#which you see a lot in fanfiction where someone tries to write a property from a country they don't live in

[jeannyjaykaydeh]

Okay, so… Let’s just try something here.

I currently write this fanfiction about Rocket and an OC. It has about 42 chapters, but the problem is, that this fanfic is written in german language. :(

I don’t know if you all are able to understand this language. I would totally like to share this story with you.

Since I have joined tumblr, I can see so many good stories. They’re inspiring and I enjoy reading all of these.

I also like the OCs Moon, Rose and Brita. They are given so much character. I really like it.

Disclaimer: There is a short scene in my story which describes rape!

A summary (and sorry for this bad English):

So, my fanfiction is about a girl who is named Jocara.

She is from a planet named Alënima. She has two fathers.

Her hair is dark brown, her eyes are brown and her skin is a little bit silver shining.

People from Alënima have silver, golden or bronze skin. Every skin has a different shade.

People from Alënima have a soul-animal. When they finished puberty, they celebrate a ceremony, where their animal is showing for the first time. Everyone has a different animal. And when they are done with this ceremony, they can transform themselves into their soul-animal (or should I call it spirit-animal?). They also have one special power.

People from Alënima are seen as a beautiful, perfect species from other people in the galaxy, but they aren’t. In fact, they look average like anyone else, but they have some kind of an aura, which makes them look beautiful.

And they are very nice. They don’t like conflicts or confrontations, so they always try to cool down the situation.

Jocara is different than all the others. She doesn’t want to fit in this society and she likes to confront other ones.

Jocara loves Earth stuff, especially the music. She had a girlfriend who traveled through the galaxy a lot and every time, when she came back, she brought some earth souvenirs for Jocara. Her favourite thing is an MP3-Player.

One day, her girlfriend never returned from one of her trips, because she got murdered. This lost was hard for Jocara and she never really got over it.

She also has problems with her soul-animal. She wants to be a dragon. She wants to fly. She wants to go to the stars.

But she can’t control which animal she will become. So that leads to the situation, that she can’t transform herself into her soul-animal at her ceremony, because she doesn’t want to accept, that the dragon is not her destiny.

One day the High Evolutionary comes to Alënima to take Jocara with him and marry him.

The High Evolutionary was friends with one of her fathers. They worked together and did some really great science projects, but when her father found out that the High Evolutionary did these experiments and tried to play god, they got into an argument and Jocaras father quit his job and the friendship as well.

During the friendship the High Evolutionary helped him and his husband to have a baby. He organised the cells and the biological mother.

And - what Jocaras fathers didn’t know - he experimented on her cells before she was procreated.

That’s the reason she always doesn’t feel like someone who isn’t really from Alënima.

The High Evolutionary came to Alënima to take his property: Jocara. He thinks, people from Alënima are the perfect species, they are the perfect society. And he is inspired by them to build his own perfect society.

So, the High Evolutionary blackmailed Jocaras dads: If they don’t give him their daughter he will destroy the whole planet.

The fathers are willing to fight him, but Jocara comes with him to save her home and the people.

During her time at the laboratory if the High Evolutionary she meets young rocket for the first time.

A bit later she finds the room with the cages where the animals are trapped and she makes friends with rocket, teefs, lylla and floor.

One day, Rocket comes up to Jocara and gives her a pearl. He says: “Beautiful… like you.”

From this day on he always calls her ‘Pearl’.

After the sad fight (you all have seen it in GotG Vol. 3) rocket rescues him and Jocara. They fly away in a space ship and then they have to survive together.

He shows her how to repair spaceships.

One day they meet Groot and they make friends with him.

Jocara and Rocket Fall in love with each other, but they are both too emotionally damaged to tell each other, so they have this cringe moments where they look each other in the eyes and they seem paralysed. They don’t recognise that they behave like idiots when they become victims of their hormones.

The friends have a great time together. They steal things from different planets, fight the cops and break out a prison.

The breaking out: Rocket says he needs something metallic and Jocara looks for it. Then she steals the prosthetic hand from a man. Rocket can’t stop laughing because there was so much other metallic stuff in this prison. Jocara says: “Imagine him waking up and wondering where his hand has gone.”

Rockets answer will be: “I gonna keep this joke in my mind.”

Later something bad happens which separate the friends. Jocara thinks Rocket and Groot have died and Rocket and Groot also think Jocara has died. Because she did a fake-obituary to prevent the High Evolutionary from looking for her.

The friends go different ways for many years: Jocara wants revenge and she trains her powers. When she will be strong enough she wants to go over his place and kill him.

Rocket and Groot become bounty hunters and later the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Jocara meets Yondu who trains her how to use her heart.

After that she helps a few intergalactic people who have little emergencies. They all think she belongs to the Guardians of the Galaxy and she doesn’t know who they are.

She finds out that her soul-animal is a raccoon. But she doesn’t want to accept it.

Some day she meets some people from earth. They are a few outcasts and they have connections to intergalactic people. They also get information about secret dangers or other political things and about all the super heroes.

Because of her new friends Jocara finds out Rocket is alive.

First of all she wants to kill the High Evolutionary and then she wants to look for her best friend.

When she confronts the High Evolutionary a big fight between them is happening until he becomes ash Flakes and disappears.

Jocara returns to earth where she finds out that half of the population was vanished by someone called Thanos.

There is only one of her earth-friends left. They both travel through the galaxy and help other planets which are in big trouble after the snap. They try to replace the Guardians of the Galaxy as well as they can.

After years everyone comes back and Jocara finds out that the Avengers defeated Thanos and his army. Rocket was part of them.

Jocara is proud of her best friend. He is a hero now.

And then her friends find out that the Guardians of the Galaxy live on Knowhere now. She travels to Knowhere and sees Rocket for the first time after so many years.

Rocket gets angry because he recognises that Jocara made this fake-obituary. She made him think she was dead for over ten years. He was looking for her before he heard that she died. His heart was broken. He never got over it.

They fight in an aggressive but also careful way. Rocket wins, because he is the better tactician, although Jocara became very strong.

After the fight she wants to go back to earth, but Quill stops her. He talks to her about Rocket and what a good friend he is. She has to apologise.

Later that evening she sits in Rockets sleeping room and tries to talk to him. He is caring to her, because she is drunk af.

And then he forgives her. And they rebuild their friendship.

He takes her with him to all the Guardian’s missions.

She becomes friends with the others.

Everyone finds her beautiful except Drax. He thinks she’s ugly.

Rocket and Jocara have so much fun and so many deep moments.

But the love for each other becomes bigger and bigger. And also the sexual tension between them becomes unbearable.

Rocket is so close to kissing her again and again. And she wants to tell him what she feels.

But both of them are some idiots and they aren’t good at talking about their feelings.

When do they finally kiss?

#rocket x oc #rocket raccoon #fanfiction #rocket gotg

[canadian-riddler]

I yearn for the worldbuilding skills of George Lucas

#so says Indy #obviously there are other people who are really good at it e.g. JRR Tolkein but I was never able to get into LotR #I tried but I think I don't like high fantasy #writing angst #sort of lol #there's... George RR Martin but that's also high fantasy so I'm not in a rush to try GoT though I THINK he wrote sci-fi before that #and JK Rowling but the world is very #there's a lot to it but it's also all in Britain kind of thing #and when she tried to expand on it she just sort of did 'it's Britain but in another country' #which you see a lot in fanfiction where someone tries to write a property from a country they don't live in #Valve is good at worldbuilding in a similar way #they have a very big world but in a very specific context #they have this huge planet-spanning conflict but there's not really a sense of what's happening outside of what they tell you about #it's not mentioned how they got from New Mexico to Europe or indeed how the rest of the world is doing #like where are the locals why is everyone in Half-Life someone who used to work at Black Mesa #are we supposed to infer the Combine sent everyone in the world to Europe? why? is some Russia-adjacent place the best place to keep people #but I already know the reasons things aren't explained in Half-Life is because the writers don't know and are going to figure it out later #when they deem it important #so maybe the world will get bigger later idk #check back in 13 years #anyway tldr of the best worldbuilding I can think of I like George Lucas's the best

[chasingpj]

𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐳𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬

"I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

pairing: percy jackson x child of hecate!reader

words: 4,931

warnings: none

timeline: post sea of monsters

if you want to be tagged every time I update this story, click here

a/n: hi hi! this is part one of a self-insert series I'm working on. in this story, y/n is a child of hecate, and this storyline follows the books. the current timeline here is post sea of monsters and will continue through the Heroes of Olympus books. though it follows the original plot, y/n has her own storyline and quests. i tried to make y/n gender-neutral but as I continued to work on the timeline for this project, i had decided that this fic is for a fem reader. guys, this is really just me projecting my fantasy into fanfiction lol. i feel like this is a slow start?? and there is a lot of info dumped in this so bear with me. it'll get better and I'll be working to improve my writing as the series continues. I was on a writing hiatus for a really long time and I'm out of practice so this is my way to get back and hopefully, exceed the skills I had when I was a consistent writer. anyways, if you have any feedback, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think. as i get deeper into the series, i might ask for some suggestions on what to do with the fic. anyways, i'll stop rambling and i hope you like it!

Part One Part Two

You ignore the aching in your neck as your focus is fixed on the herbology book in front of you. You’ve been seated at your desk for Zeus knows how long reading and taking notes in your Book of Shadows, determined to finish reading it as fast as possible. Your half-brother, Alabaster, insisted that you need to memorize all the herbs and their properties before he can properly teach you how to use them in potions. Even though you understand its importance, you hated introductory work. You are itching to get to the real stuff, resulting in you glued to your chair, studying through the night as your cabin mates were fast asleep in their beds. But as determined as you are, Ambrose, your familiar, wasn’t much help. Ambrose whines as he rubs his head against your legs like a needy kitten, making it difficult to ignore him.

“What is it, Ambrose?” You whisper, sitting back in your chair in defeat. You take a second to massage the back of your sore neck before turning to face the translucent hound sitting attentively at your side. His tail sweeps the floor as it wags excitedly, and a short huff leaves his snout as if he was proud to have finally gotten your attention.

Your eyes meet his, racking your mind to figure out what Ambrose needs to tell you. At first, you thought he wanted to play, but you didn’t have time for that, so you decided to ignore him. Usually, after being ignored for a while, Ambrose will give up, finding something else to occupy him. But tonight, he was particularly persistent, and he’s only like this when he needs to tell you something.

Before you can ask what he wanted again, Ambrose gets up from his seated position, running over to the small table that stands beside your bed. You furrow your eyebrows, the first thing you notice when you walk over are your crystals neatly placed in front of your spell books as usual. Seeing them made you suddenly remember what you had planned to do.

You had told Ambrose to remind you to charge your crystals and collect water from the lake since there is a full moon tonight and of course, Ambrose being your loyal companion, did exactly that. Before looking down at the hound, who now is breathing heavily, his tail somehow wagging faster than before, you smile to yourself.

“I told you to remind me earlier, didn’t I?” Ambrose snorts and runs around your feet enthusiastically. You couldn’t help but giggle at his excitement as you reached down to pat his head. “Good boy. What would I do without you?” You continue to praise him, grabbing a black pouch and carefully placing the crystals in it. You put your index finger to your lips, signaling Ambrose to be a little quieter despite his excitement. If he accidentally wakes anyone up, then you definitely weren’t going to be able to fulfill your plans.

You bite your bottom lip as you tiptoe out of the aisle between the bunks. You look around the notoriously cramped Hermes Cabin to make sure your assumption that everyone was asleep by now was correct. It wasn’t hard to make out the faces of your cabin mates since seeing clearly in the dark was one of your many gifts, so you carefully walked along the bunks, being as quiet as you could. You are especially cautious as you approach the front where your cabin leaders, the Stoll brothers, slept. You study them for a second, knowing for sure Travis was asleep since he was snoring and loudly at that. Before you can check if Connor is asleep, you hear him shifting in his bed. You stand frozen in your spot, hesitantly looking over and you were expecting to be met with the usual mischievous grin. Instead, his back was towards you now. You have a feeling in your gut that he wasn't asleep, the timing of his moving was much too convenient. You really didn't want to wait any longer though so you decide that you might as well leave before he could stop you.

You turn on your heels, walking over to the window before you push it open. You cringe softly as the hinges creak, and you look back at the cabin to double-check if anyone has woken up from the sound. You sigh in relief when you see no one has moved, and you turn back to the window, carefully crawling out of it. This wasn’t unusual for you. You’ve done this so many times that using windows as a mode of exiting and entering a room was as natural to you as walking in and out of a door, and soon you were hopping down onto the grass. Your back is pressed against the cabin as you walk the side of it. You look up at the trees and the sky, eyes scoping around for any harpies hanging around. After deeming that you were alone, you begin making your way to the lake, Ambrose walking by your side attentively and cautiously to make sure you are safe.

The night was clear; the stars and especially the moon shone brightly in the sky. You sigh softly, taking in the stillness of the night, admiring the glistening lake reflecting the full moon placed above it. You’ve always enjoyed how quiet and cool the nights were, preferring it more than the daytime.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t avoid it as much as you wish to. Most of your siblings can agree with you that they’d prefer to sleep in most days so that they can study and practice their magic at night. However, that wasn’t the schedule of the Hermes Cabin. It was pretty impossible to sleep in since the mornings were always hectic. In fact, the cabin was just hectic, period. There was always something going on, whether it was an elaborate prank or the guys arguing over who gets to shower first after coming back from training which usually resulted in an intense game of rock, paper, scissors. You can’t say that you didn’t like it; at least you were entertained.

You also always had someone to talk to, and because there were often new campers coming in and out of there, you have easily familiarized yourself with a lot of the kids at camp. However, like your mother, you did enjoy and yearn for the occasional periods of solitude. As fun as living with the Hermes kids was, you and your siblings did find yourselves getting a little irritable at their shenanigans. It was at those times, you did wish that your mother, Hecate, had a designated cabin.

You and your siblings had always said if they ever got a cabin of their own, they would make sure everyone had separate rooms and would have designated spaces to socialize and practice their magic so that it was quiet for the most part. Alabaster, especially, was really passionate about this topic. He complained how it didn’t make sense that your mother wasn't recognized since you and your siblings were a powerful little bunch. You all needed a space to practice your magic and practice preferably at night since you were the most powerful at that time of day; you were also less prone to making mistakes in your spell casting at night. You agreed with him and would get upset about it sometimes, but the Hermes Cabin was a place you considered to be a second home. The communal feel of the space was something you enjoyed, it was one of the few places where you felt fully accepted which was rare to find being a demi-god with abilities like yours. In return to the Hermes Cabin welcoming you with open arms, you accept the inconveniently loud environment as an admirable quirk and went on with your days.

Then to compensate for the lack of silence and solitude, you would often stay up late, taking advantage of the quiet to focus on your studies. Even if you had to sacrifice the amount of sleep you got, you felt like it was worth it.

It doesn’t take you long to arrive at the dock, sitting down close to the end with your legs folded under you. You first collect lake water in a jar before carefully taking out the pouch's crystals. Assuming you had only a few left in the pouch after laying most of them on the dock, you tilt it with your hand under it, only for the crystals to come out all at once. You fumble, hands trying to bring them to your chest, but with your luck, one of your crystals falls right into the water with a plop.

“Dammit!” You peer over the edge and groan, Ambrose whining at your misfortune as he stands beside you. You look down at the water, noticing Ambrose’s and your dim reflection in it. There was no way you could get that crystal now because you didn't know how to swim, and you consider that maybe tomorrow you can convince your twin brother, Atticus, to look for it or Alabaster if Atticus refused, which you were expecting him to.

Your breath hitches at the back of your throat, jumping back as a head of dark hair abruptly pops up from right where you were staring. Ambrose barks loudly next to you, equally as startled, and your eyes widen. You stand up hastily at the realization that Ambrose's loud barks in the dead of night will catch the attention of the harpies, and right now, that was more important to you than the mysterious person that just sprouted up in the water like a zombie coming out of a grave.

“Shush! Ambrose, quiet!” Your frantic command was enough to make him stop with a whine, and you sigh shakily, turning towards the camp to check if there were any harpies.

“I think you dropped something.” Ambrose moves in front of you protectively, a low growl coming from his chest as he cautiously studies the person. You look back where the voice came from and to your surprise and your relief, you find that the mysterious person in the lake was no other than Percy Jackson. You never had a conversation with him before, but you definitely knew about him. It was kind of hard not to know who he is since he’s been the talk of the camp since he’s arrived. Your thoughts about him weren’t any different from most of the camp. You’ve seen him fight and use his powers during capture the flag, and you were just as impressed as everyone else. You did have to admit that you found him to be pretty cute too. His eyes were gorgeous, clear, and bright like a shallow, cyanic sea. You also found it adorable how his hair always looked a little disheveled.

Your (e/c) eyes met Percy’s green ones before looking at your rose quartz in his hand. You smile sheepishly, noticing the amused look on his face.

“Ah, yeah, that’s mine.” You walk over to him, but as you get closer, so does Ambrose, and his growls get louder. "Ambrose, heel. It's okay," you say softly, and he stops in his place, but his stance is still at alert, his eyes watching Percy cautiously. You pat Ambrose's head before walking past him and over to Percy. "Thanks," you smile, taking your rose quartz from his hand.

"No problem… I don't think your ghost dog likes me," Percy jokes, moving to look past your legs at Ambrose, who’s standing tall on your left side.

"Yeah, well, you kinda scared the crap out of us," you point out, amused. You take in Percy's goofy smile as he pulls himself up from the water, and you notice that he’s completely dry as he settles on the edge before turning his body to look at you.

“It’s y/n, right?” He asks, and you nod, figuring he’s probably heard about you in passing from Connor and Travis since he was friends with them too. “What are you doing out here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," you retort playfully, making him smile. You move to sit down where you were standing. You spread the crystals neatly on the wood, making a mental note to get them before you go to bed.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here to hang out, but then a hippocampus swam up. One of its friends got stuck in a fisher's net not too far from here, so I went to help," he explains, and you nod. "I told you my excuse, so what's yours?"

You hum, "It's a full moon out tonight, so I thought I should take my crystals out. I also needed moon water for a potion, so I collected some for that," you point over at the big mason jar full of lake water. "It’s not as cool as your excuse,” you say playfully.

A short laugh comes from Percy, and when you look up from your crystals, you notice he was looking at Ambrose again, who was still in his tense stance. Ambrose was especially protective of you and Atticus, and it wasn’t unusual for him to be cautious of the new people you come across. You assumed that Ambrose was particularly tense with Percy since he had successfully caught you both by surprise.

"Ambrose, relax.” You pat the top of his head to soothe him. "Lay down." Ambrose whines, licking your hand affectionately for a little, and you can tell he was still uneasy about the other. He was hesitant, but he follows your command anyway, laying down with his head on your lap.

"You can touch him?" Percy asks, his eyes wide and curious as he watches you pet Ambrose.

"Yeah, I can touch ghosts in general. My mother is Hecate, goddess of necromancy, along with magic, the night and the moon," you tell him. "This is Ambrose. My mother gifted him to me to be my familiar, kinda like a guardian." You look down at the hound, smiling softly as you scratch behind his ear softly.

Ambrose is a burly Molossian Hound who lived in the time of Alexander The Great. From what your father told you, his breed was well valued in Ancient Greek and Roman times and was often used in war. It is easy to understand why the breed was used in war. Ambrose is huge and muscular, about 6 feet tall when he stands on his hind legs, and he weighs around 200 pounds. At first, Ambrose can come off as a little intimidating. You remember how your siblings had avoided him when you first arrived at camp before they realized that he was the clearest definition of a gentle giant. Even though he was trained to fight when he was alive, he was still as gentle as a well-trained house dog unless he was given a reason not to be.

"When did you get him?" Percy asks, his eyes focusing on Ambrose’s translucent body that looked like it is made up of this gray swirling vapor. He couldn’t exactly wrap his head around how Ambrose’s head was comfortably propped up on your thigh.

"We met on the night I was on my way to Camp so about 2 years ago. Without him, my brother and I probably would have never made it to the borders.” You look up at Percy, meeting his eyes again; you watch as his face softens as he shifts to lean back on his hand.

"Really?" You hum and nod, ready to drop the conversation there, thinking you shouldn’t bore him with the details. You didn’t really like talking about it much, but the way he was looking at you made you feel like he was inviting you to continue talking.

"We got separated from our father at the gas station a couple of miles away from here. He went inside the convenience store to get us snacks, and while he was in there, a cyclops had found us, tried to grab us out of his car. We jumped out and ran into the woods nearby," you explain as you look out at the dark horizon.

You remember the sound of your father yelling after you and Atticus and how it broke your heart hearing, for the first time, such despair in his voice. You knew your dad didn’t want to bring you guys to camp, but he knew it was in Atticus’s and your best interest to come here and be with other people like you guys.

When you and Atticus started developing your powers, your father had simply told you guys that you were special and to refrain from using your telekinesis anywhere else but home. He didn’t say anything more until one night, you and Atticus had gotten in a screaming match about a reason you don’t even remember. However, in your screaming match, the both of you were so angry that a green aura had formed around you both, and books, magazines, even cutlery were being flown across the room because of the sheer energy you were admitting as a unit. It was then your father had decided to take you and Atticus to the camp to control and learn about your powers before you guys destroyed the house over a dumb argument like who’s turn is it to have the TV remote.

"We were more concerned about the monster hurting our dad, so we decided on a whim to run in the forest. My brother and I have telekinesis powers, and I aimed well enough to send a rock right at the cyclops eye. We lost him a little after that, but we didn't know where we were. We made too many twists and turns; we had no idea what direction we came from. And then, this buddy appeared out of nowhere from a distance. I saw him glowing from far away and couldn’t make out what he was, but I felt that I had to follow him. So we did, and he got us to camp with no detours for any other monsters. He's been with me ever since," you say, and a low whine comes from Ambrose’s mouth as he nuzzles the side of his face on your thigh contentedly.

Percy nods, and he huffs softly, "You guys got lucky. How old were you and your brother when you got to camp?"

"12, we're twins. We actually got here a couple of weeks after you did,” you mention. You watch Percy’s mouth curve into a half-smirk.

“Wow," he says, amused, and shakes his head. “So you have a twin and a dead dog, no fair," he jokes. You giggle, rolling your eyes playfully,

"Oh please, and you have crazy water powers. You’re completely dry after swimming! I think that's pretty envy-worthy."

"Hey-,” he shrugs, taking a second as if to form a protest. “I guess you're right,” he admits and laughs. You laugh with him, opening your mouth to say something else but unfortunately, you were interrupted by a screech echoing in the distance.

Both you and Percy stand up quickly, trying to figure out which direction it came from. “The harpies,” you both mutter in unison. You bend down to grab your things, and you look at Ambrose.

"Go distract them, bud," you tell him, and Ambrose jumps up to his feet, and you watch as he runs away, barking to get their attention. Just then, you see the wings of the Harpies coming up from the trees of the forest. You turn to Percy, grabbing his hand quick,

“Incantare: Transpectus!" You exclaim confidently, closing your eyes to envision you and Percy becoming transparent on the dock. You've never tried doing this spell before, but you've gotten better at visualizing and setting intentions, so you had some hope in yourself. You open your eyes, not feeling any different, and you hoped that you just didn't make a fool of yourself in front of Percy. But when you look down at your hand hesitantly and notice it was hard to make out since you were see-through like glass, you sigh in relief. You smile to yourself, more than satisfied that you were able to pull that off.

"Woah, are we invisible?" You look over at Percy, able to see him just fine since he was under the spell with you. Percy looks down at himself, eyes widened as he processes he can’t see his body anymore. You observe him for a second, finding it cute how he looked surprised and obviously entertained at the fact that he was completely see-through. You feel yourself growing a little flustered, trying not to focus too much on the fact that you were holding hands with him.

"Something like that. C'mon, it won’t last too long," you whisper, and your grip around his hand tightens as you guys begin running to his cabin. You hear the harpies screeching in frustration as they swoop down to try and grab Ambrose, only for their claws to go right through him. While the harpies were growing more annoyed, Ambrose, on the other hand, was having way too much fun, running in circles and barking at them as if he’s teasing.

"Man, I wish I had a ghost dog," you hear Percy mutter behind you as you arrive at the steps of his cabin.

"Yeah, Ambrose is pretty great," you admit, watching him play with the harpies before shifting your gaze over to Percy. "Thanks for getting the crystal for me." As much as you wanted to stay talking to him, you knew you couldn't stay too long. You were still eager to finish studying, and Ambrose can only hold off the harpies for so long.

"It was no problem. It was on my way up anyways," he shrugs, and you smile, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in your stomach. You look down, the two of you still holding hands even though the spell wore off already. You awkwardly let go of his hand, shifting on your feet.

"Well, I'll see you around," you say sheepishly, fiddling with your fingers.

"Yeah, I'll see you.” His hand comes up in an awkward wave. You nod, returning the wave. Your eyes meet Percy’s green ones one more time before turning on your heels and walking down the steps of his cabin. You notice that Ambrose is now long gone into the forest, taking the harpies with him to give you time to rush to the other side where your cabin is.

As you hurry back to your cabin, you couldn’t help but smile to yourself as you replayed the interaction you just had with Percy, and you couldn't help but wonder when would be the next time you could talk to him.

You carefully hoist yourself up, climb back into the cabin through the window, sighing softly once you get in. You slowly close the window, your face scrunching at the creaking sound, but you successfully get it closed before turning around, only to be faced with Connor Stoll standing a few feet away with his arms crossed over his chest. You gasp loudly, almost dropping the mason jar in your hand, being startled for the second time tonight.

“Oh, look who’s back,” he says, his lips pulled in his usual mischievous smirk, his right eyebrow raised as if he's suspicious of you. You shift, giggling nervously under his graze,

"Hey, Con.” Shit. You knew he wasn’t asleep, and a part of you wasn’t surprised that he had caught you sneaking out again. You weren’t too worried since Connor wasn’t one to be strict or easily angered, neither was Travis, but you can understand if he did get a little upset with you since the cabin could also get in trouble, and he worried about you getting hurt.

"You leave so often, I'm starting to think you're seeing someone," he teases, and you furrow your eyebrows, not really sure what he was trying to get at.

"I'm not seeing anyone. You know what I do when I sneak out," you tell him, putting your hand out to show him the jar full of water. After being caught the first couple of times, you had explained to Connor why you occasionally needed to head out at night. He was understanding of your reasons, telling you to try and not sneak out as often. When he did catch you, he always kept your outings secret. It came with a price, though. You were sometimes stuck doing extra chores, especially anything that had to do with cleaning, since he hated doing anything that had to do with mopping or sweeping.

"So that wasn't you and Percy on the dock?" Your eyes widen, and you feel your face get hot again. You shake your head, stumbling over your words for a second.

"Uh… n- that was a coincidence!" You hear him snort, laughing quietly as if he didn't believe you. Even though he couldn't see your facial expression very well in this lighting, he can still tell how flustered you were at his sudden question.

"Yeah, sure," he says sarcastically, and he hums, "Anyways, what are you going to do for me so that I don't tell on you?" He asks, and your mouth drops open. Usually, he wasn't so forward, and he never threatened to tell on you. "I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

You gasp, "Connor, are you blackmailing me right now?" You narrow your eyes at him, and he shrugs,

"I guess you can say I am." You shake your head, walking over to your desk to put down your moon water before turning toward him and crossing your arms in front of your chest.

"... what do you want?" You ask, expecting him to make you take up one of his chores. But from the way he was smiling at you, you can tell that there was something more he wanted, and you were beginning to worry.

"Help me turn the Ares Cabin into bunnies," he says, and you shake your head frantically,

"No way! Clarisse will kill me," you whisper. Connor smiles,

"No, she won't. She can't kill you if she's a bunny," he points out, and your face falls flat,

"They're not gonna stay bunnies forever," you say, and you fiddle with your fingers nervously at the idea of the outrage you'd get from the Ares Cabin after shifting back from being bunnies. "I don't know, Con. I don't even know if I can turn all of them into bunnies at once."

Connor waves his hand at you, dismissing your concern. "I don't care for the logistics now. We can work on that later, but you have to agree to at least help me," he says. "Or I'm telling everyone I saw you smooching Percy on the dock."

"What!? We didn't even kiss. We talked for like 5 minutes!" You whisper-yell, your reactions much too entertaining for him, and he was having a hard time holding in his laugh.

"Your decision, y/n."

You sigh, throwing your head back. You look at the ceiling for a second as you consider your two choices. And you decide that getting your head potentially put on a stick by Clarisse was better than the burning embarrassment of Percy thinking you're spreading rumors about kissing him. "Fine, whatever. I'll help you do the bunny thing," you mumble, your shoulders slouched.

Connor nods with a proud smile on his face for trapping you into helping him. "Good choice. I will be going back to sleep now. Good night… again," he announces, turning on his heels and walking over to his bed. You frown a little as you walk back to your desk to study. Plopping down onto your chair, you decide that you’ll worry about Connor’s little plan later so you can focus on your studying. After a while, Ambrose comes trotting in, joining you by the desk as usual. You smile at him, praising the other for distracting the harpies for you before he lays down, his head laying on your foot.

As you study, you find that you couldn’t help your mind drifting back to Percy once and a while. You deem that there was no way that you could have a crush on him since you guys have only spoken once. In the midst of your internal debate to decide what you felt for him, you suddenly remember the crystal that was retrieved for you. You remember how Percy presented it to you, holding it out for you with his fingertips. It was your rose quartz. What a coincidence. You smile, rolling your eyes as you tell yourself that you’re thinking too much into it. You look over, noticing the dim illuminating light of the beginning sunrise shining through the curtains. You sigh, deciding that you should probably get to sleep and take advantage of the maybe, four hours of sleep you’ll get tonight. You close your herbology book before making your way to your bed, and with a soft sigh, you retreat under the covers, and finally, you surrender to your drowsiness.

masterlist

#percy jackson x reader #percy x reader #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #connor stoll #pjo x reader #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson fic #slow burn #friends to lovers #connor stoll x reader #percy jackson oneshot #pjo #my writing

[wishingstarinajar]

I am going to ramble a bit but I will hide it under a cut because it's a bit long. It will be about the previous fandom I was active in around two years ago and how it affects me to this day. It's also about popularity and putting others on a pedestal.

If this sort of ramble isn't up your alley then feel very free to skip over this post! I don't mind. If you want to read more about it, just check under the cut.

The Franchise And Its Creators

====

THE FRANCHISE AND ITS CREATORS Around mid-2014, I joined the Wakfu and Dofus fandoms, a small-ish fandom as a whole but popular in certain circles.

For those who don't know, Wakfu and Dofus are (online, console, mobile, figurine, card and board) games, comics, animated series, specials and movies created by a French studio named Ankama. These two franchises are intertwined with each other as they play out in the same universe but in different timelines. I myself dabbled around in the animated part of the fandom; I was a huge fan of the two series and the Dofus movie.

There was very little catering to the international part of the fandom when it came to the studio's attention and interactions. There were no English dubs or subtitles; international fans had to rely on English fan subtitles on ripped/pirated episodes of the show and movie, same for the franga/comics. Merch was hard to get. A lot of articles related to the shows and whatnot were in French only, which is understandable because it is a French-made product. But there's no denying that the international fanbase felt a little neglected back then.

====

MY FANDOM JOURNEY

Because I was very interested in the lore of both franchises, I had to do a lot of digging and translating to be able to fully indulge in it all. I went full in! I dug deep, created OCs, art and also tried to write fanfiction. I also shared news and info about the series and movie; I ran a fan blog dedicated to sharing things with the international part of the fandom. I was also often approached about lore, particularly for a few of the canon characters and one of the races that play a role in the Wakfu franchise; the Eliatropes. It was fun, it felt good to help other fans out, it was nice to make friends and be creative with others about similar things.

Eventually, the character and art theft began. We all know this is a 'normal' part of fandoms, so I won't hammer too long on it. My issue with it was the fact that my main OC, a female Eliatrope, gathered a lot of attention because female Eliatropes were a rarity in the Wakfu franchise. They existed but didn't get a moment in the limelight, except for one that even received her own game (Islands of Wakfu) but it was so obscure that a lot of fans didn't know about its existence. My OC was somehow mistaken as canon by plenty of folks and many others started to use her as a template to create their own (female) Eliatrope OC. I didn't mind, as long as they weren't straight-up copies and I tried to be supportive by answering lore questions and give feedback whenever it was asked for it (which happened a lot). Of course, copying and theft happened more often than not; over the five years I was part of the fandom, I sent out almost a hundred DMCA reports for art and character theft (like true theft; I could handle some similarities or one-time occurrences). One particular case went to the extreme but I won't beat that dead horse any further; it brought me enough misery to last me half a lifetime, that's all I'll say on it. I kept a lot of the negative experiences behind closed doors and dealt with a lot of it quietly to not bother, worry or burden anyone else with any of it. I wanted a positive and supporting environment for my followers, even if the truth wasn't as pretty.

====

ANKAMA'S STRUGGLE

Over the years, studio Ankama increased attempts to cater more to the international fanbase of its animated properties (articles in English, English dubs and subtitles, etc). However, the studio's struggle to garner the attention of international supporters (aka companies and sponsors) didn't go too smoothly, and to make matters worse, they were also struggling with finding a platform in France to broadcast the Wakfu series on after wishing to take a different and more mature direction. Ankama wanted more freedom with the Wakfu show, like less censorship, a serial rather than episodic, and it not being aimed at a young audience like its previous contractor demanded Wakfu to be. Ankama even turned to crowdfunding to get certain projects (like new Wakfu seasons) off the ground and let's just say that those crowdfunding projects are best described as tiny dumpster fires; they weren't pretty to watch. The first one was a disaster with plenty of displeased backers and the following crowdfunding attempts often didn't meet the end goal due to bad past experiences or the lack of interest.

Luckily, Netflix breathed some life into the international Wakfu fandom, which was great! But it was still received badly (mostly due to the awful English dub and sound mixing of the first two seasons and special) that the third season Netflix made possible was not getting the attention it deserved. It was also a rushed product due to financial and time constraints on Ankama's part. Netflix eventually declined a fourth season and it all fell a bit apart from there. Ankama turned to crowdfunding once more to try and make season 4 a reality. Last time I checked (which was quite a while ago), it did decently enough to make season 4 a reality. (Please don't ask me about it, I don't know anything about it.)

====

THE PEDESTAL

While all this was happening behind the scenes, I was starting to struggle with the reputation I built up in the Wakfu and Dofus fandom over the few years I was a part of it. The best way to describe it is that I had grown exhausted.

Aside from dealing with the theft and answering people's questions daily, I wanted to be treated as an average fan but I kept getting put on a pedestal. People went as far as to call me by titles (like lady Wish and miss Wish) more often than not. To be called and treated as such made me feel alienated, like as if I wasn't considered real. I often asked to just be called Wish, no titles/formalities required, and that I wasn't as 'popular' as they believed, but the majority of the people didn't seem to listen. People were either afraid or refused to interact with me because they considered me 'too popular', or simply wanted nothing but my validation, feedback and/or free art. I also had my fair share of haters and people that didn't approve of my 'status' in the fandom. Join the club xD I wasn't very happy with it either.

I really started to dislike being called 'popular' because it had such a bad impact on the people around me (and my own mental wellbeing). Friends started to become jealous of the attention I garnered and it dragged me down every time. At times, it would turn toxic. It was never my intention to make my friends feel like they meant less because they surely didn't. To learn that they believed others were only friends with them or only looked at their art/writing because they were good friends with me hurt so much. It still does. I refuse to believe that was fully true because I was (and still am!) surrounded by very creative people and they all deserved as much attention as I was getting, at times more. I wish others saw it that way too.

I was also heavily chained down thanks to the role (model) I played in the fandom. Too many people (especially young ones) looked up to me and there were a lot of expectations that I felt forced to meet. I started to lose the energy for it, but if I dared to stray a little from the path, the pitchforks and torches would come out. It was very restricting.

In the end, I felt stuck. Things started to grow toxic. There was a point where I began to dislike the franchise because of the bad feelings it brought me. I couldn't even get myself to watch the series or movie anymore. I focused less and less on the canon side of things and more on my own ideas, which was one of the only comforts I really had left in the fandom. I started to shut myself off, which upset a lot of people. I am sorry for that, I wish it didn't happen that way but I was at my wits' end.

When I realized and also accepted that I was no longer enjoying myself with canon or fanon, I knew I had to move on or stuff would end badly. It was a very tough realization and decision to accept and make; I literally dedicated five years of my life to the fandom. I spent hours a day digging for info and news to translate and share, doing 'research' for my fanfics, answering questions, and whatnot. I truly lived the fandom day in and out. It was the first fandom I ever actively participated in to this degree. What the heck was I going to do without that?

====

THE NOW

Abandoning the fandom was a scary step to take but not one I regret. I left the Wakfu and Dofus fandom behind me in late 2019. I feel freer now and so much happier. I no longer have the burden of expectations, being a lore guide or be forced to portray a certain role model weighing me down. I am no longer on that f*cking pedestal. I can finally explore interests that aren't exactly child-friendly without a big part of my following pummeling me down for it. (Don't worry, I always try my best to keep it in the appropriate places.)

Do I still like Wakfu/Dofus and all the stuff I've created with it? Yes, I do but I also want nothing more to do with it. Aside from the friends I've made there and also stuck around on my new adventures, I left the fandom behind me.

I still get approached at times about how my Wakfu OC, art and writing inspired someone and ask me if I could give them feedback for their own ideas or give them advice/information on Wakfu/lore. I am extremely humbled by it every time. It's great to see someone feeling inspired and be creative. However, I've moved on. I've left interacting with the Wakfu/Dofus fandom and fan-made stuff far behind me. I haven't touched it for almost two years and it shows on all the social media I share my art and writing on. I at times wish people could be considerate about the fact that I moved on but I also know and understand that not everyone knows my reasoning or my side of the story. I try not to be too harsh on it.

====

MY ADVICE

I don't hate anyone for how things turned out; a lot of it was my own doing by not saying no or taking a stronger stand.

It did teach me a lot of things, especially about caring for my own well-being and putting others on pedestals. Please be mindful when you treat someone like others treated me before; it's not healthy, for yourself and the person you put on that high pedestal. Take everything in moderation and consideration, that's all. Everyone's human, everyone has feelings, and everyone deserves a sense of being. Even your favorite artists and content creators. Don't treat them like an otherwordly being that you have to worship.

In turn, if a fandom or something you enjoyed is making you unhappy nowadays, you owe it to yourself to make or find a change. Be good to yourself, always!

~~

Thanks to anyone who read through this ramble. I needed to get this off my chest. I am not asking for advice, neither pity or whatever else. I just wanted to share my thoughts on past experiences because I have a feeling others might be going through something similar.

Thank you again, please take care.

#wish talks #wish rambles #edited with some format fixes

[selkies-world]

A little bit of a rant?

"X magazines to publish your fanfiction"

"X self-publish methods to publish your fanfiction"

"X best companies to publish your fanfiction"

Sound familiar? Yeah, these posts have gotten pretty popular over the last year or so. Initially I didn't have an issue with them. But then I realised - "publish your fanfiction". As in "sell your fanfiction". As in "earn money from your fanficiton".

And that's when I got.... not mad, definitely not mad, but something along those lines that my brain won't give me a word for in English at 5am.

Because all of these posts are not only telling you how to earn money from your fanficiton, but that it's alright to. Which, honestly, it's not.

Fanfiction - itself and the community it creates and sits within - is built on being indulgent, selfless, and for sheer enjoyment. Just enjoyment. The enjoyment of others, the enjoyment of fandom creators, the enjoyment of imagination, whether it's purely self indulgent self-insert or if it's en masse indulgement through a popular trope and dynamic.

It's meant to be profitless, in the sense that no one earns money from it. That's a core part of fanfiction - in general, and especially on ao3. For fans, by fans, with no personal profit.

When did that get forgotten?

Now, it's true that fanfiction writers often get overlooked within fandom communities, since a lot of people put more emphasis on fanart. Fanartists earn money from their work, so surely fanwriters ought to be able to, right?

Wrong.

Fanart is entirely different from fanfiction. Why?

Because fanart is self-explanatory and open to interpretation, legally speaking.

Fanart, while it may be very distinctly obvious which characters / celebs it's portraying, is open to interpretation. By which I mean that an artist can create a piece of art for a specific fandom, and it can be loved by people in that fandom, but someone from another fandom can come along and see that same piece of art, and interpret it as something to do with a different fandom. Another person from yet another fandom can come along and do the same again. And again. And again. Even if the artist states "this is x and y from z", viewers are 100% open to seeing it as a and b from c, if they really want to.

Yes, fanartists often have patreons and go-fund-me's, but they also usually have multiple pieces, OC's and original content, too. When they make a profit, it's arguably from their style and skill, rather than directly from a piece of fanart.

And if a company, celebrity or the original content creator decided to sue or take legal action against the artist, the artist has that small net to fall back on - the "I created this piece of art inspired by x but it wasn't intended to reflect x directly, and I didn't make any personal profit from it".

But fanfiction? No. There's no questioning which original content is getting written about, there's no interpreting the characters as anything but the ones they're literally stated as, regardless of if the fanfic is canon-compliant or not.

Writing fanfic is 100% ok. Uploading it to a non-profit platform for others to enjoy is 100% ok. Read and let read, and all that. But publishing it, even for yourself? Not ok.

Because officially publishing fanfiction - in any capacity - goes against the core of fandom communities: for the fans, by the fans, with no personal profit.

As soon as you publish something, you're stating "I deserve recognition for this", and "I deserve money for this".

Fanfiction is meant to be created out of pure indulgent love and enjoyment, not out of the desire to be recognised or celebrated or to make a profit. And I think somewhere along the line, that core, fundamental part of fandom communities has been forgotten.

It's not fundamental just out of some hippie-dippy "free love and enjoyment man" energy. It's fundamental because it has to be, for legal reasons.

If the original content creator tried to sue a fanfiction writer for copyright infringement, the fanfiction writer's only defenses are "I didn't make any personal profit from it" and "I didn't breach your copyright or personal rights because I didn't distribute it in a way that could be interpreted as gaining personal profit from it without your consent".

Because that's happened before. More than once. And it can happen again.

As long as fanfiction is written for free, out of your own spare time, and is on a public platform, which the creators do not earn a single penny from, it's legal. But as soon as you cross that line by self-publishing your fanfiction, you lose that small net to fall back on if you're called on it.

As soon as you self-publish your fanfiction, you're intentionally profiting and / or distributing with the intent to personally profit off of someone else's property without their consent. Because that's what you're doing - you are taking someone else's property (the original work) and redistributing a version of it (your fanfiction) with the intent to claim rights and recognition for it (putting your name on it) with the intent to earn something from it (money or otherwise). Which breaches 99% of copyright agreements that original creators put in place.

Which makes you liable to being sued.

On top of that, when you self-publish, you give the publishers - no matter how big or small that avenue or company or magazine is - at least partial rights to your creation. Rights which, as fanfiction writers, you do not have in the first place. Because those characters are not yours, and they are not your property, physical or intellectual. No matter how you've spun the story, no matter if you have your own OC's in it, as long as you have at least one of the characters or settings or places mentioned in the original work, that is not yours to claim and it is not yours to hand over to another party (the self-publishing company).

When you self-publish something, you give the company rights to distribute, and the rights to earn their own profit from that distribution (they have to earn a living somehow and to pay for the inks and papers used in creating the printed version). They then hold onto those rights for a certain amount of time, and you can not undo that (as in you can't change your mind and tell them to cancel it after handing your work over to them. If they want to continue distributing your work, they can) or take those rights away from them after giving them up in the first place.

As a fanfiction writer, you do not have the rights to those characters, places or worlds in the first place. Only the original content creators have those rights. If it's a book or series that your fanfiction is based on, then the original author and publishing house hold those rights. If it's a TV series, the director and producer hold those rights, along with the filming company. If it's a movie, same again.

And if your fanfiction is based on / surrounding a celebrity, then your self-publishing it goes against their human rights. Because you're then profiting and / or distributing with the intent to profit off of them, without their consent. Them being a celebrity does not entitle you or give you any right over their autonomy. I'm sure everyone reading this can think of at least one case where celebrities have said "we love our fans but x kinda makes us uncomfortable / x feels a little bit odd / but we just try to avoid x because it's objectifying".

Writing fanfiction about them isn't illegal by itself, as long as it's free. But as soon as you self-publish that fanfiction, you're handing over rights that only that person has, and you're handing them over to another party (the company) to distribute as they wish, with the intent to profit from it. You do not have those rights to hand over in the first place.

Now, I'm not a lawyer. And I'm only 20. But I'm sure some older generations of fandom creators will be able to back me up in saying that fanfiction platforms of the past have been taken down due to copyright infringement. I'm sure they'll echo what I've said here. And I'm sure they'll have their own anxiety-driven story of waking up one day and finding all their writing just gone, because the original creators or celebrities threatened to sue the platform they were on, and the platform buckled. And those fandom creators knew they had no legal rights over anything they had created, and so had no argument to stand on to get it back.

If that's what happens when fanfiction is free, imagine the legal shithole you'd find yourself in if you made someone (including yourself) pay for that fanfiction.

Fanfiction is amazing. Please, please, please stop trying to profit from it, and please for all fandom creators sakes, stop self-publishing it.

#selkie prince talks #fandom #fanfic #fanart #legal stuff #someone who knows more about legal stuff please add on here #and someone from an older generation of fandom creators too #like please

[kemonowarsau]

Since I am not the best at writing fanfiction. I have decided to attempt to write a backstory summary of the world of Kemono Wars. A crossover dedicated to Transformers Beast Wars Cartoon and Kemono Friends.

This series will take prices and elements from both shows and build them in a way where they mirror each other. This will take pieces from the Nexon game and KF 2 as a way to FIX the issues KF 2 has.

Keep in mind that not everything is set in stone. There will be plot holes that might go over my head and need to fill in later.

With that being said, let’s start at the beginning.

The Cybertronian War

(Millions of Years ago, there was a planet. A planet that had been wrapped up in a war that nearly shook the entire universe. Both factions fought endlessly to gain victory over the other. Billions of lives shattered and died in this conflict. For millennia, they feared that the war would never end or it would result in the death of their kind. But as a last effort to end the conflict, an ancient relic with incredible power was used as the ultimate weapon. The Golden Disk. With its ability to give it’s holder unlimited power, the surviving soldiers were able to stand together and ending the war. The other side had no choice but to surrender. Both sides agreeing, and the battles had stopped.

After the war was over, the rulers of the planet feared that if someone was to use the Golden Disk for selfish needs, the universe would be thrown into chaos. So they took a shard of the disk and sent it out far into space. The Golden Disk would never be complete and able to reach its full power ever again.)

That's a fancy way of saying that the Golden Disk has a different function than in canon. This series was used as the Autobot’s final weapon, a tool to combine the souls of all Autobots, allowing them to win the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. To make sure peace remains the high counsel punched out the middle piece of the golden disk, a clear center part with an ancient cybertronian symbol. It was said to have been the main source of the golden disks power. If one of the hostile intentions were to get the disk's power it could start another intergalactic war, one even bigger than before.

If only the high counsel would know that another species would get a hold of said piece.

The Vok

Now in the original series, the Vok aren't as fleshed out as viewers wished them to be. All we know is that they were aliens of ancient earth that filled the planet with energon and created landmarks. But in this AU, their motivation and objective are going to be fleshed out. Not only for Cybertronians but the Friends as well.

After the chaos that was the Cybertronian war, the Vok swore that they would do anything in their mighty power to prevent another universal war. To do that, they sought to create super soldiers that would act as a negotiator to break up any huge conflicts. And if either side refuses to cease the fight, the soldiers would be forced to take out both factions.

With cybertronians being the main inspiration for their soldiers, the Vok decided to experiment on Cybertron's' main power source, energon, and test that if life could be created from its properties. They decided to start a testing ground on a simple organic planet and would use the animals of the said planet as vessels for the project.

The Creation of Friends

So we know that the Vok were using prehistoric earth as an experimental testing ground. In KW however, they were testing to see if they were capable of making organic cybertronians. This eventually leads to the creation of an extremely mutated and experimented form of energon. the experimented energon showed interesting results with it being able to take many different forms, infect the ground yet have no damage to the environment, and most of all, life could be created from it. Somewhat.

Though it was capable of creating life, it wasn't perfect. The animal subjects gained weapons and such, but they all turned out to be female humanoid creatures. They were shown to be stronger and have abilities that their original forms could use, but they were filled with animal mindsets, rather than of the super soldiers that the Vok aimed for.

Ceruleans

To make matters worse, the experiment resulted in the creation of the Ceruleans, who are practically energon given sentience. Everywhere the animal subjects went, ceruleans were sure to follow.

The Golden Disk and the Kemono Amulet

instead of the golden disk talking about the history of mankind. It instead had a big connection with the Kemono Amulet from the Nexon game.

The creation of Japari Park

The Sandstar was first developt in prehistoric earth but eventually was surfaced on a few islands. When mankind found out about this, they made Japari Park. The Vok decided to watch and see if their experiments would respond to humans. Friends were capable of fending off the Ceruleans. Leading to the events of the Nexon game.

Towa and the Cerulean Queen

Okay, so you want me to tell you what KW will be like for the Cerulean queen?

So we know that in Kemono Wars the Vok makes Ceruleans control the Friend population. But the Ceruleans themselves have no real knowledge of the Vok. All except for one, the Queen.

When she was created she was given the most intelligence compared to other Ceruleans, who are usually driven by instinct rather than knowledge.

The Queen was disgusted by the Vok using her kind as disposable income. She wanted to get rid of them. But how...?

Turns out there was a Friend who has the power of Kemo Harmony. A move that can unite all Friends to fight for the same cause. If she were to acquire that, she could not only unite all Ceruleans together but destroy the Vok as well.

So she made a Cerulean to steal the spark of Kemo Harmony and bring it to her. Following the events of the Nexon game.

But unfortunately, that plan failed. Due to Towa and the main heroes from the Nexon game, they defeated the Queen and the power of the spark resulted in the creation of Cerval.

Cerval

I might turn KF2 Serval into Cerval.

The 2nd defeat of the queen

The Queen also knew of the Vok’s desire to create a powerful leader to lead the army in the process. Someone that would make all animals now before them. They referred to it as “the subject “.

When the Queen returned she had the idea to create a Cerulean that would defeat the subject. So she kidnapped a little boy that went by the name Kyururu and proceeded to make a Cerulean clone out of him.

But once again her plan was soiled by Serval, Cerval, Caracal, Mirai, and Towa.

Kyururu was saved but his remains still left enough for a clone to be born at a very slow pace.

The banishment of humans from Japari Park

But eventually, the Ceruleans forced mankind off the island. All that remained was Mirai's hat with a single strand of hair. The Vok collected it and began to think of a brand new experiment. Could a human be created with Sandstar?

The jumpstart option

But that's not the most disturbing part. In the finale of Beast Wars season 1, the Vok decide to wipe out life in the park. primal says that they will kill all the innocent Friends. But the Vok are like, "What does it matter? Countless of them have died over and over and over. And they are not even aware of it. As long as one piece of a Friend remains intact, then we will kill them over and over and over. And they will never know."

So I have one centered around the Vok and Ezo Red Fox. We all know that the Vok has been experimenting on the Friends for years, but how did they manage to make Japari Park forget about Humanity. A procedure I like to call, Jumpstart. The Procedure is that they use the moon to wipe out all Friends in Japari Park and after confirming the remains they cause an eruption that brings all Friends to life but erases the memories.

However some Friends have been able to survive the Jumpstart but are unable to explain their situation to others out of fear that no one will believe them, or whatever wiped out them park before will hunt them down.

In the mobile game, Silver Fox has deep knowledge of the Ceruleans, the amulet, Oinari sama, and more. Due to them being close to one another, Ezo knew a lot of what Silver knew. But Ezo was able to survive the Jumpstart by hiding in a hole with a rock, but the silver fox wasn’t so lucky.

From that day onward she forced herself to keep all the secrets that Silver Fox told her in a quiet place. Even when she met with Silver Fox again, she could never tell her what she used to know. For her Friend protection.

In other words, Ezo Red Fox is aware of humans, the threat of ceruleans, and the danger that looms over Japari Park.

She knows when a Friend is revived and tries to hide her misery with laziness. Not to mention her longing for her friend Nina, who is still someone she remembers.

She could tell the Maximals what she knows, but she would need a hidden location to keep herself from the eye of the Vok.

But I also believe that Tsuchinoko is also a Friend that survived the Jumpstart. Hence the reason why she hides all the time. That and her knowledge of humans. She has been hiding for a while so she didn’t first realize that Kaban was human.

So in reality, Friends are nothing more than test subjects. Not even death can set them free. The Vok finds them, gives them sandstar, and the process repeats over and over.

The main story

So allow me to tell you about Kemono Wars.

Our story starts where many do at the beginning. During the fight between the Maximals and Predacons ships which resulted in both vessels falling down to the planet surface. With the Maximals launching out the protoform stasis pods.

But here is where things go different. Because in actuality, both ships crash in Japari Park. On that night we see Serval playing in the night fields of the Savanna. She lives a simple, calm life in the park. But a part of her wants to do more. Explore more. Discover more. Prove that she was more than a goof. But most of all, she wants a friend. One who will stay by her side through thick in thin. Deal with her mishaps. Laugh at her jokes. And except her for who she is. But then Serval sees two shooting stars (who are actually the Maximals and Predacons ships). Serval remembers hearing this old tradition from Hippo, that if you make a wish on a falling star, it will come true. Serval wishes for a friend and for the chance to explore the park. But then she sees the shooting stars crash land into the park. Their collision is so strong, that it causes an earthquake. And that causes the volcano to erupt and Sandstar falls throughout the entire park. As well as creating a certain Friend that will change the park forever. The next morning, Predacons awake to see that the world has energon, the fuel of the Cybertronians. However there is too much raw energon, meaning if they go out without protection, they risk energon build up and could shut down. Megatron decides that they will create alt modes based on the planets local creatures. The Maximals get the same idea as well, and both factions send out scanners to scan for local creatures. But unknowingly the scanners do pick up on bugs and dinosaur bones. But when a Gorilla Friend is scanned by it, she gets an odd feeling that she passes as hunger. The scanners pick up only animal DNA, not the Friend part. (Basically, if the scanner picked up a dog Friend, the Beast Mode would be a dog.) After getting their Beast modes, the Maximals notice that they are outnumbered by the Predacons due to launching the stasis pods. Back at the Predacons, Dinobot is enraged that Megatron stole the Golden Disk and ending up on the wrong Earth. Dinobot challenges Megatron to lead the Predacons, but he is taken out by Scorpinok. Megatron orders the rest of the Predacons to find the Maximals and destroy them. Meanwhile, Serval is sleeping on a tree branch, due to herself being nocturnal. All is quiet until she hears the sound of footsteps in the tall grass of the Savanna. It was a Friend. Serval chases her in a game of Hunter and prey. The Friend, however, is terrified by being chased and flees. But Serval puns her to the group in a leap. The girl pleads in fear that Serval does not eat her. Serval says she won't. After apologizing, Serval introduces herself to the new visitor of Japari Park. Serval sees that the girl is an unknown Friend, one that she's never seen before. The girl says that she doesn't know who she is or how she got her. All she remembers is waking up in the Savanna fields. Serval says that the girl should go to the Japari library to find out what kind of animal she is. Serval agrees to take the girl part of the way as a guide to the Savanna. Serval gives the girl the name Kaban (bag) due to her backpack.

Back with the Maximals, Rattrap complains about their circumstances while Optimus Primal tries to stay motivated about the situation. Cheetor then sees a blur of yellow and black dashing through the Savanna. The Maximals assumes that the blur was a cheetah and decides to chase after it as a show-off. Optimus tries to get him back but Rhinox says that due to the energon fields, communications are not working.

Cheetor runs towards the Cheetahs and tries to talk with them, but upon closer inspection, they were not what they seemed at first glance. They were girls dressed as cheetahs and they run off in fear from Cheetor. Cheetor chases after.

Meanwhile back with Kaban and Serval, they are walking through the Savanna fields. Everything is going well until they see two Cheetah Friends fleeing from something. But before they can see what it is, Cheetor accidentally leaps on Kaban, pinning the girl to the ground. Kaban pleads that Cheetor does not eat her. Cheetor says that he won't. Cheetor then climbs off Kaban, just as Serval runs to see if Kaban is okay. The Maximal then sees Serval's second pair of ears and her tail, meanwhile, Serval is in awe at seeing a Friend she's never seen before. Cheetor is confused so Serval tells him about being in Japari Park. Cheetor says he's not from here, and wonders why these little girls are all alone in the Savanna and why is Serval dressed like that. Serval explains that she and Kaban we're heading to the Japari Library to find out what kind of Friend Kaban is. Cheetor is even more confused, he can tell that Kaban is a human, like the ones mentioned in the Great War. Serval says that Cheetor can come with them and Cheetor agrees, completely forgetting about the rest of the Maximals.

After walking through the Savanna for awhile, Kaban sees a strange blue creature with one eye. Serval shouts that that thing is a Cerulean and is dangerous. Kaban tries to run away but accidentally trips as the Cerulean is almost upon her. Cheetor is about to Maximize but Serval uses her claw to attack the stone on its back, defeating the Cerulean. Serval says that Ceruleans are dangerous and they are around the park quite often. Cheetor is impressed by Serval's ability to fight. Kaban, however, feels like she's a very useless creature. Both Serval and Cheetor reassure her that she is not useless and weak.

They sit under tree shade to take a short break before heading to a water hole to get a drink. Serval says that both Kaban and Cheetor should be careful around Ceruleans, Serval says that attacking the stone on its back is the best way to get rid of it. Cheetor thinks that he should inform Optimus about the Ceruleans. Suddenly Cheetor realizes that he completely forgot about Optimus and the rest of the Maximals. Serval says that first they should go and get a drink at the water hole first.

After walking around for a little bit more, the trio arrives at the water hole. They get a quick drink and feel refreshed. Serval realizes that there are surprisingly no other Friends here. Suddenly something emerges from under the water and Kaban screams that it doesn't eat her. Cheetor is about to Maximize when it turns out to was another Friend, this one was a hippo. Hippo is introduced to both Kaban and Cheetor, with Serval saying that no one knows what animal Kaban is. Cheetor is tempted to say what Kaban really is, but he wants them to find out on their own. Serval asks why there are no other friends at the water hole today. Hippo says that there were many friends here earlier but then a giant bug arrived and started terrorizing the other Friends. Serval says she never thought Hippo to be the type to be scared of insects. But Hippo reassures her that the big was huge and started firing its stinger towards the following friends. Hippo was able to hide under the water as the giant bug took a drink of the water. She thought at first Kaban was the bug.

But then suddenly they hear a buzzing sound and look up to see a giant wasp hovering over the water hole. Hippo runs out of the water in a panic, while Cheetor says that it's just a giant bug. Hippo says that saying that the wasp before them was the one that attacked her earlier. Kaban begs it not to eat her and Serval is confused. Cheetor realizes that the bug is actually a Predacon. Cheetor finally Maximizes and transforms into his robot mode. He begins to attack the wasp who quickly transforms into the Predacon waspinator. Hippo flees the area while Kaban and Serval are both confused and scared, though, of Serval's end, she's more amazed. Cheetor tries to get the girls to safety and squash Waspinator, but the battle keeps following them.

The Maximals get a transmission of Cheetor's fight and go after him for backup. Eventually, Cheetor, Kaban, and Serval end up in a ditch. Cheeto's weapon is jammed. The rest of the Maximals arrive and Optimus tells Cheetor to get the young ones out of there. Kaban is even more confused at this point. The Maximals are about to take out waspinator when a dark sinister voice catches everyone's attention. It was Megatron, as well as the rest of the Predacons. Megatron locks eyes with Kaban.

Optimus pleads that there is no need for conflict for there has been peace between the Maximals and Predacons for years. Megatron says that this whole time they have never given up on their plans of universal conquest. Serval doesn't like Megatron and thinks he's a bully. Kaban at this point is terrified as she looks at Megatron and can tell he is not a nice person. Megatron says that the Predacons have been waiting for the moment to strike. cheetor gets his weapon unjammed as shoots Megatron. The fire gauntlet has been casted and the war has begun.

All the Maximals and Predacons transform into robot mode. Serval and Kaban feel so small compared to them all. Kaban doesn't even know what's happening, who are these guys, why are they fighting, and what do they want. Megatron orders that the Predacons obliterate the Maximals.

Lasers and missiles are shot from both sides. Kaban and Serval are still trapped in the middle with Cheetor and in danger of getting hurt. Optimus orders rattrap give him cover so he can save Cheetor and the girls. Rattrap stubbornly refuses and Cheetor gets his leg stuck under a rock, trapping him. Optimus has to go and save them. Serval doesn't know what to do and tries to push the rock off of Cheetor's leg, but then Kaban remembers Serval's attack on that Cerulean. Kaban says that if Serval claws at the area just above Cheetor's leg, they may be able to break the stone and set Cheetor free. Serval claws the stone and breaks it, and Cheetor can get back up. Optimus gets down in the ditch and holds his hand out for Kaban and Serval to grab. Kaban secretly whispers that Optimus doesn't eat her. Optimus picks up Kaban and says that he won't. Serval is in Cheetor's arms. It's at this moment Megatron finally locks eyes with Kaban and orders that his Predacons don't let the Maximals escape and get that human child. But as the Maximals flea, the energon starts to build up around them, forcing everyone back into Beast mode. Serval feels a great surge of Sandstar. The Maximals escaped with both Kaban and Serval.

The group is then walking, with Serval and Kaban placed on Cheetor. Optimus scolds rattrap for his lazy behavior and says that he is the Commanding officer that has orders that need to be followed. Rattrap failed in giving cover and almost got the young girls hurt. Rattrap shrugs it off saying that they got out alive. Optimus says they did but they were injured. That it will take time for their internal repairs to be completed.

Optimus turns to Kaban and Serval and apologizes for frightening them. Serval says that it was okay and that if Kaban didn't come up with the idea to free Cheetor's leg, things could've turned much worse. Cheetor thanks Kaban for her help. Kaban blushes.

Rhinox asks what Serval and Kaban are doing out here. Serval says that the Savanna is her territory and she was helping Kaban get to the Japari Library before Cheetor arrived. Rattrap asks why they want to go to a dusty library. Serval says that they want to find out what kind of animal Kaban is. For a second the Maximals are confused. Rhinox says that Kaban is a human. Serval asks what's a Hooman. Rattrap says that she should look in the mirror. Serval says Kaban is not a Serval.

Rattrap says that Serval should take that silly eat headband off. Serval is confused but then Rattrap tugs on Serval's ear to try and take the ears off. But he finds out that they are not coming off. Rhinox says he can look into it when they get back to the Axalon. Which reminds Optimus on where Kaban's home is. Kaban says she doesn't know her territory. That is part of the reason why they want to find out who they are. Optimus decides that if Kaban has nowhere else to stay, they might as well let her stay at the Axalon. Rattrap complains that they are not babysitting.

But then as they are about to cross a bridge to get to the base, there is a velociraptor in the way. It is Dinobot and he orders that Optimus duels him for the leadership of the Maximals. Optimus tries to make peace, but Dinobot says that he will not move unless Optimus accepts his challenge or hand over the girl with the hat. Kaban is terrified, what would Dinobot want with her. Optimus asks the same thing. Dinobot says that an associate of his has asked for the capture of the girl and will take what once belonged to them and- Dinobot is cut off by a female voice shouting that she just wants the hat. Another female voice says that Raccoon shouldn't interrupt Dinobot's honor speeches, as it gets him angry. Rattrap asks who is back there and one of the voice freaks out about being discovered. From behind a rock is Fennec and Raccoon and they are the associates of Dinobot. Raccoon says that Kaban is a thief and a danger to the park.

Optimus looks at Kaban and can see that the scared girl doesn't want to go with Dinobot, so Optimus accepts the challenge. They fight on the bridge with both sides cheering. Raccoon is a cheerleader at this point. But Optimus almost slips but Dinobot saves him, saying that if he won that way, it would be a betrayal of his honor. Fennec comments that Dinobot sure loves his honor. They continue battling.

But unknown to them the Predacons are watching the fight and decide to attack. Serval's ear twitches to see the Predacons are attacking the bridge. Optimus and Dinobot are about to fall off and facing energon build up when Kaban gets an idea while looking at Rattrap's tail. Before Optimus and Dinobot fall, Kaban and Serval grab Rattrap's tail and they quickly grab the duo. Raccoon and Fennec help as well. Before the bridge collapses all Maximals and Friends crossover. But one of the missiles hit a mountain, exposing a lot of Energon. Or by how the Friends called it, Sandstar.

The Predacons go after the energon and the Maximals team up with Dinobot to get there first. Serval is excited to help but Optimus tells the Friends that they need to stay behind and be safe.

But just as the Maximals leave, Raccoon chases after them, saying that she won't let that Megatron jerk take away her home. Kaban, Serval, and Fennec follow after.

Surprisingly the Friends beat them to the top of the mountain but not too long when the Predacons And Maximals fight. The battle is in beast mode since the Energon/Sunstar could shut them down. Suddenly Serval smells something and sees that all this noise and lights might catch someone's attention. And it did as a giant Cerulean shows up and starts to eat the Energon. Megatron tries to stop it but it flicks him away, while everyone else is trying to fight it. Serval, Raccoon, and Fennec run out and try to fight it. Kaban sees the stone on its back, exposing the weak spot, but no one can get it as the Cerulean keeps eating, till Kaban throws a paper airplane to distract it. Serval takes the Cerulean out. But Megatron tries to take out the Maximals with a missile but Dinobot catches it. But it hits the Sandstar/Energon and before it explodes everyone leaves except Megatron. After they are safe, Optimus is disappointed that the Friends went along but thankful that they risk their lives to save them. The Beast Wars have begun.

Notes and ideas

Where I got the idea from

The similarities between both series

Energon equals sandstar

The role of the ceruleans

Importance of humanity

The cutest meeting the toughest

Dinobot Raccoon And Fennec

The Friends are also enemies to the predacons

Instead of going back in time they go a timeline where mankind is wiped out

Kaban ability to think and outsmart her foes

Inferno being terrified of anteater Friends

White rhino having a crush on Rhinox

The Maximals know Kaban is a human

Megatron wants to wipe out Kaban and conquer Japari Park

Lucky beast still only talks to Kaban

Ceruleans can suck the energon from Cybertronians

Dinobot got his Shakespeare from the Japari Library

Quickstrike constantly hitting on snake girls and striking out

Rattrap corrupting the innocent by teaching them about gambling

Friends being less merciful in battle than the maximals

Tarantulus having a large bounty on his head

Money is ppp backstage passes

Both Maximals and Predacons get hurt from Crested ibis singing

Rattrap tricks Crested ibis to sing to Predacons

Kaban befriended waspinator

Kaban tricking Megatron to be unable to grab and bite her due to Megatron big head and tiny arms

Friends don’t have sandstar radiation

Raccoon and Fennec first find Dinobot

Tschinoko and Dinobot

Extinction of mankind

The sandstar can be converted back to normal energon for transformer consuption

Cheetor finding cheetah friends

Cheetor bumping in kaban and serval

Some friends have venom bites

Japari park was a testing ground for vok, but sending mutated energon

If a transformer consumes sandstar, they will be healed, but they will be transformed into a friend.

Optimus comforting kaban after finding out she might be the only human out there

Dinobot interacting with kaban

The maximals watching ppp

Predacons trying to control the ceruleans

Friends don’t have radiation

Optimus noticing the shine in kabans eyes flickering after hearing humans might be extinct.

Rattrap finding out that owls actually eat mice, and the professor and assistant are owls

Building the bus

Friends nominate Kaban to be the next optimus/leader of the maximals

Scanners can detect humans, but none of the friends, when set to the human setting

Dinobot learning that strength comes from within by Kaban

Kaban and Dinobot being separated from the group and have to spend the night in a cave.

Both Maximal and Predacon ships caused the sandstar shower, which caused the birth of Kaban.

Sandstar has no effect on bugs and insects

Kaban tricks Megatron to both he and her to be consumed by the Giant Cerulean

Megatron ends up at the bottom of the sea after the giant cerulean drowns

Rattrap flirts with Beaver,

The awkward situation where Priarre dog gives her traditional greeting

Optimus doesn’t want to cause conflicts with the friends

During the fight for the energon, the battle attracts the blue big cerulean, who attacks both the Predacons and maximals

Dinobot learning from Kaban of how strength comes from within the soul, and doesn’t matter how strong physically someone is, it’s all about how strong they are in bravery.

Kaban seeing Dinobot reading Shakespeare

Maximals and Predacons race to see who can get to the Japari Library, maximals make it first.

Tigertron leaving the beast wars and working for Alphca.

Giraffe thinking Optimus is a monkey, Rhinox a Hippo, Rattrap a squirrel, Dinobot an iguana.

Dinobot trying to teach friends how to fight.

Kaban breaking free for Terrantulus web by using the edge of her hat.

Dinobot curling up with Kaban as they sleep.

Dinobot/Kaban “I have only known Kaban for only a day in a half, but if anything were to happen to her, I’d kill everyone in this room and then myself.”

Waspinator names (Serval-Kitty Bot) (Kaban-Bag bot) (Luckybeast- Blue talk bot) (Raccoon- Stripey bot) (Fennec- Ear bot)

Season 2 introduces Caracal and the other human (Serval is still the same and with Kaban)

Maximals watching PPP

Silverbolt is viewed as a hero by other friends

Everybot wants to protect Kaban

Elephant kicks Rattrap out of fear

Rock version of Japari Park theme

Who I’d be (Dinobot, Kaban, and Raccoon)

Dinobot finally calling Kaban friend

Finding out about the science of Sandstar

Friend Megatron being dressed as a queen by inferno

Waspinator gets a redemption arc

Vok Experimentation on Earth

Could Cybertronians be born from organic matter?

Could energon have a bigger impact on organics

#けものフレンズ #Kemono friends #kemono #friends #transformers #beast wars #transformers beast wars #kemonofriends #help needed #fanfiction #crossover #kemono wars #beast friends #optimus primal #rattrap #dinobot #Rhinox #cheetor #megatron #tarantulas #black airachnia #kaban #serval #maximal #predacon

[lucarioisinthevoid]

Oh god, PLEASE DO. Henry leaned over, interested. "... I am so happy that whoever this person is, they seem to have no interest in me and my narrative purpose. If I would have been added to this, I would have probably been drained of most of my will to live." Bemused he shook his head. "... Marion should have a “hiding” form where he is but a little doll from the price corner. I am not sure why he would turn into the terrifying beast he is usually, but... huh. Perhaps he is some eldritch beast that roped Jeremy into helping him regaining his old form, gifting him powers in return." ... Henry? "Hm?" Do you watch magical girl anime? "What. NO." The man was appalled. "I simply am bored and have a vague knowledge of most tropes." Yeah, sure. We believe you. "... anyhow. I think it only makes sense that the Mike, Jeremy and Simon turn out to be the villains. It would be canonical accurate. Also, all things considering, one of them befriended an eldritch beast, one is INHABITED by an eldritch beast and one a loveless machine perfectly capable and willing to cover up crimes." ‘Canonically accurate’. Totally. But oh god, Matt and Ronaldo as guides? No sir, they stay away from this mess. They probably work with them and are their very ignorant co-workers. Except they know exactly what’s going on and refuse to care. Might go as far as to say “woooow, man these not-at-all masked heroes are the best, I sure wonder who they are.” Putting on glittery and fancy clothing is as effective as a mask in these types of anime. OH SPEAKING OFF, CONSIDER- They all still work together. All of the boys. And Ronaldo and Matt are the only ones knowing about it, but everyone else IS actually such an idiot that they don’t recognize each other as arch-enemies. That sounds pretty on-brand for these fools. Nemo is going to be a HACKERMAN. Because that is what he wishes to be at heart. Going to be the mysterious helper who sends them all emails at the same time, giving them all a big S H O O K. He’s the second’s arcs villain, as he threatens to unveil their secret identity, before switching sides when it turns out he just wants to part of the heroes. Deern is the sage librarian/professor, who helps them research ancient artifacts to UNCOVER THE PROPHECY! Meanwhile Old Sport and Dave are trying to merge the spirit world with the real one, to essentially eradicate death. Perhaps Dave even is trying to get Henry back like that. MAYBE. THE PLOT IS STILL IN DEVELOPMENT, RIGHT? Anon, you’re so welcome to hop back on and give out more ideas, I love this. Anyways, they realize vengeful spirits too, on accident, and maybe they take on the form of animals, staying with the Fnaf theme. Looking like monstrous humanoid creatures, depending on how aware they are. Hell, maybe Marion was a gatekeeper. Or maybe he is lying because he doesn’t want to go back. We will never know. OR WILL WE? WILL I WRITE A WAY TOO LONG FANFICTION FOR THIS TOO!?? HMMMMM? Anyways, Mike is color coded blue and uses fire powers, which makes him subject to endless ridicule from Old Sport. Phone Guy is in red and probably uses sound as his weapon. I think that fits him well! And Jeremy might use light! To make himself invisible, but also to distract/blind the enemy. Visual illusions! Old Sport uses electricity, in all his orange glory. Going to have a GREAT time! Dave though is probably a straight up necromancer, able to not only summon the spirits to help them fight and powering them up, but also partially transform in one (Guess which animal for he has. Guess.) However, that comes at the price of him temporarily losing his mind if he goes too far/takes in too much damage without stopping. Supremely powerful, but OS worries about him. The past part is probably though their interaction during battles. Dave is going to be rather upset while Mike throws around his fire spirals. “DUDE. YOU’RE DESTROYIN’ SOMEONE’S HOUSE. PROPERTY DAMAGE, BUDDY, GEEZ, WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TO YOU? THERE COULD BE CHILDREN IN THERE!” “OH SHUT UP, I HAVE ANGER ISSUES!” Dave dodges another beam of fire. “EVER TRIED THERAPY FOR THAT ONE!?” “THERAPY IS FOR PUSSIES!” “NO, IT GENUINELY IS HELPFUL!” Jeremy chimes in. “I know I don’t a-agree often with Dave, but he’s right, you know-?” “YOU’RE A TRAITOR JEREMY! A FUCKING TRAITOR!” Phone Guy goes out of battle stance to rub his dial. “LANGUAGE Mike. CHILDREN ARE WATCHING!” “FUCK THE CHILDREN!” Old Sport going to zap him. “JESUS CHRIST YOU’RE FUCKED UP, DUDE! LIKE GENUINELY, THAT’S AN EVIL THING TO SAY. I MEAN, I AGREE, WHO CARES ABOUT KIDS DYING, BUT STILL, THAT’S OUR STICK!” “W-why is everyone screaming?” Jeremy cries. “BECAUSE WE’RE AT LIKE 60 FEET OVER THE GROUND AND THE WIND IS LOUD AS SHIT. PLUS ATTACKS MAKE NOISE YOU KNOW?” “F-fair enough…” The Orange Guy pulls the focus back on the fight. “ANYWAYS, I GOTTA DESTROY A HOUSE NOW. BECAUSE OF YOU, MIKE. BECAUSE YOU DID IT FIRST AND I CAN’T LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT YOU’RE MORE EVIL THAN ME. A HOUSE WILL BE DESTROYED, A FAMILY WILL GO HOMELESS, ALL BECAUSE YOU CAN’T AIM OR TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.” “WHAT THE FUCK, DON’T DO THAT!” Ah yes. The first Magical Girl show rated M. Oh wait, I almost forgot Madoka Magica exi- Wait. WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S RATED 13+ DIDN’T EVERYONE SAY IT’S SUPER- You know what, forget it. THIS ANIME IS GOING TO BE RATED E FOR EVERYONE! EVERYONE DESERVES TO LEARN MORE SWEAR WORDS! >Okay, spoilers now for that Madoka Anime, because I read a bit up on it and have FEELINGS.

Speaking of it, a downright Madoka Magica style AU would be fun too! Dave and Old Sport as transformed witches, due to their personal issues, Mike, Phoney and Jeremy on their way there and Henry as a cute lil kitty-cat- “I swear to everything that is holy, that all that awaits you in your future is PAIN.” You WOULD take a cute little form to trick everyone. “… well, I suppose, but I despise the genre. I would not wish to participate in it.” Not even to prevent the heat death of the universe? “… fine, yes I would. But please, can you not be ORIGINAL? Cheap rip offs make for empty stories. Not to mention, you never even consumed the series, how are you supposed to pick up on the reasons for the appeal it had? You will butcher it.” … I butchered DSAF and had a pretty fun run with it. Also, it makes a lot of sense! Consider. Marion is your oldest victim. First trying to kill the main group, to prevent them to become like him. He fully has shed his human form in his onsetting insanity. Old Sport, Dave and the spirits also lose more and more features, growing colorful colors and gain more and more resistances to damage. And now let’s look at our boys. They too lost features, Mike turning grey, both Simon and Jeremy actually lacking a face. It would flow pretty nicely! Also, and seeing as I’m a pushover, I wouldn’t mind to make the effects of it reversible- “… and allow the universe to perish due to the heat death?” … fuck. Henry the immortal catboy makes lovely boys suffer and is justified in doing so. AGAIN. We will never escape this cycle, will we? “Never call me that again.” Yeah, honestly I feel a lot of shame for calling you justified. It won’t happen again. “I wish to be gone from this world.” Congratulation! You are already gone from any and all worlds! I’m glad you’re happy now! The poor Pink Guy smashed his head on the table, causing his lizard to climb on him instantly. At least that was something nobody could take from him.

#the Group #henry miller

[leilas-digital-scrapbook-blog]

Giving Love a Bad Name – Confessions of a Fanfiction Writer

I know we’re supposed to blog about our major projects this week and I promise I will get to that soon, but I’d like to go off book for a moment to address something that’s been bugging me since last Thursday’s class. As someone who’s always tried to engage with fandom in as creative a way as possible, I hoped a class on user generated content would offer a fresher perspective than the usual amount of prejudice and self-righteous superiority that sadly seem to accompany the subject of fanfiction even amongst people that make stories and their passion for it their bread and butter.

Guess I should have known better.

In the world of professional writers, fanfiction is still a filthy word. It sums up everything that’s wrong with the people you’re sharing your stories with: the obsessiveness, the entitlement, the disregard for boundaries, the penchant for making everything about sex. Worse, gay sex, as unspeakably dirty as it’s hilarious. Be warned, writers: if you make it big, your stories will inevitably become a free-for-all at the mercy of those people. A worse fate than even George R. R. Martin could wish on his own characters.

I’m used to seeing the world of fanfiction belittled and disparaged, of course, and I’m the first to admit that the community is often its own worst enemy. But for some reason it still hurt a little to sit in class and listen to people I’ve come to like and respect during these past few months buy into every bad stereotype associated with the form. Not because I felt called out (though yes, I do write fanfiction from time to time, and I happen to quite enjoy reading it too), but because of the underlying assumptions that 1. something that’s not 100% original cannot be art, it’s a violence in fact, especially if it twists someone else’s creation into something it was never meant to be (in this case, queer representation); and 2. there’s something wrong with creating exclusively out of love, without ever expecting to be paid for it. And I have Strong Opinions on that.

So let’s talk about fanfiction.

Actually, scratch that, let’s talk about my favorite subject – yours truly. As you may have gathered by now, I love fanfiction. A whole fangirly lot. My gateway drug into it was my obsession with Lost about 10 years ago and its pesky habit of offing every character I was foolish enough to get attached to. But lo! Someone was keeping them alive through their stories! I felt blessed. I got to spend more time in a world I loved, and I stopped flirting with the idea of giving up on the show every time another character I liked bit the dust. Everybody won.

Even more than as a fan, though, I appreciated the world of possibilities that fanfiction opened up to me as a non-native speaker. I come from a small town in the north of Italy; the access I had to foreign books in their original language was limited, and if I wanted to read something in English I’d have to spend quite a lot of money on one of the very few novels (usually chunky airport bookshop thrillers or housewife romances – not exactly my preferred genres) that shared a single shelf in the bookstore with German, French, Spanish titles. But fanfiction was free, accessible, and there was so much of it. If I didn’t like a story, all I needed to do was move on to the next. Suddenly there was an infinite library of engaging stories to help me make my English better. True, they didn’t all read like a published novel would – there’s a lot of unpolished, error-plagued, stream-of-consciousness-y material out there. But there are also so, so many beautifully written works, and believe me, even for a non-native speaker it’s very easy to spot the difference.

Fanfiction also gave me the chance and motivation to practice my English writing in a way school never could have done. I’ve been writing my own stories since I could hold a pen, but I didn’t dare write in English until I was a fanfiction-loving teenager. It was a marketing decision, really – my first foray into writing fanfiction was for a fandom so small that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out I’m the only Italian representative, so if I wanted any kind of feedback on my work I’d have to suck it up and try my hand at writing in a language that didn’t come natural to me. I would never argue that the feedback I got on my works made me a better writer – contrary to popular opinion, the fanfiction community is made up of the nicest, most supportive people, and alas, you’ll never get a comment on everything you did wrong with your structure or even just pointing out common grammar mistakes from them (though I was lucky enough to have someone explain to me how dialogue punctuation works differently in English than in Italian, so I guess something can be learned even from the Internet). It did motivate me to keep writing, though, and that made me a better writer. If you think I’m being too dramatic, dishing out this monster of a post nobody asked for just to declare my eternal devotion to fanfiction, it’s because it’s personal to me. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been told that I write in English as well as native speakers, and fanfiction is a big part of why that’s true. I doubt I would even be in this course if it wasn’t for it.

And then, of course, there’s the gay thing. I’m not going to argue about how heteronormativity sucks and representation matters because I’m sure everyone’s as sick of talking about it as I am, but please try to understand how it felt for a gay person like me, used to be depicted in media as a plot device or token secondary-character representation if at all, to be able to step into a world where queerness was the default for once. Where queer protagonists had meaningful queer love stories and queer friends and got to save the world from the Apocalypse too. Or to fight the Empire or go to Hogwarts or everything else fictional straight people have had a right to do since the dawn of storytelling in addition to romancing the hottie of their choice. I’m not asking you to feel as passionately about it, of course, but (especially if you’re straight) you might try and empathize the next time you think a fanart of two boys kissing is something deserving of your amused contempt.

I hope I’m not coming across as the person that screams “homophobe” at everyone who disagrees with her because I guarantee that’s not what I’m trying to do here, but I think the general distaste for slash says a lot about the way our society sees heterosexual relationships as love and homosexual relationships as sex. Yes, there’s a lot of gay porn in the world of fanfiction. But you know what you’re most likely to find? Romance. Not in the saucy literary sense of the word, but in its simpler, most literal acceptation. Fanfiction is just one more way for humans to express themselves, after all, and love has always been front and center in our art. Love, not sex – even if it’s gay. In fact, explicit material doesn’t even make up the majority of what you’ll find on a fanfiction website. Don’t worry, I don’t want anyone to taint their souls by visiting one of those dens of iniquity so I pulled some stats myself. Here’s the number of works for each rating in three of the most popular fandoms on Archive Of Our Own, the current go-to website for the fanfiction community (sorry Fanfiction.net) – Harry Potter, Supernatural and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of 9/3/2019:

Even counting both Mature and Explicit works as straight-up porn (which I don’t think is quite fair, but that’s a discussion for another day), they only make up less than 1/3 of the material. Kinda disappointing, for a medium that’s supposed to be all about filthy graphic gay sex. Imagine if only one in three musicals actually featured singing and dancing, or superheroes weren’t in the majority of superhero movies. They’re lucky fanfiction is shared for free, or I’d be screaming for my money back.

Maybe I’ve just been brainwashed by SJWs, though, and this has nothing to do with my being an immigrant or a lesbian. Maybe my inability to see what’s so bad about appropriating someone else’s intellectual property for your own amusement is a cultural thing. I apologize – as mentioned, I’m Italian, and we all know Ancient Roman culture was basically just a ripoff of everything those inventive Greeks came up with. It’s in our blood. Hell, our 2€ coin, the biggest, has the face of Dante Alighieri on it, a writer most famous for having written 14.000+ verses of self-insert real-person-fic in which the girl he fancied as a teenager, his favorite author, and God himself all fall over themselves to tell him how awesome he is and he gets to prophesy an eternity in Hell for his political enemies. Talk about wish-fulfilling entitlement. Not to mention all those creatively arid Renaissance “artists” celebrated for stealing characters from the Bible and Greek mythology (seriously, the fact that Greece hasn’t unleashed an army of lawyers on us yet is nothing short of a miracle) and putting them in their cheesy paintings. Other countries can rely on a much stronger moral backbone and endless imagination – I’m sure Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, those creative geniuses at Disney and countless others never had to resort to something as cheap and despicable as borrowing other people’s characters to tell the stories they wanted to tell.

Either way, I can’t help it – I see the prospect of creating something that will resonate with people so strongly that they’ll make it a part of themselves, that it’ll compel them to make more art, to reach out and connect with other fans, as something incredibly beautiful rather than scary. Maybe this is my usual naiveté speaking, and I will come to eat my words. It’s certainly disturbing that a bunch of entitled fans bullied the Mass Effect developers into changing the series’ ending, and sending actors explicit fanart of themselves is straight-up harassment, but is fanfiction really the problem here? Or is it social network culture, with its power to destroy all barriers and foster hive mind? To give resentment a platform to spread and be heard? I promise that the average fanfiction writer wouldn’t campaign to get an ending changed. They’d just roll up their sleeves and write a better one themselves.

#my thoughts #aka leila goes off about her life story #user generated content #fanfiction #fandom #tmi alert

[chaoticdrcolleen]

Finding The Collection || Rose & Pep

Who: Colleen Wayne & Rosy O’Connor

When:  - Evening

Where: Colleen’s house

What: Rosy finds Colleen’s erotica collection and their relationship takes its next step

Triggers: pregnancy 

Notes: this isn’t finished but it’s been sitting dead for a while 

Colleen was in the kitchen, working on fixing something that could resemble a proper meal, while she left Rosy to make herself comfortable, get acquainted to the house. Not that she perhaps needed to, but Colleen knew Rosy's home, the least she could do was allow the same courtesy. Or that's what she was telling herself, anyway. It did occur to her that no one had been in her house and left to their own devices before, and that it was possible Rosy might find herself looking over her bookshelves, which she had a lot of. However, there was one in particular that contained what seemed to be an entire collection of erotica, written by the same author. They were author copies of the books written under her pen name, Elise Alder. It was a play on her middle and original last name, in a sense. She didn't see a point in throwing them out, nor did she want to leave them in a box, so she just put them out on a shelf like all the other books she owned. She tried not to think about what might happen in Rosy saw them.

Left to her own devices, Rosy was more than happy to explore Colleen's home. Part of it was curiosity about the woman she was sleeping with, part of it was the detective in her left over from her police days. It didn't surprise her to find shelves lined with books, "quite the bookworm, aren't you Peppy?" she muttered in amusement to herself before coming across a shelf of books that was unlike the others. She briefly wondered if she would be crossing a line by removing a book from it's place on the shelf but she was too intrigued by the titles on the spines and soon found herself with a book in her hands, reading the blurb on the back. "Kinky little bookworm," she mused before placing it back on the shelf amongst the others and choosing another. It seemed Colleen had quite the collection of erotica novels but what was really intriguing was that they were all by the same author.

Colleen finished up their meal, hoping it was worth eating. She wasn't the best cook and often found eating out or ordering in was easier. It was more a habit left over from her days as a grad student, when she'd been teaching all day and then had night classes and just didn't have the time or the energy needed to cook. However, she was trying to get better, to cook more often and make more complex things. Though that didn't always mean it ended up being worth eating.

Moving out of the kitchen she found Rosy in front of the book shelf with her work on it and if she was right, Rosy had one of her books in hand. "Find anything interesting?"

"I suppose that depends on your definition of interesting," Rosy teased as she turned to face Colleen, book still in her hand. She couldn't help but have a little fun, something about Colleen brought out the more relaxed side of her, the side that would tease and have it mean no harm as opposed to her usual snark and sarcasm aimed at throwing people off. "Now, you're gonna have to help me out here," she lifted the book, "because I can't for the life of my quite figure out where these fit in your curriculum."

Colleen rolled her eyes with a laugh, moving over to Rosy. Plucking the book from Rosy's hands she looked it over. It was one of the older titles she'd written. "Bold of you to assume I only read for work. Though, I don't read these." She returned the book to it's place on the shelf.

"If you think I really believe you only read for work, then I think you're not as smart as I originally thought you to be."  She watched as Colleen returned the book to its place, "You don't read them?" Now this was interesting. "You keep them as awkward conversation pieces?"

Colleen laughed, shaking her head. "I didn't read for pleasure for years while I was actually in college. I think it took until I was actually a professor to start it up again, so..." She shrugged. "I get paid for them and don't like keeping boxes packed."

"That's fair enough," Rosy nodded, "I only just started reading something other than the newspaper myself." It was true, excluding the paperwork involved with work, she literally only ever had time to read the newspaper whilst sat in a car or on a plane. "So you write erotica?" Rosy mused out loud already knowing the answer, "I see you have a pen name, which is understandable, an upstanding professor such as yourself shouldn't be associated with such filth," she chuckled softly. "Which was your first?"

Colleen nodded as Rosy spoke. "Oh? Anything particular you've been reading?" Colleen loved knowing  what people liked reading, even if it was just the paper or magazines. "I don't mind it, as a professor, but when I was writing it to help get through grad school, I really didn't want to be associated with it. Particularly because I was teaching middle school." She shrugged. It had started as a way to bolster her paycheck, as being a teacher really didn't pay well, but she'd loved doing it. "They should be in order of release, so..." She grabbed the first one on the shelf and nodded. "This one. I was like 22 and should not have been writing erotica."

Rosy suddenly felt a little shy, Colleen was a tenured professor at college asking her what she was reading and what she reading was not exactly intellectual property, "You're gonna laugh..." Why did she care so much what Colleen thought about what she was currently reading? "That makes more sense, really wouldn't look so good as a middle school teacher. A tenured college professor can get away with mature content." She watched as the first book left the shelf, "22, huh?" She reached for the book, "I look forward to reading it."

Seeing Rosy shy was a surprise to Colleen. "I read fanfiction on a regular basis, I have no room to talk." It was true. "But I wouldn't laugh anyway. I'd rather hear someone is reading magazines or fanfic or kids books, even. Than hear they're not reading at all. When I taught middle school, and even now I tell my students that as long as you're reading something consistently, I'm happy." Colleen smiled. "Exactly." And then it was her time to get shy. "You- what?"

"Ok," Rosy nodded, "but you're gonna think I'm that crazy mama but right now I'm reading George's Marvellous Medicine." Seriously? Why was she so shy about doing something that most people would associate as a cute motherly gesture? "I've been reading Roald Dahl stories to the boys." She almost laughed at Colleen's question, "I want to read your stories."

Colleen just listened to Rosy talk, a soft smile on her face. "Nothing wrong with a little Roald Dahl. I don't even have kids and I break out Roald Dahl every once in a while. It's about liking what you read more than anything. Some of my favorite books are young adult novels." She grinned. "Besides, I think it's sweet, that you read to them." Colleen felt herself blush and she couldn't look Rosy in the face. "Why? They're just cheap erotica novels, I write to make a quick buck. They're not..." Colleen was proud of her books, but she'd never come face to face with anyone who had read them or wanted to. It was better writing than her fanfics, as a general rule but it still wasn't her best writing.

"Roald Dahl was my favourite as a kid," Rosy admitted before laughing a little, "and we might live in America but my boys are gonna know more than Doctor fecking Seuss." She reached out her free hand and gently lifted Colleens face, "Cheap erotica novels or not, you're a published author so yeah, I want to read them."

Colleen laughed. "I didn't get introduced to Roald Dahl or any other children's authors until I was ten or eleven and there was something about being the oldest kid in that part of the library that was weird for me.  But the librarians were really cool about it, helped me find stuff both I'd missed out on when I was younger and that was more age appropriate. It's where I picked up the notion that it was okay to just read, as long as I was." Colleen shrugged. The hand lifting her face had she biting her bottom lip. "Why?"

"Yeah but look at you now. You went from not knowing about authors until ten or eleven to teaching about authors," sure, she hadn't known Colleen that long but there was pride in her voice, she was proud of this woman who'd had a pretty shitty start. "Because you wrote them," she smiled softly, her thumb swiping gently across Colleen's cheek.

"I used to swear at people who made fun of me, but I'd swear in Italian so they couldn't understand me." She had learned so much more in the circus than most children did, but in a way that led to her not knowing a lot of regular things. Sure, she could speak three languages, throw knives, do aerial stunts, and even some levels of advanced math. But she didn't know books or written work. She'd learned to read with newspapers and flyers and written word that had been oral stories. "What's so special about that?"

"Those people were idiots and you proved that by swearing at them in another language," she smiled. Her head tilted to the side, a look of disbelief in her eyes, "You are."

"It was Ohio, what do you expect?" Colleen laughed a bit. "I think it's why I'm such a nerd. I dove into everything I could. I wanted to know everything I'd missed and my parents, especially, they were amazing. They rolled with every new interest, every new thing I wanted to try. They answered questions most people shrugged off. And when voice lessons and field hockey stuck, they paid for me to pursue those things. I got lucky." She wasn't sure why she felt the need to tell Rosy these things. They were simple things but things that normally didn't get talked about. "Me?"

"I don't think it would've mattered where it was, the world is full of idiots. Your parents sound pretty amazing and you're still a cute nerd," she chuckled. "I got a plane to come see you, so yeah...you."

"I guess, but Ohio, Lima in particular, is very backwards, especially back then." Colleen shrugged. "They are, they really are. I mean, I think we're all adopted, or most of us, at the very least. I never asked about Leroy and Leon, but all us girls are adopted." She blushed, tilting her head at Rosy's words. "Why me?"

"Then Lima, Ohio and it's ass backwards ways can go fuck itself because you're smarter than any of those idiots that made fun of you," she meant what she said. "Sometimes family just chooses you, mine chose me." A smile tugged at Rosy's lips, the way Colleen blushed would be her undoing at this rate. "Because I don't do feelings," she stated before she diverted her gaze, not because she was lying but because she was afraid of the reaction she would see, "but I have them for you."

"Shh, you're in it right now, it can hear you." Colleen teased. "That it does and we are all the luckier for it." She doesn't know what she's expecting to hear when Rosy starts speaking, much less when she pauses, looking away  from her, but she can't help but smile. She uses a hand to make sure Rosy is looking at her. "I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized." She was quoting Romeo's line, the one after the line that had led Colleen to think Rosy was asking her out. It was the best response she had in the moment.

"Let them hear me, I'll kick their all their asses," Rosy laughed. She looks at Colleen with timid eyes, she had no knowing of how to deal with feelings or expressing them, not in the romantic sense but it seemed the Colleen knew how to steer them and she smiled as she leaned into the woman's touch. "I am no pilot, yet, wert thou as far As that vast shore wash’d with the farthest sea, I should adventure for such merchandise." It seemed such a fitting response because she really had no clue what she was doing but she had hopped on a plane just to be with Colleen at the first chance that was presented to her.

Colleen blushes heavily as Rosy quotes lines back at her, the meaning behind those words making her smile. She slips the hand on Rosy's face to the back of her neck, pulling her into a kiss. "We'll sail the sea together, my dear." She whispered against Rosy's lips. Colleen hadn't been in a relationship in so long but she was so ready and willing with Rosy. Sure, long distance was going to suck, but what was a half day drive one way? It was a drive she'd made for Rachel, would likely make for Rachel again. Making it for Rosy was nothing.

Rosy smiled into the kiss. They were actually going to do this. Different states, babies on the way and she hadn’t been in a relationship in almost twenty years but she’d never had feelings for someone the way she did with Colleen. “I have no idea how to do this,” she admitted quietly, “will you teach me?”

Colleen rested her forehead against Rosy's, smiling softly at her admission. "I might be a little rusty, but I can certainly try. And what we both don't know we'll figure out. Together." She kissed her again, wrapping her arms around Rosy's neck. "You think the boys will be okay with that?"

Rosy suddenly remembered that she still had the book in her hand and reached around Colleen to place it safely on a shelf so that she could wrap her arms around the woman. "Together," she nodded with a smile.  The next question made her chuckle softly, "I'm gonna go with yes," she pressed a sweet kiss to the lips in front of her, "after all, Ciaran did kick for the first time when we met for lunch."

Colleen smiled, laughing a bit. "Is he the one that wanted peppermint, too?" She questioned, a hand tangling gently in Rosy's hair. "Or is his mom just using him to excuse her own wants?"

"Hey!" Rosy tried to look offended but the smile on her face was impossible to hide. "Peppermint has been a legit thing and it's your fault. After a couple of days the smell of peppermint had started to fade and Ciaran started to kick up a stink, I'm almost certain that boy thinks my kidney is his personal punching bag," she laughed.

Colleen chuckled. "Maybe you'll just have to take something with you that smells like me." Just about everything Colleen owned smelled like peppermint, hell even her home smelled like peppermint. "He's quite the trouble maker, isn't he?"

"I think your students would miss their professor if I did," Rosy teased. "He really is," she nodded, "but he's calmed down a lot since we got here so I think I might have to keep you around." Rosy ran her hand through Colleen's hair and just smiled, was she supposed to be this happy just standing with Colleen's arms around her? This was going to take some getting used to but she didn't mean one bit.

"I doubt that, but I would miss the pay check." Colleen smiled. "Has he really? Maybe he's like me, peppermint keeps him calm." She loved this, just being with Rosy. Her fingers worked through Rosy's hair, kissing her gently every so often.

"I imagine you'd miss teaching too," she smiled back. "Peppermint makes him happy," she admitted, "but I think it's you that makes him calm." Rosy kissed Colleen sweetly, before letting out a contented sigh, "I think I could let you do that forever," she chuckled softly, the fingers in her hair had soothed what was left of her anxieties, "I think I'm like Ciaran, you keep me calm."

"I would, yeah." Colleen loved her job, it was the one thing that had kept her from actually settling down with a family of her own yet. "Yeah, you think so?" She smiled at Rosy's words. "You don't get taken care of near enough. I'll have to fix that." And she had all intentions of doing so. Colleen had learned that Rosy rarely gave up control, let other people do things for her, and Colleen wanted to change that. She wanted to take care of her, do things for her, just because. "I'm glad I can do that for the both of you, just means he gets it from you."

"I know so," she replied feeling rather foolish about her wording, "they're both still doing their thing in there, Colman's mostly just chilling non-stop but whenever you're around, Cairan takes a page out of his brothers book." Rosy rest her forehead against Colleen's, "My family take of me," she knew it wasn't what Colleen meant but it was more of a preface to what followed, "I'm used to taking care of myself, no one has really wanted to take care of me like that." It was true, but Rosy had also never had a reason to let someone close enough to take care of her. "Next time I get told off for doing too much, I'm just gonna come see you," she chuckled softly, "looks like he gets something good from after all."

"I'm glad I can help, even if it's only a little." Colleen smiles. "I know they do and I figured as much. That's why I want to. You deserve someone who wants to take care of you." One of her hands moved to Rosy's belly. "And not because they think you can't but because they know you can but want to anyway." Colleen kissed her nose. "I can get behind that, though I think I'm biased." She giggled. "He will get that and so much more from you."

"I think you help more than anyone has in a long time," Rosy admitted softly. "I..." she pressed her lips to Colleen's, it made much more sense than saying thank you. This woman wanted to take care of her because she wanted to and that was something Rosy was going to spend a long time trying to wrap her head around but it was something she was willing to try. "What makes you think that?" Rosy asked with a chuckle. "God help us all!"

"I do?" Colleen wasn't sure how to take that but she kissed Rosy back. She smiles a little, laughing as Rosy speaks. "Because I get to see you and anything that means time with you is something I can get behind." Colleen giggled. "What's so wrong with him being like you, huh? You're pretty spectacular."

Rosy nodded a little shyly as she admitted, "I've not wanted anyone close to me like this." She smiled and shook her head, "How can you not see how cute you are?" She studied Colleen's face, taking in the woman's features, there was so much to her and Rosy couldn't wait to discover it all. "Spectacularly stubborn," she countered.

Colleen moved the hand from Rosy's stomach to wrap around her waist,  pulling her just a little closer. "Like what?" There were so many things that could mean and Colleen wanted to know.  "What did I do this time?" All of Colleen's self confidence resided in her intelligence. She was smart and passionate and a number of other things.  Maybe she refused to see herself in certain lights because of people who tried to tear her down. But she also didn't take compliments well on a whole, far too skeptical for her own good she supposed. "Stubborn can be a good thing,  y'know."

"Like they have the ability to hurt me but I'm trusting them not to," Rosy admitted, "like they terrify me but I want to know everything, like being scared shitless but feeling safe with their arms around me." There were so many feelings that Rosy was trying to comprehend and being able to voice them was difficult because they were things she hadn't felt and she just didn't know what to make of them herself. "I have to have a reason every time I find you cute?" Rosy teased before pressing a kiss to the tip of Colleen's nose. "I know it's going to take some getting used to, but I look at you and I see this cute little nerd with a beautiful soul who has no idea how sexy she is," she reached up an ran a hand through Colleen's hair, "but that's ok because I'll help you see it, over time." Rosy shrugged, "It depends on the situation. Stubborn can be a really good thing but it can also be a persons downfall."

Colleen didn't know how to respond, mouth agape at the admission. It was so honest and sweet and a lot to take in. Rosy was the kind of person who kept her heart under lock and key, whereas Colleen wasn't nearly as guarded. In a lot of ways she wore her heart on her sleeve. It was why she reacted poorly to people lying to her. She held Rosy closer, blushing at the kiss to her nose and the way   Rosy spoke. "You're extraordinarily sweet, you know that?" She smiles at Rosy, chuckling a bit. "So you just have to teach him when it's okay to be stubborn and when he should let go, maybe let someone else take the lead."

"No," Rosy dipped her head and was thankfully that her skin tone made it difficult to see when she was blushing, which was exactly what she was doing right then. "I have a feeling that Colman will help with that," she chuckled back, "I don't know why but I just see Cairán being this little firecracker and Colman as more of an old soul, I mean they probably won't be anything like I think they might be but it's just a feeling I have. Whatever they're like, I can't wait to watch them take on the world together."

#i: rosy oconnor #p: rosy oconnor #p: 003 #p: all

[thelightningstreak]

In your defense of fanfiction, what is your opinion of fanfiction that breaks copyright law? Like, a word for word copy of the copyrighted stories for example, MST that reproduce the whole movie, books, or show, or just remake (Verbatim fanmake?) of the copyrighted story but name change, substitute char or a gender change, nothing else done. Or what about fanfiction that uses copyrighted song lyrics without permission? I don't think those types help our rep much, nor the bad attitudes towardcrit

Hi, anon. Thanks for your note!I appreciate it. 

“In your defense of fanfiction, what is your opinion offanfiction that breaks copyright law?”

To begin, I’d like to say I’mnot a lawyer and do not claim to understand exactly how the legal system workswith fanfiction. To the best of my knowledge, fanfiction, ever since theadvent of copyright law, has managed to thrive only by the grace of technicalityand IP Owners’ conflicting interests. And that colors my opinion of differentkinds of fanfiction, so I struggle to answer your general question about “fanfiction that breaks copyrightlaw.” 

As I understand it, fanfictionof any currently copyrighted materialbreaks copyright law, unless the Intellectual Property (IP) Owner has publiclystated that it accepts/supports the fanfiction endeavor. There is otherwise a legalcaveat called “fair use,” which is explained by attorney Rich Stim as a “copying of copyrightedmaterial done for a limited and ‘transformative’ purpose, such as to commentupon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work.” (Stim, What is Fair Use?)

But there’s still a huge debateabout whether fanfiction genuinely is safe under “fair use.” Primarily, peopledon’t get sued for it because they’re not making a profit from their derivative/transformativeworks. The lack of a profit, and the resulting negative publicity, would make alawsuit usually pointless for the IP Owner. The moment someone tries to make aprofit from fan-related material, that’s when the copyright laws tend to majorlykick in against them. But even those people are protected sometimes, becausemany IP Owners see minor fan transactions as a way to boost awareness and fanconsumption of the canon. So some IP Owners (definitely not all) will turn a blind eye even when there is a smallprofit being made that breaks copyright law. Sometimes, the fan hype resultingfrom fanfiction/fanart is worth more than the potential gains from a lawsuit. 

Without arguments for fanfictionas “fair use” and other such technicalities, most fanfiction today would unquestionably break copyright law. AndI rather enjoy reading and writing fanfiction for several IPs with activecopyright, so I am very thankful for “fair use” and for places like theOrganization for Transformative Works, which is working to raise acceptance forfanfiction as a fair use/transformative pastime.  

“Like, a word for word copy of the copyrighted stories forexample, MST that reproduce the whole movie, books, or show, or just remake(Verbatim fanmake?) of the copyrighted story but name change, substitute charor a gender change, nothing else done.”

As long as that fanfiction isan unpaid labor, and as long as there is no cease-and-desist order from the IP Owners, then I would assume that such a piece of work flies under theradar, to the larger world, as just another fanfiction…another derivate work inthe sea of many. 

In general, I think word-for-wordis more likely attract unwanted legal attention, because a lot of “fair use” stuffends up being protected per being highly creative and different from the canon.This article by Brad Frazer states you can legally get away with copying 10-15-word phrases,tops? Under fair use? But then after that, an IP owner will have legal grounds to sue, apparently?Sounds like it’s a good idea to not lift someone else’s stuff word-for-word inany massive way. 

From my own perspective as areader of fanfiction, I find word-for-word works unengaging. I engage withfanfiction to see a canon concept taken to a different level—that it exploressomething in a different way, or challenges or further reveals something about thecharacters somehow. Word-for-word doesn’t allow for that. It’s not adding tothe overarching “transformative” conversation, in my opinion. And it also masksthe possible style/voice of the fanfic writer themselves.  

“Or what about fanfiction that uses copyrighted song lyricswithout permission?”

I’m not a lawyer, so I would take what I say here with agrain of salt. As I understand it, since fanfiction is not yet consistentlyruled as “fair use,” then using song lyrics word-for-word is just another way toinvoke a potential legal problem. Going back to that 10-word grace limitmentioned above in Brad Frazer’s article, if fanfiction is ruled as “fair use,” then you might be ableto get away with a few lines. But since songs themselves are so short and soidentifiable even within a phrase, I think there’s a lot more risk. I wouldn’tchance it. 

From my personal perspective, a story with only a few lines,especially when a character is actively engaging with those lyrics, is far moreentertaining than a story that directly copy/pastes in a whole song. A wholesong suddenly appearing forces me as the reader to consider two separate mediums atonce. Human brains are not geared for that kind of multitasked focus. I eitherhave to skip through the song to stay focused on the overarching story, or elseI break away from the story to read through the lyrics. The narrative momentgets broken either way, and I detach from that fictional world. I believe stories should keep their readers fully immersed in the narrative. 

“I don’t think those types help our rep much, nor the badattitudes toward crit”

I agree that the more word-for-word fanfiction is, generallythe more critical the outside world is going to be. An IP Owner can turn ablind eye to only so many things. And claiming fanfiction as “fair use” per its“transformative” presence seems like a poor defense when one is just switchingout a character name or gender and nothing else in otherwise a copy of word-for-wordsource material. It definitely cheapens the legal argument for fanfiction astransformative work. 

As far as criticism/constructive feedback goes, that’s a toughone. I’ve always invited constructive feedback on my work because I usefanfiction as both a place to have fun and to learn. If I’m not trying toimprove my writing/creative skills, then I feel I’m just unnecessarily spinningmy wheels. Many others, however, engage with fanfiction purely for validation/positivereinforcement and don’t want any constructive criticism at all. A lot of peopledo not see “criticism/learning” and “fun” as things that can coexist. 

I’m not sure what the right answer is there. Inmy own opinion, the very act of publishing a work assumes the desire for externalvalidation of some kind. Or else, one would be perfectly content saving thework on their computer for no one else to see. People naturally want to receivesomething positive in return for their work, and fanfiction tends to attract alot of vulnerable populations trying to find validation for their interests. But should one demand positive feedback only? 

I think demanding “positivefeedback only” is a cultural construct that keeps fanfiction as a second-classliterary pastime. Published books, movies, shows, etc. are all open tocriticism. If fanfiction wants to be treated with the same respect as sourcematerials, then it should be held to the same standards. 

At the same time, unlike most professionalsbehind published source materials, the people creating fanfiction are notalways professionally educated or trained in the medium of writing. Many arenot trained to mentally separate themselves from their created works. And coarsecriticism is one way to kill the very spirit of joy that fandom itself needs tothrive, because people in fandom certainly aren’t being paid to write their fanfiction,haha. 

In an ideal world, I think fanfic writerswould be open to helpful, constructive feedback to assist them with betterexpressing their ideas—to be validated for their thoughts while also empoweredto reach an even higher potential. And in an ideal world, I think reviewerswould provide that constructive feedback in a way that is geared for theencouragement and betterment of the writer. But I don’t see fanfiction functioningin this way. At least, not yet. 

Maybe if fanfiction were takenmore seriously as a legitimate outlet, and if there were more benefits thansimply an anonymous kudo or review, then people would be more inclined inimprove and accept criticism? 

Fanfiction has no quality regulation,and I think the current legal environment, where fanfiction exists in a grayarea that is neither officially acknowledged nor stamped out, is part of whatperpetuates quality issues/inconsistencies. Great gems, even better than published booksand shows, exist in the midst of, admittedly, painful works. And questionablethings are usually judged by their lowest common denominator, unfortunately. It’ssuch a cycle. 

Anyway, thanks for letting meramble. I hope this helped to answer your questions!

#fanfiction #in defense of fanfiction #copyright laws #thanks for the note anon! #sorry I wrote a whole book back in response haha

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 2: The VR Zone Has a Hell Ton of Trees

Alright guys I am regretting the hell out of this teriyaki ramen bowl I just ate, so it’s a better time than ever to go back into this VR arc. Now that the Big 5 have made their speech, all of them quite fat and one with a cane although he doesn’t even have a body anymore, they are ready to send everyone down a series of...plot-shaped holes.

Like they were JUST in some sort of tropic zone, to go back to here and then go somewhere else and so like--this is still VR I think? Like I’m assuming they went VR the moment they entered this room but it is quite vague at what point they were officially in VR. Was it when their vision went fwisssh and everyone split into RGB layers or was it that they got knocked out with gas quite a long time ago and were just unaware that it happened? Probably a bunch of these things.

With this announcement we find out that everyone--and I mean everyone--has to play cards now, although I’m pretty sure half of them have duel disks and the other’s are like...not equipped? I mean it’s VR, so hypothetically no one at all needs a duel disk anymore but you gotta sell toys, so no matter what, Yugi’s going to be lugging this heavy sharp thing on his wrist, even when he knows he will soon be shot down a wacky hole.

The title of last episode, ps was “VR Nightmare,” but like, it’s actually fairly pleasant, compared to the blimp hell we were dealing with just a few episodes back. I mean I guess people are actively trying to kill us here but when are they not?

The audacity of this show. Every state in the US has huge ass fake castles in it leftover from the Rockefeller era. Where else are our Moms supposed to drag us on Day Trips so we can get our history credit for Girl Scouts?

Americans are hella good at creating fake historical sites--all you need is a 50+ year old house and some turret work possibly made by a reasonably well known architect and it’s like “yeah that’s a good enough castle for me! Can we say it’s haunted, too? It’s hella haunted! Come to my castle B+B!”

(read more under the cut)

Tea landed in some concept art that kind of looks like the underside of a mushroom. I dunno how I’d classify this rock structure.

And then Kaiba landed in his worst nightmare which was being in a normal park with one single straight road but somehow still completely lost. At least Mokuba managed to fall into the same hole as his brother to ensure that Seto wouldn't be lost for like the rest of this arc. Which was actually kind of an unintentionally hilarious animation.

*rare shot of the Kaibas actually taking a break*

Man, this is the closest they’ve gotten to a real hug in kind of a while. Like when was the last time these bros hugged? Pegasus’ castle?

Meanwhile, Noah is admiring his work from this throne room and it would be a whole lot more intimidating if he wasn’t in calf-high black socks.

His outfit is like a white school uniform so what gives with the black socks? Like of all the things to complain about on Yugioh (especially since I see Yugi’s hair looking right at me in the next cap) those socks though. Those are pretty inappropriate with this outfit, Noah. Especially matched with this God Throne you’ve got going on. Did not see socks like that matched with a chair like this.

Meanwhile Yugi is all by himself but that doesn’t matter at all because he is 2 (3) people. This strategy to isolate everyone only really worked on Serenity and Joey, TBH, since Tea is also accompanied by slightlylessevil!Marik (who hasn’t really said anything since the VR started).

I knew Bakura would be out for a while, but I didn’t realize it meant everyone else wasn’t even going to once acknowledge it, it is baffling. I mean I get they’re super distracted right now but your friend is DEAD.

Honestly I would not mind if the big 5 succeeded and we had to see some old men try and work with Yugi’s hair and alt rock clothing, deal with Pharaoh sassing them from a brain labyrinth, go to Yugi’s school where people get savagely beat up like every other day, deal with Bakura and Marik trying to body snatch and other magic assholery during class breaks, and through all that watching the Big 5 attempt to take over the world with their megacorp that no longer sells guns but actually sells like...children’s entertainment supplies which include the dueling roombas from S1. How on Earth do they actually think that getting a body would help them at this point? They would be Yugi Muto and that is the last face anyone would ever take seriously.

Pharaoh pops up and is like “I guess we’re doing this right now? Really wish we weren’t doing this right now.”

Anyway, because they don’t physically exist in this digital world, neither do God Cards, or any other card in their deck. So, now they have to make new decks out of a pool. Very convenient for the writing team, bad news for Kaiba’s intense and vaguely romantic relationship with his Blue Eyes. Really glad we spent a full season talking about how much these cards meant to all these people, from the magicians, to Joey’s Red Eyes, and then that one card that was Mako Tsunami’s Dad or something--really glad we learned all of that to just completely erase it this arc.

I sounded sarcastic just now, I actually wasn’t for once, I am so glad to just purge my mind of all those card memories for a little while. Just allow myself to forget. Ah. My mind is already so much clearer. It feels so good. I am very much ok with this soft reset, I kinda needed it.

Since Yugi is supposed to choose a Deck Master from his set of cards for this particular type of duel monsters duel, he goes right for the dark magician--since that’s his MO, but for some reason Kuriboh chose himself? Like this greasy thing just hopped out of the card and played himself.

Anyway Kuriboh is now their new Pikachu and well...this show has done worse cute-character-that-does-literally-nothing-else type things to me, speaking of, lets see what Serenity is up to.

This is a digital hellscape, Serenity.

Serenity, you are going to die here.

Serenity.

So because I just realized just now in Season 3 that Duke’s necklace is a hot, over designed disaster (much like Duke himself) I figured I should like...see what this necklace is supposed to look like. So I typed into Google “duke devlin necklace” and guys, turns out there is a LOT of Yugioh jewelry--and I don’t mean like fanart (which there is also a lot), I mean like officially, a lot of people in this show wear a lot of jewelry and so it was sort of hard to find a good pic of a Duke Devlin specific necklace--especially since it feels like most people just go for the dice earring because that’s way easier.

But what’s interesting about the Duke Devlin necklace, at least from my quick search, is that when we bring it to the real world, it gets a little lost, like a game of telephone.

Cuz I assumed that was a clown on his necklace--and there’s quite a few clown necklaces, but I’m also seeing skulls, I’m seeing gothic crosses, I’m seeing spikes and knives instead of crosses. Bro thought it was a flower for some reason--I kinda blew his mind just now when I pointed out it was a clown. Some people think it’s made of silver, other people think it’s sort of painted? (I assumed the cross was entirely blinged out with rhinestones--my honest assumption) No one can actually agree. Especially since Duke apparently changed his necklace for the movie. I know that because it looks a lot like the Legend of Zelda emblem, and some people had the actual Legend of Zelda emblem mis-tagged as Duke Devlin. Which sucks a whole lot for their SEO, and sucked a whole lot for me in my search to find a real actual Duke Devlin necklace.

Like, feel free to attach a link to a reply -- is there an official physical Duke Devlin necklace that Yugioh inc sells? Like I just want to know--officially--what the hell I’m looking at.

Anyway, back to the show, much like everyone else, these two are hopelessly lost.

Kaiba seems to keep forgetting that his Dad is clearly behind all this and would obviously have his old tech but like...Kaiba forgets so much I can forgive him this.

So, faced with roads that lead no where, Tristan decides to do his tried and true method of solving all of his problems.

And at the other end of the VR zone Tea is getting kidnapped after...being kidnapped by Noah while she was already kidnapped by Marik. This is three levels of kidnap, yes?

OH SHOOT IS THAT A ONCE DOOR. DID SOMEONE DO WHAT I HOPE THEY DID? OH SHOOT.

I will read their fanfiction start to end I swear to you I will do it if it exists and I will report back to you who dates Captain Hook and who is related to Henry Mills.

OMG It didn’t exist.

You have got to be kidding me.

I am beside myself, this is the only property known to man that has not been turned into a OUAT fanfiction.

Incredible.

That or I’m just really bad at searching for fanfics since I haven’t actually read any since my LiveJournal days. Like, when you’re basically immune to shipping, as I am, you just really lose the desire to read about 90% of fanfiction.

Anyway, the closest we have to a OUAT Yugioh fanfiction, to my knowledge, is that cap I made just now right there. Your welcome, Once community.

This is absolutely made of load-bearing drywall. Why do none of the sets of windows line up with each other and how many stories is this? Like 2.5? And you can stand on the roof I guess because it has handrails? It’s super weird.

Anyway, I just made a OUAT joke and maybe it’s because I knew shortly after we were gonna get--that’s right--an orphanage flashback. OUAT was basically 6 seasons of effed up orphan flashbacks so I feel pretty well prepared. Like bro was worried how I’d handle this filler but y’all, I watched the Lily arc in OUAT. I can do anything.

*slaps hands together*

Totes ready for these boys to have been given up for adoption via a magical tree and a memory curse, only to find out their real parents are 3 years younger than them because of a time loop. Make it weird, Yugioh!

Anyway, as always, if you want a link to read these from the beginning in Chrono order and without any comments and all that jazz here’s a link

#Yugioh #photo recap #recap #S3 Ep2 #yugi muto #seto kaiba #big 5 #Noah #joey wheeler #tea gardner #duke devlin #tristan taylor #mokuba #Anyways I'm gonna go make cookies at 9 PM #because I have a headache and I feel like this will fix it somehow.

[beauregardance]

hey guys... i’m really fucking sorry this happened. I know it was in the comments and not many of you guys are gonna see it anyway, but I want to address this before more drama starts.

I’m on discord under the handle “bilunala” and I currently am on a manwha scanlation team (sawateam) as a typesetter, recently, some drama with a larger scanlation team happened who wanted to basically shut us down due to them have unresolved issues with our group leader. People began digging for any kind of information to throw us under the bus, and someone found a kofi I made for my writing accounts (ie, this one).

before I go under the cut, friendly reminder that yaoi is a genre with homophobic tendencies.

The main issue was that they thought I was taking money from manwha/manga readers and profiting off of it as a typesetter. I don’t know how many times I have to say that this is not true. I set up the kofi solely for my writing accounts and I have never linked it in my scanlation works NOR my fanfiction works. The only place where I have linked them are my tumblr bios, like this one. I have also never made money off of it or asked my readers for donations. The kofi is only there as a link for people who really enjoyed my works and want to drop me a line.

many people took issue with this though, saying that trying to profit off fanfiction is stealing other people’s intellectual property. Once again, I am not trying to profit directly off my fanfiction. I have never once linked the kofi anywhere in my actual fanfiction or asked for donations. It is only there for people who liked my writing, not there to request fanfiction, or there to restrict access like people have implied. I’m not going to bring in the argument “oh, well other people take kofi donations for fanfic request too so it’s fine!” because I agree, it’s not fine and yes, it is someone else’s intellectual property, but please understand that the kofi is something I intended to link to my original fictions account, which I am still setting up. At the moment, my ao3 account is the most active, which is why it is linked there.

many have also tried to imply that I would do this with my scans eventually, where I would start to ask for donations to assist with my scanlation work as a typesetter or my official rips (which i use my own money) to pay for. I will never do that. I spend hours volunteering my time to typeset something because I genuinely want people to enjoy the work in a language they understand & money to buy chapters for a series I like and want to share with others who don’t have the money for it. My kofi and my writing life are completely separate from my scanlation life.

I have also never “asked for donations”. Not once in any of my works will you see me saying a single peep about my coffee. And in fact, I’ve received an amount of $0.00 from kofi, but I’m not complaining about it nor promoting it. Again, the kofi is only there for others to drop me a line if they like my work since I am not yet a professional nor published author.

people have taken issue with this because of sawateam drama, which was spurned by our discord leader announcing that we would be taking donations that go to raws and the site. a lot of people were doubtful that this was the case and started accusing us of stealing donations and making money off of something that should be free in the first place, which led people to dig up my kofi because I use the same handle on discord and my kofi. people assumed my kofi was an underhanded way of taking donations from both sawateam readers and my own fanfiction readers (both of which are, as the person commented mentioned, other people’s intellectual property).

you can search far and wide, but you’ll never have seen me mention my kofi on the scans page or on discord. and as for fanfiction, i’ve already explained that the kofi is intended for people who liked my writing, not necessarily my fanfiction works themselves. i haven’t opened a requests or commissions box, which mind you, other people do, with, as you guessed it, other people’s intellectual property. whether i will or will not be facing legal action, time will tell whether this person actually reported me to ao3 staff or disney publishing house themselves.

anyways, i’ll still be finishing this fanfiction at the end of the day, whether people assume i “make profit” or not.

also the fact that they’re obsessed with me making profit off my writing since it belongs to a big unseeable corporation...it screams capitalist bootlicker 

#drama - #discourse - #important

[pyreo]

oddly super-serious post for a moment:

I know the widespread online reaction to Ready Player One has been eye-rolling and general sarcasm, but for all that there’s still people on twitter that defend it, saying it’s just an homage, that it’s just a love letter to nostalgia and

I find it hard to articulate what I find so repulsive about this vague non-attempt at an intellectual property

I haven’t read it, but I have seen actual content that includes

Blatant racism

Predictable sexism

Just terribly, terribly written words

And that’s enough. That’s enough to dismiss a thing and demand that the writer tries harder. But it’s not just that. It’s some kind of story about an author avatar who is such a huge, HUGE nerd that he manufactures an ultra-specific situation where that exact thing is the only way to save the world. 

And let’s be clear, that is

stupid as fuck

If you’ve been on the internet, if you’re a nerd like the type of person this would appear to be aimed at, if you engage in fandom at all, you’d already know how dime-a-dozen self-insert protagonists are, who represent their author and jump through into the world of a movie/book/game and get to be the hero. It’s been done, it’s been done a hundred million ways, and it’s called fanfiction

I’ve written fanfiction just about all my life, and I’m all for declassifying it as a form of time-wasting. Fanfiction is derided pretty much everywhere as being the product of obsessed losers who don’t have ideas of their own. Fanfiction, to me, is a way to practice a craft without the burden of inventing the ideas first. It’s an entry point, and it’s also a harmless hobby, it can help you understand writing tropes, and it can help you develop your own ideas alongside someone elses - but if not, it’s still okay. Not everything everyone does has to be done for profit or fame. Fanfiction is a labour of passion, made and given freely. 

Fanfiction is, and always has been, highly female-associated. The first fanfic writers are known to be mostly women, and it remains aligned that way to this day - and in practice, at least in my experience, I’ve always seen more women and girls active in writing fandom, and fandom in general. We’re here, we do this. 

And yet when Gamemaster Anthony here writes himself being the hero to other people’s characters, with actual movie posters that photoshop his face onto The Matrix, this self-insertion is blockbuster-movie-worthy. Apparently. 

When a lot of fanfic writers do self-insertion I feel like they at some point, on some level get the idea that they’re doing it for their own fun. It’s personal. “It’s my favourite movie, only I’m in it”, yeah, is only of interest to yourself, pretty much. And that’s fine! Because you’re not exactly pretending it IS interesting to anyone else. 

On one hand, you gotta hand it to these posters for capturing exactly what Ready Player One is - so derivative it beggars belief. But the other thing is, we know what these posters are meant to appeal to. 

Like the guy who wrote an entire book about how he saved the universe by knowing every line in Blade Runner, there are guys out there who make being a devoted fan their entire identity. Guys who immerse themselves in sci-fi or games or media that appeals to them and know every single thing about it. 

Now, I’m not trying to generalise along gender lines here, but the kind of fan that *I* am - I like to see media critically. I like dissecting what makes it work and why. I like reinterpreting stories. I enjoy writing my own, and changing things up, or making my own backstory to explore an underused character, letting my own imagination fill in what was left open for me. We cannot engage with other people’s work without seeing it through our own lens, and I say be proud of it, express yourself in your fandom - because nothing is ever going to be truly objective. 

The other kind of fan is the type who sees what they love as static. An idea published in a pure state of being that can’t be changed, shouldn’t be critiqued (if they like it), and so they express fandom by referencing its content. Quotes. Posters. Outside of geek ‘’’culture’’’ I see this in sports fans who learn every single match statistic for their team. It’s the type of person who watches Big Bang Theory because saying ‘it’s like in Game of Thrones’ constitutes a joke. There’s no engagement or introspection about Game of Thrones. It just pointed to a thing they like and somehow it’s funny. 

Static fans are more well-known and more easily accepted. Static fans don’t seem to ‘get’ what transformative fans do, which feels like a fundamental disconnect between the mentalities - ‘I value things by learning every aspect about them, and you want to change it?’ A static fan is the type of person who writes Ready Player One, where ‘creativity’ means regurgitating lines and figures out of someone else’s work, and being the best at this, and then everyone praises you for how good it was for you to know these arbitrary things. Ready Player One is a guy who’s absorbed minute details from media he likes but desperately wants to justify knowing them in a world where you don’t get awards for being able to recite somebody else’s script. 

The book reaches its nadir in a chapter where the protagonist makes his way through a virtual recreation of the 1983 film WarGames. Instead of simply namedropping the title, Cline unnecessarily and embarrassingly re-narrates the first 15 minutes of the movie, dialogue and all.

-- ‘Ready Player One’ is a terrible book and it will be a terrible movie

This is the dead-end of static fandom. A pretty basic-level dystopia that revolves around pop-culture references painstakingly engineered into making everyone love you. Media builds on other media all the time, one person using inspiration from another to build a vision from their own perspective - incorporating similar tropes, paying homage through iconic shots, camera work, lighting, musical motifs, symbolism or narrative cadence. 

This isn’t that. This is the overhyped equivalent of a guy who finds out you enjoy video games and immediately eagerly screams at you “THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!!!!”

[thegreatpikminzx789]

Face Our Fears - Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold Fanfiction - Chapter 2

Wattpad|Ao3|Fanfiction.Net

Summary: Nightmares born from the void, tend to stay in the void. But upon further thinking, perhaps these nightmares might be a sign of her past fast approaching... While one man searches for a way to null these nightmares, one may see them as an opportunity to protect those whose bonds are close to them.

Previous Chapter|Next Chapter (Not available yet)

AN: Going a bit experimental with this chapter, as I decided to research some Gemstone properties. Of course the moment I wanted to show off some of the knowledge I have of it, I turn the later half of the draft into something else, but that’s how things sometimes go when you write stories. Just turns out a lot different than you expected it to be.

Lynus, Hamza (mentioned), and Axel belong to @theshatteredrose

Darkness. Nothingness... To many, the feeling is unsettling, yet familiar to all who are dead. A place not many visit in their dreams, yet something in the air tells the Forest Princess that this place is not like the past forms of nightmares that plagued her ever since the defeat of the deepest darkness.

"Whither am I?" She mumbled to herself, seeing nothing but black all around her. She tried extending a hand to feel for any walls.

But there were none.

Was it a never ending hall without a single wall to fill it in, regardless of its color? It was hard to determine. She was standing on what she assumed is the floor, so there has to be walls somewhere.

It was worrying her. This couldn't have been a dream, because then she would not be in this situation. Who knows if it's even considered a nightmare...

"Someone! Anyone, please heareth mine voice!" She screamed into the abyss-like world. The echoing of her voice didn't help ease her calm down one bit...

But nobody came.

Hibiki was loosing hope of finding out what was going on. This feeling was reminding her of a place she wished she hadn't come to... Something only she remembered being a child, someone kidnapping her from a land she does not vaguely remember, seeing the stormy clouds once gather around a particular region. It was starting to remind her of the castle she had desperately came to hate...

Silence. It was a sound most comfortable to the Princess, yet also the sound of fear itself. Anything at any moment could strike fear in her heart... The thought is just too much to bear, as the Forest Princess clutched her arms and closed her eyes, wanting this to be over with.

She was struggling to keep herself from crying. Ever since she was locked up in a castle, all she ever did was clean, and eat. If one tiny thing was wrong, or something wasn't done in time, she got punished for it with several strikes of a whip. There was no way this could be the castle...

It was her worst nightmare.

"...un... ki..." A mysterious voice spoke up after what felt like an eternity. The girl looked up and looked everywhere for the source of the voice that spoke.

"W-Who's thither?!" She exclaimed, demanding an answer from the voice. "R... Hi..." The voice responded, dodging the question she asked of it. Though it feels as if the voice wasn't speaking with malice...

"Run... He's coming..." The voice spoke louder than before, almost as if whatever it was afraid of was around the corner.

Faster than Hibiki could inquire the voice a question, an explosion knocks her to the side, quickly getting up to find the source of the attack.

She gasps upon seeing a Hexer, garbed in dark blue robes. The robes were moving around, as if they had a mind of an animal. Simply seeing the smirk on the Hexer's face brought fear in her heart.

"I can see... You didn't miss me..." The Hexer spoke up, letting himself be carried by the robes he wore as he approached Hibiki. "D-Don’t approach me any further, fiend!" She warned the approaching man, simply ignoring her words as his robes prepared to attack.

She dodges the attack from the robe, sprinting away from the Hexer. The Hexer lost his smirk, taking out a Grimoire and started launching some attacks from afar. Some of them miss, and some of them hit her, yet despite being knocked further away, she still had enough time to get up and continue running before the Hexer could grab her, despite the bruises she now bared...

"The land from which you came bears no truth to you, anymore. Best to forget about that place, and live in the abyss..." The mysterious Hexer spoke up, as Hibiki tried her best to ignore his words. Her heart told her to keep running, to not let herself be captured by the mysterious man.

The attacks became less frequent the further she was away from him, finally seeing a door at long last. She had to hide, even if it was only temporary. Hibiki opened the door and locked it behind her, resting her head against the brick wall, looking around as she took a few deep breaths.

It was... familiar. She recalled having used the bay of the castle to escape, as everyone else was rather unaware of her escape. She wasn't sure what was even happening anymore.

"Hibiki, come on!" A male's voice spoke to the Forest Girl, turning her head to the voice that spoke out to her. Her eyes shrunk in surprise, upon seeing who was speaking to her. A male Troubadour and a Dark Hunter... They couldn't be...

"Get on, Hibiki! Don’t let him catch you!" The Dark Hunter urged, extending a hand. Deciding not to risk staying there, Hibiki attempts to run to the Dark Hunter.

"Don't think so." A voice called out, causing an explosion right in front of Hibiki, causing some propulsion to cause the boat the two boys were on to move, causing the Dark Hunter to fall on his rear in surprise.

"No! Please, return to me!" She yelled, trying to reach out for the boat that was moving on its own.

"We’ll meet up in High Lagaard!" The Troubadour exclaimed, hoping his voice reached the Forest Princess. "Stay strong, Hibiki!" The Dark Hunter added, the distance between them getting further and further.

The boys were familiar to her. There was no mistaking it. But it felt like she wasn't getting anywhere just trying to reach out for them...

Her thinking was cut short by the robes of the Hexer she ran from wrapped itself around her neck, catching her off guard, as the Hexer approached to the side of her vision. Hibiki desperately struggled to break free from the robe's grasp on her. The robe lifted her off of the ground, causing her to struggle even more.

"You can’t stop what has begun, Forest Girl..." The hexer grinned, before he busts into a maniacal laughter, laughing at Hibiki's miserable attempt of breaking free. Every movement of her body was getting her nowhere closer to being free...

"...iki..." A voice called to her, while the Hexer still laughed at her efforts. Her struggles only continued from there, before feeling the robes tighten around her neck, gritting her eyes in pain.

"...biki! ...ke up!" The voice called out again, coming to her louder than before. The mix of the two voices before her was getting too confusing for her. "Aaaaaaagh!"

Hibiki opened her eyes as she jolted from her sleep, feeling a pair of hands wrap around her in an attempt to comfort her. "Hibiki, are you alright?!" Korey's voice reached her ears much more clearer, turning to see the worry in the Highlander's face.

Hibiki started feeling tears drop from her eyes, resting her head on his chest. "Another nightmare cameth to plague me from mine slumber..." She replied, trying to wipe the tears away from her eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to have these streaks of nightmares, Hibiki..." Korey uttered, rubbing her shoulder in reassurance of his comfort. "If I may be bold to ask, will talking about it get it out of your system? You were adamant about not telling me the past four nightmares..." He queried, noting the past times she didn't want him to worry about her about speaking her nightmares.

"W-Well," Hibiki started, sitting upwards so he can hear her better. "I was told to run by someone, ere a Hexer hath appeared out of nowhere and started attacking me, forcing me to run for mine life. Then, I saw two men on a boat, calling to me to get on it..."

Korey gazed to the sheets, seeming to think about the events she told him thus far. "One of those folk wast a Dark Hunter, and the other was a Troubadour... those gents both wast urging me to get on, ere that foul Hexer intervened, and... And..." Hibiki continued, wiping a few more tears trying to emerge from her eyes.

"I was losing air due to the Hexer's robes. I hath felt like mine life wast ending ere my eyes..." Korey's arms continued to rub Hibiki's arm, reassuring her that it was all just a nightmare.

Though he wasn't sure how to respond, he needed to calm her down somehow. Without wasting any time, he began humming a song. The Forest Princess stared up at him in confusion, though recognizing the song she heard him hum.

"What art thou doing?" She inquired, stopping the Highlander in his tracks. "Doing something that helped my little sister when we were exploring Yggdrasil. If she wasn’t able to sleep, we would hum a song and it’d wear her down to the point of being tired." He explained, scratching the back of his head with his free hand.

"I apologize if its awkward, it's just the only thing I could do to calm you down..." Korey sighed, before feeling Hibiki nudge against his chest. "No, please, keepeth going... that song thou art humming is reminding me of a song that Troubadour hath used to playeth..."

Korey let out a sigh of relief, as he proceeds to continue to hum the song from where he left off. The girl in his arms soon grew a smile, starting to hum along to him. Hibiki then started to recall the song being sung by the Troubadour she had seen in her nightmare.

She recalled hearing his voice for the first time as he started playing the violin in the castle she was in, beyond the walls of her confinement. He only got to hear his name once after he had introduce himself to her, despite the two of them not being able to meet in person. Almost every night on, he snuck down and sang her some songs he knew, doing so for a couple of months before things changed around the castle...

It was her only salvation... her light of hope to see the world outside her confinement. "Just because there are people with evil hearts, doesn't mean all of humanity is like that." Hibiki recalled the Troubadour's voice from long ago.

"There will be a time where you'll be cared for by people who legitimately care for you. People who will set you free from this wretched ensemble." The voice in her head replayed, seeming to bring her great comfort. Her eyes slowly started to close, feeling tuckered out from humming the all-too-familiar song.

Korey continues for a little longer, seeing the girl in his arms slowly smiling as she drifts back to sleep. He gently lays her down on the bed and pulls the sheet over her, rubbing his hand on her head for a few seconds as he stops humming the song, satisfied with his result.

"Never fails to work..." He hummed to himself, peaking at the window and seeing the sun come through the curtains. The Highlander gets up and closes the curtains so that Hibiki doesn't get blinded by the morning light, soon standing beside a table in the room, placing a finger on his chin as he was left to ponder what to do next.

"How many nightmares will Hibiki go through before it gets too much for her? If her past was really that rough, surely there must be some way for her to forget such a past..." Korey mumbled to himself, gazing back at the sleeping Forest Princess, who turns to face the wall in her sleep.

He can't just remain idly by any longer. If he was able to calm his sister through song, there must be a way to keep nightmares away from Hibiki... The thought of having too many nightmares occur one after another can potentially lead her into madness. Or hell, even worse...

"Perhaps a visit to the library will get me somewhere. Maybe get Simon and Lynus to help me out..." The brown haired Harbinger uttered to himself, grabbing his stuff with him and slowly closed the door behind him.

Thankfully, hardly anyone else was awake yet, allowing him to go through the lobby in peace. Exiting the inn, he asked a nearby explorer where the library would be. The explorer gave the Highlander some directions, as he thanks them before wishing them a good day.

The library he entered wasn't that huge as Simon proclaimed the Midgard Library was, but seeing books everywhere reminded him of a guild house with a huge library... He took his time strolling through the isles, skimming through titles and picking some books that held interesting titles that stood out to his eyes.

He soon found a book with a rather interesting title. "Healing Properties of Gemstones, huh?" Korey read, raising an eyebrow as he took the book off the shelf.

He had to think on that title for a while as he sat down at a nearby table. Other than to look pretty, do gemstones really have those types of properties? Was it even possible?

There was no point in arguing with himself about the potential answer. He wasn't going to get anywhere with that mindset. "I suppose I should make notes of what I found. Simon and Lynus are probably busy, so I hope I can ask them for advice when I get the opportunity."

With his goal set in stone, Korey takes out a few pieces of paper, and a bottle of ink, along with a feather, placing them beside the sheets of paper. He begins flipping through the books, taking his time to look at the information contained with each book, writing notes on things he finds interesting, or ones that will most likely help. Lapis, Hematite, basically anything he can find relating to nightmares.

He had to make sure to look back in previous books about the effects of the gemstones he written, but ended up with either vague answers, or other written details about their appearance and worth in Ental.

"Man, some of these are really good, but not all of them might be available in Lagaard, Yggdrasil, or Ginnungagap..." Korey grumbled, trying to recall if any of the stones he written could be available in the places he specified. "It's a good thing Lynus and the others are willing to help out if needed. Hibiki's safety is becoming a top priority on my list of things to do."

Korey closes the book he was on, wasting a few more minutes reading up on the gemstones and making sure he's written everything he needed to know before concluding his research in the library. He placed the notes he written in an easy to reach area of his bag, and placed each of the books he picked up back on the shelves he found them in, before leaving the library.

As he made his way back over to the inn, Korey came to a halt as he turned to see an orange-haired medic trying to tend to some unconscious explorers. A Dark Hunter and... a Troubadour. Where those the two people Hibiki spoke about earlier?

He had to make sure. Cause even if those two were the classes Hibiki mentioned, the names of the explorers were important to know. The Highlander approached Lynus, doing his best not to startle the Medic.

"Lynus, what’s going on here?" He asked, as the Medic quickly turned to face the Highlander kneeling beside the dark hunter. "I found these guys floating on the water near here when I was on my way back from the hospital. They seemed so wounded, so I’m trying to keep them stable for the moment."

The Highlander looked over the injuries that Lynus had healed, picking up a rather wet violin that likely belonged to the troubadour, checking to make sure it was still playable before placing it right beside the troubadour.

"I don't think any river from Yggdrasil might have carried them here. Especially not on the higher stratums." Korey mumbled to himself, getting up after glancing over the two boys.

"Oi, what are you bloody idiots doing?!" A voice called out, getting Lynus and Korey's attention to see a blue-haired Landsknecht wielding a sword approaching them. Korey turned to face him, not liking where this might be going.

"Hands off my prey, you snobby medic!" The landsknecht yelled, causing Lynus to flinch from the way he yelled at him. "Hey, jerkwad!" Korey called out, diverting the landsknecht's eyes towards the Highlander. "Nobody calls the Miracle Medic a snob and gets away with it!"

The landsknecht simply scoffed at Korey, clearly not seeing him that worthy enough of an opponent. "Pheh, and just who the hell are you supposed to be, some kind of Protector? You don’t even fit that role to a T!"

Oh can he fit a protector's role, alright. He just doesn't need a shield to do the protecting.

"I am Korey, part of the Highlander tribe! If you think you’re such talk, why don’t you just beat it before I strike you down?" Korey challenged, causing the landsknecht to growl in annoyance.

"Such arrogance from such a child. Hiyaaah!" The Landsknecht charges at Lynus, stopping short due to a quick stab of the Highlander's spear at his leg, causing him to come to a halt as Korey quickly steps in front of Lynus.

Just gotta keep this punk busy til Axel arrives...

"Outta my way, you punk!" The man growled, poised to strike with his sword at any moment.  Korey trades his spear for the Ragnarok sword, alongside a Grimoire Stone made by Fafnir.

"Taste Flame Sabre!" He yelled, slashing at the landsknecht and causing him to flinch back, due to the hot metal the sword had been enchanted with from the Grimoire Stone. That did a bit of damage on the landsknecht's armor.

"The hell is this nonsense? A spear and a sword simultaneously?! That’s downright cheap!" The landsknecht ranted.

"Says the man whose class allows him to switch between a Sword and an Axe to use different skills. At least I have the excuse of using a sword because of a Grimoire!" Korey argued, making his way towards the opposing landsknecht.

"Grimoire or no, that’s still considered cheating!" The blue-haired landsknecht yelled, as they clash swords once again. Their weapons kept clashing against the other as they fought for a while.

Lynus, meanwhile, tended to the wounds of the two boys before him. It was the least he had to do, for the moment. He was sure that things would be better for the situation they're in, as long as Korey didn't fall to the opposing landsknecht.

Korey grunts, wiping some blood off of his cheek, staring the landsknecht down as the blue-haired man gets up, using his sword as a crutch. "Ugh, why are you so damn stubborn?! Are you his boyfriend or something?!"

"No, that’d be me you’re referring to!"

A swift punch to the landsknecht's face was made, causing him to fall to the ground, as both Korey and Lynus easily recognize Axel's red hair. Axel picked up the landsknecht by the throat, raising him up from the ground. "I’m giving you to the count of ten to get the hell out of my sight."

He lets go of the landsknecht, as the blue-haired Landsknecht grabs his weapon and starts making his way away from the red haired landsknecht, before turning to them when he was a good distance away. "This isn’t over yet, you damn fools. We will find you, and we will make you pay for this!"

With that threat in mind, he rushes off, finally out of Axel's sight. He walked over to the two boys, scratching his head in confusion. "What the hell was that guy's problem?" He queried, wondering what got that landsknecht in a hussy fit.

The Highlander shrugged as he placed his weapon away. "He just seemed very angry that Lynus was tending to these guys here. Hell, now that I think about it, he didn’t even give me a name to go off of..." Korey explained.

"Regardless, the good news is that I'm safe, and not injured." Lynus chimed in, hearing Axel sigh a breath of relief. "I've managed to stop their wounds, but I'd still like to take these guys back to the hospital so they can recover a bit better without that landsknecht undoing all of my work." He continued, picking up the male troubadour's violin.

"There may be the possibility that landsknecht will come back here with more people with him if we stay out here too long. Korey, I'll take the dark hunter, you take the troubadour." Axel discussed, as the Highlander nods and picks up the boy he was expected to carry.

For some reason, he felt extremely light. Did the troubadour not get much to eat, or something? Axel picked up the dark hunter, holding tight to it in case the unconscious boy wakes up as they were on their way to the hospital.

Lynus grabbed his bag, then proceeded to guide Axel and Korey to the hospital. It took a couple of minutes, but they were lucky the lansknecht from earlier didn't come back during the time they picked up the bodies. The crowd of explorers should provide some cover as entered the clinic, placing the two boys on two separate beds before sitting out in the lobby of the clinic.

Having to wait was a pain, but it was understandable why they needed to do so. Waiting for Lynus to make sure they were properly breathing was the least he can do, and that may take some time due to whatever injuries the two boys he and Axel dragged in suffered from. He also needed to know the names of those boys to see if they were the people HIbiki mentioned in her nightmare.

Speaking of Hibiki, he took out the notes he had and started to read the information he had written about the gemstones he had written about earlier. Axel took a glance at the notes, the Highlander totally unaware of him. "Are those notes about gemstones?"

Korey blinked, his eyes gazing at Axel for a couple of seconds before nodding as he turned back to face the notes he written. "I recently visited the library in search of gemstones that can help quell nightmares, or at least minimize it. I came across a few names, though the books shared minor details of the gemstone’s property." He discussed, flipping the pages between some interesting gemstones he came across in his research.

"Having nightmares suck, as they can cause more worry than needed..." Axel groaned, not liking the sound of where this conversation might be going. "Especially for Hibiki. For her to have nightmares for almost for an entire week worries me to no end."

Korey sighed, feeling like he might have done this research for naught... A touch of Axel's hand reassured the Highlander that he and Lynus were there to help him out. "Maybe once Lynus is done, we’ll ask him about the gemstone you wish to find." Axel suggested, giving the Highlander a reassuring smile.

The Highlander's face grew a smirk. "Thanks, Axel." He thanked, feeling the red haired landsknecht pat his back in response.

"Heh, don’t mention it. The least I can do for you after I punched that damn Landsknecht in the face." Axel chuckled. He knew he was too good that his punches can simply end a fight on its own.

Though Korey might just miss Axel when he prepares to head to the next Yggdrasil...

.....................................................................

It had been almost two hours since Hibiki had gotten some sleep, yet here she is, standing outside the inn. She wore the handmade cloak Hamza made for her, which she held onto tightly to make sure the wind didn't blow it away. It had been some time since she felt this at peace ever since the deepest darkness, Ur-Devil, was slayed by the Gungnir Guild, with the co-operation of the Guardians.

Ever since, she has joined their ranks as a guild member, and has slowly, but surely, told them about her past, as Lynus recommended that to be her course of action. If she spoke too much about it at once, she would break down in tears. Though her mind was focused on the nightmare that plagued her this morning.

That Hexer was no ordinary Hexer. His pressense would make anyone shiver in fear. The robes of his weren't natural ether. Though that may have been due to the fact that it was a nightmare, it wouldn't have made sense it'd react that same way in reality.

She placed her hand where her heart is, as she thought back to the two boys within her dream. They were familiar, cause she at least saw one of them, and heard the voice of another, along with his name. Hibiki felt like she had a connection to them. If only she could protect them from whatever that nightmare was trying to tell her...

The brown skin of that Dark Hunter... The white hair of that Troubadour, his wonderful singing voice, and his name... They were the only key to being reunited with them, as they told to her in her nightmare.

"Nice day today, isn’t it? The weather’s just perfect for another day of exploring." Flavio's voice surprised her, sharply turning to face the Survivalist, placing his hands on the railing, before regaining her composure and faced back the way she originally faced.

"Forsooth tis, man." She responded, getting an eyebrow raised from Flavio. "I have no idea what that means, but I assume it’s something nice."

Hibiki could only sigh. The Highlander was more akin to hearing her kind's language, but clearly Flavio still had a bit of trouble understanding her. "Of course it’s something nice. Thou just needeth to hark harder to my words, man."

"Alright, alright, no need to get worked up about it." Flavio exclaimed, not wanting to try to provoke her early in the morning. The two stand around for a little bit, taking in the busy streets of High Lagaard, before Hibiki soon placed her hands on the railing.

"I pray that thither must be some way to rid myself of these terrible nightmares..." She sighed, resting her chin on her hand to continue seeing the people walk by her and Flavio. The survivalist turned and patted her back in assurance.

"I’m sure there must be something, Hibiki. You can bet that we’ll help you find it." He chirped, placing his hand back on the railing he previously had it rest on.

The hooded girl couldn't help but continue to think about the nightmare she had. It wasn't something she wanted to think back upon, but given the fact she had nearly an entire week with nothing but nightmares, she feels as if there might be a bigger meaning than having it merely be a coincidence of her past memories coming back to haunt her.

"Thither must be some meaning to these nightmares I hast." Hibiki began, feeling Flavio's eyes gaze at her. "Hm? How so?"

Hibiki raised her head to face the Survivalist. "The first nightmare hadst me in a castle of sorts, running from the guards thither. Then, the second wast of the accursed abuse I suffered through." She discussed, starting to feel rather confident in explaining her nightmares to Flavio.

"The third wast seeing two boys taking mine lodging in the abuse, getting slapped or whipped. Fourth time wast all filled with nothing but a mysterious voice speaking to me. Then, the fifth time, a Hexer and two boys from mine third nightmare wast trying to flee..." Hibiki continued, as Flavio nodded in understanding.

"I’m not sure whether this must be a valorous or lacking valor sign of things to come. What doth thee bethink?" Flavio placed a hand on his chin, trying to think of what the common signs were in her nightmares.

The only remotely similar matching portion is the two boys Hibiki mentions, but even then, if what she said about them trying to think is true, it just adds to the whole confusion factor. "I’m not sure what to think of it." Flavio sighed. "Hard to really tell the upcoming events from dreams."

"Dreams art most mysterious, aren’t they?" Hibiki sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she went back to observing the people nearby. "They sure are, Hibiki." Flavio responded, before hearing something bark at them, turning to see a blue wolf coming right at them.

"Whoa, that wolf’s coming in fast! Hit the deck!" Flavio yelped, jumping over the railing and landing on the other side.

"Hm?" Hibiki turned to the sound of approaching footsteps, seeing the blue wolf Flavio spoke of. It slowly comes to a halt, panting as it stares at Hibiki, tilting its head.

Was... a beast just randomly running up to Hibiki for no reason? She knelt down to see the collar it wore. "Thou name is Tyro, eh?" Hibiki inquired upon seeing the name tag.

Tyro barks before sniffing her arm a couple of times, before licking it, startling Hibiki for a moment. Flavio looks over and sighs, as a smile forms on his face from seeing the wolf lick Hibiki's arm.

"I guess this Tyro seems to like you, Hibiki." Flavio hummed, walking his way back up to the inn's front porch. Hibiki was rather confused at the event happening before her. "But I don’t recall owning a blue wolf-"

Tyro barked, interrupting Hibiki as it sat down, wagging its tail. Hibiki notices a envelope lodged between Tyro's fur and its collar, taking the envelope out from between the gap, opening it as she stood up. "Most peculiar..." She hummed, taking the paper out of the envelope.

"Or I guess it can be delivering something to you. Either works, I guess." Flavio shrugged, scratching the back of his head as leaned against the wall.

The paper held in her hand was a rather basic sketch of what Hibiki looked like. Was it from someone she knew? Nobody else knew about a Forest Folk in High Lagaard, so that wasn't possible...

She noticed something out of the corner of her eye... Writing. It was a lot tinier compared to the sketch, but she went through the effort to try and read it anyways.

"To whomever it may concern," Hibiki began to read the writing, as Flavio to her in curiosity, walking over to her and started to see if he can see the tiny writing that was printed on the paper. "Me and my brother are looking for this woman who is likely around High Lagaard. As of the delivery of this message, we have escaped from a castle near High Lagaard, and are awaiting news of seeing our sister. Hell, we might be able to see her if we're lucky."

Hibiki's eyes soon caught of the writer of the message, gasping in surprise. "It can’t be..." Flavio looked at her, a little lost on trying to read the tiny message. "If what this writing sayeth is true, then I might see those two after all!" Hibiki pondered, placing the paper in her pocket as she turned to Tyro and knelt to its height, placing a hand on its head.

"Does thou knoweth whither those gents might be in High Lagaard, Tyro? I asketh that thou must taketh me to those men!" Hibiki declared, removing her hand from the wolf's head as it begins to sniff around, catching on to their scent rather quick. Tyro barks, and begins to make its way towards its destination, as Hibiki soon follows the blue wolf.

Flavio gasps in surprise, rather astonished to see the Forest Folk blindly follow the wolf. "Where are you going? Hibiki!" Despite Flavio trying to call out to her, Hibiki ignored the survivalists' call to her, letting out a sigh as he scratched his head.

"Ugh... Well, so much for wanting to get to know her a bit better. I suppose it’s better to follow along, just to be sure she stays safe." Flavio mumbled to himself, thankful he brought his bow and arrows to be on the safe side. He soon begins to follow Hibiki and Tyro, unsure where they might be going in High Lagaard.

But he's sure they'll be fine. After all, if they happen to run into Korey, all the better... Maybe even running into the man who made the letter, if they're lucky enough.

#EO #EO2U #Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold #writing #Etrian Odyssey

[quillwritten]

Old Writing Tag

I was tagged by @isnappedmypencil​ so here goes :/

The Rules:

Post a quote or a short excerpt from your early days of writing (I’m talking old fanfics, slash fics, original fics, etc, that are barely edited and have a ton of technical errors and misspelled words.) This is the cringe part. Don’t edit anything! Let it be horrendous. Don’t Panic.

While eating lunch, I debated whether to tell anyone what I was doing. I didn't want to end up like one of those stupid movie characters who inevitably turns up dead because she ignored the all warnings and brazenly strolled into trouble without letting anyone else know. Then again, I didn't know if he was trouble. He could have just been delivering something, but surely then he could have told me why he wanted to see Mum.

I groaned. All this thinking was making my brain ache. I pressed my forehead against the cool counter top and sighed at the relief that the cold granite surface provided. I wanted answers but I didn't want trouble, not that I was very successful at staying out of it anyway! I smiled wryly at a memory from only yesterday:

I looked down and sighed in resignation. I tried the handle again but to no avail. I was locked out on a third story balcony. My feet moved closer to the railing and I swung a leg over the side, Then the other. My hands gripped the cold metal bar tightly as I leaned back then slowly twisted my body to face the building. I stretched my leg down and felt for the sliver of floor that came past the safety bar, carefully lowering my weight onto it when my toe found it. Now came the risky part. I crouched down and slowly, slowly, wiggled my feet off the ledge and lowered myself down. My arms burnt with the strain and I made a mental note to do more pull ups if I got out of this alive.

Then I felt something solid. A quick glance down told me I was almost standing on the railing of the balcony below so I used that to hold my weight while I quickly shifted my hands so they were now clinging the floor of my balcony rather than the bars, which meant I could swing my legs into the inside of the railing below and let go with my hands, dropping to the floor in a heap. I stood up and brushed myself of, much to the astonishment of the watching Mrs Talridge. I smiled guiltily and waved, prompting the elderly lady to come and open the doors for me. I thanked her and sped out of her flat and up the stairs to mine where I hesitated fractionally before ringing the doorbell to wake Mum.

A knock on the front door brought me back to reality and I rushed to answer it. The visitor was another man I'd never seen before with tanned skin and black hair. I put my guard up quickly and stared at him warily.

This is a snippet from an old fanfiction that I was so excited about. I hate it now, but I was small and happy writing it so we’ve got to give it some credit (this is me talking myself out of punching a whole in the screen to physically rip it out of existence)

Post a quote or short excerpt from one of your most recent works/WIPs. Something that you’re proud of. Something that you’ve written that makes you smile when you read it. 

She started right back at 718BCE when the first casters began to find each other in the Mediterranean, forming communities in an effort to try and work out what was going on and why they were different. That left a lot of history between then and now, but it was one way to occupy the time she should have spent sleeping. Avery suspected that Elva knew she wasn’t getting any rest, but neither of them said anything, even when fluffy blankets or plump pillows or little stuffed animals turned up on Avery’s bed, all in a particular shade of emerald green. She always felt more alert in the mornings when she’d been wrapped up in green the night before, even if she hadn’t gotten more than fifteen minutes of actual sleep.

Avery didn’t know whether she’d gotten used to the staring in the corridors and the canteen or whether she was simply to tired to care. The teachers treated her differently too, although they wouldn’t tolerate the staring. Some of the teachers treated her more like their equal; some handled her like she was made of ‘naire glass; some tiptoed around her like if she got too mad she might snap and fight them, too. She noticed with rim satisfaction that Professor Grehy never said anything to her and Anita again, and suddenly they could get away with anything in  her class. Avery used the time to continue her reading, because she was learning more history that way than listening to a single thing Professor Grehy said. Anita pretended to listen while sketching ideas for philtres with flexible uses that she could have on hand next time they got into trouble.

“I didn’t like feeling useless,” she told Avery, when she first started playing with philtre recipes. Avery stared.

“You were plenty useful,” she said, brow furrowed in disbelief. Avery shrugged and continued writing lists of herbs and their properties.

Avery realised why no one was calling her out for not sleeping on her second night out of the medical room: they weren’t sleeping either. She went wandering at three in the morning and found Sorrel in the cloisters calling all manner of animals to him and getting them to fight a glowing blue dummy. Avery watched in silence, her throat tight, and crept away without saying anything. The next night she woke up to Elva biting her lip as a vine twisted its way through the window and across the bed.

“Sorry,” she signed. “Go back to sleep.”

Avery shrugged “I had a nightmare anyway. I’m gonna take a walk.”

“Again?”

“Yeah. I won’t stay out too late.”

When Avery found Anita in a philtre classroom with a cauldron bubbling on the table, she dragged a hand across her face and blinked away the sting behind the bridge of her nose.

No one mentioned anything about not sleeping during the day, but Avery was acutely aware of the heavy bruises under her eyes and the mirrored shadows on the others’ faces. Professor Caldera and Professor Marcellus both tried to bring the subject up, but Avery scrounged up the energy to send them beaming smiles and promise she was getting as much sleep as she could. If they interpreted that as a  sufficient amount of sleep, that was their problem.

A week after the incident—because that was what the school were calling it—they were in the library after dinner as usual, and Avery had finally made it onto recent history. No one commented on how fast she had managed to get through nearly three thousand years worth of history in such a short time, and Anita only gave her the barest of looks. Of course, because it was Anita she still managed to convey worry, pity, and exasperation in the one glance, but Avery ignored it and continued reading about the history of Caster Britain. It wasn’t until she got to the actual coup that she realised the answer to her question was obvious.

This is obviously from Silverstorm. I love the end to the scene, too, but that’s a spoiler so I’m afraid you can’t have that yet. I hope you like it, anyway, because it’s the most you’ve ever seen from Silverstorm in one go.

Tag a writer you admire, anyone you think is amazing, new friends, followers, writeblrs, anyone who you’d like to know more about. If you think someone is a great writer and you want to see how they’ve developed their skills, tag them! Everyone started somewhere.

Tagging: @quecksilvereyes @ava-burton-writing @sapphicauthor @boothewriter @converginglives @draconako @write-the-galaxy and @writerofwriting

#tag #writing #silverstorm #tagged #tag game #old writing #old writing tag #fanfiction #i refuse to tell you anything more about that fanfiction #including what fandom it was for #focus on the silverstorm instead #bc i like that bit #avery #anita #elva #sorrel #hey look its sorrel being a disney princess #you haven't seen much of that #i need to write more of it #isnappedmypencil

[inuyashaographer]

A “Rant” Request

So my week actually turned out to be busier than I thought, I wanted to get something out, but didn't manage to, but finally have the time with the weekend coming, so tomorrow I'll get things back on track for sure, for now, I don't really have a question, but more of a request, which I'm gladly in the mood to fill "Rant on something, rant on anything, I'm wondering what you'd rant about, and how you rant."

Now, I'm not a good ranter, in fact I come off more sarcastic than I do ranting, either way, I have a perfect subject: The Beads of Subjugation.

I hate Sunrise for turning something that was actually about development into a novelty. I hate how the opinions about it being 'abusive' are due to filler and altering scenes and characters, I hate that Kagome is viewed as being an 'abusive bitch' who deserves to be smack, punched, or whatever else, oh the irony of that one. I hate this idea that the item was just all for laughs. I hate that Sunrise used it when it wasn't needed, used it pointlessly and used it over scenes that had way more business being in the series. I hate how the popular opinion about Kagome, Inuyasha and their relationship as a while is defined like it is. I hate how it turned Kagome into a "Tsundere" (I'll get to that in a moment). I hate how this is a subject that's even up for debate, I hate that I have to read constant questions and messages about it ("Well Kagome did abuse it." "Well, Sunrise just did it for laughs." "I hated Kagome because of that."), because it brings up all my problems with the anime and this particular subject.

But since this is a rant, let me ramp things up a little bit. Why is it the command is so talked about? Because someone at Sunrise decided that putting in over 100 of these commands into the series was somehow a good idea. The thing about this, it was their "go-to" funny, "Oh girl abusing the guy again, there goes those ratings." *Thumbs up* Because throwing out the same joke will constantly have people laughing, nevermind those little moments of development, key bits of information or even good moments that deserved to be in the anime, we have to get a "SIT!" in, especially with fillers, because I mean, every filler isn't funny until there is a "SIT!" in it, right? Here's a secret *Whispers* Most of the filler episodes that had them, sucked anyway." *Whispers* Why did they suck? Let's run through those reasons:

1. Most of the time the characters were out-of-character.

2. Inuyasha had to be overly stupid in order to get Kagome mad.

3. Kagome had to have a stupid reason to get mad, or in the case of canon episodes that were altered, just change her emotion to mad and alter a scene to make it work.

4. Shippo, whose character had to change as a whole to make this work.

So in all the cases, you had to have characters around to make it work, but that isn't a big problem for you at all, is it? Not like there were any scenes that you changed around to get a desired effect and then royally screwed up some of the dynamic in others. Good writing? Nah, needs a "SIT!" command. And just so I'm not being unfair, I said most filler, see there are good filler in the series there is even some funny stuff in those fillers, but guess what none of those fillers have?

And no disrespect to fanfiction writers, in fact, I'll give a whole lot of props to them, while I know there are some out there that just want to do the characters in their own vision, there are tons of fantastic writers that can do the things you do, most of the anime is a work of fanfiction honestly, and it has it's hits and it has it's misses. But about at least 70% of the series is Sunrise fanfiction, and honestly, it wasn't that good.

Speaking about out-of-character though, let's cover Kagome, since I mean, she is basically the biggest target of this. Tsundere, so let's ignore the anime, let's pretend in never existed (and in a perfect world was remade), can anyone think of a moment where she outright abused it, without a reason in the manga? And if I hear "What about the one after Hakurei?" "What about the one at the cleansing pool?" or the "Rat demons?" I'm going to rant about that next . Now let's add another factor in, did she ever use it when Inuyasha tried to do something? Some anime have had girls bashing guys over the head with something for even touching them. Let's go over the reasons it's used in the manga:

1. Inuyasha is about to destroy someones property, attack someone, or threatened someone in some manner.

2. It's used when he goes full demon, and it's reversed the transformation.

3. Inuyasha lies, picks a fight, assumes and says something borders way past insensitivity.

That brings up the question, what would a normal girl do if you said something insulting or insensitive to them? You'd get slapped, hmm, has Kagome ever slapped Inuyasha? Yup, once within the series, so going off that, the "SIT!" is basically a slap under those conditions.

But no we can't focus on those, we have to focus on the filler ones, that were altered, added in, and required the characters to go out-of-character, when Kagome starts swinging like Akane, let me know. Oh wait, Sunrise beat you to it, Totosai's hammer, great job on keeping her in character to get that to work, ah who am I kidding, let's just make her mad, and get her to "SIT!" Inuyasha again, cause I mean, that's so much more interesting than the massive amounts of development she makes throughout the series (which you cut a whole lot of that in the original series, and decided to try, but not nearly hard enough in The Final Act).

Isn't it fun that the whole reason people really hate this has to do with filler? But when you consider that a good amount of these "SIT!" commands were filler, and they somehow managed to fit over a 100 them into this series, is it really a surprise?

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Now I'd like a moment to, to speak more calmly and straightforwardly. InuYasha as a series, I do like, but there are elements of it that I greatly dislike, this is one of those elements, and it's unfortunate that these two and their relationship have to be defined by something that was meant to more symbolic, and ironic, than just "HAHAHA! FUNNY!". I started the "A "SIT!" a Day!" to counter this poor perception of the command, and I'm not going to kid myself, it's only going to do much, and reach so many, and some may never change their opinions, which is fine, but at least it'll give them something to think about and take into account.

And to those people that messaged me about this subject, I thank you, because while this subject frustrates me, and every message about it, frustrates me, you remind me of what not only the whole point of this blog was, while pushing me harder when it comes to "A "SIT!" a Day".

A lot of this rant came from messages I received on the subject, and since I was given a bit of free reign to work with here, and not be my usual self, it felt good to get a lot of this out.

For those wondering about my more than calm and rational approach to this, feel free to read: The “SIT” Command - Irony, Reason, Purpose and Misconceptions". For those that just liked the rant, I'm glad you enjoyed it, but it isn't going to be a common thing for me, as you can probably tell, I'm not great at it.

Additional Reading:

Answerbox #03: “SIT!” and “A “SIT!” a Day”

Answerbox #25

#sit! #inuyasha #kagome #kagome higurashi