#ask aussie

[authenticaussie]

Fic writer asks: 1, the last sentence you wrote.

dgsjdhdi noooo, revealing I haven't done shit in a while! <- actually has to Hunt to figure out what it was that I wrote last 🤭 I believe it was.......

"You remember when I said that you should bring home a puppy if you wanted a stray? Yeah. This still isn't a puppy, Clark."

[authenticaussie]

⭐️FANFIC DIRECTOR’S CUT PLEASE⭐️

Ah h HHH picking a specific fic myself oh damn--- 

dhsjdhj ok seeing as I know you're here from the Suren posting 🤭 I'll do bits from Welcome Home (?), Suren Darga!

So, probably my like....it doesn't have proper commentary but I am OBLIGATED to shout out these lines:

“But I am also- better. A better choice, a better fit to make the journey. He did not want to go – and I did. I knew that Damian was there.” “How?” “How do you know when the sun has risen, or night has fallen?” Suren replies sharply, “Where I was had no application of sense – I just knew.”

I just think it's like, FIRST OF ALL. I do still hope I can get them to enough of a point that the fic is clearly romantic so I can change the tags, aha. But second this is like, not even one of the first scenes I did but it does stand out as one of my favourites? This idea that...to Suren, Damian exists as a cardinal point, as a force of nature, is literally a guide the same way the sun is, the same way sunset or nightfall just exist. I think it's just...a really romantic - albeit delivered straightforward - sentiment, and as the one who got Suren to...realise the life he was living was supposed to be his own, the imagery of light, to guide, to show, is probably just...intertwined with how he perceives Damian. In my head as well - and potentially disclosed in the fic, but both Suren and Damian are contrary, secretive bastards (in different ways but equally as annoying, jfc y'all) - Suren even being able to respond to the call was largely because of his connection to Damian/being able to see Damian's soul. And to him, since Damian is a light, he had...enough to guide him out of the dark again.

(AUGHHHH). Ahem.

Anyway my second favourite passage was one I DID have since basically the beginning, but with some overhauls to figure out where to fit it/how to say it. I knew I wanted this, 'cause the fic was so much of Damian's POV, and I do think he does kinda...have this paranoia that his mum WOULD constantly be testing him with these things? Mostly because she's proven she will. So Talia needed to come up:

His mother had never been so callous. Or perhaps he just gentled her too much. It was hard not too, with memory of her hands through his hair or her lips, featherlight on his forehead. She loved him; ardently, fervently, protectively. Of that he had no doubts. No other childhood would have left him able to survive in a place known as the League of Assassins, and his father's upbringing…well, he doubts his father would even have been involved in his upbringing, when he takes the time to think shrewdly on it. Maybe a baby would have softened the Batman. Maybe a child would have made Bruce Wayne, master of the meaningful grunt, actually communicate. More than likely, Damian's childhood would have been odd, stilted, and full of the drama that seemed inherent to anyone who claimed ‘neé Wayne’.

I love a complicated relationship!!!!!!! I love it!!!!!

I think for me personally there's this really complex struggle to trying to fit the two "versions" of Talia together (her OG pre-character assasination vs. newer assassian!Talia) and I don't know if I necessary do well at it - I am, afterall, still writing Batfam fic, not LoA fic, and my sympathies extend to "nooo I want them to be fambly<333" which means a further gentling of canon!Bruce - but I want to at least TRY, you know? And also! I think it's much, much sadder - and more interesting - if they were in love! If it WAS a sacrifice for Talia to let Bruce go, knowing the LoA would ruin him (and yet, and yet, refusing to let Damian go - that's her son)

So I'm very much into this aspect of Damian fully acknowledging Talia loves him while ALSO dealing with the fact that his childhood was Fucked Up (how much of that was her fault, he has to think, how much of that was her trying to protect me and make me strong in a place that belittled weakness...). The complexities of the fact that he had to be the best and trying to give that to him while also sheltering while also so very VERY painfully aware that she couldn't shelter him from everything?

I think you can potentially have this aspect of Talia still viewing that ecoterrism/extremism as necessary and still have her be a good mom. In my personal taste I think it's kinda boring where every villain is "evil" because they're abusive in the same way, over and over again - you can still have Damian's childhood be bad while acknowledging Talia loves him, in any way you like (for me, personally, it is...both selfish, not wanting to give up her son, but also, enforced; she cannot leave the LoA because she knows Ra's would kill her and take Damian regardless. And...if she is all he has, like he is all she has, she will not let herself fall prey to such an easy trap). The only reason she risks it later - and finally surrenders to losing her son - is when Ra's decides he's going to take Damian's body. At that point, she loses her son either way.

WAIT THAT'S SO LONG LMAO and yet I still have so much to say---

ANYWAY IT'S LIKE. TALIA LOVES HIM AND CARES ABOUT HIM SO MUCH BUT POTENTIALLY ACCEPTS KILLING AS NECESSARY, AND BEST HE GET USED TO IT EASILY, BUT THEN, GODDD, THE AGONY OF KNOWING BRUCE AND HOPING HER SON STILL FOLLOWS THEIR WAYS BUT NOT BEING ABLE TO BE CERTAIN AND EXPECTING, ALMOST ENTIRELY, THAT WHEN HE IS AN ADULT HE WILL LOOK TO HER WITH HATRED; THAT HE WILL NOT SEE WHAT SHE DID (out of love out of love out of love) the sacrifices she made, the protections she gave, the wall she was forced to put her back against, knowing, inherently, they will be on either side of the same ideological divide for the rest of their lives and she will never be allowed to cross it (she will never hold her son again, the son who loves her, for her son no longer loves her-)

And then ofc on the Bruce side of things by the time Damian is around I think Bruce has kinda....just super unfortunately gotten really jaded. And with Damian? His own kid being a murderer (seeing no problems with it???) it's so hard to seperate the standards he has for himself, for his family, for others, against. The fact that Damian is a child, and a child raised in a cult, at that. Tbqh in canon I think Bruce is unnecessarily harsh; in this paragraph I don't think Damian is seeing the actual truth of the matter (in line with how I, at least, am choosing to characterise Bruce), but I do think he is right. At any instance when Damian is in his life, there's....

If it's Damian without Talia, I have doubts that a colicky child would work for Bruce; he's too pragmatic, and to have lost Damian's mother? Ow. He takes all his grief inwards, with him. That leaves very little space for a baby, especially in the potential wake of Dick leaving or. Just. Numerous things!

And/or, then, a baby!Damian or younger!damian just after Jason's death (which is largely the turning point as presented in fic for the fact that Bruce is undeniably changed by grief), that's not...I think it is painful, that Dick and jaybin got a different version of Bruce - that Tim, who saw Bruce recover from grief, knows fully well the differences - but Damian never will - so all he knows is a Bruce who wouldn't be able to do those things. Who is a bad communicator, who doesn't listen to him and expects obedience and offers no privacy but still expects and enforces his own, because Bruce is, at least at the start, worried that Damian will continue to kill. And all he knows how to do, to stop that, is be insanely controlling.

By the point of this fic, Bruce is well aware that Damian has changed and is horrified and traumatised by his past, so I do view Bruce as trying to be "better", but I think, within that aspect, it has also meant him trying to slowly "ease up" is...fully combatted by the groundwork he laid in Damian's first years; I think I mention as well, in the fic, a line about Damian never asking three times/trying to be quiet (having learnt to be quiet) so he can stay involved in the cases etc. And I think that informs a lot about how he perceives Bruce; from the author POV I am well aware Bruce cares.

From Damian's POV? A traumatised perfectionist who was judged without clear boundaries or explanation on the adjustment in norms that was required when he first came to Gotham, who had freedoms systemically denied until he learned to "be good" (and yet, was/is still judged for his past)? Yeaaaaah. It's a 50/50. Because I do think Damian is at least partially right; he can dream that meeting him as a baby would have made Bruce softer, would make Bruce love him (openly, easily, without the ceveats-), but at the same time Bruce's communication issues are VERY deep set. They still would have had this struggle of control and communication...it just probably would be easier for Damian to recognise that Bruce loves him.

anyway. AS ALWAYS, THE THESIS STATEMENT......the love is there; it doesn't fix anything, but god, the love is there.

[authenticaussie]

i’d love to see the director’s cut for either of your spiderkon fics 🤭

my- my spiderkon fic? My baby? 🥺🥺 An EXCUSE--- 🥺 abso-fucking-lutely and, also, pre-emptively, I'm so sorry for what you unleashed--

So for anyone else wanting quick context, Spiderkon is currently made of two fics in a series; eight legs hit the wall and growing up feels like (free-falling). As is easily guessed by my loving shorthand, it's a Kon-as-Spiderman AU, mostly based off general Spiderman, vaguely referencing the Amagalm universe

Absolutely first port of call is to shout out the title of the "main" fic, which is from Little One by the Happy Fits. Tumblr seems to have recently found them due to the fact that they have a cello player who SHREDS for 90% of their songs and I think they're a great band; this song in particular, however, is so much the spiderkon anthem that when I want to be in a spiderkon mood I merely can listen to the opening riff and enjoy....🤭

ANYWAY LIKE I SAID I'M ABSOLUTELY TAKING THIS EXCUSE TO TALK RANDOM SHIT ABOUT MY FIC, I REALLY LOVE THIS FIC....

I originally actually started with the vague outlines of a Spiderman!Tim au - it was about the time I'd seen some very cool jjk!spiderman au art and I liked the vague 2000's jeans outfit they'd given their "Spiderman". Obviously, as well, Tim has a camera, Peter has a camera, classic. 1:1 match ups!!! yay!!! It was sorta one of those "I am storing this for my bedtime story" vibes that my brain gives as mental images but not Actual Fic.

Then like 48hours later I watched Across the Spiderverse and managed to stumble across a "Spiderboy/Superboy-as-a-Spiderman was in the background of ATSV!" post and I went 👀👀 hello?? SPIDERMAN!KON? OH? MY B O Y ?

I trawled the background of the Spiderverse shots to try and see if I could find Kon - could not (only found amalgam!spiderboy in the visualisation novel) - and just kinda. Started chewing on that idea. 

At first it was muuuuch shorter - and Tim POV haha - where the vibes were....Kon was well-established as Spiderboy, Tim was working as a photographer, very fluffy timkon shenanigans. Tim was going to be pulling some Extreme willful ignorance due to some family shenanigans re: Kon's identity, but was basically going to have figured it out because Kon's TTK kept trying to make him look good in front of Tim, subconsciously (ie, his clothes always falling Very Nicely, his hair always having a vague wind-swept ruffle, never Looking Bad etc. and Tim would have figured it out because he's used to detail work in his photography). I just thought the summary I had was silly and could be churned out in like. 5k of sass and flirting vibes. When I actually did end up writing it, though, we ran into the sweet sweet problem of. I love a secret identity fic. OH I LOVE a secret identity fic, and Spiderman is just such a fun, vibe, for so many things, but ESPECIALLY the secret identity and the LAYERS I could go with-

<- got trapped so bad so fast

[I'm not joking this got so long, read more time for Actual Fic Commentary]

Anyway. Even though I don't do the whole "oh lex and clark are his dads" thing (straight-forward, at least, lmao), I also really liked the inherent angst side of how Amalgam makes Ben a clone of Peter? And a lot of the "vibes" of spiderkon (as it exists in my drafts) is about the way we view ourselves and our relationships with other people; the struggle for wanting defined labels when they aren't offered to us, or that they don't even fit, and, just, one of the things I really like poking at is...in canon, right, we don't actually see a lot of Kon grappling with his "familial" relationships in a classic way (ie. The fact that he IS related to Clark but, initially, isn't offered any closeness to that part of his heritage etc.) - largely because I think if they acknowledged it, that shit becomes awkward real fast. You can ofc say it doesn't bother him/he doesn't have the context to understand what he's missing out on, re: security net of a family, which, true, (there's a reason the Kon = Peter Pan allegory is SOOOO good), but having been a kid who grew up on media for a large portion of my childhood/used it to inform how I approached relationships with people, I also wanted to see/explore this aspect of...

When you have all this pressure from outside parties - people you interact with, the books you read, the shows and movies you watch - and you don't have...the words for who and what you are, and the people you care about, you try and do...the closest approximation, you'know? Even when it isn't right, even when it doesn't fit. Which is where this passage comes from:

The pod said that the people who create you are your parents. The TV said that family is you and your parents and your siblings and your aunts and uncles and friends and it never mentioned clones.  Lex has never explicitly used the word son.  (What other word is there, when Lex is the one who made him, who wanted him? Lex doesn’t always act like a father, but if he’s not then- He just wants one part of his life to be normal, and normal kids have parents. He shouldn’t have used the word son.)

I think this aspect of Kon not even inherently feeling that way but not having other words to describe it is just SO good? And in free-falling, as well:

“But- why- he never wanted-” No. Kon is very much aware that Lex never wanted a kid. Knows that's why he's fifteen and not five, but. Clark had wanted kids. And Lex had wanted to give Clark everything. What was more 'forever' than a family? It's weird to think of himself as inanimate, but he was always intended as a proposal gift. A final dedication. Would you have wanted me? Kon thinks to himself, drowning in Clark's shocked expression and hoping it hurts.

Kon doesn't view himself as inanimate; but tbqh I don't necessarily know how comfortably he views himself as human/real, either. He knows he is! He lives, he talks, he breathes, he loves, he's passionate about being his own person. And yet.....

In Spiderkon at least (and maaaan, lbr, the way he was supposed to Be Superman, the way he wanted it, and yes, he wanted to do it like himself, but the expectations......I think there's a LOT to potentially be said there on these explorations of Kon wanting to throw of just how much of people's expectations were interwoven with his identity while also knowing, it was. They are intrinsic to his existence; regardless of what he wants and what he does, his entire life is defined by the fact that other people wanted Superman. but I am already talking SO MUCH-) I wanted to explore this aspect of the fact that Kon....beyond jokes about baby trapping, was created for the singular purpose of Someone Else. Not on his own merit, for his own life; as he says, he was a proposal gift. A "sacrifice" from Lex to prove he could compromise and give Clark what he "wanted" (without realising what it was that Clark actually asked for). I think it's really interesting to have these dual concepts at play/constantly in flux and in argument. He is a person - yet, like the Velveteen rabbit, how real is he without the attention of other people? I think for Kon's arc I like exploring how that feeling dips and changes over his life. Also, this...inherently uncomfortable feeling of knowing you are not necessarily the replacement, but Definitively not there for the sake of you.

Anyway I wanted to bring it to a more prominent forefront by having Kon's creation be, not for his powers, not for Spiderman, but...he was for someone else. He knows, intimately, that Lex only has him around for Clark. And in that as well, ofc he has to grapple with....

Kon watches him for another moment longer, wondering if they look the same when they’re shocked, stumbling, struggling. Wondering if Lex sees Clark in him – if that was why he wanted Kon to be older. So he could compare their frowns and never have Clark leave.

:))))))

Baby you can call that divorced child energy but we kNOOOOOW it is so much worse <3

Mmmm, and then!!! I wanted Kon's spotlight stuff to come in. I do some angst with it in another fic - and the stars still shine till morning breaks - but I think there's something really poignant about the fact that...Kon comes out of the pod and immediatly into another spotlight. He doesn't know anything different, then constant and invasive scrutiny. In Spiderkon it's a little different because we have this Rapunzel-esque aspect to his pod release, of him being kept away from people (Lex....did not actually mean to release him, a fact Kon is unaware of....for now :)), and so, alongside touch starvation I wanted to showcase the fact that Kon gets really into positive external validation.

I have a later section (SO much later lol, but tbh I really should just remind myself that this was supposed to just be the Dramatic moments, that I don't need to make it a full fic, BUT. YOU KNOW.....)

Trauncated a bit because SPOILERS, but, I think this is still the part I circle over the most (bar, lmao, the insane 600 words of queer allegory I used to Destroy Kon at the end of the ""part one"" arc): 

"I'm good at what I do. But sometimes it feels like - I know it's not true - but it feels like I've been this longer than I ever was normal. How do I go back?" "I don't think I ever figured I could just do one," Kon offers, voice soft. [...] "Like, I came out with powers, and with Cassie, and Bart, they just- assumed, I guess? And I'm- I should. Or, I dunno. What would I be doing, if I wasn't doing this? I think- at this point, knowing I could save people and then choosing not to-"

Kon GOES THROUGH the frustration of getting hated, of having to choose to continue to do heroism even BEYOND expectation of his powers - and, idk. I just really like that in a hero story, you know? Especially, with Kon, I think with how I set him up, that immediate and positive attention for his powers? From civilians, from his friends, from the fact it is EASY? I think it makes it even more fun, when, later, he realises that...no, it's not easy, actually. It's not easy and he's going to do it anyway. Because he can. Because people deserve to be safe. Because he has power...so he's going to use it to helpful.

Spiderman, as well, is very much the great power / great responsibility hero story; but I think it also shows that...power in itself is chosen. Not everyone with great power uses it responsibly. But, at least with Spiderkon, I think I wanted this second aspect of...choosing to use the power you've been given (whatever that power is), is always the right choice.

It's why Cassie and Bart succeed when they realise Kon is suffering; they have knowledge of the outside world, they have knowledge this is wrong, and choosing to help leads to a better outcome then staying silent.

I don't think it will ever end up actually being explicit, but when I wrote this part:

“Just the documents.” Bart says, shrugging and shoving his hands in his pockets. “There’s pretty private projects up here, so we shouldn’t touch anything else. I don’t think they’re doing public release trials on this stuff for years yet. Dr. Ross had to waive the security permissions so I could even get in here.”

It was basically to function as a hook on the fact that Dr. Ross had actually very much set Bart up to take the fall for Kon's disappearance. If Bart/Cassie hadn't seen Kon in danger and chosen to help, if they'd stayed hidden, Ross would have ruined their lives (or, was at least intending to ruin Bart's - Cassie was an unforseen casualty, how dare the intern have A Friend).

(MAN AND I HAVEN'T EVEN TALKED ABOUT CASSIE AND BART'S SHIT, I GAVE THEM SO MUCH, SO MANY HOOKS FOR THEIR SHIT IN THE PRE-MEETING KON CONVERSATION--- ffffff no, no, this is already multiple paragraphs I CANNOT.) 

Ummm other general fun facts bc 🥺 I've not gotten an ask about Spiderkon and I love to talk--

General Riley and Dr. Ross are both character references to Amalgam. In Amalgam, Spiderboy is a ref to Ben Reilly!Spiderman, and, ofc, Kon. I changed it up a bit bc I didn't want the implication of villain!Ben Reilly, but I did want to have the Government supersoldier angle, so kept the General; thus, General Riley. Dr. Ross is a ref to the OG general who goes on the run with Amagem!Spiderboy (and, looking back, feels like I should've used Dabney here), but I didn't think of it at time of publishing/wasn't sure if I wanted to use Donovan later. Easier to hand wave an OC.

Because of the canon I'm drawing on, Dr. Donovan is obviously a ref to the RoTS movie, where he works under Lex, but that in itself is OFC from Kon's original run - Donovan started Cadmus alongside Westfield. He def gets to pull some shit later :)

Serling!!!! The conversation between Ross and Serling was originally going to be something they overheard - I was trying to figure out a way to get Serling in on the ground floor so we had an Extra Science Mind with Bart/Kon/Cassie 😔 - but the fic had already jumped wildly out of bounds and I needed to be able to wrap it up/couldn't get Bart/Cassie out of the sitch without sacrificing the dead bodies line 🤭

dead bodies line is my favourite!!! 😔❤️ i ended up writing that one first and then building in a lot of the Bart/Cassie/Kon detail around it haha

I also have a tag on my blog for random Spiderkon snippets/memes. I confess my favourite joke is this one about Bart. (Closely followed by the Clois joke, "why do you only like people who are smart and mean?")

[authenticaussie]

Heyyyy. Love how you write Marco and Sabo in HoC 🥰🥰. When does Marco find out he has feelings for Sabo ?

!!! HoC ask!! House of Cards ask!!! 🥺🥺🥺❤️

Hi!! Hello!! Thank you 🥺 HoC did a lot of development work for how I personally view/write marsab content so it's so endearing to me that you like it....<333

I think I half mention it in the HoC masterpost but I then realised that, although I was sure I'd written it, Marco's pov is entirely missing from the actual Realisation?? le ze gasp 🤭 making this hard on myself, wtf. Under the cut bc this got pretty rambly!!!

Anyway from what I remember, I think the way I had pinned it together is, although Sabo realises he has feelings for Marco during the two/three-year time skip, his actual behaviour does not actually change that much? So while Marco does...vaguely presume they are Eventually friends, and adjusts to Sabo's behaviour, Sabo is harsh, and gets even more so as time goes on. The Whitebeards do a lot to make up for the whole...debacle, but, in their defence too, it's not even just the Ace thing. They're also pretty fucked up about the fact that these guys have very obviously been wildly abused, if the response to affection is....(yikes.com)

So while Sabo slowly adjusts upon realisation that Marco is a Good Man, I think a lot of Marco is...a) tied up in the fact that his break up with Ace was probably the most brutal thing ever, for all he tried to let Ace go with grace, and, b) does see Sabo a bit as...connected to Ace? As Ace's? So recognition of his feelings there is bad. He doesn't see Sabo as a viable romantic partner because he's messed up about Ace, and then, also, because, well, it's Sabo! Sabo is an adjacent thing to Ace, the way that like...siblings of your partner are People but also not?

Marco's feelings potentially come part way through the time skip - when Sabo starts eventually doing things for himself and working with Dragon - but I don't think he's willing to recognise them. Sorta along the vague....feelings (<-fic link) ?? of this drabble that wasn't technically HoC but could fit for the vibes aha. (Though if this was HoC canon I would put it after the timeskip, for the fact that Marco now protects Sabo's secrets, and is close enough to Sabo to have that loyalty...)

I think what tips Marco into realisation of his own feelings for Sabo is when Ace comes back. He's used to Sabo being closed off, but he had seen how Sabo and Ace were so...co-dependant. Even if Sabo won't take physical affection, he'd always lean into and on Ace. And it just doesn't happen anymore.

From Sabo's POV there's a lot of closing himself off so he doesn't fuck up again, of self-harm adjacent behaviours - not wrapping his hands before a fight, not sleeping properly, that stuff - and Marco...notices.

"Hey," he says, and takes Sabo's hand, feels cold fingertips against his palm, and that's more than enough time for him to see that the scabs aren't healing properly before Sabo yanks his hand away and glares. "D'you need someone to help-" "Not you," Sabo spits, and Marco raises his hands. "Not me, just someone."

So even though Sabo won't go to Ace, at this point Marco at least recognises them as friends, well enough to bully Sabo into getting help. It's a mirror of the first part of the fic, where Ace goes to Marco for help, basically by accident, and this...Sabo going on purpose (or, being cajoled lmao) and allowing Marco to help him. Even though he says not you, Marco's gotten good at translation and...finally figures out that Sabo's sorta in the same boat as him, with Ace. It's different and yet...still so much the same. The betrayal, the leaving, the love...

You have to forgive me, it's been-

(momentary tv glitch as I clutch my head and realise it's been seven years. SEVEN YEARS ??)

A while since I actually thought about HoC/went over the fic notes, and I actually can't find what I did have planned for the marsab get together. I actually think the sabo/ace manage to fix up (and/or at the same time ?????) marco/ace get together first, and then marsab manage to get their shit together and figure themselves out. Probably with Ace's help, considering how much better he's gotten with his mental health 🤭 and with refusing to allow others to ignore their own health etc. Ace getting Sabo's feelings out of him and knowing Marco well enough to force him into also telling the truth.

Also, wait, I remembered/found some notes!

So pre-Laffitte, Ace specifically comes home and thinks marsab are dating - because he knows Sabo well enough to be like oh, Sabo likes this guy, and he knows Marco, too, and why would they be so close if not...this? And Sabo doesn't have any of the tells Ace used to. Low-key he's...yes, it is sad, because as he spends time with Marco again he does remember what he did like about Marco, that he did like Marco, near the end (even if he wasn't sure of it being love), and thinks Marco's just private because of how everything ended with, well, him. So when he teases them and Sabo snaps, he doesn't know how he got it wrong...but he's certainly thinking about it.

And I'll presume at this point you've read the masterpost - after the Laffitte-Ace-injured!Thatch situation, Thatch is in recovery and ends up spending time with Sabo and realising that Sabo has feelings for Marco, mostly by accident. To Thatch, well, Sabo's a jerk but he's at least blunt. He's sharp and (seemingly) straight-forward and, at the very least, with them, he doesn't...let them get away with stuff? So even with all his misdirects and lying bs Thatch is still aware that Sabo wouldn't end up...doing the same to Marco as Ace. He doesn't blame Ace, necessarily, but fuck, his brother's just not the same.

Marco's a romantic at heart. Having the realisation that he hurt someone he loved, and in such a way that his love was the problem? Fuck, he'd never be the same. One of the major things that gets through to him is the fact that Sabo...recognises that. When Marco is trying to make it up to Sabo and Luffy, trying to get a life for them, Sabo puts together that Marco is Fucked Up about that. When he tells Marco about Ace...that Ace was actually having feelings for him, and that was one of the reasons Sabo lashed out - jealousy, fear - Marco knowing how much that costs him is when he sees Sabo less as "Ace's" and more as his own person.

So it's like...first half of the first year of the time skip -> Marco's depression era

Second quarter -> depression era^2 where Marco tries to make up for Fucking Up with Ace + Sabo has the conversation about Ace liking him/respecting him. Sabo doesn't say the same, but...it's implied

Third quarter -> Sabo working with Dragon, Marco + Sabo being friends

Fourth quarter -> Marco jealousy era when Sabo is working with the Revo more closely and has someone interested in him

Tbf if Ace hadn't come back I think after maybe another few years, Marsab would've gotten together (I have a scene about that! About when Ace thinks they're together and knows Sabo likes Marco and says, "I can help!" and Sabo says, "The only way you can help is by leaving." because Ace being back is the problem....)

Then Laffitte and Ace/Marco getting together and Marco realising, as Sabo pulls away from him: oh shit. The jealousy from before....it's worse when he has Sabo pulling away. When before, Sabo was still around, still spending time with him, and now? He even realises that Sabo spending time with his Revo partner was jealousy, and, now, realising that he cares about Sabo, to the point that Sabo not being around...he hates it.

He has Ace...but why does it not feel satisfying?

(And how dare he say as such to Ace when he really, truly, does love Ace? How could he-)

Then we say thanks again to Ace's mental health era and the fact he refuses to allow Sabo to be taken away from him, or, even, for the people he loves to be unhappy...👏 He picks up on Sabo not being around and on Marco being a mess about something and goes oh :) no, there was a reason I thought they were dating. And makes Marco properly confront his feelings (which, well, Marco was doing that anyway) and then happy ending <3

[authenticaussie]

mentallyunawareofpapaya and her comments are doubling down to a ridiculous degree and digging a hole to the earth's core with their "huh i don't get what's racist" attitude

That was....pretty eminently predictable haha;;

anyway do you remember that author from like 5 yrs ago now who had two books featuring two different trans women and one passed as afab (in book 1) and one did not (in book 2) and he got critiqued about it by trans folk and his first response was to analyse it and then he went: oh shit yeah. i wanted it in context of book 1 - to have them both presented in comparison to give More Rep about different types of trans people on their journey - but I can see that without that context a) it does function as a negative stereotype and b) IN the new context it still comes across as insulting because she's still the only trans character I have in this book?

I think you get to look at critique and decide if it Does actually matter to you (because there are also situations that handle exploration of character with grace even when potentially approaching it from a stereotypical angle - ie. that fic drama in Voltron with the sex worker Lance fic but it was actively written by a latino, or, Lolita, or, not to my personal taste, but the Good Doctor or that one autism show about the guy who likes penguins). But, also, I think you do actually have to uhh....look at the critique, lol. There's a difference between "don't rate people's fics"/"don't critique without asking" and getting feedback regarding the Core Concept you are intending to convey. Especially when that core concept has butted up against derogatory stereotypes that are actively avoided within his storyline/canon and you are not writing from your own lived experience.

Anyway! I actually really don't give a shit about what their crash out is about because I don't think I need to care about them? What a waste of energy, lol.

Check out these cool Black-run DC fanblogs instead!!! <33 @/Cer-rata @/lemonlimestar (And please send me more I can shout-out or if y'all want a shout-out!!! atm I've only really grabbed my friends jdhdjhd)

[authenticaussie]

Identity shenanigans are a must so I have to ask for a snippet of your bidding war WIP 🤲

There's an obnoxious way to eat an apple, apparently - Jason's mastered it, with the crunch of his bite. Tim's mouth draws into a scowl unwittingly at the noise.

“I don't need your company, too,” he says, and Jason hums. His shoulder is pressed to the doorframe, and he waves two fingers at Kon when Kon turns back around and then takes off, effortlessly.

"Your clone boy is pretty stupid, huh?"

"Oh shut up, Jason," Tim grumbles, watching as Kon does a little flip. He's hovering, but Tim can see the moment he decides to properly leave; the way his shoulders go back and his chin tilts up. "He's not."

“Coulda fooled me,” Jason snorts and Tim makes sure to step on his foot as he goes back inside. Jason's wearing steel-toe boots, so it doesn't do much, but it does at least make Tim feel better.

“That's child's play,” Tim says. “Fooling him is harder.”

[authenticaussie]

If you’re still taking requests I’d like to ask for a blurb of your bidding war WIP 🙏

Aw man watch me vanish for two months (I'm so sorry :"D)

So the bidding war is technically. two fics?? 🤭 Bidding war and then the redux...because I couldn't decide what dynamic I wanted ahah

The BASIC gist is that Kon has sold time spent With Superboy for a charity auction. And as a result of [insert plot spoiler reason here], he needs some help to get tf Out of that promise. Wuh-oh, scoob!!

Where the two differ is that in one, Kon and Tim are well aware of each other's identities - so it's easy for Tim to change to his civvies and win the auction (even if it...quite awkwardly leaves him trying to come up with some lies to questions. "Why are you here?" / "Do you like Superboy?" / "Wasn't this auction for a date?")

The redux is the same, with Tim winning, but, ALSO. Secret identity shenanigans!!! 🥰 Tim has fulfilled Kon's request, that he Get Out of the auction, and doesn't expect/need Kon to feel obliged to adhere to the T&C's...especially not to someone he believes is a random civilian.

They're both pretty silly in terms of the flirting and the Scenarios™️ I throw them in, but one is heavy on "wow these guys are both obviously flirting" with side flavour of "Tim is pining like an idiot" (redux) vs. "Tim is an unobservant dumbass" (OG).

But! Since you asked for a blurb. This is what my docs have as draft 1:

When Tim wins a bidding war for Superboy's time, he doesn't expect Kon to actually honour the agreement - especially because Tim Drake, civilian, came up with the perfect, noble deferral. What type of person would he be if he stopped Superboy from giving supervillains the ol' one-two, after all?

Superboy's decided himself, however, that the ol' one-two can wait and Tim's selfish enough to enjoy the extra time in Kon's company. It just gets a little awkward when Tim falls into old habits and Kon seems to be falling for him. Keeping secrets is his nature, but this one's got bigger consequences than Mr. Sarcastic's TV debut.

All's fair in love and war. Right?

[authenticaussie]

Happy Wednesday! Can I ask for Bidding War please? That sounds fun :)

“...Lex is here,” Kon mumbles, eyes cast to the side and his fists clenched. “He- it's an open auction. It's an open auction, and he's-”

He's Lex Luthor, a billionaire, Tim thinks, and he knows that Cassie and Bart have put the pieces together too, judging from the faint buzz behind him as the threat of lightning makes the hair on his arms stand up.

Kon can't back out, not since Superboy is one of the major draws of the auction, and the money that Lex could donate would fund the rural emergency services for years - and, even worse, if Kon tries to impose a limit on who can bid, people will want to know why.

And there's only one reason Lex would be at an auction that's hosting Superboy as a prize.

"Imp, I need a suit."