324

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, minors DNI, unprotected vaginal sex, oral (male/female receiving), masturbation (male/female), overstimulation, creampie, multiple orgasms, teasing, slight spanking, sex toys, cursing, language, mention of bodily fluids.

Authors Note: POSTING IN 2 PARTS! Because Tumblr won’t let you have more than 250 text blocks. Happy Birthday to Sam! I love how this turned out and I hope you all do too! Enjoy loves <3

Main Masterlist | Sam Wilson Masterlist

Sign up here to join my taglist! If you are going to join the taglist please show support in following my blog as well!

Credit @ chrishemsworht for the wonderful gif

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He would never ever do something that would hurt you in any way, shape, or form.

He had told you countless times that if there ever was something you weren’t comfortable with in bed or something was hurting that you speak immediately.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

That man could live between your thighs if he had the chance. At every opportunity, he would search for your core to nuzzle his face in it and bring you earth-shattering after earth-shattering orgasm with his master tongue.

Sam was close to bringing you to a third orgasm in some random room at the party the two of you were attending.

His mouth was sinful as he sucked on your raw and abused clit for how long you didn't know. You lost track of time how long you've been spread out for him on some random surface as he was on his knees. The short dress you were wearing made it easy for him to have access to all of you.

“I-I don't th-think I can d-do one mo-more baby.”

“Just one more. Just one more for me.”

“Shouldn't we go back to the party? People must wonder where we are.”

“I don't care. I don't like the food there. This here is much better. Now cum for me one last time.”

He wouldn’t say no to an offer from you in sucking him off. He just wishes sometimes you would have picked a more appropriate time to do so.

“Her? Now?” Sam questioned as you were on your knees trying to undo his pants. The two of you were at a party, and you had gotten the sudden urge to feel him on your tongue, so desperate to taste him.

You had pushed him into some random small broom closet. The crowns of people outside having no idea what was going on just a few meters from them.

“Yes now. Do you not want me to?” You asked innocently as you grabbed his dick through his underwear. “N-no, I want to. Please keep going… fuck.”

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

If he’s been angry and frustrated that day, it’ll be more rough than usual. You could feel him take that little bit of frustration out on your body as he fucked you hard and fast from behind.

Not that you mind. It was terrible to admit, but you loved those times when he got home from his day a little angrier. Your thighs clenching together in knowledge that he would handle you roughly in bed.

Your head was buzzing as Sam fucked you into oblivion from behind. He had gotten home frustrated and in desperate need to release some steam. Your hands were gripping the sheets tightly in your palms to keep you grounded from his abusive thrusts.

His palm continuously left harsh slaps on your ass cheeks as he fucked you deeply into the mattress.

It didn't take long for both of you to release. His hands held a tight grip on your hips as he fucked you just a tad longer after the orgasm.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

If there really isn’t time for foreplay and exploring each other, he has nothing against a quickie if one of you is in a rush.

“We don’t have time for this Y/N! We need to leave in 10 minutes.”

“10 minutes is more than enough, Sam! We just need to be very quick.”

The rush to get his pants down as well as your underwear under the dress down was immense as you only had a few minutes to bring each other pleasure before you had to leave for the fancy gala both of you were attending.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He’s up for exploring new possibilities in bed if that’s what you want.

New positions, maybe some toys that could be used to enhance both of your pleasures.

If you were game, he was as well.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

You have sex almost every day. That man can last as long as he wants and is good to go for 2-3 rounds. You don't understand how in the fuck he does it. It's like a secret superpower he has. He mainly uses it to his advantage when he wants to tease you to the fullest.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

There won’t be that many toys that are used. Sam always says that his mouth, hands, and dick are the only toys that are needed in the bedroom.

Once in a while, he will ask you to fuck yourself with the dildo in your drawer while he watches intensely.

“Please, Sam, can you just come and touch me?” The drive of the toy inside yourself was good, but it would never please you in the same way Sam did.

“No, no. I want to watch. You’ll get me later. Now show me what you do to yourself when I’m not at home.”

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

There is teasing to some degree, but he mostly wants to get right on.

But those few times he does actually want to tease you, he’ll take his sweet time in doing so, driving you absolutely insane with need.

“No… please,” the pathetic plea for him not to deny your orgasm again was bringing a smirk to his expression.

“Shhh… I’m not done with you yet,” he said as his fingers were inserted in you once again to build you up. Was he going to allow you to let go this time? That would be left to see when the time came.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He can be loud at times, but mostly he’ll just let out grunts and moans of your name on a repeated loop. It became more evident just as he’s about to finish inside of you.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Sam loves drawn-out foreplay when he has plenty of time to spare.

He takes good care in preparing you and making you cum at least once before he’s even put his dick in you.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Have you seen how he walks? He’s thick and long, and he knows how to make you absolutely crazy with it. The way he holds himself just screams big dick energy.

You’ve been together for years, but you still can’t get used to his length inside of you, and you doubt you ever will.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

He’s always ready if you are. He’s not joking when he says he wants you 24/7, 365 days.

Even when the two of you are tired but still horny for one another, you will find a way to pleasure each other.

The two of you were laying on your sides, Sam’s chest pressed tightly against your back as his dick was driving itself in and out of your tightness.

It was early in the morning. The two of you were as tired as could be but the need to feel each other was intense.

It wouldn’t be long until the two of you released all over each other. On the bright morning, none of you would be able to hold on for long.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He always takes care of you before his eyes close for sleep. Washing you, cuddling you, running a bath for the two of you to relax in.

He can’t sleep unless he knows you have been appropriately taken care of.

“Good night, sweet girl. I love you.”

Part 1 HERE

Credit @ firefly-graphics for the wonderful divider

Thank you for reading <3 Feedback through a comment is highly appreciated if you liked it! As well as a reblog to share it with others!

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Marvel Taglist: @whothehellisbuckybarnes @phoenixhalliwell @x-goddess-of-nature-x @trulysuccubus @skyesthebomb @whoreforsamwilson @natashadeservedbetter @beth-winchester21 @mrs-salvawhore @soldierstucky @missswritings @sariche @claudiaatje @myakai13 @paintballkid711 @ttalisa @teti-menchon0604 @J-e-nster @-im-fantastic- @donut-crazs @tatestripedsweater @feetoffthetablee @uraesthete @mae-black @midnightdragonzero @julia2000love @yvngzxx @midnightzonzz @kaystacks17 @missroro @living-that-best-life @alwaysclassyeagle

Sam Wilson Taglist: @kenbechillin @selenasprompts

Let me know if you want to be added/removed!

If your name is in bold it means I can’t tag you for some reason. My apologies!

#justsamwilson #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel x y/n #marvel x you #marvel fanfiction #marvel fandom #marvel female reader insert #marvel fic #marvel family #marvel fluff #marvel smut #marvel imagine #marvel one shot #sam wilson #sam wilson x reader #sam wilson x y/n #sam wilson x you #sam wilson fluff #sam wilson smut #sam wilson imagine #sam wilson one shot #anthony mackie #marveldiaries writes #tfatws #tfatws x reader #tfatws smut #tfatws imagine #tfatws oneshot

[tyrantisterror]

The ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3-D: Entry Roundup

You’ve been patiently waiting for the results of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3-D, and now... you have to wait a bit longer, but at least you’ve got an entry roundup with lots of sketches and a good bit of feedback for all the entrants!  My goal is to get the finalists illustrated in a week or two, and after that, the grand prize winner will be announced.  But, for now, the official entry roundup!  After the cut:

I should note that while I sketched these in the order they were submitted, my scanner saved the documents with random names, so they’re a bit jumbled.  You know, just in case you’re like me and would get confused noticing that it’s almost in chronological order but with some entries jumbled around.

@bugcthulhu’s Obsideban was designed as a counterpart to Rohobaron - the Black King to Rohobaron’s Red King, if you will.  Or, well, Black Queen in this case, as Obsideban also takes her personality from the “delinquent girl” archetype in Japanese media.  Bug’s designs always ooze personality, and I had a lot of fun translating this big, gnarly retrosaur into my own style.

@toothlessloveshiccup‘s Argonox is the first - but far from the last - monster in this breakdown that brings in a bit of fantasy influence to ATOM’s roster.  A golden-fleeced ram with a vicious streak, this sheep is both treasure and dragon at once.  And while it wasn’t written in the monster’s profile, given the Yamaneon-rich nature of its wool, Argonox might be able to replicate the healing power of the golden fleece too!  A very fun mammalian kaiju and excellent entry.

@highly-radioactive-nerd submitted Gunmetal Jeeves, a robot butler who can gigantomax temporarily create a holographic/hard light version of himself to fight kaiju.  That detail was a late revision added to the entry before the contest’s deadline, made after the creator realized that ATOM allows for some truly ludicrous bullshit, which is something everyone should exploit when making entries for this in my opinion.  Also, this is a robot butler who can size shift.  Revel in its awesome absurdity!

Ultranerd submitted Rajasaurus, a dimetrodon-like synapsid kaiju with electric powers.  His origin specifies that the electric powers are a result of the volatile nature of the Yamaneon deposits he mutated under, which is an interesting idea.  That’s another theme that cropped up a lot in this contest’s entries, actually - people really wanted to play with what Yamaneon can do.

Case in point, @polygonfighter’s Yamaneolith takes the Monolith Monsters homage at the heart of Yamaneon even more apparent.  I like the implication that there is a second mineral-based lifeform at the root of this Yamaneon cluster’s anomalous behavior - a parasite, perhaps?  It brings up some interesting possibilities.

@ariccio50 submitted Kukulkuzana, and damn is this a cool spin on the body plan of my martians.  I made a few changes here and there (splitting its tail into two is probably the biggest one), but tried to keep true to the original design, because holy hell is it gorgeous.  The idea that this is a mountain-dwelling creature is really intriguing to me, as it looks like a sea creature, but at the same time, that flexible and low-slung build WOULD work pretty well in mountains, and it’s just the right mix of plausible weirdness that makes for a fun alien design.

@akitymh submitted Aramzados, a Venusian monster that’s basically an organic hot rod car.  I like the idea of organic machinery being the gimmick for Venusian kaiju, and Aramzado’s does it subtly enough to not feel like that gimmick is the sole thing going for it.  I especially love this monster’s stange, apparently mouth-less blade-beaked face.

@virovac submitted Rurzar and Zar Rider, a Beyonder kaiju and mecha (respecitvely) that were both modified and repurposed by humans reverse engineering Beyonder technology to make, like, a motorcycle-saurus essentially.  It is a delightfully absurd concept, and a very, very detailed one (13 pages of description).  There’s a dark undercurrent beneath the sillyness, though, as this pair show that humanity might still be following the same path as the Beyonders before them.

@dinosaurana brings us Krangor, a humanoid monstrosity of living kelp!  The goal here was to create a Jack Kirby-esque monster dude, complete with the gibberish name and all.  He’s also made out of kelp, which feels very classic 1950′s monster-y despite me not being able to think of any monsters that were explicitly made of kelp.  I love him.

@kiryuthechimera submitted Genkakurah, a psychic retrosaur with some draconic features.  Though his substantial powerset is probably the biggest distinguishing feature of this kaiju (given that most ATOM kaiju pretty much have the same standard powers), what really draws me to him is that reptilian pseudo-beard.  It’s just a fun detail!

@glarnboudin submits Tiratola, and see, there’s that fantasy influence again!  Even more explicitly dragon-y than Kraydi, Tiratola still manages to toe the line between sci-fi and fantasy enough to fit ATOM as is while still cementing its ties to my own slice of fantasy fiction.  Man it’s good I’m doing a Midgaheim book next, huh?

@dragonzzilla submitted Scuttlebutt/Argonautilus, a hermit crab kaiju who lives in/with a hollowed out mecha.  That’s a twist I can’t recall ever hearing before, and the idea of a kaiju and a mecha having an equal partnership that doesn’t involve one being grafted to the other is really intriguing to me.  A very unique concept!

@evolutionsvoid submitted Fleagor, an enormous flea who has no idea what to do with itself now that there’s no creature large enough for it to parasitize.  I love that concept - it takes the core idea of the giant bug kaiju archetype (i.e. unsettling the audience by showing how terrifying small, “insignificant” creatures would be if our sizes were reversed) and really turns it on its head.  The name also plays on the Universal Monsters, who were a huge part of 1950′s pop culture thanks to their movies being re-released in that era, so all and all this one is very on brand for ATOM!

@skarmorysilver submitted Lilacorn, another entry that plays up that Midgaheim/ATOM connection.  Reinterpreting the mythological unicorn as an Cenozoic wooly rhinoceros-inspired monster gives it a very unique look, both in ATOM and in the general world of unicorns, and she has a bad-girl with a heart of gold personality to boot!

dracosaurus-rex submitted Florasaura, a two-headed plant/retrosaur hybrid monster.  I love me some plant monsters, I love me some retrosaurs, and I love me some rhyming the word “flora” with other words that contain similar vowell sounds, so this one has me written all over it!

@downtofragglerock submitted Sauroguana, a delightfully odd flying retrosaur.  There’s a great deal of charm to the original illustration that this sketch doesn’t quite capture - it’s a deceptively simple design with a lot of personality in it, and with those unique leg-wings it really doesn’t need a whole lot of frills to stand out.

Draxi submitted Brakan, an unimpressive burrowing retrosaur kaiju whose mastery of illusions allows it to convince other kaiju it’s actually a big, super-powerful badass that’s the ultimate fighter in the universe.  It’s a delightful parody of the concept of a fan self-insert god-mode character, with a really fun story built into it to boot!

@quinnred submitted O.N.I.A.C., a mysterious cocooned kaiju whose chrysalis has been turned into an organic computer of sorts by the people studying it, and seems to possess a fairly advanced intelligence for a kaiju.  It’s a really bizarre and ominous idea, with built in intrigue given how vague its nature is.  Is it just a kaijufied butterfly/moth who got stuck mid transformation?  A relative of the Mothmanuds?  Something else, perhaps equally alien?  Good story potential here.

shadyserpent submitted Vespilitor, a bat/retrosaur hybrid made by the nefarious Spooks Organization.  A mercurial prankster whose tendency to stir up trouble never crosses the line into maliciousness, he’s the kind of monster who would make a great foil to a lot of ATOM’s cast.  I’d especially like to see him in a prank off with Ahuul - it’d be like Bugs Bunny fighting Daffy Duck, but on a kaiju scale.

@multiversefan submitted the Yamaneon King, a nomadic kaiju whose refusal to settle down causes problems as he stirs up trouble at kaiju sanctuaries all over the globe by showing up unannounced and stirring up the locals.  He was basically designed to be a monster that the kaiju sanctuary initiative would struggle to deal with, which is a good idea for a post-ATOM Volume 2 story conflict.

Sir K submitted Jadeera, a kirin kaiju that can actually forcibly convert most of its body to Yamaneon to enter a dormant, statue-like state in a loose homage to King Shisa.  Though the fantasy elements are far more present than I usually prefer for ATOM kaiju, I think it should be noted they’re pushed that far for a purpose - a theme in Jadeera’s entry, which continues where its creator left off with their submission to the previous ATOM create a kaiju contest (Yokaigon), is that the world of kaiju is more complicated and challenging than many are willing to accept, which is a theme in ATOM itself.  Yokaigon’s more supernatural/occult powers are based on the ghost parascience of my setting, which ATOM has delved into a bit (Pathogen being the big example), so it’s not as out of left field as some might think.

@cerothenull​ brings us our final entry (unless some got lost thanks to tumblr’s shitty tagging system), the flying spider Naeranti.  She’s a kaiju spider who uses silk to make complicate hot-air balloons, more or less, and that’s just delightful.  ATOM could always use more spider-monsters, and with a really unique gimmick backing up a wonderfully distinct look, Naeranti is sure to stand out among her fellow giant arachnids.

Well, that’s the roundup!  In a week (or two, depending on how much my hand cramps) we’ll have the five finalists, and sometime after that, the grand prize winner!

#The Atomic Time of Monsters #The ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest 3D

[do-a-reference-properly]

AO3′s users alert! Unauthorised fanworks copying

26/09/2019. Important update on this mess: we found a way to delete fanworks via take down request to the hosting provider. Please check it here https://do-a-reference-properly.tumblr.com/post/187926459079/finally-some-good-news

Dear AO3 users,

We would like to bring your attention to an ugly situation with unauthorized copying of works posted on AO3.

A lot of works from AO3 have been copied to fanfics.me (we’ll call this site FFM for brevity’s sake) and are still being copied right now, either:

— automatically by a code specifically created by FFM’s owner for this purpose, or

— by unaware or unscrupulous FFM’s users via semi-automatic method (by inserting a link to a work from AO3 into a web-worm on FFM).

All works from AO3 — with a few exceptions (I’ll elaborate on this below) — can end up on FFM without authors even noticing. Even fanarts or podfics.

FFM doesn't comply with DMCA which means that such reposts endanger fanworks' creators in case the copyright holder demands to delete the fanwork.

Authors of the copied works do not have any control over them; if the work is edited it won’t be updated on FFM until someone manually updates it.

Additionally FFM’s owner makes money out of reposted free fanworks from numerous Google and Yandex ads on each and every FFM’s page by having people go to this site when searching for fics on Google etc. So we recommend using an Ads Blocker when visiting this site in order to prevent the owner from earning more. Ghostery or Adblock Plus work just fine, but you can use any other Ads Blocker that is convenient to you.

Oftentimes FFM even shows up before the original post with the work on Google search results.

The owner’s e-mail: [email protected].

The owner at AO3.

We are trying to bring AO3’s users attention to this situation and help authors with taking their works down from FFM.

 Briefly about the website and its owner

Let me start from the very beginning as it will bring into the light the nature of FFM and give a good example of its owner characteristic behavior.

At first, some person with nickname Refery created FFM as a web archive where authors — mostly from Harry Potter fandom — could publish their fanworks.

Time passed, the site grew and added some features (blogs, pre-moderation and etc.), and all was good and well up till the moment when Refery decided that it would be a great idea to copy to FFM fanworks published on other Russian fanfiction archives — among them from the biggest and most known site ficbook — without asking authors for permission. Even those works that had “Ask me before posting the story somewhere else” mentioned in its text or summary were copied.

For some time nobody noticed, but when finally and inevitably this came out the authors were outraged. It took a lot of time to finally persuade Refery to at least not to copy fanworks bearing a special tag “Уточнять у автора” (Ask the author first).

But after some time Refery — without giving any notice — violated his own promise and resumed copying to FFM fanworks that had the agreed upon tag. The authors complained again, so very reluctantly and after many painful discussions this feature was reinstalled.

So FFM has been notoriously known, mostly amongst Russian fandom, for claims on re-posting fanworks without the consent of the authors.

We're mentioning this situation just to give you a detailed portrait of a person we are dealing with here.

Not only fanworks are copied to this website, but original works, too. Even those which were already published. There were all 7 of Harry Potter novels (both original text and translation), The Hobbit: There and Back Again (translation) and Vorkosigan Saga (translation) available for everybody to read and download. They were taken down only recently due to the attention this whole situation had drawn, but nothing ever goes away once it’s posted online and you can access the proof via Internet Wayback machine. We know for a fact there are other books on FFM and some actions have been taken in this regard, but still it takes time to find published books on this site.

Recently Refery decided that Russian archives are not enough for him and started copying all fanworks into FFM without any permission from the authors from numerous sites, like AO3, fanfiction.net, fictionpress.com, fanfiktion.de and likely other web-archives.

Moreover, the authors of these works can not delete their works from FFM and/or manage them. The site is in Russian only and, hence, we strongly believe that non-Russian speaking authors even do not know that their works are reposted somewhere else.

As a Russian fan-community, we have tried to stop such activity of FFM many times; however, we have not been successful in achieving our goal completely. Our most recent achievement is that the FFM’s owner implemented the "Don't copy to another site" tag created specifically for AO3 (here is the link to FFM’s owner post on his personal blog regarding this tag. Please use Ads Blocker!). This tag should be added to each work presented on AO3 in case the author does not want their works to be copied to FFM.

We are of the opinion that no work should be taken without permission in the first place, but this tag is all we’ve got.

Please note that it seems that some time ago there was similar case of unauthorized copying with other site. Please check this link, they give useful advice.

How to prevent copying from AO3

If you check AO3 you may notice that "Don't copy to another site" tag has hugely emerged in the recent weeks, but mostly amongst Russian users and there is a good reason for this: the owner of FFM announced this tag only in Russian and only on his private blog, so naturally there is no way for non-Russian speaking AO3 users to know about this — albeit non-satisfactory — solution.

There are no guaranties that the FFM’s owner won’t change the rules again as has already happened numerous times before (few examples we described above) and that works with this tag won’t be reposted in the future, but for now it’s the only quick and working solution besides making your works visible only to registered users, which is not ideal. 

This situation is highly unpleasant, but we ask you not to delete your works from AO3, because if the work is deleted from AO3 it will be nearly impossible to delete it from FFM: we won't be able to refresh it manually and remove the text.

Please note that adding this tag won’t work for texts that have already been copied. Only users who have accounts at FFM will be able to delete them. Each work needs to be deleted manually.

However, the Russian fandom — except for the owner of FFM — strongly condemns reposts without the consent of the author, so feel free to contact our volunteers (through DM or Ask on our tumblr page) providing the links to the works stolen from AO3, so we could delete them for you.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to cover all authors and works manually. So, we contacted AO3’ Technical Team with the aim to bring their attention to this situation and inform about it all AO3 users, and hope that AO3 team will find a general solution to resolve this problem, possibly, in collaboration with the AO3 lawyers.

We are trying to warn as many authors as possible and recently started spreading this information via comments on AO3; but considering the number of works copied to FFM informing all authors will take considerable time, and we can easily miss someone, especially since the copying is still in progress and new works from AO3 are appearing on FFM every day.

Please help us spread the word!

 We tried to make a comprehensive FAQ about this. Feel free to ask if anything is unclear!

FAQ

Q: Can I check if my work was copied to FFM?

A: Yes, you can.

FFM makes money on Google and Yandex ads, so we recommend turning on the Ads Blocker of your choice before visiting this site.

Please follow this link, insert the title of your work or your AO3/other web-archive nickname into the field containing the words "insert-title-nickname" and hit "Искать" (Search).

For works rated Mature or Explicit you will be able to see only the caption "Текст произведения доступен только зарегистрированным пользователям старше 18 лет" ("The text of the work is available only to registered users over 18 years old"), but FFM users are able to read and download the story.

Q: My work from AO3 was copied. How can I take it down?

A: First of all add the tag "Don't copy to another site" (without “ “) to the stories you want to be taken down.

Actually we would recommend adding this tag to all the works you don't want to be copied.

Contact one of our volunteers (through DM or Ask on our tumblr page) providing links to your works or send an e-mail with your deletion request directly to the FFM owner at [email protected] or at AO3. 

There is a third option: to register on FFM and delete the work yourself by hitting the refresh button, but considering that the site is in Russian we do not think it will be very convenient to those who do not speak Russian language.

Q: I got the message that my work has been deleted. How can I check if it is true?

A: You can go to FFM, search for you work, click on its title and scroll down.

After the summary there is a field that should look like this for those fics that have been deleted.

Basically it says that the author of this particular work has forbidden its copying and that only the information on its title, author’s nickname, rating, pairings, summary and the link to original post on AO3 are available. 

For works that are still available on FFM this field looks like this (if the work is open for non-registered users).

Q: My work copied from AO3 was deleted, but FFM still shows some information on it. Can it be deleted?

A: Even though the text of the fic is not going to be on FFM anymore after it has been deleted, the fic's title, author's name, rating, pairings, summary and link to original post on AO3 will remain there.

The deletion of this leftover information can be done only by the site owner himself.

Some Russian authors tried to make him to delete it, but in most cases the FFM’s owner refused them mentioning that publication of such information is in line with fair use concept and doesn’t violate authors’ rights.

We are yet unsure how to delete this leftover information. In case you need it as well, try contacting the FFM owner at [email protected] or at AO3. Maybe e-mails of a large number of authors will work, but unfortunately we can’t guarantee anything. In case you need it, we can provide Russian text for you to send by e-mail (please contact our volunteers through DM or Ask on our tumblr page).

Q: My work from fanfiction.net/fictionpress.com/fanfiktion.de/other web-archives was copied to FFM. How can I take it down?

A: Unfortunately, there is no possible way for us to delete from FFM the fanworks that are copied from web-archives other then AO3. Only FFM’s owner can delete these works, please try contacting him at [email protected] or at AO3. In case you need it, we can provide Russian text for you to send by e-mail (please contact our volunteers through DM or Ask on our tumblr page).

Please do not delete your works from the web-archive it was stolen from, because if the work is deleted it will be nearly impossible to delete it from FFM.

Also it seems that some time ago there was similar case of unauthorized copying with other site. Please check this link, they give useful advice.

#ao3 #archive of our own #alert #fanfiction #fanworks #fanart #please reblog

[dreadfutures]

aight let‘s talk ao3 tags again

the very nice tag wrangler I’ll be quoting from has given me permission to share their kind and thorough responses (all bolding/emphasis is mine) without identifying information. and we very nicely go through some of my own tags from my long fic Dead Pasts, Dread Futures. Many, many thanks to this wrangler for explaining so much to me.

Anyway. I present these discussions as a peacable offer of: these are many writers’ concerns, and they are valuable, and worth considering. don’t dismiss concerns about the tag limit off hand, and don’t insist that edge cases don’t matter.

tldr; at the moment, after all this discussion and back and forths and bullying, I still believe that having 75 tags, period, as the limit across ALLCharacters/Relationships/Fandoms/Additional Tags penalizes longfics. Period. If it were even a limit of 100 tags, or broken down by Tag Type, it would be a little more forgiving. For advertising and for content filtering purposes, it only helps writers and fic visibilty to be specific and thorough in tags. A limit like this just so clearly has the potential to negatively affect large fandom/large ensemble/long fics.

It feels like this decision is being very broadly based on a "for the majority" mindset, which has never been what AO3 is about, without actually physically looking at the kinds of fics it will affect. The tag system on AO3 has been able to give fic filtering and reader-judgement a nuance that no other platform has accomplished, and longfics and large ensemble fics still, I think, depend on that as both a courtesy and necessity. I saw the rough math someone did and know that almost all fics currently on AO3 are <25k or something like that, and sure, for the average oneshot, or for even a fic <100k, a tag limit that's very strict across all tag categories probably won't be felt at all. But it's clearly something that people who write certain types of fics, and take them very seriously, will feel. Like I genuinely don't want to have a million tags. I want to tag relevant content that allows potential readers to filter & include & exclude my fic as they so choose, but also, if it does show up in their search, I want to give them the information they want to be able to decide if they want to read my fic or not. I don't want to have to put all my content warnings into a giant summary, or into a giant author's note that grows and grows. The tags have been a very helpful way of accomplishing those. Being able to cut down on parallel/synned tags is great, but it still seems like longfics that deal with multiple fandom entries, large casts, and require content warnings will butt up against that limit very quickly.

tag limit discussions:

- long fic writers adding tags as they go

- writers of franchises with many installments and ensemble casts

- writers with extensive content warnings

- use of tags to clarify a filtered tag

- use of tags to demonstrate how content is handled

off the bat - stop being jerks

look, I know objectively fics don’t need to be tagged at all. I lived in the wild west, too, when “lemon” meant anything from the merest mention of arousal to an explicit vanilla sex scene to all out dead dove craziness. a large part of me still is of the opinion that readers should just read shit, and if they decide they don’t like it, just dip. but that’s not what we’re about here. tagging is a kindness that we voluntarily undertake, and it’s also a form of advertising.

tags are useful for their specificity, for filtering and exclusion purposes

(that’s one of the cruxes of the arguments both pro-shippers and antis make: you can filter things! But you can only filter things if they’re tagged.)

I also understand that a few asshole writers have ruined this for all of us by purposefully adding so many tags it slows down the site and makes pages fail to load and hides other fics because the tags take up 10 pages. i also am frustrated with kinkmemers who just have prompt fill fic dumping grounds that span multiple unrelated fandoms and are impossible to navigate.

...the answer is not to suggest to writers that we put all our content warnings and pairings and etc. in our summaries, or our A/Ns, or to insert a first chapter that is a placeholder summary/tags page/world state. tags are useful for their specificity, for filtering and exclusion purposes.

I also have been dealing with people being murderously angry, and super self-righteous and targeting and mean about my own tags, and tags in general. people who are anti-tag are being giant fucking dicks about it. like get over yourselves and let’s just talk about a website function lol. tags are useful for their specificity, for filtering and exclusion purposes.

THE ANSWER IS NOT TO GET RID OF TAGS.

Alright, so now that we’ve gotten that flippin’ straw argument aside.

The next thing anyone has been doing is going to my page and critiquing my tags. Let’s address redundant tags.

(the wrangler has done this nicely! no ridicule necessary!)

using my fic as an example:

If you tag your fic Female Lavellan/Solas (only), it will show up in the following searches: Inqusitor/Solas, Female Inquisitor/Solas, Lavellan/Solas, Female Lavellan/Solas.  If you tag your fic Inquisitor/Solas (only), it will show up only in the Inquisitor/Solas search and in none of the others.  If you tag with the most specific version, it will show up in the more general versions, but not the other way around. So there's no real reason to tag with the more general tags.

Though I will point out that if you don't use the canonical tag      and tag your character or relationship with a custom name it will      be synned to the nongendered version, because at some point the DA      wranglers decided that they didn't want to make gender      assumptions.  So "Annabelle Lavellan" will be synned to "Lavellan      (Dragon Age)" rather than "Female Lavellan (Dragon Age)", and      someone searching for works with specifically "Female Lavellan"      won't see it.

Response: In the fanfic writers server I'm in, we've talked about how tags work and are supposed to work extensively in the past.  There's just always been a lot of confusion, which I think has been added to when people go and try to double-check for themselves and find instances where this treeing/synning is broken. Someone put out this guide (also here) for AO3 meta text this year, which has been referred to by multiple people in the server, and it says:

What if you wrote a fic for something where there's a movie based on a book, but the movie's really different, and you've used both things that are only in the movie and things that are only in the book? In that case you either tag your fic as both the movie and the book, or see if the fandom has an “all media types” tag and use that instead of the separate tags. If the fandom doesn't have an “all media types” tag yet, you can make one! Just type it in.

“All media types” fandom tags are also useful for cases where there are lots of inter-related series, like Star Wars; there are several tellings of the story in different media but they're interchangeable or overlap significantly, like The Witcher; or the fandom has about a zillion different versions so it's very hard, even impossible, to say which ones your fic does and doesn't fit, like Batman. Use your best judgement as to whether you need to include a more specific fandom tag such as “Batman (Movies 1989-1997)” alongside the “all media types” fandom tag, but try to avoid including very many. The point of the “all media types” tag is to let you leave off the specific tags for every version.

Which I believe is in direct contradiction to guidance to use the most specific tags, so that's definitely one source of confusion. The most recent ao3 meta text guide (https://archiveofourown.org/wrangling_guidelines/2 I think this one) doesn't present itself in a way that makes this clear for writers tagging their own works. The way authors usually go about tagging things (and what's in the FAQ) is to start typing into one of the boxes and look for what populates the drop down, which doesn't lend itself to knowing that there are trees, or knowing what tags are interrelated (it seems like a whole grab bag of tags get suggested, some in-fandom and some outside of fandom, some canon/parent/meta and some children/random freeform, in just about any field you start typing in).

I'm not sure what can really be done about this. Many of us have turned to ao3-comment-of-the-day and their posts about using Tags, and various sources on google, and have clearly come up with a whole load of conflicting advice.

Fundamentally, finding parent/meta tags for a tag as you’re tagging a fic is NOT clear to writers. The fact that a nested and a meta tag can both be suggested one after the other when filling in tags largely contributes to redundant tags.

Writing for Multiple Fandom Entries

Here’s what a tag wrangler had to say about my fandoms:

As with the relationship tree, you can look at the fandom tree  here:      https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Dragon%20Age%20-%20All%20Media%20Types  and see how the fandom tags are related. Going back to your story Rogasha'ghi'lan as an example, it's tagged with Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: The Last Court.  But as I said, you only need to tag with the lowest relevant level(s) on the tree in order for your fic to show up under the higher levels.  So if you tag with      Dragon Age: Inquisition and Dragon Age: The Last Court, it will show up not just under those categories, but also under Dragon Age (Video Games) and Dragon Age - All Media Types.  And of course because you've tagged with the specific, if someone searches under, say, Dragon Age (Video Games), but doesn't want Inquisition or Last Court fic, they can use the exclude filter to show only the earlier games.

(So that's two more tags you can remove with no effect on searchability!)

In my (but not only my) own case, I am indeed writing for Origins, DA2, Inquisition, and Last Court extensively within the same fic, so I should be tagging for all of those, specifically, still. In order to make sure my fic is seen by the correct fans, I need multiple specific tags.

Longfic Tag Bloat (adding tags as you write a fic)

And like many other longfic writers, even if I narrow down my character tags only to those with dedicated character arcs longer than 5 chapters, I still have Loads & Loads of Characters (including Dalish from the Chargers!).

A lot of longfic writers I know add characters, relationships, and content warnings as they go along.

At 170 chapters/580k words, Dead Pasts had a ton of important relationships (for example, like Vivienne & Lavellan), and as a story it's nowhere near done. I found myself planning an arc from 171 onward that would introduce a very important relationship (Felassan & Lavellan). This is how longfics end up with so many, many, many character tags and relationship tags, which is another major criticism people seem to have about "people who abuse tags."

A solution that people propose online is "split your fic." Which is actually what I ended up doing...but the old relationships and fandoms from DPDF still apply to Rogasha'ghi'lan, so Rogasha'ghi'lan will have the same number and more tags than DPDF.

If I hadn't split the fic, I would have just kept adding tags to Dead Pasts...and still had the same problem of continually adding tags. They're not superfluous tags: someone who wants to see a plot that is deeply influenced by Vivienne & Lavellan will find that in my fic; someone who is looking to see a major Felassan & Lavellan friendship grow and drive plot will also find that in my fic.

My fic is long; there are other fics that are longer, or are going to be longer, with casts that are just as large or larger, with many relationships, and that's not even talking about content warnings.

Polycule / Relationship Tags

"Tagging a polycule like Iron Bull/Dorian/Lavellan requires four      tags: Bull/Dorian/Lavellan, Bull/Dorian, Bull/Lavellan,      Lavellan/Dorian"

This assumes that people who like Lavellan/Dorian will want to read Iron Bull/Dorian/Lavellan, which is often not the case.  If your story Is Iron Bull/Dorian/Lavellan, tag it that way!  It doesn't make any sense to me to tag with the pairs as well unless the story would be of interest to people who read for that pair, or unless that pair relationship is a big step in the story (like, if you have established Lavellan/Dorian, and then they bring in Bull, you might tag for both that pair and the trio). I mean, you can tag how you like, there's no requirement that tags correspond to content. But for me, personally, if I search on Dagna/Lace Harding (I am weak for dwarf women!) I do not want to get a Dagna/Lace Harding/Sera fic.

My personal tastes don't include poly fics, but several writers I know who write poly fics are adamant that: tons of readers will not know of the possibility of the poly fic until it shows up in a search result, and the individual relationships often are significant to the fics, especially in fics that are not oneshots. For example, a great number of "fav fics" are stumbled-across! We aren't interested in the Sera/Dagna/Lace polycule ourselves, but someone might not have considered it, found it, and said, "Hey! That's my new favorite." But if polycules are segregated and only searchable by the polycule itself, alas, what's the option for visibility at all if not tagging it as Lace/Dagna in addition?

Additional Tags

Knowing when something is a "character" and when something is "additional"

Knowing that "Warrior Lavellan" (or the [Name] Mahariel) would be more useful in an Additional Tag vs. a Character Tag is also something I'm not sure how we're supposed to know? Like, I'm glad to know it now, but it's definitely not at all obvious without you telling me why it would be more useful in Additional vs in Character. Especially when to me: Warrior Lavellan is a character, and the fact that it populated the Character tag for me says that it's a Character. Because like I said, the guidance has been: start typing, and if it appears in the drop down, use it. Or, for example, my friend has the Well of Sorrows personified as a Character. Like an actual character. Does that have to go under Additional Tags, or as a Character? How do I know?

Additional tags as tone/content indicators

A lot of writers / readers have approached the Additional Tags as a surface-level overview of understanding how an author is approaching many topics concerned in the fic. Like, Vivienne is a character in my fic, but specifically I am Vivienne-positive, which I feel is important to denote because she's important to my fic, and she's a divisive character. Mood/tone/theme indicators like "Pro-Vivienne" or "we are Vivienne-positive in this house" (or like Male-Female Friendship, or "Expansive Lore" vs "Lore - Freeform" which denote different things to me) in tags (which in the comments section on the ao3 blog post get derided as "chatty tags") are still important to me, though they're useless or far less likely to be used for filtering. (I had the thesis of the conflict of my fic: “empathy is the enemy of free will” “but hope is a choice” as “chatty tags,” among some that were more mundane but important: “sera shows up late in fic”)

More seriously, there are fics that have content warning tags for filtering purposes but also clarify those content warnings to give context to readers and allow them to make a decision whether or not the content actually fits their preferences, ie, one that specifies domestic abuse as a tag (which would be in the Additional Tags) for filtering purposes but also specifies "domestic abuse not present in x relationship" (which would also be in the Additional Tags, but is useless for filtering purposes, but is immensely helpful and demonstrably used by readers to decide if they're going to even bother reading the author's note of that fic).

People are also nervous that not being able to thoroughly tag content warnings is going to end up with unhappy readers amid all the purity culture flaming that's going on lately.

Like, personally I err on the side of "suck it up, reader, and just read and find out," for a lot of things (not talking about content warnings, but talking about mood/tone additional tags), but also, given that there is already a venue here to let readers know what they're in for...taking that away sucks.

I hate a giant fic summary as much as people hate 10 pages of tags, but at least one can hide tags in their preferences, and likewise the thought of starting a fic up front with a giant author's note that gets continually updated with content warnings also isn't super appealing. Leading with a giant author's note that lays out: this is my world state and this is my character's spec and this is my character's background so you know how I'm going to approach this and these are all of the content warnings for the fic as a whole, just feels like getting into "My Immortal" territory. There's definitely a balance to be had between the art of writing a summary, what to include in an author's note, and what to include in tags, but this still seems like it's going to be fairly limiting for writers in these large franchises, especially for longfics that span a lot of topics.

It feels like this decision is being very broadly based on a "for the majority" mindset, which has never been what AO3 is about, without actually physically looking at the kinds of fics it will affect. The tag system on AO3 has been able to give fic filtering and reader-judgement a nuance that no other platform has accomplished, and longfics and large ensemble fics still, I think, depend on that as both a courtesy and necessity. I saw the rough math someone did and know that almost all fics currently on AO3 are <25k or something like that, and sure, for the average oneshot, or for even a fic <100k, a tag limit that's very strict across all tag categories probably won't be felt at all. But it's clearly something that people who write certain types of fics, and take them very seriously, will feel.

Like I genuinely don't want to have a million tags. I want to tag relevant content that allows potential readers to filter & include & exclude my fic as they so choose, but also, if it does show up in their search, I want to give them the information they want to be able to decide if they want to read my fic or not. I don't want to have to put all my content warnings into a giant summary, or into a giant author's note that grows and grows. The tags have been a very helpful way of accomplishing those. Being able to cut down on parallel/synned tags is great, but it still seems like longfics that deal with multiple fandom entries, large casts, and require content warnings will butt up against that limit very quickly.

#ao3 #ao3 tags #long post #writing #look i really don't want to engage with anyone else but the amount of dimissive takes #and bullying #i see on my dash / have been targeted by / my friends have been targeted by #when we're trying to be conscientious? #is ridiculous #i'm just going to leave this here

[kisant]

Just had a sessrinner try to tell me that Rin is a “young woman full of freedom and agency” in Yashahime. 

Meanwhile, I’m looking for Rin’s agency in Yashahime and I’m only getting this

Sorry, sessrinners, agency not found, just like Rin’s 18th birthday.

Like, does this look like a character with agency??? Who acts out of her own will, because she is able to make her own decisions??? Who has her own goal in life other than apparently giving birth at 15??? because wow, I didn’t know that a young girl’s agency was located in her womb, which must be put to use as soon as possible by the adult man who acted as said young girl’s childhood guardian and parental figure. Much agency, so much freedom. 

Rin must have surely chosen this, because who wouldn’t. In fact, according to sessrinners she should be GRATEFUL that she got to have sex at 13-14 and promptly have the babies of the HOTTEST DEMON IN THE LAND. After all, sessrinners only wish THEY got to fuck Sesshomaru, and theY just loooooooove self-inserting into a fictional child-preteen girl to pretend to do just that. 

Can I get a yikes? Because there is shipping a problematic pairing with dark themes, and then there is sessrin, not just because of the horrible implications it has, but because of the way sessrinners apparently think it’s not only perfectly fine, but that the way it has been executed in Yashahime would be every 12 to 14 year old girl’s greatest joy in life.

Like seriously, I ship NARKIK. I LIKE dark ships, complicated ships, hero-villain ships, enemies-to-lovers dynamics and all of that (not that unhealthy dynamics cannot be developed and changed into something healthier and more romantic with the power of character development in fanfiction, because they can, but fanon dynamics don’t turn an canonically unhealthy relationship into a healthy one).

I have read some truly excellent whump, darkfics and hurt-comfort fanfiction. I’m not some kind of fandom moral purity crusader. But I don’t pretend ships like narkik are inherently fluffy, unproblematic or something to aspire to. Also, there is a pretty big difference between shipping a problematic FANON ship and having it happen in CANON and romanticized as something postive in a show aimed at young preteen and teenage girls in the same fucking age range as Rin. 

That’s a big part of the reason antis are pissed at Yashahime and at sessrin not only being made canon, but in an absolutely horrific waythat screams child grooming, not because we just love to ruin sessrinner’s fun.

And also, if I don’t like the direction of a show’s plot or characterization for ANY REASON, I have as just as much of a right to talk about it as the people who like it. Sessrinners have no righ to demand that antis shut up and start singing the praises of sessrin just because of episode 15, and many people in the Inuyasha fandom have been criticizing Yashahime for being a badly animated, boring show with a nonsensical plot that needlessly ruined the original happy ending of beloved characters in Inuyasha months before episode 15 aired. So, no, people who don’t like Yashahime have other reasons to dislike it than just sessrin. Sessrin is just the worst thing about it, not the only thing wrong with that show. 

Oh, and as a final note, I have NEVER gone into a sessrin post or blog to directly tell them than their ship is pedophilic trash, because I have the ship name blacklisted. I have never initiated an interaction with a sessrinner because both the ship and their attitude gross me out and I have no desire to interact with them or their posts. 

Perhaps sessrinners would also benefit of blacklisting the “anti sessrin” tag or blocking antis, if they truly cannot handle differing opinions? Wasn’t that what that fancy little blocklist was supposed to be for? So you didn’t have to see the mean little antis’ post on the tags? 

If you don’t like what I have to say about your precious self-insert pedo ship, go ahead and blacklist or block me, because you are not changing my mind. 

#inuyasha #yashahime #hanyou no yashahime #anti sessrin

[andypantsx3]

conspire | 4 | confession

pairing: Todoroki Shouto / Reader

length: 13,307 words / 5 chapters

summary: Shouto Todoroki had definitely only asked you out in order to ward off his horde of interested suitors. So why does he keep actually taking you out on suspiciously realistic dates?

tags: romance, reader-insert, fake dating, misunderstandings

warnings: aged up characters, eventual smut

Your confusion only grew over the next few weeks.

Shouto continued taking you out on dates, continued to meet you for homework, and--strangely--continued to kiss you even when you were sure no one was around, though he never found another opportunity to put his hands all over you again.

You found yourself more confused than ever, one night when you were doing homework together, curled up in the lounge of the 3-A dorms. You had mostly separate classes but you shared a core curriculum, and Shouto had proved especially helpful on the subject of literature, which predictably was much less your area of expertise than math and the sciences. You supposed there was something to be said for being raised as a rich boy, when he knew every scrap of classical literature inside and out, and you used him to your advantage shamelessly.

“You know, you don’t need to keep doing all this,” you said that night, pausing over a worksheet.

Shouto looked up from his reading curiously. “What?”

“All these dates and stuff,” you said, fidgeting a little under his watchful gaze. “You don’t need to keep taking me out.”

“Do you not like it?” he asked, brow furrowing.

“No, that’s not--it’s nice,” you said, noting something in the margins of your worksheet so you didn’t have to look at his face. “It’s just, it’s not like you need to impress me.”

“I like doing it,” he said in his characteristically straightforward manner. He set his book down and leaned forward. “I like spending the time with you.”

Your face flamed. “I like spending the time with you, too.”

“Then it’s settled,” he announced imperiously, going back to his homework.

You’d settled back down to your worksheet as well, but something kept bothering you, wondering why he continued to find it necessary to spend so much time with you when the semester was winding down and graduation was rapidly approaching. He had only so much time with his own friends left, and as much as you liked the time you were spending together, you knew it wouldn’t last beyond that.

The thought made you a little sad, now that you were focused on it. Fake dating Shouto had been pretty amazing and you loved the time you’d spent in his company, enjoying all the unexpected ways that he flagrantly flauted what was typically thought of as his sexy ice prince persona. Shouto as a person was actually fun to be around -- smart, straightforward, and more awkward and mischievous than he was given credit for. He was unexpectedly hot tempered but was mostly patient with you, and he seemed to find your tendency to ramble soothing rather than annoying, letting you do a lot of the talking when the two of you were together.

You hoped that you would stay friends past graduation, even if you wouldn’t be spending every spare minute together in the interest of keeping up appearances.

A strange feeling followed you through your next date, a warm spring evening when he took you out for cold soba. You couldn't seem to focus on anything other than how much you enjoyed being with him, how easy the conversation was, how adorable he looked with his cheeks stuffed full of noodles. You couldn't stop thinking about how much you wanted this to last, how much you never wanted graduation to come. You realized with some alarm what it all meant when you returned to your dorm and he kissed you stupid outside the door.

You had feelings for him.

Panic gripped you over the next couple of days and you wondered wildly what you should do about this new discovery. The longer you thought about it, the more embarrassed you were to discover that you’d most likely liked him from the beginning, from the moment he’d sat down to your pair project and launched into a thoughtful question. Of course you’d been willing to go along with his little scheme if it meant you could be close to him, and that fucking senior project was hardly the excuse you’d pretended.

You’d been dating a boy you were maybe in love with for months, only none of it was real.

Finally, one evening in late March, as you were putting the finishing touches on a prototype of Shouto’s support item, a plan presented itself to you. You thought you knew what you wanted to do, but you needed advice.

You couldn’t talk to Shouto about this yet, not until you were entirely sure, but there were people close to him who might be willing to volunteer their opinions. You were certain that Shouto had at least let his closest friends in on his little scheme, so you wouldn’t be letting the cat out of the bag if you talked to one of them.

The next afternoon found you at the 3-A dorms again, having ducked Shouto’s quirk training to come find a potential source of help: Momo Yaoyorozu.

Momo was thankfully downstairs when you arrived, in the kitchen putting together an afternoon snack of biscuits and wielding a tin of very expensive looking tea. Her hair was down out of its usual meticulous, high ponytail, and her long hair made her look somehow even more intimidating and queenly than usual.

She caught sight of your nervous figure and gave you a bright smile.

“Hi Y/N,” she chirped and you gave her a little wave. “Shouto’s not here right now.”

You shook your head. “I actually came to see you, if you have a minute? I need help with something.”

She eyed you curiously, then slowly reached for another scoop of tea leaves. “Am I wrong to guess tea would help?”

You nodded, feeling weirdly like a preteen about to have the talk with her mother. “Sure, thank you.”

She pulled out another cup and added more water to the kettle. You watched her gather everything quietly, trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject. She pulled out another biscuit and poured water over the leaves, finally gathering up both cups, gesturing you over to the lounge.

“Did Shouto do something to upset you?” she asked once you’d settled into the loveseat, warm mug in hand. “He can be rather blunt.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” you said, scratching a fingertip against the ceramic. “It’s just…” you paused, tentative, then decided what the hell. “I have feelings for him.”

Momo shot you a concerned look. “What?”

“I know,” you agreed miserably, fingers tightening on the mug. “It just happened, I didn’t expect--”

“No, wait,” Momo said, something like confusion creasing her delicate brow. “What do you mean you have feelings for him? Isn’t that normal?”

You threw her a wild look. Was it normal to catch feelings for your counterfeit boyfriend? Had she been in a situation like this before?

“Have you fake dated someone before?” you asked.

Momo’s jaw dropped. “Fake dated?”

A suspicion settled over you like a dark cloud. “Momo, has Shouto not told you we’re not really dating?”

Her dark eyes widened. “Shouto told me he’d asked you out on Valentine’s Day. He’d never said that any of it was a ruse. Why ever would he ask you to pretend to date him?”

“To fend off Himari,” you admitted, embarrassed, “among others. He did it because none of those girls would leave him alone on Valentine’s Day. I was with him when Himari confessed to him and he used me as a cover. I think it’s only until graduation, though.”

Momo looked thoughtful. “He never told me. He’s talked often of your time together but he’s never admitted as much to me. Shouto has always had this problem and it seems strange that he’d try this now, of all times. Are you sure he’s only dating you to fend off girls?”

You nodded. What other reason would he have? You were shocked that he hadn’t told her. “I’m sure.”

She looked troubled. “It just doesn’t seem like him.” She paused. “So, you’re saying that he doesn’t have feelings for you...but that you might have feelings for him?”

You cringed and took a bracing sip of your tea, embarrassment welling up inside you. “Yes.”

She stared down into her tea cup. “And you’re wondering what you should do about it.”

You nodded again.

She sighed. “I can’t pretend to know what the best thing to do is in this scenario. I just can’t believe Shouto would do something like this.”

You leaned forward, steeling your nerves. “Momo, I was thinking of telling him. I know he’d like this to go on through graduation but I don’t think I can pretend to date him when I actually really like him. It’s too overwhelming.”

You paused, fighting down an embarrassed blush. “What I came here to ask was if you think he would still be able to be friends with me, after. I know it might be weird for a little bit, but I think he’s kind enough. I just….wanted to confirm, with someone who’s known him for a lot longer.”

She watched you silently for a long moment, her fingers pale against her own tea cup. “Shouto is many things, but intentionally cruel is not one of them. I can’t promise that he wouldn’t hurt your feelings--you know how blunt he can be--but I don’t think he’d want to stop being your friend.”

A little relieved sobbing hiccup went through you and you quickly stuffed your face back into your tea cup to hide it, washing it down with a steadying sip.

“Thanks,” you said when you felt you could finally manage it. “That’s all I really wanted to hear.”

She gave you a fond smile. “Glad I could help.”

You took another sip of tea and Momo followed, the two of you descending into a companionable silence. A sudden thought weighed on you.

“Momo, do you know why Shouto may not have asked you instead? I know you two are close, it seems like he might have been better off asking you for the favor.”

Momo gazed into her cup thoughtfully. “I suppose he could have. I don’t know why he wouldn’t.”

You considered that. Was there some reason Shouto didn’t want to alter the nature of his relationship with Momo? Some reason that could also play into why he didn’t tell her you were fake dating in the first place?

….was Shouto maybe not trying to fend off suitors, but instead trying to make Momo jealous?

You entertained the thought for about thirty seconds, then dismissed it. Shouto wasn’t like that.

Honestly, after getting to know him as well as you had, it was surprising that he’d even schemed up the fake dating thing at all, considering how straightforward he was. It seemed wildly unlikely that if Shouto did have feelings for someone, that he wouldn’t just come out and tell them.

“I do know he spoke very highly of you after that project you did together. That’s why…when he told me he’d asked you out, it just made sense. Shouto doesn’t usually take to people that easily,” Momo said.

You fought down a blush. Maybe that’s why he’d asked you instead of Momo. He liked you enough but you hadn't known each other well, so asking for your help wouldn’t damage the fundamental nature of a close relationship. It made a certain sort of sense, you supposed.

The sound of foot falls just outside distracted you and you sat up as the door creaked open. Momo’s eyes betrayed a note of panic, and you looked over your shoulder to catch sight of Shouto toeing off his boots at the door. He looked a little unkempt and windswept from quirk training -- his hair a little rumpled and his skin glowing with sweat.

Your thoughts instantly dried up. Damn he looked good.

Shouto startled a little at the sight of you camped out with Momo. Then the small, secretive smile he sometimes wore curled the edge of his mouth. “Y/N, what are you doing here?”

You panicked. Crap. What was an appropriate response? You and Momo didn't even have anything in common other than Shouto. What would distract from being hand held through a romantic crisis?

“Talking shit about you,” you blurted. “I’m putting together a hit squad for what you did with the ice wave the other week. I did promise murder.”

You watched with satisfaction as Shouto’s eyes narrowed a little. Bingo.

He came stalking over, his manner shifting into something predatory. “I seem to recall coming to a mutually satisfying resolution.”

The tips of your ears went hot and your toes curled in your socks. “Uh, must have slipped my mind.”

A strong arm hooked over your waist from the back of the couch and that scent of mint washed over you, slightly muted by the scent of grass and sweat. Shouto pulled you up into his arms, a stern look on his face. “It seems I’ll have to remind you then. Momo, you’ll have to excuse us.”

He didn’t wait for a response, carrying you over to the staircase to the boy’s dorms. Over one broad shoulder, you could see Momo staring after you, her pink mouth parted in shock. She looked absolutely bewildered, her face a perfect illustration of your own feelings. What did Shouto think he was doing?

It took you hours to come back to this thought, or any thought at all. Shouto spent a long time reminding you of your mutual resolution, kissing you absolutely boneless against the sheets of his bed, and then very sweetly walked you back to your dorm. It was only after you'd shut the door behind him and started up the stairs to your own room that you thought back to the look on Momo’s face. It must have seemed to her that Shouto had no idea of the boundaries of a fake relationship; she must have wondered if you had even been honest with her in the first place.

As hard as it must have been for her to wrap her mind around, it was harder for you.

You didn’t know how or why Shouto was behaving this way with you, if the relationship was truly so casual to him that slipping into the mannerisms of a real relationship meant little, but you knew this meant you had to come clean. Shouto had to know how you really felt about him.

One week and you would finish his support item. One week and you would draw up the courage to tell him everything. One week, and you would break things off with Shouto Todoroki.

#bnha #bnha x reader #todoroki shouto x reader #fanfic #todoroki x reader #boku no hero academia #todoroki shouto

[royalcordelia]

Fic Masterlist: JackSparrow589 Edition

There’s never a bad time for shirbert fic recommendations, so this time, I’d like to celebrate @js589​! You (definitely) might know her as JackSparrow589 on ao3, or better yet, one of your favorite fic authors! I wanted to recommend every one of her shirbert stories and give you my two-cents about why I think every single one is a must-read.

As you read, I encourage you to drop kudos if you haven’t read and leave a comment with your thoughts! (Oldest to newest, because we’re diggin’ tonight!)

A Bit of Reciprocal Courage:  Some first kiss goodness. Gilbert drinks his respect Anne juice AND his confidence juice. 

Awestruck: If you’re missing awae, this fills in some blanks with some sweet moments and insight.

Why Can't Life Ever Go Smoothly?: Because Doctor Gilbert is irresistable to both us and Anne. 

And All Around, the Snow Fell: In which Cole was so very wonderfully, beautifully right about crushes and feelings. I love the wintery themes in this one. Definitely a good read if you’re in the heat of summer. 

Girlish Fun: The sequel to the last one. Speaks for itself! <333 

New Possibilities: I’ll let the tags speak for themselves. “Fluff, Pointless fluff, Have I mentioned fluff yet?, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings” This is not false advertising, folks.

It Is Together That We Move Forward: A missing moment we did not know we needed. An important look into accepting comfort from people we love after a tough time. 

Sweet as Pie: I always love Jerry teasing Anne about Gilbert and this oneshot DELIVERS. 

As Constant and As Fickle as the Sky: I, too, wish I was caught in the rain with Gilbert Blythe. Alas, I’ll have to live vicariously through this fic. 

Grant That I May Not So Much Seek To Be Consoled As To Console: The title of this fic makes me tear up. Living up to its name, this fic makes me cry too. A really sweet post 3x03.

Dominoes of a Dance: In which everyone ships Shirbert and they finally get their acts together. 

When Trouble Comes Knocking: We love a Jerry and Anne sibling story!!! I’m a sucker for the sheer found family vibes in this. 

It's All So Quick and I Feel Sick: I’m right there with Anne feeling her “hope and warmth... and longing.” Post dance feels comin’ right up!

In Which Minnie May Spills the Tea: If Diana hadn’t ripped Gil a new one on the train, THIS is what I would’ve wanted. Perfection. 

Could This Be the Moment: This is one of those end of season 3 fics that made watching Gilbert be an idiot a bit more bearable. The ending is so satisfying, ahhhh. <3

The Subtle Distinction Between Jealousy and Envy: When I tell you I did not know the difference between jealousy and envy until this fic. Anne and Gil have a good conversation in this one. (Though Jack, if you wanted to add a second chapter, I would not object. The suspense!) 

A Bright and Shining Future: Deserves every kudos it has. Another interesting take on the Gil/Winnie/Anne situation. 

As the Seasons Pass: A sequel to the last one! Except hotter and heavier (Jack’s words, not mine). 

Down to the Wire: Marilla said #AnneRights! And then upon further reflection, realizes that shirbert rights are Anne rights. Very satisfying though bc there is some COMMUNICATION. 

A Shattering of Expectations: Another 3x09 fix it fic that saved my life after I watched Gilbert trample all over Anne’s note. 

Moments Unseen: I would’ve killed to see Anne and Winnie’s conversation, but thanks to this story, I don’t have to! Bonus Diana + Gilbert closure too.

Better Late Than Never: A surprise Miss Stacy comes in and plots away. I like the Miss Stacy and Bash vibes in this, something we didn’t get to see.

Words From the Heart: I know for a fact y’all like post season 3 fics, so this one is for you. Twenty chapters of wonderfulness. 

Now and Always: REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD. Thorough kisses and fluff, ahoy!

To Live a Life With No Regrets: In addition to cutting the Winnie drama early, this story sends some much deserved love to my girl Ka’kwet. Overall, just so sweet and wonderful. 

A Friendly Favor: I know we’re all about missing moments from the end of season 3, but the beginning is just as important. That’s what this story does! 

That'll Be a "Yes": A sweet look into shirbert talking about their future. Something good to read if you’re having a rough day and needs some good feels. 

Inflection Points: My personal favorite! When this was being updated I waited for it daily. 10 missing moments from Season 3 that you definitely wanted to see. 

Locked In: Think 7 Minutes in Heaven, late victorian edition. Yep, it’s just as wonderful as you expect. This is also the one Jack tried to show me just how fluffy and amazing she can be. I was thoroughly impressed, but not surprised in the slightest. 

In Which Feelings Start to Bloom: An Inflection Points Continuation: Exactly what it sounds like. *Insert hallelujah chorus*.

Moonlit, Starstruck: Rated E for married love makin. In my professional shirbert opinion, there isn’t enough of this type of intimacy in shirbert fic. Very romantic, 10/10.

In Which Gilbert Makes the Decision He Damn Well Should Have: In which all of our frustrations cease because Gilbert is just...decent and sweet in this one. Thank God!! 3x08 gilbert who??

Burning Like a Fire Gone Wild: THE DRAMA. We love a good hurt/comfort/happy ending story. I loved every word of this one especially. 

To Be Your Last Good Night and Your First Good Day: I’m not usually a modern AU type gal, but this one has me changin my mind. 

Nobody Loves Me Like You Love Me: Modern AU’s that made Tessa change her mind, part 2!!

We All Need Someone To Hold: Lovely sequel to the train accident fic (see two bullets up!) Read that one first for sure! Thank me later. 

The Wolves Came and Went and We're Still Standing: Modern AUs that made Tessa change her mind, Wedding Edition!! The gettin’ is good, fam! 

Like a Heartbeat Skip, Like an Open Page: Jack is a master at canon compliant moments and if you don’t believe me, look no further, just click the heckin’ link. 

Skating Lessons: Another fic to read if you’re unbearably hot this summer! A snowy, fluffy, shirbert dream of a fic!

Dressed Up/Dressed Down: Another E fic. I know most of y’all got a thing for shirbert in each other’s clothes so make sure you thank Jack personally for this one. 

A Most Unexpected Remedy: When Jack delivers, she REALLY delivers. Another fic diving into Anne and Winnie’s conversation. Her and I were both mad about Winnie’s characterization, and so Jack fixed it up real nice!

Over the Sky: This is the soiree reunion fic I wanted like NONE OTHER. 3.3k words of dreams come true! 

As the New Era Dawns: This story took my heart in its hands and squeezed it. Different than a lot of her other works, but so so so beautiful just the same. I have a soft spot for this one. 

In Which Diana Yells at Gilbert an Episode Early: AS SHE SHOULD!!!! In Jack’s words, “The title speaks for itself, folks.”

Somniferous: Smoochin’ and sleepin’ to the MAX, fam. A 5+1 fic that stole my heart away. 

The Relentless Persistence of Destiny: Lastly, the (currently) unfinished AU that peeks into what would’ve happened if Anne and Gilbert would’ve met in college. Gotta tell you, this story is refreshing for very clear reasons (mostly, it doesn’t make a reality show out of two very sweet, human people.) Bookmark this one so you have something happy to read when you’ve got the sads. 

To you, the reader, I hope you enjoy these works as much as I have. Again, if you do, be sure to let Jack know. 

To Jack, thank you for writing 46 stories that have gotten this fandom through such crazy times! Through Season 3, cancellation, and a pandemic, you always gifted us with such wonderful content, even though your own personal life bore its own challenges. It’s been such a privilege being your friend and enjoying your beautifully crafted stories. Happy birthday, my love <33

#anne of green gables #anne with an e #shirbert #please send js all the good vibes #thats not a request solider thats an order