Like any fanfic author or fanartist, I love and adore receiving acknowledgement for my work in the form of comments or messages.
(Responding to them in a timely manner is a different matter altogether, and I really do hope to get better at that.)
But please, think about what you're writing when leaving a comment.
A simple heart or smiley emoji is so fantastic. As is a "second kudos", or a delightful "reread kudos".
(There are posts floating around tumblr offering advice on how to leave comments, if you're nervous or anxious about what to say.)
Demands for "more" or harassing the author and other commenters for additional works in a series marked as complete or one where an author says they may come back to after finish other works is not...ideal.
Especially if the author just updated that work.
(I have blocked people for less, and comments like those have entirely killed inspiration to write more of that series completely.)
Backhanded compliments, passive-agressive comments, or being ~too familiar with the authour are also not ideal???
(You may think you're being haha funny, sharing an inside joke with the author, but unless you have a rapport with them or are actually friends, it's off-putting.)
Oh! And a frequent comment type we get has to do with unasked criticism on our work.
You may appreciate it, or think you're doing the author "a favor", but unless they specifically ask for it, do fucking not.
No exceptions.
(Sometimes an author is new to writing/fandom, and even the most well-meaning criticism can be enough to shake their confidence. I have been in a bad place mentally and gotten comments that made me rethink writing at all.)
Just, please.
When leaving a comment for a fic you enjoyed, look it over before posting?
Also, AO3 allows you to edit comments if you realize there's something else you want to say/add/rephrase.
You know you're too young to watch something when your older brother gets you to watch that one Twilight Zone episode with him with the guy who survived the end of the world and gets to read all he wants?
But then his glasses break and you are traumatized for life because you, too, cannot fathom a worse fate.
some people don’t deserve fanfics, much less for free.
also even if authors didn’t tag any specific warnings but they used the “creator chose not to use archive warnings” tag, then that is your warning.
“omg you should’ve —” no one forced your entitled ass to read anything. fanfic writers write for themselves and their own enjoyment. if you don’t like what you’re reading, quietly leave. ao3 is not an airport. no one cares about your departure so no need to announce it.
#fanfic#I mean#what’re y’all thinkin’ the E means out there#Expressive?#Excellent?#Energetic?#and ffs#do you return a book you buy the moment it has smut?#y’all think that just because you’re given the mode to communicate#it gives you leave to say ALL THE THINGS#don’t. just. DON’T.
@ishipanarmada these are too good to leave in the tags
Based on that one JL cartoon where Batman sings "Am I Blue"?
Some fun little SuperBat AU where the JL doesn't know the Bats (yet) or Bruce is undercover as a lounge singer and they send Clark (and various others?) in - also undercover for some Crime Mystery Solving.
And then it's all, "Uh. You sing good," and such from Clark who is disaster flirter and Bruce is like oh, this going to be good. >:3
Anyway.
Random plucky kids running around and mobsters and the whatnot.
Bruce borrowing a page or two from Selina's playbook when it comes to Clark an such, and anyway, yes.
The reveal at the end where the soulful lounge singer is actually the elusive Batman the JL's heard rumors of and Clark being what and ??? and clearly besotted, and anyway.
YES.
Also the plucky kids are Dick and the rest acting as Bruce's ~informants or whatever because God knows he couldn't keep the, out of the undercover shenanigans if he tried.
Hilarious over the top AU set in the time of Bruce quest where Darkseid/and or assorted baddies tried to replace various JL members with, like, doppelgangers to do Nefarious Plots?
The man has proven time and time again he will absolutely fuck up whatever Nefarious Plots are afoot given half a chance, and has to be taken out first, and keeping him locked up in a
So Darkseid "kills" him, removing him as an obstacle and significantly weakening not only the Bats, but the JL in one fell swoop.
Does Darkseid expect Dick or someone else to take up the mantle of Batman to keep various baddies from taking advantage of the situation?
Maybe yes, maybe no, but he just wants the instability and possible opportunity to ~expose the fake batman later, further weakening the JL's standing for lying about Batman's death/whoever has been posing as Batman and the trust the world has in the JL etc., etc., etc.
ANYWAY.
Tim realizes something is seriously wrong with Dick after the Robin hand-off disaster with Damian?
Like.
Dick knows how shitty a job Bruce did of or between Dick and Jason, and he does something similarly shitty?
Maybe he really did plan to have a talk with Tim about being equals with him, and giving him Nightwing or working together to work out a new identity for him while also a figuring something out for Damian instead of just handing him Robin straight off and hoping for the best?
But!
Dick got body-snatched before that could happen, and so clusterfuck in the Batcave.
BruceQuest as canon where Tim realizes Bruce is alive - but before he sets off on Adventure is like.
Wait.
(Maybe Alfred convinces him to postpone leaving a little longer, maybe he realizes Dick is acting off, something.)
And then he realizes that oh, no, something else is also going on because Dick.
Even with the added stress of taking up the Batman mantle and the "death" or Bruce. Keeping an eye on Damian and Gotham and everything Dicks acting weird.
Cue Tim poking his nose into matters, and Doppleganger!Dick realizing it, so he attempts to discredit Tim. Tim tried floating the "Bruce is alive!!1!" theory before realizing Dick has been body-snatched, and anyway.
Damian doesn't know Dick well enough yet to know he's acting weird/is also still horrible little gremlin monster child.
But maybe Tim can talk sense into Alfred?
Tim tries to talk to Cassie - not about Bruce, but Doppleganger!Dick and she's like ???
Which.
Okay, yes.
Tim has two situations under his belt here where he comes off as the lunatic.
But Doppleganger!Dick acts out of character enough for Tim to convince Alfred to keep a close eye on him for the moment.
(Even if Tim's cracked and Dick hasn't been body-snatched, he could be buckling under the pressure placed on him, so yes.)
Meanwhile, Tim goes to Clark and other JL members for help and realizes the JL has likely been compromised - because really?
None of them are willing to entertain the possibility Bruce might not be dead-dead?
Zero?
He does some careful digging, and goes to the Titans abut suspicions of body-snatching, and anyway.
Has to make a break for it before he gets body-snatched himself - goes on BruceQuest and engages in unhinged behavior to cover for his investigations into the whole...body-snatching situation.
(Wants desperately to look for Bruce, because he does find some of Bruce's clues on the way, but the JL body-snatcher situation is more important.)
And then the Black Lantern Situation coincides with Tim being called by Titans or Cassie who have proof/basic plan for exposing the body-snatchers, and anyway.
Big ol' superhero fight between Titans and other sidekick-y types and JL/mentors taking place alongside the Black Lantern stuff.
(Everyone focused on the Lantern stuff, so not expecting the Titan's/sidekick-y group making their move with the body-snatchers at the same time.
Plus any media sources are distracted by the Lantern stuff because Plot Reasons.)
Dopplegangers and whatnot defeated, heroes returned.
Except Bruce, who is still lost in time, but everyone more likely to listen to Tim and anyway.
(Possible someone - Darkseid? - does a monologue or Taunts the JL or whoever how easy it was to enact their plan once they took Bruce out of play? Hint that maybe he isn't dead-dead after all, but good luck retrieving him, and anyway. Yes.)
Dick and Alfred and whoever looking after Gotham/Batman mantle and Damian while Tim goes off to look for Bruce with support from Kon and Bart and Cassie.
(Timeline fuckery due to AU reasons, or they just return around that time for Plot Reasons, and anyway! Yes.)
Also JL helping on their end, and such.
Bruce gets pulled from the wherever and Tim is like ;_; :D??? and other emotions, along with Dick and everyone else, and Bruce is so, so confused because what happened while he was gone???
Is it wrong to hope for a short or something to go with the new animated Knightfall movies of Dick and Tim being human disasters while Dick takes up the Batsuit for Bruce?
Like yes, main movies perfect grimdark for reasons.
But then a little cartoon short of Dick and Tim set to lighthearted plinky plonky music as they tackle such important tasks as:
Laundry
Mopping/Sweeping
Not not drinking straight from the orange juice carton.
Imagine how fucking funny it would have been at the end of BruceQuest when Ra's kicks Tim out of the window and we get the dramatic panels of Tim falling before Dick swoops in to save him - only the damn Supercycle saves him instead.
Like.
Nyooms in out of nowhere and snatches Tim from the jaws of death and all that.
Bumps Dick aside - comedic little side panel of him scrambling to not go splat at the jostling/surprise if the sudden arrival.
And then getting to the rooftop where the Supercycle landed with Tim because what and Tim, and anyway yes.
I maintain there is nothing funnier/more satisfying than remaining totally chill/playing stupid when someone is being an asshole to you for whatever reason/trying to get under your skin.
I'm very proud of my countrymen for introducing America to the world of the proper football chant.
None of this cheerleader stuff for soccer, oh no sireee, I mean, no disrespect to cheerleaders who put a LOT of work and effort into their performances, but somehow "Rah-Rah! We're the best" from peppily gymnastic young things can't quite match the sheer power of entire stadiums of grown up fans yelling at the top of their lungs things like....
It's unclear if this one originated with the English of Scottish games (spelling of "old" as "auld" notwithstanding), but either way, well done.
And it's striking home too! :D
Sportsball holds no interest for me, but that doesn't mean I can't respect the participation aspects sometimes.
The rotting jack-o'-lantern's aides and cabinet have apparently been scrambling to keep him from watching any of the world cup games with English speaking crowds, because so many of the chants have been about Epstein and him.
This includes keeping him from presenting the winners trophy at the final game, because can you IMAGINE sixty thousand international fans with a live target for those chants? He might shit himself to death on the spot.
Being unable to tell if someone's being a raving bitch to you, or if it's some new aspect tied to a recent medical emergency they had is a hell of a thing.
(It's the raving bitch.)
Not having the energy/fucks to give about it just makes them madder?
cheetah in House perfec t size for put inside! inside very Soft and Comfort cheetah sleep soundly put cheetah in House. Put Cheetah In House. no problems ever in cheetah in ho use because good Happy and Satisfy for human where sleep. House yes a place for a cheetah put cheetah in house can trust cheetah for giveing good love to humans in house. friend cheetah
I mean, as someone who as worked in a zoo, this is fairly true.
Obvious disclaimer that you shouldn't have wild animals as pets.
But like, cheetahs are the only large cats that keepers will do free contact with. Hell, even most small cats don't get free contact. (Because small cats can be VICIOUS. They'll have a baby pallas cat wearing thicker gloves than when handling an owl. Because small cats can just be vicious.)
Like I think the only other cat at our zoo where I've seen free contact with was servals? Because I know they've used servals in shows to demonstrate their natural jumping ability. But I know servals can sometimes have a mean temper as well. Meanwhile they'll do the cheetah run and afterwards put the mic by the cheetahs and it's just like an engine with them purring. It's fascinating to watch when the message in every other large animal is "no free contact because it's dangerous even when they're born in captivity".
Legit if any wild animal could be adapted to a pet it would be cheetahs lmao. Only problem is they can be skittish and very anxious and that's why they're often raised around dogs in zoos to gain confidence.
