#when you’ve never used Twitter in your life and try to make a Twitter edit thing

[apollo18]

#Billy Batson #Shazam #captain marvel dc #cyborg #victor stone #cyborg dc #when you’ve never used Twitter in your life and try to make a Twitter edit thing #I just had the idea and had to make it really quick #Marvel: *talking about running around in hell and fighting his own gods* #cyborg who only somewhat signed up for this: damn that’s crazy

[canarysage]

hi... don't know if you're the person to ask but do you have any tips for like. edit composition. (????) thar makes no sense . i apologize

i’m probably not the right person but fear not i’ll say some bullshit anyway. obligatory preface but i have never taken a graphic design class in my life so take everything i say with a grain of salt, or several, because idk what the fuck i’m doing

a good thing to keep in mind when editing is your focal point—that is to say, whatever it is you wanted people to be focused on. in most cases it’s probably going to be a character, but you might also have text or something else as your focal point. after you’ve picked your focal point, find ways to emphasize it—people usually do this with stroke (outlines) or with things behind the character like splatters, laces, etc. it should be relatively easy to spot a focal point in most people’s edits, even if they didn’t knowingly pick one. if your edits look janky, you probably ended up with too many things your brain is trying to focus on at once—try simplifying it or making one part pop out more than the other! this also comes into play with text. using my pinned as an example:

(still frames so they’re easier to see) you can see that len and rin are the focal points of this image because they’re outlined and because they’re in front of the text. the text is in the back because i deemed it less important than the characters—i mean, you can read my url without the image anyway.

also, sizing is a pretty big thing in composition. your brain looks at the biggest part of an image first—this is the concept behind newspaper headlines! your brain looks at the big text first, then at the smaller. you can see this reflected in my current header (displayed below, in case i change it at a later date) where “canarysage” is bigger than “resources for editors” because I wanted you to see “canarysage” first

how you align your elements is important to. generally speaking, you’ll want to keep everything pretty centered, but, as with anything, you can break this rule for the sake of creativity. when you’re making things like this directory graphic:

it’s cool to do a zig-zag sort of pattern. when making something like this, it’s probably better to do from left to right—that’s the way english-speakers (and speakers of several other languages) read things so that’s how your brain automatically goes. you should also position whatever you want to be read first near the top—in this case, the part that says “one” is in the top left, because that’s where most people’s eyes will go automatically. you can also see the central art is the focal point because of the outlines and the shapes behind it. the buttons are kept separate because they’re a solid color instead of the pattern used on the background shape—and the text stands out because it’s outlined in black, unlike the rest, and it has a pattern. if you use patterned text, outline it so it’s clearly seen and read.

you can also avoid centering things to make your edit more ‘dynamic’ (idk if that’s the right word) like i did with this header:

both eirika and the text are off center, which makes it look more interesting. also, they’re aligned differently—eirika is aligned to the right while the text is aligned to the left. this helps it seem less empty and is more fun visually

if you’re doing an edit with an even number of characters (like a ship edit) you’ll want to keep any one character out of the center, as this makes them the focal point and can kind of shunt the other off to the side. unless you’re doing matching graphics, in which case you should keep one centered, so it’s clear which is the “main” one in each piece of the set.

sizing is also important in terms of literally how small or big your edit is. headers tend to be pretty large (tumblr uses a 16:9 ratio, and twitter uses a 3:1) but things like icons or stamps are pretty small. especially with stamps, you’ll want to make your character pretty large in the stamp so they’re more easily seen. tumblr icons show up on your dashboard as 128x128, which is pretty small, so you’ll want to make sure your icon is easily discernible from that size.

also, i dont think this is necessarily a hard and fast rule, but when you’re making icons and you have to crop out a portion of the character’s head—crop out the top of the head, not the chin. i can’t tell you WHY i think this is a rule or even if anyone agrees with me, but it’s something to keep in mind. here’s an example of the two different kinds of cropping:

cropping the chin out just looks goofy, idk

since rentry graphics are just sort of dependent on the user, there’s no real hard and fast rules to composing them. just keep in mind whatever your focal point is and try to keep people’s attention on it, whether by adding random shit or outlining or whatever.

same thing with replycons, really. i like to keep my replycons semi-simple, but if you’re doing a collage-type of replycon, it’s better to keep the collage in the background for the most part, except for one or two focal pieces:

you can see that most of the collage pieces are behind rin except for the flower stickers, which are off to the corner so they don’t detract from her. the stripey-line things help a lot, too, as they lead your eye to the main part of the reply icon even without being centered—the main part being the character, of course

with moodboards or stimboards, it’s best to keep your character in the exact center—unless you have two, in which case keep them both in the middle so they’re easier to see. there’s no hard and fast rules with moodboards, but i like to keep images with similar composition near but not directly beside each other

the top middle and bottom middle of this one are both pretty minimalistic, so i kept them adjacent from but not beside each other. as for the rest of it… well i just kind of did whatever

if you’re doing a moodboard or stimboard with two kinds of themes then it’s best to do a checkerboard type of pattern

you can see that here. the pattern is food-art-food-art-ena-art-food-art-food. like a checkerboard, except ena’s in the middle

i’m being so for real i don’t understand composition at all. it’s really best to just do whatever looks best to you personally and see what happens. i hope this is helpful-ish!

yours truly, canarysage

#world’s least helpful editor tries to run a resource blog: canarysage in a nutshell #you can find a lot of resources on composition if you look it up where smarter people explain things better #but i just sort of. do whatever #ʚɞ — tips.

[russilton]

I understand the point you're trying to make about George and homophobic comments but can you stop likening the very real oppression that Lewis is the victim of to some ignorant twitter comments on a white driver with a girlfriend?! Lewis is literally attacked in real-life by the kkk fanbase of that vile sport, ex champions throw around violently racist and homophobic slurs towards him without any pushback, stewards publicly wish for him to burn in his car (yes this has happened more than once), his literal championship was stolen to make space for their "great white hope" (in their words), other drivers have victim-blamed Lewis for years of racist abuse. This is the level of oppression that Lewis has dealt with in the sport, don't ever compare his situation to anyone else. I know you won't post this because white queers hate addressing their racism but you need to stop talking about Lewis if you insist on using him as a prop for your ship. You remind me of Barca fans who claim Gavi is oppressed due to sports heckling while a whole stadium chants racist abuse to Vini. In the wake of the discourse centering the racist abuse that black athletes face in Europe, it's asinine to compare a black athlete's situation with a white one. On that note, I have yet to see you speak up on the racism and homophobia that Lewis is subjected to, but you're always prepared to paint your cishet white fav as oppressed.

I spent a very long time trying to figure out how to answer this ask, most of the day if I'm honest, because while I’m always willing to learn, I also think some of the things you’ve said here just aren’t true, and the fact that I’ve made you feel that they are means I need to be clearer with what I’m expressing.

At no point did I ever, ever, ever intend for it to sound like I was saying what George is dealing with currently is anywhere close to what Lewis deals with on a daily basis. And I don’t think that’s what I said at all, but if it came off that way, it’s something I want to change.

For the sake of transparency, I've made an edit to the original post to clarify my point. I understand now it might have come away belittling to seem like I was equating a more isolated incident to something larger and much more complex, and I'm sorry for that, it was just the only incident I could come to at the time.

I’m not looking for anyone to come to my defence here, because I’d rather speak for myself, nor do I want to make it sound like I've never made mistakes. I've made plenty, on here included, and i've done my level best to change and listen. But if you believe I have never spoken about the racism Lewis faces, have you been around that long?

I talk about it often, and as blatantly as I can while also making clear that as a white guy, I’m not the voice that should be listened to, and that it’s better for me to promote POC speakers or link to them instead. I'm sorry you if it appears like I'm not doing it enough, Ive been trying to listen instead of speak, which is what i've been told to do in the past on here by other anons. When asks have crossed the topic, I've been blunt about the systemic racism in f1, and why it serves F1 to suppress Lewis' voice. But again, there is a limit to what I have said myself, because I don't think its right to make myself the centre focus, when it should be more informed voices.

The only reason it may seem like I do more speaking myself when it comes to homophobia around Lewis AND George, is that it's something I HAVE experienced firsthand, and can more effectively talk about. The vitriol Lewis faces for self expression and the homophobic stereotypes that pour out with it are things I've been open about before, and Lewis' own changing views on gender and gendered clothing are something I'm deeply proud of him for.

But i also need to say I want to be able to talk about multiple issues at once without it seemingly like one is standing over the other, or should detract attention. It's both true that Lewis faces abuse that the officials surrounding F1 and even Mercedes itself will sweep under the rug or belittle, AND that the torrent of Homophobic abuse George is facing needs to be addressed no matter his sexuality or relationship status due to the effect it'll have on his fans.

I care less about how George feels as someone who isn't routinely oppressed and able to easily access support, and more about how formula one continues to absolve fans of extremely bigoted behaviour under the umbrella of calling them a bad outliers rather than addressing the root issues of the sports own willing ignorance and allowance of hateful behaviours from stewards, marshals, team staff and even other drivers. It's not about how the drivers feel, but how minority fans are pushed out in favour of the toxic cesspool f1 has happily encouraged the growth of in order to rake in their money, rather than address. There is not a single f1 comment section on any team, or official social page i would willingly step into, because It is never anything but filled with the worst voices that f1 just.. ignores. Until they're booing Max Verstappen on track, and we're all demanded to be nicer to him, even as he continues to stoke the kinds of fans that have called me every slur in the book and told me to off myself. There is a reason I only interact with F1 on tumblr of all places, it is legitimately the only site I feel safe to do so.

I was a Lewis fan before I was a George fan, and I think I will always find a closer home in him than I will with any other driver. No driver has stood up quite as vocally for issues both close to home for me and issues the world over. No other driver has stuck his neck out the same way or made me feel quite as allowed into a traditionally cis het white space. I only became a motorsport fan because Lewis made me feel like there was a space for people like me.

#asks #anonymous #wank/rants #tw: racism #tw: homophobia #mark rambles #i think im going to turn anons back off again soon #i love being able to talk to everyone but this has been #detrimental to my mental health and is forcing me to lean too much on friends #and that's not fair for them #I’m afraid I can’t comment on the football comparisons #the only football I actively keep up with is ted lasso #I don’t know who gavi or Barca are

[sushiosims]

Sims Tag

Thank you for the tag @jasesims!

1. What’s your favorite sims death? Same as Jase, I never let my sims die! When they get old, I usually start a new game haha. I get way too attached to my lil pixel babes

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? A little mix tbh, I like both, and as long as they work together, I see no problem in swinging between the two!

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? I usually have them eat healthier and jog a few times, so no!

4. Do you use move objects? All the time, its always on in my game

5. Favorite mod? I cannot at this point live without default skins/lashes and eyes, as well as hair, cc wise. I can go without any other cc! Mods wise, Lumpinou First Impressions is a must, as is Pandasama's Birth mod. Gamechanging.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? The Sims, Hot Date! I have been around a long time!

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? aLIVE

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Probably Forrest, he was an accidental baby (actually a twin) and I ignored him till he was a young adult, as I was playing his sisters and his parents, then something happened, and I just fell in love with him!

9. Have you made a simself? Nope, not yet.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? I don't have one, but I would say Loner, Clumsy and Bookworm

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? Dark, either black or dark brown

12. Favorite EA hair? For female the werewolves med cut with the bangs, and for male probably the university short style, cant explain it so I will show it! Also, this is Forrest who I spoke of above :)

13. Favorite life stage? Young Adult

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? A mix of everything, thats why I love The Sims, if I start playing, and I can't get into gameplay, I just start renovating my save, or making new sims, or maybe some posing/storytelling. The game can be played in so many ways, and I love all of it ♥

15. Are you a CC creator? Nope, I have no idea even how to do a simple recolour!

16. Do you have any Simblr friends/a Sim Squad? I met a lot of really good people on Twitter, who I am proud to call my friends now ♥

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)? The Sims 4, for sure. I know its controversial, but I love its style, and its the first game I have been able to get into building and storytelling. The worlds are beautiful. Tartosa is by far one of my favourites

18. Do you have any sims merch? Nope.

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? Nope.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? I think so!

21. What’s your Origin ID? Sushiopath

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? @simmireen for poses, @pierisim for BB and @simstrouble for CAS

23. How long have you had a simblr? For a long time, but I have barely used it, trying now to get the hang of it. I am noob.

24. How do you edit your pictures? Usually just Pixlr

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? Definitely Bands, its all I am waiting for now, cars would be good, but kinda pointless, but would be good for driving lessons, fixing up, repairs etc.

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? Growing Together imo brought the most to the gameplay, but I will always love the broken mess that was Wedding Stories for bringing Tartosa into my life ♥♥

I’ll tag @summers-legacy @thehungrysimmer @halloweensims @tedsies @melbrewer367 @gnattyplayssims @pamsimmerstories

and Please feel free to ignore if you've already did this or just don’t feel like it. 😁

#sims 4 #tag game

[cliffordmebf]

DAYLIGHT - lyric analysis

Harry’s House: track 5

(read as: me trying to make sense of the gazillion thoughts running through my head )🥄🍯

SOFT TW - implications of unaliving due to gender related thoughts, drugs.

     “I’m on the roof

     you’re in your airplane seat”

i’m high. and alone. ‘you’ (the partner) is away. travelling.. touring.

HS3: im on the roof

Keep Driving ~ jump off the roof

HS2: (s)he takes a boat out imagines just sailing away

HS1: they told me that the end is near

     “I was nosebleeding

     looking for life out there”

nosebleeding- drugs

looking for life - searching for hope

     “reading your horoscope”

ties in to Little Freak

“starry haze, crystal ball”

looking for life out there - reading horoscopes - consulting crystal balls -

searching for hope. bc somehow you’ve (she- gender H) become some paranoia.

     “you were just doing cocaine”

this ‘you’ is H themselves. bc their partner is away. ‘airplane seat’.

doing drugs in the kitchen brings us again to-

Little Freak - ‘you sit high atop the kitchen counter’

‘high’ in the kitchen. drugs. drugs to forget gender things. to make.. Her .. go away.

     “you never listen

     i hope you’re missing me by now”

She (lives in daydreams w me) says - i hope you’re missing me.

     “if i was a bluebird, i would fly to ya

     you’d be the spoon

     dip you in honey so i could be sticking to ya”

if i could fly, id be coming right back home to you.

“sticking to ya” - never wanna be alone. you make this feel like home.

     “Daylight, you got me cursing the daylight” x 3

     “Ain’t gonna sleep ‘til the daylight”

2 perspectives

1. romantic ~ can only be together in the dark. closeting

2. gender ~ can only be my most authentic self, most vulnerable, when no one’s watching.

    “Out of New York

     I’m on my comedown speed”

comedown - feelings of the effects of a drug gradually wearing off.

Kiwi - “Its NY baby always jacked up,

Holland tunnel for a nose its always backed up”

“im gonna pay for this”

     “We’re on bicycles

     Saying, “There’s life out there”

Second mention of ‘life out there’ but this time its almost as if he’s trying to convince himself/someone.

Bicycles ~ Matilda.

“you were riding your bike to the sound of ‘it’s no big deal’”

pretending to be fine. convincing yourself you’re fine.

Defenceless- “you don’t have to keep on being strong for me and you.

Acting like you feel no pain you know i know you do”

     “you’ve got the antidote

     i’ll take one to go-go, please”

gender. theres no antidote. therez no cure for being who you are. you cant change.

“things i cant”

“i cant change”

 there’s no antidote for this curse.

 loving you’s the antidote.

 you’ve got the antidote.

     “Get the picture, cut out my middle

     You ain’t got time for me right now”

This is very gender. Cut out my middle.

another interpretation could be - photoshop. don’t have time. snip snip. edit edit. womanizer boom.

[pre- chorus repeats

chorus repeats ]

ends w pre-chorus

     “if i was a bluebird, i would fly to ya

     you’d be the spoon

     dip you in honey so i could be sticking to ya”

https://twitter.com/cliffordmebf/status/1528870039910088705?s=21&t=x2cKsfv2V-Yw85D-pzG98g

View on Twitter

#harry's house #harry styles #hs3 #hsh #daylight harry styles #daylight #little freak #matilda #lyrics analysis #sign of the times #she #she harry styles #golden #louis tomilson #defenceless

[gnattyplayssims]

Tagged by @sushiosims

1. What’s your favorite sims death? I defintely use the classic "old age" death the most.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? I play Maxis Match but I have found a few Alpha clothing pieces that look fine with MM. I don't have a problem with Alpha but it doesn't always mesh well with skin details/hair/eyes etc

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? I play a rather fast lifespan so I'll cheat anything that doesn't make sense with the story I'm telling or the characters I'm playing.

4. Do you use move objects? I have a mod to keep it on all the time so yes!

5. Favorite mod? When there's big updates I will not open my main save until WW, Chingyu's 100+ traits, and most of Lumpinou's mods are updated. CC eyeslashes are also a must.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? I bought the deluxe edition of the original sims so it already included Living Large and I think House Party but the first one I personally bought was Vacation and then Unleashed. I never got any of the others

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? LIVing

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? I'd have to pick Nikolas and Anabelle because they are two that I made from scratch rather than having them born into my legacy. Anabelle has fantastic genes!

9. Have you made a simself? Yes! "Keeping Up w/ the Tate's" is my mess around, mod free save and Amberlynn Tate (in my profile pic) is my simself.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? Family Oriented, Creative, Hot-Headed - Self-Discovered Traits: Romantic and Loyal

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? I'm not a big fan of the really vibrant red and blond colors but otherwise I don't have a preference

12. Favorite EA hair? Like with colors I have styles I don't really like/use at all but really it comes down to the kind of sim I'm making and what fits them.

13. Favorite life stage? I try to make every stage special in some way but my story usually focuses on my heirs when they are young adults

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Mostlly play for storytelling so I enjoy CAS and BB when I have specific story inspiration. But I don't usually create a sim or a build just to upload to the gallery and never touch again.

15. Are you a CC creator? Nope, I'd like to learn the basics but haven't found the motivation

16. Do you have any Simblr friends/a Sim Squad? Newer to Tumblr but I have a small community on Twitter that I love

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)? Nothing can beat the novelty of Sims 2 but I REALLY love sims 4. There are so many opportunities to make this game amazing even with it's flaws

18. Do you have any sims merch? No

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? No, I think I'm much better at taking pictures and writing!

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? It's only changed recently. I more or less played the same way for 20 years. I would always make the same 4 starter couples in each version of the game and see how their genes would intermingle. And I would play rotationally. I had very complex rules for myself and created deep stories for the characters but never shared them. Since discovering the sims community I take more time with my storylines and take my time in CAS/BB and I have fallen even more in love with this game

21. What’s your Origin ID? gnattygan

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? @simmireen for poses, Lumpinou and @pandasamacc for mods

23. How long have you had a simblr? Just got it this year

24. How do you edit your pictures? I don't really. I just use paint to add moodlets to pics and sometimes add a basic filter if it's a dream or flashback

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? Still waiting for fairies to complete my occult collection!

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? Growing Together was really a game changer for family gamers and storytellers

Everyone I know on here was already tagged so I'm not gonna tag anyone

#sims 4 #tag game

[duckprintspress]

How can I return to writing after a long hiatus?

This post is based on a conversation we had in the Duck Prints Press LLC Discord, and all contributors comments have been used/paraphrased/integrated into this post with permission. The people who contributed ideas to this post are: @nottesilhouette, @ramblingandpie, @arialerendeair, @tryslora, @deansmultitudes, @theleakypen, Owlish Intergalactic, myself (I’m @unforth), and one who preferred to remain anonymous.

Few things are harder than coming back to writing after a long period of not writing. Being creative takes a lot of energy, and starting after not doing so for a period of time takes even more energy. The writers on our Discord had a really productive discussion, where we talked about strategies we’ve each personally used to help us get our writing mojo back. None of these methods work for everyone, but if you haven’t written in a while, maybe one of these will work for you!

How to Revive that Creative Writing Spark:

doing sprints with a friend - knowing you’re all in it together can really help!

talking with writing buddies about what you’re each working on - the shared enthusiasm can be really helpful,

journaling, about daily life, or about dreams you’ve had - turning the dream into something coherent can be a great strategy (or, don’t bother, and just write it however crazily it took place!)

pick a random story you wrote in the past and read a chapter, paragraph, or 500 word segment - and look at it as a reader, say things you liked about it, praise it, emphasize the good things about your own writing.

transcribe a song with lyrics you find inspiring, or crack open a favorite book and transcribe a few paragraphs. You can even do it with something you’ve written yourself!

set a low-pressure, low-word count deadline - make it public, if you’re the kind of person that helps, or keep it to yourself.

sign up for a zero-consequence challenge, such as a bingo, or the Duck Prints Press #drabbledaysaturday prompts on Twitter - something where no one will mind if you don’t succeed, but you might find some inspiration.

create a small goal, either daily, weekly, or monthly - it can be a time frame (I’ll write for 5 minutes a day!) or a word count (I’ll write 1,000 words a month!) or even something tiny (I’ll write one sentence a day!) or a public sharing goal (post a ficlet a day!) and then do your best to stick to it, and reward yourself when you succeed.

open your ask box or otherwise solicit short prompts - for example, do a “three sentence” meme (”send me a pairing and a trope and I’ll write a three sentence fill”) or a story title meme (”send me a story title and I’ll write a little about the story I’d create with that title”) or an emoji prompt (”send me three emojis and I’ll write a ficlet”) or make your own fun one that will bring you joy (one of our writers created a “name two characters and I’ll make them kiss in six sentences or less” meme that helped them a lot)

participate in a prompt month, something with no consequences for failure but with prompts that can inspire daily ficlet.

write without editing, and just throw what you create out into the world - anything to get the words flowing.

challenge yourself to write a drabble day, no more and no less.

try changing how or when you write - get a nice journal and write by hand, or if that’s your normal, try writing in a word document instead.

write at different times of day, and see if it’s easier for you over breakfast, or after lights out, or during your lunch break, or by stealing a few minutes while you’re “on the clock” at work.

make an attempt at different formats of writing - if you usually write prose, try a poem; if you usually write really long things, try a drabble.

look out your window, or find a place you like, and just describe what you see.

do some free association exercises - for example, use a random word generator (I use this one sometimes) and then write literally whatever word comes into your head next - keep going until you fill the page, or until it starts to turn into a story, or just until you don’t feel like it any longer.

pick a random sentence (the person who suggested this often uses “Just write anything”) to be the start of a story, and “pants” your way through whatever comes next, without worrying about grammar, continuity, logic, or much of anything.

plan ahead - schedule your writing time and don’t let yourself put it off (rewards for success are always good!) and/or visualize exactly what you want to write ahead so you’re ready when you sit down.

if you get hit by inspiration, don’t put it off - even if all you do is scrawl a sentence in your phone or on scratch paper between other tasks, get it out of your head. Even a single sentence is a creation!

get out of the spaces where your usual things are - go to a park, or on a hike, or in your backyard, or even a different room in your own home, and bring a journal or phone or laptop, and see what strikes you.

pick That Thing You Haven’t Been Letting Yourself Write and ignore all the things you Think You Should Be Writing and just...write what brings you joy

fanfiction can be very helpful, especially in canon using canon-compliant ships/characterizations - there’s no need to do the heavy lifting. Even if you just write the characters going to a grocery store, or talking about what movie they want to watch, or arguing over take out - something short and sweet that’s just for fun, with no expectations for yourself or anyone else.

alternatively, if you’re the type who writes better for others and you’re feeling down - knock out anything, even something short, and post it, and take joy even in a single like or kudos. Knowing even one person out there loved what you wrote can really help.

Any or all of these may help you, but there’s one final one that I, at least, think is the most important of all - and that’s helped me most.

FORGIVE YOURSELF. You have work in progress up. It’s okay to leave them. You told someone you’d write something for them. It’s okay not to. You have a deadline looming. It’s okay to ask for more time, or to withdraw, or - in the end - it’s even okay to ghost. You think what you’ve made is bad. It’s okay if it’s bad. You’ll never be able to create when you’re raking yourself over the coals. Everyone in fandom has “been there” - has missed deadlines, has left challenges, has abandoned works in progress, have reneged on a promise to a friend to write something. Until you forgive yourself, you’ll never be able to create anything, and isn’t even a single sentence that isn’t on that Big Important Thing better than no sentences on anything?

Forgive yourself, and find that spark, inspiration, muse, whatever you want to call it - and write things that bring you joy.

We believe in you!

YOU CAN DO IT!

#duck prints press #original content #writing advice

[pumpkinpaix]

mdzs fandom, diaspora, and cultural exchange

Hey everyone. This post contains a statement that’s been posted to my twitter, but was a collaborative effort between several diaspora fans over the last few weeks. Some of the specifics are part of a twitter-localized discourse, but the general sentiments and issues raised are applicable across the board, including here on tumblr.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably seen a few of my posts about this fandom, cultural exchange, and diasporic identity. For example, here, here, and here. This statement more directly criticizes some of the general issues I and others have raised in the past, and also hopefully provides a little more insight into where those issues come from. I would be happy if people took the time to read and reblog this, as the thought that went into it is not trivial, and neither is the subject matter. Thank you.

Introduction

Hello. I'm a member of a Chinese diaspora discord server - I volunteered to try and compile a thread of some thoughts regarding our place and roles in the fandom expressed in some of our recent discussions. This was primarily drafted by me and reviewed/edited by others with the hopes that we can share a cohesive statement on our honest feelings instead of repeatedly sharing multiple, fragmented versions of similar threads in isolation.

This was compiled by one group of diaspora and cannot be taken to represent diaspora as a whole, but we hope that our input can be considered with compassion and understanding of such.

For context, we are referencing two connected instances: the conflict described in these two threads (here and here), and when @/jelenedra tweeted about giving Jewish practices to the Lans. Regarding the latter, we felt that it tread into the territory of cultural erasure, and that it came from a person who had already disrespected diaspora’s work and input.

Context

The Lans have their own religious and cultural practices, rooted both in the cultural history of China and the genre of xianxia. Superimposing a different religious practice onto the Lans amidst other researched, canonical or culturally accurate details felt as if something important of ours was being overwritten for another’s personal satisfaction. Because canon is so intrinsically tied to real cultural, historical, and religious practices, replacing those practices in a canon setting fic feels like erasure. While MDZS is a fantasy novel, the religious practices contained therein are not. This was uncomfortable for many of us, and we wanted to point it out and have it resolved amicably. We were hoping for a discussion or exchange as there are many parallels and points of relation between Chinese and Jewish cultures, but that did not turn out quite as expected.

What happened next felt like a long game of outrage telephone that resulted in a confusion of issues that deflected responsibility, distracted from the origin of the conflict, and swept our concern under the rug.

Specifically, we are concerned about how these two incidents are part of what we feel is a repeated, widespread pattern of the devaluing of Chinese fans’ work and concerns within this fandom. This recent round of discourse is just one of many instances where we have found ourselves in a position of feeling spoken over within a space that is nominally ours. Regardless of what the telephone game was actually about, the way it played out revealed something about how issues are prioritized.

Background

MDZS is one of the first and largest franchises of cmedia that has become popular and easily accessible outside of China. Moreover, it’s a piece of queer Chinese media that is easily accessible to those of us overseas. For many non-Chinese fans, this is the first piece of cmedia they have connected with, and it’s serving as their introduction to a culture previously opaque to them. What perhaps is less obvious is that for many Chinese diaspora fans, this is also the first piece of cmedia THEY have connected with, found community with, seen themselves in.

Many, many of us have a fraught relationship with our heritage, our language—we often suffer from a sense of alienation, both from our families and from our surrounding peers. For our families, our command of the language and culture is often considered superficial, clunky, childish. Often, connecting with our culture is framed as a mandatory academic duty, and such an approach often fosters resentment towards our own heritage. For our non-Chinese peers, our culture is seen as exotic and strange and other, something shiny and interesting to observe, while we, trapped in the middle, find ourselves uprooted and adrift.

MDZS holds an incredibly important place in many diaspora’s hearts. Speaking for myself, this is literally the first time in my life I have felt motivated and excited about my own native tongue. It's the first time I have felt genuine hope that I might one day be able to speak and read it without fear and self-doubt. It is also the first time that so many people have expressed interest in learning from me, in hearing my thoughts and opinions about my culture.

This past year and a half in fandom has been an incredible experience. I know that I am not alone in this. So many diaspora I have spoken to just in the last week have expressed similar sentiments about the place MDZS holds in their lives. It is a precious thing to us, both because we love the story itself, and because it represents a lifeline to a heritage that’s never felt fully ours to grasp.

It’s wonderful to feel like we are able to welcome our friends into our home and show them all these things that have been so formative to our identities, and to be received with such enthusiasm and interest. Introducing this to non-Chinese friends and fans has also been an opportunity to bridge gaps and be humanized in a way that has been especially important in a year where yellow peril fear mongering has been at an all-time high.  

History

However, MDZS’ rise in popularity among non-Chinese audiences has also come with certain difficulties. It is natural to want to take a story you love and make it your own: that’s what transformative fandom is all about. It is also natural that misunderstandings and unintentional missteps might happen when you aren’t familiar with the ins and outs of the culture and political history of the story in question. This is understandable and forgivable—perfection is impossible, even for ourselves.

We hope for consideration and respect when we give our knowledge freely and when we raise the issue of our own discomfort with certain statements or actions regarding our culture. Please remember that what is an isolated incident to you might be a pattern of growing microaggressions to us. In non-Asian spaces, Asian diaspora are often lumped together under one umbrella. In the west, a lot of Chinese diaspora attach themselves to Korean and Japanese media in order to feel some semblance of connection to a media which approximates our cultures because there are cultural similarities. This is the first time we've collectively found community around something that is actually ours, so the specificities matter.

There is a bitterness about being Asian diaspora and a misery in having to put up a united front about racial issues. Enmity towards one group becomes a danger to all of us, all while our own conflicted histories with one another continue to pass trauma down through the generations. Many of us don’t even watch anime in front of our grandparents because of that lingering cultural antipathy. When the distinctions between our cultures are muddled, it feels once again like that very fraught history is flattened and forgotten.

Without the lived experience of it, it’s hard to understand how pervasive the contradictory web of anti-Asian and, more specifically, anti-Chinese racial aggressions are and how insidious its effects are. The conflation of China the political entity (as perceived and presented by the US and Europe) with its people, culture, and diaspora results in an exhausting litany of criticism levied like a bludgeon, often by people who don’t understand the complicated nature of a situation against those of us who do.

There is often a frankly stunning lack of self-awareness re: cultural biases and blind spots when it comes to discussions of MDZS, particularly moral ones. There are countless righteous claims and hot takes on certain aspects of the story, its author, and the characters that are so clearly rooted in a Euroamerican political and moral framework that does not reflect Chinese cultural realities and experiences. Some of these takes have become so widespread they are essentially accepted as fanon.

This is a pattern of behavior within the fandom. It is not limited to any specific group, nor does it even exclude ourselves—we are, after all, not a monolith, and we should not be placed on pedestals to have our differing opinions weaponized against one another in fandom squabbles. We are not flawless in our own understandings and approaches, and we would appreciate it if others would remember this before using any of us as ultimate authorities to settle a personal score.

It is difficult not to be disheartened when enthusiastic interest crosses the line into entitled demand and when transformative work crosses into erasure, especially when the reactions to our raised concerns have so frequently been dismissive and hostile. The overwhelming cultural and emotional labor we bring to the table is often taken advantage of and then criticized in bad faith. We are bombarded with racist aggressions, micro and macro, and then met with ridicule and annoyance when we push back. Worse, we sometimes face accusations of hostility that force us to apologize, back down, and let the matter go.

When we bring up our issues, it usually seems to come with the expectation that there are other issues that should be addressed before we can address ours. It feels like it’s never really the time to talk about Asian issues.

On the internet and in fandom spaces, Western-coded media, politics and perspectives are assumed to be general knowledge and experience that everyone knows and has. It feels like a double standard that we are expected to know the ins and outs of western politics and to engage on these terms, but most non-Chinese have not even the slightest grasp of the sort of politics that are at play within our communities. We end up feeling used for our specialized knowledge and cultural background and then dismissed when our opinions and problems are inconvenient.

As the culture represented in MDZS is not a culture that most non-Chinese fans are familiar with, we’d like to remind you that you do not get to decide which parts of it are or are not important. While sharing this space with Chinese diaspora who have a close connection to the work and the painful history that goes along with being diaspora, we ask that you be mindful of listening to our concerns.

Cultural erasure is tied to a lot of intense historical and generational trauma for us that maybe isn't immediately evident: the horrors of the Pacific theatre, the far-reaching consequences of colonization, racial tensions both among ourselves and with non-Chinese etc. These are not minor or simple things, and when we talk about our issues within fandom, this is often what underlies them. This is one of the first and only places many of us have been able to find community to discuss our unique issues without feeling as if we’re speaking out of turn.

With the HK protests, COVID, the anti-Chinese platforms of the US election etc., anti-Chinese sentiment has been at the forefront of the global news cycle for some time now, and it is with complete sincerity that we emphasize once again how important MDZS fandom has been as a haven for humanizing and valuing Chinese people through cultural exchange.

Experiencing racial aggression within that space stings, not just because it’s a space we love, but because it feels like we’ve been swimming in rapidly rising racial aggression for over a year at this point.

Feelings

This is a difficult topic to broach at the best of times, and these are not the best of times. Many of us have a wariness of rocking the boat instilled in us from our upbringings, and it is not uncommon for us to feel like we should be grateful that people want to engage with something of ours at all. When we do decide to speak up, we’ve learned that there is a not insignificant chance that we’ll be turned on and trampled over because what we’ve said is inconvenient or uncomfortable. When it is already so difficult to speak up, we end up second-guessing and gaslighting ourselves into wondering whether there really was a problem at all.

We’d like to be able to share what we know about our culture and have our knowledge and experience be taken seriously and treated with courtesy. This is a beautiful, rich world built with the history of our ancestors, one that we too are trying to connect with. When we find it in ourselves to speak up about it, we would appreciate being met with consideration instead of hostility.

We don't have the luxury of stepping away from our culture when we get tired of it. We don't get to put it down and walk away when it’s difficult. But if you're not Chinese or Chinese diaspora, you get to put this book down—we'd like to kindly request that you put it down gently because of how much it matters to all of us in this fandom, regardless of heritage.

What we are asking for is reflection and thoughtfulness as we continue to engage with this work and with one another, especially with regards to how Chinese issues are positioned. When we raise issues of our own discomfort, please take a moment to reflect before reacting defensively or trying to shut us down for spoiling the fun—don’t deprioritize our concerns, especially in a fandom for a piece of Chinese media. We promise most of us are not trying to start shit for the sake of a fight. Most of the time, all we want is acknowledgement and a genuine attempt at understanding.

Our hope with this statement is to encourage more openness and understanding between diaspora and non-Chinese fans while we navigate this place that we’re sharing. Please remember that for many of us, MDZS is far more intense than a typical fandom experience. Remember that the knowledge we have and research we do is freely and happily given, and that it costs us both materially and emotionally. Please don’t take that for granted. Remember too that sometimes the reason for our discomfort may not be immediately evident to you: what seems culturally neutral and harmless might touch upon specific loaded issues for us. We ask for patience, and we ask for sincerity as we try to communicate with one another.

We are writing this because there’s a collective sense of imposed silence—that every time the newest round of discourse crops up, we often feel as if we’re walking away having created no meaningful change, and nursing new wounds that we’ll never get to address. But without speaking up about it, this is a cycle that will keep repeating.

This is not meant to shame or guilt the fandom into throwing themselves at our feet, either to thank us or beg for forgiveness—far from that. We’re just your friends and your fellow fans. We are happy to have you here, and we’re happy to create and share and play together. We just ask to be respected and heard.

Thank you. Thank you for listening. Several of us will be stepping back from twitter for a while. We’ll see you when we get back. ❤️

* A final addendum: here are two articles with solid practical advice on writing stories regarding a culture other than your own.

Cultural Appropriation for the Worried Writer: Some Practical Advice

Cultural Appropriation: Some More Practical Advice

The thread on twitter is linked in the source of this post. Thanks everyone.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #the untamed #the untamed meta #cql #asian diaspora #chinese diaspora #race #racism #mine #mymeta #once again my tag failing me because this is a collaborative work #but! for the sake of organization #statistically average #cultural appropriation #cultural erasure #what else do i tag this im so wired

[bluefuckboy]

Yakuza Dabi x f!reader

Cw: mentions of crime related activity, implications of concubines

WC: 1400

A/N: @themotherofmoons I might be convinced to continue cos I mean 👀 also not edited so sorry for any typos

Todoroki

That was the name of the family you were to report to. You’d heard about their influence, specifically the head of the family, a man who was known by Endeavor. Like other yakuza syndicates, the Todorokis kept a low profile, making their presence known through other means. Situations had arisen and that was what had landed you here, a dolled up offering to hopefully appease the wrath of Endeavor.

You shiver slightly as you pass through the dark hallways of the large, lavish house. It’s decorated traditionally and your eyes travel over the various spoils, art and weaponry adorned upon the walls. The man escorting you is tall, dressed in a sharp suit like most of the men within such groups. His bluish gray hair is pulled back into a small ponytail, bangs sweeping in front of what can only be described as dead eyes. He’s rough looking, pale skin bearing an almost withered look, with a scars over his lip and one eye.

He reaches an ornate fusuma at the end of the hall bearing a dragon, coiled along the many panels that you now see line the walls around you. You find yourself clutching your kimono tighter, frightened a bit by the unnerving gaze of the dragon.

Your chaperone sides the largest panel to the side, revealing a low lit room. It’s set up like a bar, a long counter extending down one side of the room, with expensive looking furniture here and there. Men in suits mingle, casting their eyes toward you as you’re escorted past. You pull your kimono tighter around you as you feel their eyes follow you, standing out like a sore thumb amongst them.

When you reach the end of the room, the man gives an order. You watch as men shuffle out of the way, making a clearing. You peer past your chaperone to see another man, seated upon a large, velvety looking chair.

His suit is clearly the nicest of the ones you’ve seen from the group so far. It’s tailored perfectly to him, complimenting his lanky frame as he turns towards you. In the dark room it’s hard to make out any features other than his hands, which fold together as he rests his chin on them.

They’re inked all the way up to the wrist, most likely intricate artwork, but in the dark light it looks almost like discolored skin. The bit of light that illuminates his face has you trying to hid behind the man still in front of you. His face is also adorned with tattoos, a distinct pattern you’ve never seen before, giving him a haunting look. They stretch along his jaw, even up to his ears with dark ink under his eyes. You shudder to think of how painful that must have been, but he wears it proudly, smirking as he tilts his head to see you better.

The man who escorted you steps forward, leaning down to whisper in the tattooed man’s ear. Upon hearing his words, a vulpine smile breaks out on his face and the man laughs. When he speaks his voice sends chills down your spine.

“Shigaraki tells me you’re hear to see Endeavor…” he cocks an eyebrow, his blue eyes icy.

You swallow, nodding your head, respectfully staying silent. The man lets his eyes roam over you and you find yourself shying away from his gaze. He chuckles and leans back again, enveloping his face in the shadows as he speaks.

“I’m afraid Endeavor isn’t here and won’t be back.”

You wait for him to continue with something like “for a while” or “after a trip” but the man stays silent. Theres a chorus of snorts and chuckles from the men flanking him, which stops immediately as he raising a finger before continuing.

“I’m sure you’ve been sent here as a peace offering so to speak. You certainly are quite a delicate gift.”

You can feel your cheeks burn and you try to hide the blush behind your hand, averting your eyes. You hear the tatami floor creak as the man gets up and your heart starts to beat faster when he makes his way toward you. Now that he’s in the light, you can see he’s surprisingly handsome, dark hair that sweeps into his eyes, which are a shade of blue that has you staring before blushing again and looking away. You also notice multiple piercings in his ears and as you chance another look up at him, you jump, realizing he’s bent down to eye level with you.

Your heart jumps to your throat as you see the ink of the tattoos doesn’t meet the pale skin of his face, but rather rough scars, stretching under his eyes and around the whole of his bottom jaw. They almost look fresh, the skin has a raw texture to it and it makes your stomach turn a bit. The scars warp as he grins at you.

“Y’know. That old fucker wouldn’t have deserved a beautiful flower like you.”

You flinch as his fingers come to run along your jaw. It’s a caress however and you let him tilt your head up as they rest under your chin. His eyes lock with yours and your heartbeat pounds in your ears. His fingers against your skin feel hot, but they’re gone as he stands up again, crossing his arms.

“I suppose your family should be exempt from further incidents. Seeing as they’ve sent you rather than money or bargains” He chuckles, “I think you’ll also find I’m much more charming than my old man. He was never one for negations unless they ended with violence.”

Your stomach drops as you put the pieces together. The man before you is Dabi, the estranged eldest son of the Todoroki syndicate. He’d been presumed dead, but rumors had spread recently about a new group in town, headed by a man hellbent on taking over the most powerful syndicates. You can’t believe he’s standing her in front of you, clearly having reached that goal as his voice lowers to a dangerous growl.

“I dredged myself up from hell, moved through group after group until I was lucky enough to find someone close to just the person I was looking for.” His head tilts to the left and he croons, “Isn’t that right, Takami?”

A shorter man with dirty blonde hair goes stiff at the name, looking down at his feet. You can see what looks like a fresh scar that stretches from the bottom of his jaw down to below the collar of his suit. Dabi makes a whistling noise, like a bird twittering.

“He used to be quite the little song bird. Thought he doesn’t say much these days.” Dabi sighs as though it’s an inconvenience to even talk of such matters. The man named Takami clenches his jaw and you get the uneasy feeing it’s not a matter of him choosing to be silent, but rather that he psychically wouldn’t be able to speak even if he wanted to.

You haven't even noticed you’re clenching your kimono for dear life until Dabi says, “Relax a little, doll. You’re in better hands here than you would have been with Endeavor.”

He spits the name disdainfully from his mouth, but you can’t stop the slight shake of your hands as you let the silky material fall back down. Dabi tuts his tongue at the sight of the wrinkles within it and you go rigid as his large palms are suddenly smoothing the material down over your hips as he readjusts your obi. His knuckles brush purposefully against the undersides of your breasts as he slips his fingers between the sash and the rest of the garment. The touch has you pressing your lips, and legs together tightly as you feel heat start to pool in your stomach.

Dabi leans in, brushing a strand of you hair behind your ear, whispering words that have you hyper aware of the way you’re stating to wet the silken panties that match your kimono.

“You’re far too exquisite of a creature to be passed around as bribery,” His lips slip lower, breath hot against your neck as he makes you an offer you can’t refuse.

“Let me make you the wife of the most powerful man in Japan, and I’ll treat you like the goddess you are.”

#I’m sorry I couldn’t resist The Godfather reference ha #who needs sleep when there’s yakuza boss dabi #dabi x reader #yakuza au #dabi yakuza au #yakuza dabi #dabi x f!reader #dabi x female reader #blue writes

[bubblyhoney]

sarah i have thought of another fic request or like a cute idea i guess! i didn’t have anyone in mind when i thought of it so you can write it for whoever you want honestly :)

okay so the reader is a streamer but streams games like animal crossing, standew valley, etc. then (insert who you’re writing for) says they don’t like that game, but later ends up buying it and the reader is like “i thought you said you didn’t like this game” and they’re like “well i like you” and they confuses their feelings and they end up playing the game together and reader gives them a tour of their island or farm

i feel like this request isn’t good, but the scenario seemed cute and i wanted to share it. sorry if this is confusing or just too specific cuz i know it can be hard to write requests like that! but yeah i hope it gives you inspiration and you like the request <3

new horizons

warnings: language, a Marvel reference (hint: natasha said it about tony), stupid idiots who don’t realize they like each other, use of pet names, Uno rage, Hasan Piker's presence

words: 1473

tags: sapnap x gn!reader

A/N: i’ve been trying to catch up a little on my requests (i’ve only got a couple so i’m not super overwhelmed) but school and outside life has been taking up most of my time so this one took me a while to make! tbh— ive never played animal crossing so i did google some of the game mechanics and i apologize if anything is inaccurate about the game…. but i liked relaxing and writing this cute one so thank you for requesting hails :3

requests/inbox status: open

-

“This game is trash.”

Your head quirks, fingers stopped on the screen. You’re in the process of giving your character a cute new nickname; it’s kind of hard to decide between “awkward dude” and “elderly skater”.

“Excuse me?” Your chat comes alive with emotes and ‘KEKW’s, obviously entertained by you and your almost-more-than-friends-friend.

There’s a story for that later.

Sapnap’s rough laugh comes through your headset and he audibly swallows, the sound of a water bottle dropping onto his desk echoing.

“I’m just saying—it’s boring. It’s like Minecraft but you don’t like… do anything.” The grainy image of his bearded face shifts and you see him pull out his phone.

“It’s— you can’t even compare it to Minecraft! It’s a completely different game system—you actually interact with other people live in the game.” You huff out a dramatic sigh, slumping in your chair with a pout. “Just because you go into this lucid state where all you know is ‘touch block, hit George’ doesn’t mean this game isn’t fun.” (He scoffs at your awful impression of his voice. Your viewers love it.)

“Jeez,” he mumbles, fumbling with the cap of his water bottle. “Touched a nerve there, bud.”

You roll your eyes, getting back to the village in the game.

“Don't ‘bud’ me.”

The call falls comfortably quiet, the sounds of him tapping obsessively on his phone and you clicking away filling the silence. A gentle bedroom-pop YouTube playlist remains in the background, prompting you to hum along and glance at the chat to see a flood of “check twitter” and “Y/N TWITTER!!”.

“What happened on Twitter?” You mumble, confused, and pull the website up on another monitor. Sapnap just makes a curious noise, swinging back and forth in a circle. “Oh my God,” you say to yourself, fingertips brushing your parted lips.

“What?”

“Hasan Piker just followed me and retweeted one of my not even remotely political old tweets. Like from a year ago.”

“That’s— wow. Congrats?” Sapnap’s voice cracks, and his ears flush pink the tiniest bit when you glance at his face on Discord.

“I’m gonna go on record and say that he could get it.” You shake your head in disbelief.

Sapnap falls uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal, so you look past the frenzied chat and to his screen— wait. He muted and turned his camera off.

“Um,” you start, furiously typing question marks in your private chat. “Where’d you go?” You mute and turn screen share off for your stream, concerned that he might’ve fallen off his chair and broken his neck and needs you to call the ambulance.

The characteristic ding of a twitter notification sounds through your bedroom, and you look at your phone quickly.

“That’s where I went.”

Sapnap Tweeted: “all Y/U stans can choke on my dick”.

“Jesus, Sapnap,” you say, and rapidly refresh to read the replies. This tweet was deleted. “That’s so— that barely makes sense, bro. Why— literally what?”

His snicker floods your ears and you relax in your chair. Crisis: averted. “Don’t fucking— what’s wrong with you?”

“I thought it would be funny,” he offers, shrugging, and fiddles with the straw in his water bottle, smile fading. “And also Hasan pisses me off.”

“Why, ‘cause he wants a piece of this? Jealous?” You think back to your viewers, knowing they’re probably spamming question marks and coming to ludacris conclusions about both of your absences. No offense to them. You remember your stan days very vividly.

“I mean, kinda.” He rubs once at his nose, glancing at the camera (and what feels like you) before taking a sip from his water bottle.

“Wow.” You watch one strand of his hair fall from beneath his hat and brush against his full eyebrows. “I’m uh—I’ll get back to my stream. You coming? Or is it time for a Sapnap-snack?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He snorts and leans his chin onto the balance of his arm.

“That means you like to take a little snack break mid-stream and come back approximately nine hours later and you didn’t even eat.”

“You know what— fuck you.” He flicks the camera as you laugh at the look on his face.

The teasing mood is easily kept as you switch games from Animal Crossing to Uno, all the while slamming Sapnap with +4’s and skipping the newly-arrived BadBoyHalo at any chance you can get. It unironically pisses him off and he has to take a Sapnap-snack break midway through (only a fifteen minute break this time, during which you and Bad take a “What Kind of Bread Are You?” quiz). The rest of the night is filled with devious cackles (you), loud and sudden bangs that sound suspiciously like someone hitting their desk in anger (Sap) and the stupid barking of Rat, AKA Lucy (Bad). She’s cute but a menace to the sound quality of Bad’s microphone. You sign off stream around 2 a.m. with various forms of thanks and kisses blown to the camera. It’s been a refreshing night, actually; you’ve been busy organizing a partnership stream all week and all your friends have been busy filming or editing or what-not. Quackity had time for a little Roblox every couple of days, though. He’s got your back.

The next time you see Sapnap is after a two hour stream of him try-harding in Valorant and you finishing responding to an email from your partnership in the VC.

“Okay, I’m back.” You hear him shift in his chair and click a couple more times on his keyboard. You perk up in your chair, closing the email browser you’d been looking at.

“Do you want to play anything else? I’m down for anything.”

“Absolutely not Uno. You can go to hell for giving me 6 cards that one time,” he jabs. You scoff, crossing your arms and leaning back in your chair.

“Okay, the +4 was on me but it’s Bad who gave you the last two. That’s not my fault, sweetie.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbles, trailing off as the clicking of his keyboard stops. “Hey, um—Guess what?”

Your heart beats loud in your ears at the tone of his voice. He sounds nervous; that’s never good.

“I’m scared to guess,” you try, playing with a little Minecraft dog figurine you have on your desk with fidgety fingers. “What?”

“I bought Animal Crossing.”

Silence. You stare at his discord icon blankly, trying to reroute the wires of your brain.

“Tell me you love it.”

“Well… I haven’t actually played it— but you said you liked it, so.”

“So,” you repeat him, ears warming but continuing on. “Is that what you tell all your friends when you buy something they like? That it's because of them?”

He seems to choose his next words carefully, pausing a beat to consider your questions.

“Well, I don’t have a crush on all of my friends.”

“You—what?” You stutter, caught off guard and stumbling. What did he just say? “Don’t tell me you mean you have a crush on me.”

“I’m almost positive I just did.” His discord icon stares right back at you, taunting.

“You know, you’re very casual for someone who just admitted they like-like me.” Your cheeks flush pink and you have to press a hand to your chest to keep your breathing sounding stable.

“Yeah, I’m kind of cool like that,” he offers, a huff of a laugh punctuating his statement. The conversation moves into a lull that you can’t help but know is because of you. He must expect you to say something about it, right?

“You are very cool, Sapnap.” You tilt back in your chair, sucking in a breath to prepare yourself for your next words. “And—Isortakindofhaveacrushonyoutoo.”

He must understand you, for you can hear the grin in his voice when he asks “Really?”

“Y-yeah.” You feel like a preteen again, all shaky and giddy in front of the boy you just asked to a middle school dance.

“Um, alright. What do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” you answer genuinely and swing in a happy little circle in your chair. “We could play Animal Crossing.”

“I’m down.”

You swear you’ve never heard more beautiful words.

He keeps his camera off for most of the time you two play, too focused on creating his island and asking you questions about how to fish to turn it on. He silently flips it on when you help him decorate his lawn, needing to show you in real-time the decorations he has bought and where you think he should put them. He looks cute. I mean, of course he does. He always does.

You tell him goodbye late in the night, eyes saying a little more than just “see you tomorrow”.

You like him. He likes you.

It’s even better when you two have matching gardens.

-

A/N: anybody and everybody (especially my precious hailey) let me know what you think!! :]

#sapnap #mcyt #sapnap x gn!reader #sapnap x reader #sapnap x you #sapnap fluff #sapnap drabble #sapnap oneshot #bubblyhoneyfics #honey answers #mcyt x reader #🥚except small

[kaeyasaki]

📹 — :; “face-to-face” GQ interview

-> inspired by the “face-to-face, A$AP rocky answers 18 from rihanna | GQ interview”, except i make the questions a little more personal because i don’t think anyone cares what gojo’s ‘fav curse word is’

-> ft :; gojo satoru

-> interview writing layout heavily inspired by @rintaroll

y/n: hey GQ! i’m here to do face-to-face with my co worker, gojo!

gojo: coworker? is that all i am to you?

y/n: be grateful i even acknowledged you.

gojo: you wound me.

y/n: yet you’re still smiling.

gojo flashes a playful frown to the camera as y/n roll their eyes before pulling out a stack on cards.

y/n: so first question, what’s the hardest part about working with me?

gojo: everything.

y/n: i’m serious.

gojo: and so am i, you make it hard for me to work with you because we never get anything done.

y/n: don’t make it sound like it’s my fault! we never get anything done because you get too distracted and drag me into it!

gojo: maybe you should discipline me more...

he teases and sends you a wink to which you dismiss quickly.

y/n: you’re a grown man, you shouldn’t need me to discipline you.

gojo: what if i want you to?

y/n: would you just answer the question seriously or i’ll really start to think you don’t think we work well together!

gojo: okay, i was kidding... you’re actually a pretty good teammate when we’re sent on missions together, i have fun with you... maybe a little too much fun...

y/n: don’t give them the wrong idea we’re nothing like that!

you cringe at him as he laughs before the camera cuts moving onto the next question

y/n: okay, second question, answer seriously from now on, got it?

gojo: anything for you~

y/n: you disgust me... anyway, how well would you say you take care of yourself?

gojo: you mean like... self care wise?

y/n: yeah, like self care!

gojo: hmm well, i’d say i take care of myself pretty well, after all, pampered men are attractive men right?

y/n: i mean sure, i think it’s attractive when a man takes care of himself but if that mans you... maybe not so much.

gojo: you don’t mean that! you must be somewhat attracted to me.

y/n: can’t say i am no.

gojo: lying is a sin you know.

y/n: you’re totally straying away from my initial question.

you groan and face the camera and gojo tilts his head and laughs.

gojo: sorry, well, i’d say i clearly look after myself very well which should be to your liking.

y/n: you’ll never be to my liking, but it’s nice to hear you take care of yourself well and that you’re not just an annoying man, but rather an annoying but hygienic man.

gojo: you’re so horrible to m-

the camera cuts as you start laughing and gojo starts whining.

y/n: we’re getting through these quickly now let’s keep it that way.

gojo: you know, we’d be half done by now if you stopped insulting me every chance you get.

y/n: i’m the quizzer, you’re the answerer, you answer when spoken to.

gojo turns to face the grinning camera crew behind the cameras on set.

gojo: now do you see what i have to put up with! i’m a victim i’m telling you!

camera man: no no, keep it up, you guys have nice chemistry

y/n: chemistry? not to be rude but you must’ve failed science, the only clear dialogue between us is practically conversation between an adult and child.

the camera crew laugh and gojo feigns offence before you clear your throat and look at the next card.

y/n: anyways, when was the first time you were majorly recognised as ‘famous’?

gojo: ah, a long time ago i need to think, give me a sec.

you pretend to yawn as gojo thinks about his answer before smiling at you.

gojo: my second year i think. that’s when i really started getting noticed for my talent.

y/n: practically a star since birth i see, how do you do it?

gojo laughs at your sarcasm as you grin back, evenly matched banter between the two of you flowing on set.

gojo: i’m handsome and gifted, i was made for this kinda life, it all comes naturally to me.

y/n: you know what doesn’t come naturally to you though?

gojo: hm?

y/n: that dress sense.

gojo: what’s wrong with my outfit?

y/n: bland, basic, and the way you chose itadori’s uniform was just straight up ugly!

gojo: he liked it!

y/n: the poor boy probably didn’t have the heart to express his disgust to your face.

gojo: well, until he does i’m gonna believe he likes it and my dress sense is more than up to standard.

y/n: if that’s what helps you sleep at night i guess...

the camera cuts with the two of you playfully bickering with each other, any previous speculation of hostility now gone as it’s clear for watchers to see just how your dynamic together works.

y/n: question four! what’s the first thing you notice in a person?

gojo: in general or when analysing to an extent?

y/n: in generals fine.

gojo: hm i would say looks, but i don’t wanna look too shallow on camera.

y/n: they would’ve just recorded you saying that. don’t be shocked if you’re trending on twitter later for it.

gojo: it’s fine, as long as i’m trending who cares what it’s about.

y/n: i can see the headlines already... ‘gojo satoru, top sorcerer, favoured teacher at jujutsu high and big narcissist’

you smile smugly at the man as he laughs along with you with the camera crew from behind.

gojo: yeah yeah whatever you say, but if i had to answer honestly, i’d say what energy they give off. i don’t let it bother me too much, but i’d say i’m pretty good at judging what someone’s like based off of what energy they’re giving out.

y/n: i’m shocked, that’s a pretty good answer... for you anyway.

gojo: i try my best for you.

y/n: mhm sure, keep that attitude next time we’re working together and maybe we’ll finish jobs quicker.

gojo snickers and smiles gently at you, his direction is no longer faced towards the camera, but rather solely directed at you as you clear your throat.

y/n: yeah anyway, good answer. that might just get you uncancelled.

gojo: i haven’t even been cancelled yet don’t speak it into existence!

y/n: i’ll ‘try my best for you’

you’re both smiling softly at each other after you mock one of gojo’s previous replies, there’s no speech cut off as a comfortable silence rests for a moment as the scene cuts.

y/n: okay, i want genuine answers only.

gojo: that’s what i’ve been giving you from the start!

you jokingly narrow your eyes at him before looking down at the next card.

y/n: well okay then, so, what was the first thing you noticed about me when we first met?

gojo: unusually bold question from you.

y/n: just shut up and answer, i was recommended to ask this.

gojo: sure, sure.

y/n: would you please just answer so we can get this over with?

gojo sighs dramatically and sits up properly and nods.

gojo: naturally, for anyone else i would say energy but for you, ah, i think it was your pretty face.

y/n: shut up, i said genuine answers only.

gojo: i am being genuine! aren’t i allowed to call you pretty?

y/n: you aren’t allowed to answer falsely, serious answers please.

gojo: you make me sound like i’m down bad, honestly, you’re very attractive to me, your energy was just a bonus, i’m serious, stop doubting yourself so much.

he smiles your way, not playfully nor forced, it’s a soft and genuine smile to calm your nerves, it’s a sign of truthfulness on his end. before you answer he clears his throat, slight hurry in his voice.

gojo: -of course, we were younger back then, since then you’ve gotten wrinkles and is that a few grey hairs i see? you also slouch-

y/n: -okay okay you can stop!

the two of you laugh as you gently kick his chair, the fact you’re being recorded and being watched by a whole camera crew totally forgotten about.

y/n: okay, last question finally!

gojo: admit you had fun with me.

y/n: i see you everyday, today was nothing special.

gojo: you wouldn’t say we’ve bonded more over this interview?

y/n: you’re still as irritating as before this interview so no.

you grin and gojo scoffs before shuffling in his chair a little before a sly smile draws across his face.

gojo: go on then, last question.

y/n: would you sl-

gojo: go on, ask it, we’re waiting.

gojo is leaning on the palm of his hand, teasing smile playing on his lips and y/n stares at the card in disbelief.

y/n: you definitely wrote this! i would never ask this! there’s been a mistake with the cards or something

camera man: ah no, they’re all the questions that were on your form you sent in prior to the interview, these are the questions you apparently wanted to be asked. sorry, you’ll have to make do.

y/n: i’m not asking that.

gojo: come on now, don’t upset your supportive fans.

y/n: i know you wrote this, you’re so infuriating!

you glare at him but not with complete hostility, the situation slightly humorous to you despite your protests.

gojo: i mean well.

gojo shrugs as you sigh and stare at the card before speaking.

y/n: fine then have it your way. would you... would you sleep with me?

gojo: how brave! asking me on camera in the middle of an interview! how could i dare say no!

gojo is laughing along with the camera crew as you fight back a smile, refusing to admit his interference was entertaining.

y/n: at least take me out for dinner first.

gojo: now you’re asking me to take you out? you’re really bold today aren’t you!

y/n: oh shut up! i didn’t mean it like that! this is totally your fault it’s awkward now.

you’re grinning at this point not caring that your flirtatious banter with gojo is being recorded and is soon to be edited and posted for the world to see.

gojo: i mean, i’m free tomorrow if that’s good with you?

y/n: what? no, i- this wasn’t even a serious question shut up!

gojo: i’ll shut up if you let me take you out... and maybe then i’ll sleep with you after if that’s your request.

y/n: i can’t stand you!

gojo: but you do everyday, that must count for something right?

y/n: i hate you.

gojo: quite the contrary, i’m sure i’ll get you to admit that by tomorrow though.

y/n: ...i’ll be waiting on it then.

the two of you are smiling at each other, laughter dying down as you once again softly kick gojo’s chair. he pays no mind to it as a moment of fondness occurs, viewers clearly able to see the evident bond between the two of you.

y/n: okay well... that concludes our face-to-face, GQ interview, thanks for watching and putting up with him!

gojo: maybe we’ll come back to do an interview about our date after i take you out, who knows, maybe i’ll get to ask you to rate me in bed!

y/n: gross. you sound like a fifteen year old boy.

gojo: am i at least a hot one?

y/n: i refuse to catch a case.

gojo cackles as you laugh too, the camera fades out with the scene of the two of you softly smiling at each other as the interview concludes.

#i haven’t beta read this sorry </3 #but go watch the rihanna x asap one they’re so cute pls :( <3 #gojo satoru #gojo x reader #gojo x you #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk #jujutsu kaisen x you #jjk x reader #jjk gojo #gojou satoru #gojo satoru x reader #jjk x you

[atsukashii]

hey! for the event can I please request:

name x katsuki bakugou + she/her + ☀️ + sage green

thank you

the fragrance I smell, the warmth I feel as long as it lasts, as long as it lasts

✘ breaking news; pro hero dynamight tells a reporter to "go fuck yourself"... again.

✘ GENRE: fluff

✘ WARNINGS: aged up characters, pro hero katsuki,

✘ WORD COUNT: 1.2k

‘Pro Hero Dynamight has made social media into a blazing inferno today with his comments made to a reporter whilst he was on duty only a few days ago. Twitter is divided from his response about his private life with some people arguing that by becoming a pro hero, he volunteered up all privacy to be a symbol of peace, whilst others argue that as a person - a human being - he deserves the right to not have cameras shoved in his face.

Let us know your opinion in the comments below!

“What a crock of shit.” You grumble, closing your laptop lid and shoving the item off your stomach. The constant action of people heinously tearing each other apart for no apparent reason really grates on you, but of course you can’t let them know because that would just fuel the flames even more.

“Who the hell believes that privacy isn’t a given right to pro heroes? I’ll fight them.”

“Uh-huh,” comes a bored voice, and you clench your jaw as you tilt your head to the other end of the couch.

“I’m serious Katsuki.” You growl, and only then does your husband look up from the gauntlet in his hands that he’s fixing. Something about it felt off, was all he’d said as he dropped onto the couch next to you this morning on his rare day off. However, you have the feeling this rare day off wasn’t unusual, but a suggestion from his P.R team.

Katsuki’s crimson eyes gleam at you across the small distance, complete amusement in his gaze. “You’re going to fight them, like that?” You know he’s not hinting at the fact that you’re in your pyjamas at midday on a Thursday.

“I’m pregnant Katsuki Bakugou, not invalid. I can still throw hands if I want to.” Rolling his eyes, your husband abandons his support item onto the coffee table, before twisting to look back at you more.

“I’m not saying you’re an invalid you damned woman, I'm saying you can’t go punching every reporter that wants to talk shit.” He explains like it's the easiest thing in the world. But a simple knowing glance at you, along with a poke to his thigh with your feet has him grumbling. You knew him in high school, and you know that teenage Katsuki wouldn’t hesitate to blast someone if they did that back in the day.

“Don’t give me that look. You’re not fighting anyone.” Grabbing your sock covered foot and lowering it onto his lap, you instantly let out a groan as he thumbs the tender muscles of your ankles. Closing your eyes to ignore the victorious smirk that plagues his lips, you feel yourself melting into the couch.

“Considering I helped stop a shop lifter from the convenience store last week, your opinion on the matter is invalid Katsu.” You remind him, the end of your sentence coming out breathless as the pain that had been radiating from your spine for the past week finally dissipates. Thank goodness.

“Don’t remind me.” Carefully opening just one eye, you see the frown on your husband’s face as he continues to massage your aching limb. Yeah, he hadn’t been as ecstatic as you had when you’d called him on your way home. All you’d wanted was some onigiri from the family mart down the street, where you were on a first name basis with the owners. You couldn’t go to your regular Onigiri restaurant considering you were due next week and it was across the city, whilst the family mart was only two blocks away.

You'd been browsing the options, trying to decide whether having pickled plum filling was worth the reflux you knew you’d face for it later, when there was a commotion at the counter. As if it was fate, the isle that you stood in had been right by the front door, and as the crook tried to make a dash, you had simply placed your leg in his path, tripping the guy and allowing the owner enough time to keep him on the ground whilst you waited for police.

You’d felt like a real badass again, a feeling you’d lost a bit since you’d had to stop work to go on maternity leave.

“I know I taught you how to fight,” Katsuki interrupts your thoughts, his own voice sounding as exhausted as he looks. “But I had hoped you’d never have to use it.” Because yes, you weren’t a pro hero. You’d gone to U.A as a part of the support course, and had been the one to help him with his support items of your senior year, which had been how you two had officially met.

“But I didn’t have to use them, I just tripped the guy.” You said teasingly, hoping for a roll of his eyes, or even a scoff. But Katsuki doesn’t even look up from his lap where his hands lay still on your feet.

You immediately push yourself up to a seating position before shuffling across the couch towards your husband. Once you’re in reaching distance, you let your hand gently cup his cheek, gaining his attention once more. Your heart jerks painfully at the worry and concern glistening in his eyes, and it's all aimed at you. You knew you’d worried him with your lack of fear and habitual attitude to jump into all things head first. But maybe, being heavily pregnant, not telling him you were going out and getting in the path of possible danger was a bit too much for him. You can’t help but smile at Katsuki. What a softie.

“I’m alright Katsu, really.” Katuski blinks at you, as if bringing himself out of a deep thought and brings his own hand up to cup your cheek. You lean into the warmth, but hate the fact that you haven’t been able to hug him face first in months.

“I know. I’d have killed you if you’d gotten hurt.” He replies, and you let out a snort of laughter. “I love you, ya know,” You’re about to reply when there’s a sudden jerk from your abdomen and you hiss out as it feels as if it just used your body as a punching bag.

You’ve had many conversations about your daughter, and almost every theory you’ve ever had is that she’s going to come out as a miniature version of Katsuki. That is, if the constant battering of your organs is anything to go by. As if she’s trying to force herself out into the world, so she can take it on head first.

You can tell by the glint in Katsuki’s eyes that he both wants to laugh at you, but is also concerned due to the fact that you’re due any day.

“She’s just agreeing with me,” you explain, turning your body around so that your back is leaning against his chest. With a familiarity that is so soft it actually hurts your heart, Katsuki gently rests his hands against your protruding stomach, and it’s not long before she kicks again for her father’s enjoyment. You can’t see him, but you can feel the smile Katsuki presses against your shoulder.

“Agreeing with you about what?” He asks, pressing a delicate kiss where his head rests on your shoulder.

“That those damn reporters deserve to get hit.”

“Damned woman.”

✘ A/N: if said it before and i'll say it again, y'all can pry dad katsuki from my cold dead hands.

©️ 2021 all rights reserved to atsukashii, do not change, edit, translate, or repost any works on any platform.

#special event 🧚‍♀️✨ #lols writes #katsuki bakugou #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugou x reader #katsuki bakugou x y/n #katsuki bakugou x you #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou katsuki x y/n #bakugou katsuki x you #katsuki x reader #katsuki x you #katsuki x y/n #katsuki bakugou fluff #bnha bakugou #bakugou x you #katsuki bakugo x reader #bakugou imagine #bakugou x reader #bakugou x y/n

[ghoste-catte]

I was curious what advice would you give to someone new to writing fics? I've been wanting to get back into it but haven't seriously written something since high school. I hope this isn't an annoying question or anything!

Not an annoying question at all! I'm just a little worried that I won't have terribly good or useful advice. To be honest, I also sort of stopped writing in earnest right as I finished high school, and didn't pick it back up until my late 20s. It's certainly an adjustment! But I think the few things that really helped me get back into writing fic as a hobby and something I spend quite a bit of time on would be:

Write for yourself first, then find your other motivations. My original inspiration in getting back into fic writing was that there just were not that many fics I liked for my favorite pairing, and I wanted more of them, and I especially wanted more with the tropes and characterizations I wanted to see. I think at the very core of anything you need that internal spark that drives you. At the same time, for me at least, if I just relied on my own drive, I would not get much done; I need some external guardrails. So having people send prompts, or writing for particular events, or writing stuff for friends really helps me to get my ass in gear and finish stuff. That may not be the perfect motivator for you, and that's fine! You just gotta figure out what is.

Be open to inspiration. Anything and everything can be spun out into a story with the right tweaking. Obviously stuff like music is a classic inspiration source, but I've also pulled ideas from poetry, from memes, from Reddit threads, from YouTube videos, from rambling conversations on Discord and from real life to make fics out of. So many times, someone will post a silly Twitter screencap, and I'll think, There's a fic in this. And a lot of the time, there is! Research is a wonderful thing, but so is serendipity. If you're out there actively looking for ideas, eventually one that you like will stumble past you.

Find your community. I can genuinely say I never would have finished more than one fic if I didn't have fandom friends to talk to about even stupid headcanons, to bounce ideas off of, and to encourage me (and to encourage them in turn!). Discord has been a godsend, and some of my closest online friends are people I met in the GaaLee discord server. As I've gotten more comfortable as a writer, I've also joined general writing servers and Reddit communities and have found them immensely helpful on both a motivational level (bingos, sprints, owe-me challenges) and on a craft level (plot workshopping and writing ethics and live grammar help). It's a lot easier to think about fic ideas and hash through problem moments when I have a constant stream of fandom-related chatter coming from the little people who live in my phone! Ao3 is an amazing website, and it's great as, well, an archive, but it isn't social media by design. If you want conversation and human connection and cheerleading, you've gotta forge out and find it.

Make it a habit ... If you want to produce anything longer than a couple hundred words, you really have to set aside time for it. And writing is just like knitting or dirt biking or painting little model figurines: the more you do it, the more easily it comes. When I was first getting back into the proper swing of things, I committed myself to 30 minutes of writing per week. Just 30 minutes. I didn't even hit that goal every week, but there were tons of weeks I got on a roll and went over that amount, and by the end of the year I'd written over 200,000 words. I used to spend an hour laboriously tip-tapping out 200 words, but now I can easily blow through 1k in a 50 minute sprint. It's all about training that muscle.

... But don't make it a chore. With fanfic, you aren't doing this as a job, and you aren't ultimately doing it for anyone other than you. That means you can take breaks when you need them, you can set deadlines and then fail to meet them, you can write stuff and then decide to never post it. When you start getting burnt out, when the practice loses the joy and energy, stop. There's no 'hustle' here. In our capitalist society we're so trained to push past our limits and keep going even when it hurts us, but the hobby you do for connection and relaxation and whatever else shouldn't be like that.

Ignore metrics. Sometimes stuff isn't gonna get hits, or kudos, or comments. There are some basic 'rules' as to the stuff that does and doesn't get traction, but every time you post something it's a roll of the dice. If you're focused on watching that kudos counter tick up, you will get bummed out fast. And any writer will tell you that the stuff you think is your best work will never be the stuff that gets the most accolades. So you have to find something else to give you a sense of success. For me, it's watching my wordcount go up in my stats and those occasional comments where someone has a lot to say and that one person who always leaves me a <3 emoji (and, shout out to @egregiousderp, having someone to have long one-on-one conversations with about the stuff that never made it to page).

Don't strive for perfection. It's really easy to want your first ever fic to be a complete showstopper, the best fic fandom has ever seen, hitting all the tropes and the ideas and the characterization that you just know fandom is missing and would be everyone's top favorite if only it was written. This is a trap. No one fic can be all things. Most people who want to write an epic as their very first venture will not see the end of that epic, because they haven't put in the practice hours to make something on that scale work. That's not to say you can't start out with a big, sprawling multichap, just don't expect it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread if you're just starting out, and be okay with abandoning it for greener pastures if you get to that point. Think of the first time someone makes a vase out of clay or bakes a loaf of bread. That's never their best vase or their best bread. If they keep up with it, they'll make more and better vases and loaves. Likewise, your first fic is probably not gonna be your best fic. See it for what it is: your launchpad.

You can't edit an empty page, but you can over-edit a full one. This kind of spins off of #7, but if the words aren't there, you can't fix them. Daydreams and headcanons are fantastic (and god, how many times have I wished for a speech-to-text engine that projected my falling asleep thoughts onto a Google doc for later perusal), but they aren't fic. If you want to write fic, you've gotta get comfortable with the idea of sloppy outlines and rough first drafts. You can't build a house without a frame and you can't build a man without a skeleton (I mean, you can, I guess, but he'd be one floppy man). The nice thing about fic is that it doesn't matter if that frame is structurally unsound or the skeleton has 18 too many bones, you can clean that up in the editing process. But you can't start hanging curtains and arranging furniture in something that doesn't even have walls. That's the process. But! Also know when to set down the editor's pen and say, "Okay, this is good enough for government work", and call it done. ("Done" doesn't have to mean "posted", but it does mean, "I'm done picking at this for now, and I'm gonna go write some more stuff".) Over-editing can make stuff seem laborious and forced, and it prevents you from actually improving. To continue belaboring the house metaphor, you can spend your whole life rearranging furniture in just one room, but the end result of that is a pretty narrow existence and a room with a lot of footprints and tracks in the carpet.

Write shit down. When you have ideas, jot them down--in a notebook, in a Google Doc, in the Notes app of your phone, in pen on the back of your hand. You think you will remember that brilliant line of dialogue or sparkling snippet of narration or genius plot that came to you in a dream, but you Will Not. Write it down. Write it down. Write it down! There have been so many times when a fic was completely saved by past!me having written down my shower thoughts about what happens next in the fic, that present!me had completely forgotten about and was floundering over.

Have fun with it! Try different stuff. Try stupid stuff. Try experimental stuff. Do stuff you've never done before that you aren't sure will work. It's important to get comfortable with your niche (for example, I know I'm never going to be the sort of person who writes intricate plots of intrigue or super long 100k epics or detailed battles), but you can't find that niche unless you explore lots of different niches! Figure out what you love and what you absolutely hate, and then keep doing the stuff you love.

Okay, so that was actually TEN things, but ... I hope you still found this helpful. Feel free to send another ask if any of this was confusing or unclear. Good luck with your fic writing and, if you want, send me a link to what you've written once you've written it! I'd love to read it.

#answered #anonymous #writing advice #i guess? #am i qualified to give this? #no #but im doing it anyway

[a-jynx]

:0 uh more Dream smp stuff?? cause y’all liked the other one??? (Georgenotfound edition & kinda long)

being Dream’s sister was rough already so imagine how tough life gets when you start dating one of his besties???

you met george through dream - obviously - and well.. putting it kindly, you hated each other. I mean, HATED each other! It always became a rivalry between you two, shooting down one another’s video ideas and never compromising until Sap or Dream stepped in.

“why do you hate him?” dream groaned as he watched you dislike ANOTHER Georgenotfound video. you glanced up at your freakishly tall brother before scoffing

“because he’s a spoilt brat and.. and he shouldn’t expect everyone to grovel like you do.” you scoffed, as Dream groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face.

“y/n,”

“nope, nuh-uh you green tellatubby i’m not befriending him.”

“you’ve been hanging out with techno and tommy on discord too much.. Anyway, just.. please TRY and get along with him? at least pretend for a little bit - the fans get all protective and will baby him before they defend you..” dream’s voice trailed as he sat next to you, making you huff.

“ofc they’d baby him.. and it’ll be fine - I’ll be fine, Clay! I’m a big kid, some trolls on the internet won’t upset me.” you grinned, wrapping an arm around your little brother’s shoulders. he rolled his eyes before poking his index into your ribs, causing you to yelp.

“okay, but i warned you and i’ll try and help if stuff gets too much, okay? remember you’re my sister.. i still worry about you.”

“okay, don’t get sappy you waking tree! we have a stream to start,”

which lead to now.. A Geoguesser and Jack Box stream with the Dream Team ft. y/nwasnttaken - it started out awesome! The chat was having a blast having their boys stream, the guys were happy to be streaming, and you were having a great time.. until George came after you for guessing the wrong country..

“seriously, y/n?? you were, like, a million miles away!” george snorted as sap and dream joined in the laughter, you sighed before faking a short laugh.

“please, you usually suck at this game and it was one bad guess while you’ve been guessing wrong foe the past five minutes.” you couldn’t hold back the slight venom in your voice as the discord grew an awkward silence as chat began to grumble about the sudden change in atmosphere.

“chill, y/n/n, i don’t think George had an real issue, right Gogy?” sap nervously chuckled, he knew just as well as dream that for some reason you and george were always at one another’s throat.

“yeah, i had to ill intent, it’s called playful banter, y/n lighten up, honey,”

“is this just go after y/n day or what? i don’t mean to be an asshole but you’ve been after me the entire stream! and maybe the fans and you guys don’t care, but it’s hard to act like im not affected by you constantly bashing me and then laughing when dream or sap - or even yourself - get it wrong!” you grew quiet once your piece was out in the air, your heart was pounding against your ribs and you felt like you were going to be sick. “i..”

“y/n/n,”

“no! no, it’s… im just going to go, you guys have a good stream.” you quickly exited the discord call, closing out of all your tabs and leaving yourself to stare at your shrunk form.. oh shit..

you grabbed your phone and opened Twitter, a mistake honestly, it was already trending.. clips, screenshots, and the #nightmareofasibling in the US. you gawked at the screen - tapping the hashtag, you should’ve listened to Dream..

‘i knew they were lousy but my god it’s a game..’

‘they always act like they’re better when they aren’t, poor gogy 💔😔’

‘i feel bad for dream and sapnap - they have to live with that 😳’

‘@y/nwasnttaken you disgust me and i can’t believe they even tolerate you. rot’

each @, each tweet was one wishing for your demise or saying that the dream team deserves better. maybe they’re right but you had a right to stand up for yourself! sure.. it was a over a geoguesser game but dealing with that for an hour in a half, anyone would be tired of it.

tears were already starting to drip as you hastily wiped at your cheeks, attempting to keep the water works at bay. it got harder when a ping went off from your phone, indicting another tweet was made at you. even with your blurred vision you frowned as @GeorgeNotFound popped up.

‘Regarding the stream, I do not hate y/n. Nor do I want hate sent to them. I will not tolerate any of my fans hating on one of my friends, it was partly my fault for antagonize them.

I care for them deeply and I hope they know how sorry I actually feel and the guilt rushing through me while I write this. I hope you can forgive me, sweets.. @y/nwasnttaken’

you hiccuped a laugh, a small smile breaking across your lips. you liked the tweet before heading to discord to find your messages had been blown up - Niki, Wilbur, and George had sent you multiple messages asking how you were. Selecting George’s messages, you grinned..

‘y/n?? hey come back to the stream’

‘i was kidding, come on, this is how we work..’

‘okay, i’m starting to get freaked out cause you’re not answering and twitter is spamming- shit i need to fix’

the messages had stopped for a few minute before a small video was sent, showing george in his recording room.

“y/n i’m honestly really sorry, it was dumb of me to keep poking at you when you looked and sounded like you didn’t like it - it’s just.. that’s how we’ve always been! i just.. please message me when you can? i know dream’s already pissed at me, and sap won’t stop threatening me to fix this now - even though they laughed too - BESIDES the point… just message me soon?” he sheepishly sent the camera a small smile, his cheeks and nose a slight red. you couldn’t help but roll your eyes before quickly typing him.

‘y’know i have half a mind to be pissed at you, but.. i’m sorry too. i should’ve have blown up at you or the others, especially on stream.. can - can we hop on call and sort this out?’

Gogster is typing… Popped up instantly, making a smile flash across your face. Suddenly a call chimed in, making you jump slightly before clearing your throat and answering the video call.

“Y/N!! Oh my god, you answered- ah, i’m so sorry I just, teasing each other and acting like we hate each other was always our act and I know i pushed it too far on stream,” George continued to ramble as you shook your head.

“George, Gogy you’re rambling..” you mumbled as he looked back at the camera, clearing his throat with a sheep smile on his face.

“uh, sorry.. look, can we just.. try again?” he muttered as you broke into a dazzling smile.

“we can, but I still get to call you Gogster..”

George broke into a loud laugh, you joining in with his contagious giggle. He nodded, clearing his throat again as he sighed gently.

“That’s all i ask, y/n.. but can i tell you something? dream and sap have been nagging me for the last couple of months to mention this..” His voice trailed as you nodded, rolling your shoulders and sinking further into your chair.

“i may not get along with you, British brat.. but you can always talk to me,” you smirk as George coughs out a laugh, shaking his head as you broke into a grin.

“you’re jealous that I have a hot accent, but seriously.. i.. Y/N I’ve liked you for a while and I’d like for us to try,” his voice trailed out as you blinked, staring at the dark brunette before giggling.

“i.. i actually have a trip coming up, to come see Niki and Wilbur.. I wouldn’t mind adding another person.” You trailed, sheepishly glancing at George as a large smile broke across his face, making you giggle as he quickly nods and laughs.

“Wait, really?! But- But we always- We.. Oh my gosh!” safe to say.. George was at a lost for words and you couldn’t help but be excited for these next two weeks to fly by..

and ofc dream and drista and sap made bets - dream bet you guys would date because of drama, drista just bet that you’d go on a date but would want to kill each other, and sapnap bet you guys would want to instantly date - some were more right than others, but in the end,.. Y/nistaken & Georgewasfound became trending and knocked the harmful trends down

#georgenotfound #georgenotfound imagine #georgenotfound x reader #gnf imagine #gnf #dream smp x you #dream smp x reader #dream smp #dsmp x y/n #dsmp #georgenotfound dsmp #mcyt gnf #hc???

[vyeoh]

this is your chance: wax poetic about an Empires or DSMP character of your choice to a fan who is new to both. Explain why I should love them. I need guidance in this new and meme-populated land.

okok this is a lot of pressure haha. Spoilers for EmpiresSMP and DreamSMP below, obviously. I wrote a lot so prepare yourself, anon

I watch a lot of empires POVs but the ones I most anticipate every week are Scott and Sausage.

c!Scott (I'll call him Smajor for the sake of simplicity) starts off the series chilling, not really getting involved with the rest of the server, and staying aggressively neutral. After all, he's an elf. He has lived far longer than most of the other rulers already, and will most likely outlive them for many years. So, the best thing is to stick to his mountains and not get invested in the dealings of mortal affairs, maybe sometimes causing problems on purpose and dipping because what's life without a little spice right.

But then, this demon comes to the server, Xornoth. He's going around causing havoc and wants to send the world into an eternal winter, but he doesn't bother the kingdom of Rivendell much so Smajor stays tentatively cautious but ultimately unbothered. But then, the puzzle pieces start falling together. The first thing that the audience noticed was was Xornoth sounded like Smajor, but we mostly thought that this was just due to cc!Scott voicing both of them and there was nothing more to it. However, then, the people the demon starts possessing start chanting in elvish. The demon hates mortals, and the elves are conveniently one of the two confirmed not fully mortal races in Empires.

This culminates when Smajor stumbles across a cave that contains the backstory of the patron god of Rivendell, Aeor. Basically, there's two opposing forces, Aeor and Exor, and both have a champion. In a previous life, those champions were two brothers, where Aeor eventually prevailed and banished Exor. In this life though, the champions are - you guessed it - Smajor, and the demon Xornoth.

So now Smajor is like. Well fuck. It's my literal god-given destiny to be responsible for defeating this demon who is technically my brother, and if I fail the server gets plunged into an eternal winter. And I have no fucking clue what is happening because I've just been here on this mountain actively trying to stay out of the issues outside my kingdom. We watch him panic and teeter on the verge of spiraling for an entire episode, and when the followers of Xornoth go to the End to kill the dragon, releasing Xornoth's full powers, he fails to stop him. Smajor is a character who was used to being the smart one, the prepared one, the one who has the least deaths on the server. But he's also a character who runs away from his problems and ignores them. Before and during the dragon fight, we hear the desperation in his voice, as he's thrown into a situation he is wholly unprepared for, and it's bigger than him going to the Cod Empire to kill their king, or assisting in other people's plans to kill the codfather. He can't run from this. cc!Scott plays this scene so well as well, as I've said before, one of the best parts of Scott's acting is how he's never super dramatic, but he's so effective in the little things like inflection to make you feel, viscerally, the panic and dread.

So after the dragon fight, Smajor realizes, I can't do this on my own. I've tried and failed. So he gets allies. We watch him, someone who has so strongly been an isolationist, learn the benefits of allies and watch him learn to trust others and watch him learn how to get that trust in return.

My favorite thing about Smajor's characterization is that he's an incompetent protagonist, but not in the way of the "plucky young adventurer". He's capable skill-wise, and fairly jaded and very pessimistic. However, his issue is that up until recently, he did not care about the rest of the server at all, and by the time he learned to, it was way too late.

Also, in 3rd Life, cc!Scott and cc!Jimmy were canonically married and they reference it sometimes in Empires. Like, Scott goes over to the Cod Empire every so often both in and out of character to kill and/or flirt with Jimmy, the ruler of the Cod Empire, which may develop as a secondary plot into the future who knows. So ty Scott for giving the gays what they want o7

Now onto Sausage: his is a story of Icarus, his hubris and ambition being his downfall. He's one of the two followers of Xornoth, who promised him endless power in exchange for his servitude. He started the series being eccentric, but not outright unhinged, but slowly gets more and more extreme as the series progresses, as he gets brought more and more to Xornoth's side.

One of the best parts of Sausage's character, in my opinion, is how his gradual corruption affects the people around him. Initially, he got into a conflict with the Cod Empire and was allied with two other people in the Witherrose alliance. They were allies, but also close friends. The fandom liked to joke that the three had sibling energy, and I'm pretty sure the ccs played to that even more lol.

It was painful to watch the other two members, Gem and fWhip, watch Sausage get corrupted right in front of them, and see them desperately clinging on to this old idea of Sausage in their head because if they faced the truth, it would mean that their friend was gone. Eventually, they do finally cut him out of the alliance, leading him to fully commit to the side of the demon. Sausage felt very clearly betrayed by this, and declared the remaining two Witherrose alliance members to be enemies.

He gets more and more possessed, and we even see the other Empires, his enemies even, slowly realize that something is very wrong with the ruler of Mythland. He starts doing more and more evil things, like killing people more, making sacrifices to the demon, and eventually helping to kill the dragon to free Xornoth. So things are good for Sausage, for a bit. He won, and is more powerful than ever. Then he finds out: he's going to die. Xornoth's possession is slowly killing his soul, and eventually, his body going to be fully taken over and he himself is going to be trapped in the spirit realm. So how do you react to this? Over the next few episodes, we watch Sausage struggle between "the demon is literally killing me" and "the demon has given me so much, and I love it", all while Xornoth takes over more and more of him. We hear him exclaim that "don't worry!! I'm still about 15% there!" while trying to downplay every time Xornoth completely takes over his body. We watch him willingly oppose anyone who is trying to end the thing that is killing him.

My favorite thing about Sausage is that he is undoubtedly evil and proud of it, but he's also undoubtedly human. If you like to watch evil characters go absolutely feral, he's the guy for you. He makes the deal with Xornoth in the beginning, knowing and fully embracing the evilness of the demon, but at the same time he knows what he's doing is detrimental to both himself and everyone around him, but he's gotten in way too deep at this point, and to be fair the demon has held up its end fo the bargain, right?

Also, I would be damned if I don't talk about cc!Sausage's editing. Every one of his videos is like a movie. The way he does camera angles and uses music is so skillful- every lore scene feels like something out of a high fantasy action saga (think: LotR). Every big lore event I always wait in anticipation for Sausage's ep because his editing truly takes lore to another level.

I'm just generally very excited to see where this series goes. Empires is such a good mix of talented builders and good lore. Part of the reason why the series is so immersive for me, beyond any other lore smp, is that they have the settings to back it up. There is a certain charm to the DreamSMP's objectively terrible builds (with a few exceptions) but in Empires, the settings help sell the plot so much.

Another part of why I love EmpiresSMP is how much the ccs are involved with the fan community. I'm sure you've seen the memes about Scott being on tumblr, and Sausage regularly goes through the EmpiresSMP fanart tag on Twitter and likes art, even ones not related to Mythland. Most of the ccs, in fact, have brought up tumblr content on stream at some point or another. Like, several ccs have said that they read tumblr lore theories and hcs and stuff and sometimes take inspiration from them. Fun fact: Rivendell's church was inspired by my pinned drawing; confirmed by Scott Smajor himself. It's just such a good cycle of ccs and fans being excited about each other.

As for DreamSMP, I'm gonna be honest here, the only person I really am invested in in Technoblade. I started watching when he joined the server, and he's the only person whose lore I keep up to date with.

Techno's fun to watch because he's like the Deadpool of DreamSMP. Virtually unkillable, very skilled and scary, but consistently cracks jokes and breaks the 4th wall during plot. His POV is just fun. Like, he does wild plans and gives speeches and some of the stuff that happens to him should be called deus ex machine if it wasn't for the fact that Technoblade is the one who's doing it, and all the stuff is grounded in the fact that cc!Techno is just that good at the game.

However, the fact that he rarely takes anything seriously makes the few times Techno is 100% serious so much more impactful. His whole character has a basis in being perceived as inhuman and being treated as such, and therefore in return trying to hide his humanity. So, when he shows that humanity, whether that's fear, anger, or genuine love for his friends, it really makes you go "oh shit."

Techno's often said not to have character development, but I'd argue that while he remains steadfast in his moral code, he develops leaps and bounds as a person. Like, at the beginning, he's brought onto the server to help Wilbur and Tommy overthrow a government; them knowing he's 1) an anarchist and 2) very very powerful. His character was more of a plot device at that point and was treated as such in the canon. Wilbur and Tommy straight-up lie to him about their plans to establish another government after they overthrow the current one, while he was led on to believe that they were abolishing all governments in the area. But he isn't a plot device. He's a person, as much as he only shows the terrifying, blood god side of himself.

After the establishment of New Lmanburg (the new government its a long story), his friend Phil joins. And for the first time, we see him be fully human with someone and we see someone treat him like a human. Like, we saw glimpses before, with Wilbur and Tommy in Pogtopia, but Phil is the first person we noticeably see he trusts 100%. Then Doomsday happens, and Techno essentially retires to the tundra. During this time, we see Techno learn to be more human, first with Ranboo, then Niki when he establishes the Syndicate. In fact, the two of them, along with Phil, canonically throw him a birthday party, which is a far cry from his treatment in Pogtopia.

Techno's development is one of a god learning to be human, and I just think he <3

#vio.ask #empiressmp #empires smp #dreamsmp #scott smajor #smajor #smajor1995 #mythicalsausage #mythical sausage #technoblade #to be clear i am not an apologist for any character #i fully realize that they are doing wrong and I like to watch it happen #minecraft roleplay got be in full character analysis mode #long post

[ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole]

MariJon Week

Day5: Social Media/Life Swap

It's gone midnight but it's still day 5 somewhere in the world and I've 3% battery left!

This prompt was not playing ball to write but it's done! It's not proof read but it's finished finally!!

Masterlist

Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4 Day6 Day7

____________________________________

Who would have thought a hashtag would have resulted in this. A “small series” of videos. A quick succession of tweets and a “innocuous” request have ended up like this. Even more so that she didn’t really used twitter a whole lot.

Marinette smiled amusedly, her attention to watching the chaos unfold in front of her. If Ayla was upset, then it was her own fault in the first place.

Six months ago:

Miss Bustier’s class were used to Marinette ranting about Akuma designs and costumes. The class had taken to recording these outbursts as a result and posting edited versions on twitter. She had gained her own hashtag because of a particular caped akuma; #EdnaModeHasSpoken

Someone (Alix) had thought it would be amazing idea to ask for requests to have the Parisian Edna Mode “discuss” global villains. Alix and Kim printed off what pictures they could find on the net of them and primed Alya up to record and let Marinette roll.

And oh boy did she roll. She tore into the Riddler’s wrong shade green and purple mix. She praised Lex Luthor on suit colours until she ripped into him on the suit cut. With Prankster she bemoaned the lack of originality of it all, a hybrid attire of Ridder and Joker.

Over the course of a few months almost biweekly Alya posted a new update of “Edna’s” views on the world of villain fashion. The harshest critique came when villains chose poor fashion rather than the poor Akuma victims who were forced by Hawkmoth.

Three months ago:

A new type of request came in to Alya's account. Specifically from @Zombieboy requesting that Edna review Gotham Vigilante's as she had done a tremendous reviews on Gotham's Rogues.

Seeing the pictures Alya had found, Marinette let a high pitch shrill before starting to pace.

"What the… how the… underwear on top of tights?! Where's the Kevlar?! The protection!!!

Traffic light children!!! With not trousers!!!

Is that a tampon on his head?! A swim hat?!

Why skin tight?! They dont have magic! Have they lost their marbles???"

Marinette drew in a deep breathe before releasing

"Capes!!! Are they trying to kill themselves. It's hero 101 no capes?! What are they thinking. They're from Earth … they are from Earth right? Superman obviously copied Batman's fashion sense and he's an alien. The poor man is blind but coping Batman's fashion. It's hideous!!

The only semi decent is tampon head as at least he looks like he has some armour protection. And no Cape. The leather jacket is tolerable but he needs a different cut!"

Marinette's pacing inreased with her disgust and somehow had picked up her sewing scissors and started to wave them around as she got more and more wound up.

"Capes and underwear!! Are they serious about saving the world dressed like that. It's an eye sore. Capes!!

What is with Gotham fashion?!?"

"Em… can you put the the scissors down please?!"

Alya ended up having to stop filming to help Alix try wrestle the scissors from Marinettes grasp.

#EdnaModeHasSpoken #BatmanLostHisMarbles #BatmanVsSupermanFashionCrimes #UnderWearAsOuterwearNoThankYou #CapesNoCapes #EdnaNeedsToPutTheScissorsDown

One month ago:

Some how unintentionally Marinette had managed to get into the middle a Twitter battle between Metropolis and Gotham. @TrueHeir had decided that Gotham had obviously superior fashion crimes than Metropolis stating that being the worst at fashion was a skill that Metropolis didn't have as they had to copy Gotham. Which had caused a backlash led by @BoyOfSteel stating that Metropolis moved away from wearing pants and having a leather jacketed hero first.

The battle online got quite heated until @TrueHeir demanded that the mysterious Edna wade in and settle the debate.

The issue suddenly became that Edna never really had her whole face shown @SassyFox managed to film it in such a way that it was hidden. Edna didn't seem to have Twitter. The way to solve it was to track down @SassyFox.

One week ago:

Jon and Damian via covertly using the Bat Computer managed to track @SassyFox down to Paris. They located a small(ish) area that based on the videos and pictures regularly taken. The pair looked at each other and knew that's where they were heading. They wanted, no NEEDED to Edna to settle this arguement of there's.

Checking that no one was about the pair zeta'd to Paris. They were men on a mission. A mission to resolve this fashion disaster crisis. Was Batman and Gotham or Superman and Metropolis the worst dressed.

They'd spent the day camped out in a local park. But no sign of anyone remotely like @SassyFox. To replenish supplies the pair decided to try out some local cuisine.

Jon insisted on this bakery. All the reviews rated it as one of the best in Paris and he had to try it. Walking in he met with the heavenly delight smells of pastries. He could feel his mouth drooling with the onslaught of sights and smells. He dragged Damian in to look at all the treats hidden behind the glass. Jon was drawn out of his pastry driven haze by a sweet voice asking if he wanted anything. Looking up to the source of the fairy like voice was a cute face. Blue eyes shimmer with amusement and blush coloured gloss graced lips twitch towards a suppressed smile.

"Everything!" Jon responded without thinking. Causing an eyebrow to raise on the girl's face.

"Tt! What Kent means is what would you recommend? Savour and Sweet."

Smiling a broad grin the girl launched into describing the pastries and treats and suggesting recommendations. She packed their goodies up and sent them on there way.

One day ago:

"Morning Jon, Damian, the usual?"

"Please, Marinette. Could you also pack another box on those macaroons you had yesterday as well?"

"Sure things. I take it they were a success?"

Jon nodded in agreement.

Jon and Damian after their first visit and repeatedly ended up at the Dupain-Cheng Boulangerie and Patisserie over the course of the week. Jon was hooked on the sweets and maybe a little (a lot according to Damian) taken by Marinette, the girl at the counter.

"The macaroons were above average."

"That's Dames speak for excellent" Jon cheerful supplied. "Hey Marinette are you on twitter?"

Jon picked up some cursing under her breath something about Alya and she was going to *kill* her before she plastered a fake smile on her face.

"I'm not. My friend uses it all the time though."

"Oh, so you've heard about the Parisian Edna Mode?" Jon cocked his head to the side. Marinette's heartbeat had picked up. Through gritted teeth so responded,

"Yup. I've heard about *Edna* my friends are slightly obsessed with it all. They *adore*her reactions."

She smile loosed at the American pair as the morning rush started to pick up.

"Sorry guys, I best finish your order off and help Maman deal with the queue building."

She effectively concluded the conversation in a polite and effective manner before waving them off with the supplies for the day.

"She knows more than she is letting on."

"Mentioning Edna made her heart beat quicker Dames. Do you think she knows her?"

"It is a high potential. Today we should stay near the bakery as formour hunting grounds."

Now:

Damian and Jon were at the park near the bakery. It appeared Marinette was off today so was missing from the bakery so Jon was "sulking".

By pure chance or coincidence, potentially luck, though the pair saw her enter the park with a group of friends and set up a picnic for them all. One was setting up music to play while others seemed to be playing an elaborate (childish) game of tag. Marinette her self looked gorgeous in a pale pink sundress. She outshone everyone she was with. When Marinette saw them she gave them a wave causing a blush to cross his cheeks.

They were content observing from a distance until Jon grabbed Damian's arm.

"It's her!!!"

Even from the distance, Marinette was mimicking Edna's wound up animated gestures of frustration. Jon could hear the growl and heat in her voice. It was a perfect match. Damian watched while quickly researching Marinette and who the girl filming was. It was all lining up. The final evidence was when a pink hair girl threw herself on Marinette crying out "Em!!" in a similar fashion to the scissor incident. Em wasn't a name but M short for Marinette.

Damian finally had found his mark and was determined to end this war with him being correct. This time it was him dragging Jon towards the girl.

"You're Edna!! You didn't tell us yesterday when we asked about it!"

"Yeah, my gurls Edna what about it. Who are you?" Alya quickly jumped in.

Marinette flapped at Damian, flustered by his bluntness.

"TrueHeir and BoyOfSteel. Edna needs to make a decision on which city has the worst fashion. Gotham or Metropolis. Once that's done this arguement can be settled and we can move on."

"What?!?! Damian??? Jon??? You've come all the way to Paris to resolve that??. What the…" Marinette looked confused at the pair. It seemed extreme to go to so much effort to find her just to settle this.

"You've stalked my gurl!!! You freak!! That's crazy. You're crazy!! All because of an arguement you two got into!!"

"Alya… you may have started it with posting all this?"

Marinette tried to defuse the situation which didn't really work.

"So who is worst?!" Demanded Damian.

"I… errr…." Marinette looked between the two boys. Which ever city she chose wouldn't be the end of this so she needed to think quickly. But she was panicking now….

"Star City!" She cried out.

The boys stopped and looked at her.

"What?!?! No! That's not what we asked. Why? You had to have chose Gotham." Damian was not impressed and about to launch in to integration mode when Alya cornered him and demanded that now he knew that he had to leave Marinette alone.

Jon just stared at Marinette. She had completely changed the rules and cleverly removed potentially tension that could of occured between him and Damian. The bragging right was taken away and handed elsewhere. With that thought Jon gentle grabbed Marinette's hand to get her whole attention. He softly kissed her cheek and smiled playfully at her.

"Sneaky move. Nicely played though Edna."

Marinette grinned up at him, knowing he got what she did before the pair turned around to watch the chaos of their best friends.

#maribat #maribat au #marijon #marijon week 2021 #jon x marinette #marinette x jon #ml x dc #dc x ml