Okay! Time for a new pinned post. The old one is here. I'll keep this brief — a couple of housekeeping notes, then a taglist under a read more.
I'm LeaJoyWrites on ao3, btw.
Please let me know if I miss something on any of the following. I may forget to tag, misinterpret a post I reblog, or fail to check my internal biases. I do want to be told, and I will make an effort to correct my mistake.
I try to tag warnings thoroughly.
This blog should be a safe space for sex-repulsed people.
I have no tolerance for bigotry, and exclusionism is bigotry.
I write, write about, and analyze texts containing sensitive topics. I try to approach this in a sensitive manner, and again, I try to tag accordingly.
I do not discuss real-world events in my blog much, but I'm not strict about it.
My approach to fandom moralism is "live and let live." I do actually have a complex moral philosophy, but its application in online spaces is just "if it's not intrinsically harmful to an actually existing person, there is no moral issue with it."
Related to the above, I am very much so against censorship.
Fandoms and taglist below the cut! Fair warning that I do not format it as just a list, and I do ramble.
one of my most-used tags is #hellyeahmeta, which I use for meta-analysis posts written or at least op'd by other people. I sometimes forget to use this tag, so some meta analysis posts are tagged as meta. I tag for specific character meta, specific fandom meta, etc..
some other tags I use for different kinds of (especially non-fandom) meta are #meta squared, #fandom meta, #fandom etiquette, #fandom things, and #meta meta. I'll (probably) come back and actually link these at some point, but rn you can copy+paste them into the search bar in my blog to the same end.
a couple of tags I use for a specific flavor of character are #beloved bereaved burdened burned and #beloved bereft bereaved. I mostly used these tags early on in my blog, and I used both for Jason Todd (second Robin, Red Hood) and the first one for Five Hargreaves. I think I specifically started using them because of web weaves, but I don't remember exactly.
tags like #funnies, #not fandom related, #relevant for life, and #cool things -> exactly what they say on the tin. #miscellaneous is more or less synonymous with not being fandom related, but it's a tag I use more often because I'll drop it onto a post when I don't have the bandwidth to properly tag it but don't want it fully untagged.
#tumblrisms -> self-explanatory if you've been here for a while. If you haven't, it's sort of like... there's a set of phrases, in-jokes, and classic viral posts that you learn on tumblr by a sort of weird osmosis, so it's basically just stuff related to that. I personally use it as a sort of anthropological archiving tag bc I wanna note whenever people do it.
Okay, this next part is actually a list; it's my blog-specific "[my username] [does this]" tags and then fic tags for when I talk about or post pieces of said fics, prompts, etc.. there are fandoms I've posted fanfic for that I don't talk about on tumblr, but that's beside the point.
#leajoyfics
#leajoyprompts
#leajoymemes
^I'll probably have more of these later, but I doubt I'll have many. Next part is fics/fic series with fandom and very brief synopsis specified in parentheses
#bury me in broken glass let me see the sky (no fandom; horror-tragedy flash fiction)
#it's too late and it's just getting later (Danny Phantom; existential horror + vivisection, hurt w/eventual comfort)
#rh and jl no good deed (dc fandom; pseudo trope-subversion + character study)
#Project: HOLLOW (The Hollow; govt. experimentation au)
#forgive but don't forget to hold a grudge (Wednesday [netflix] AU where Tyler gets to be saved, rather than blamed + character study of multiple characters)
Next part is a few AUs I came up with for Ben 10, which I don't want to write because I have too many projects going already, but which I also do want to write because [insert keyboard smash here]. Alphabetical order. (as of when I'm writing this, I only have one post that goes over all of these lmao)
#A.T.E.M. AU (AF s3e15 Time Heals doomed timeline is partially remembered by the trio)
#Ben10 G3 AU (Classic s1e11 A Small Problem Graymatter almost getting dismembered scene -> Graymatter does get dismembered but he comes back from the dead immediately and doesn't tell anyone)
#Redemption Arc Makes Things Worse In This One AU (UA s2e18 The Perfect Girlfriend is followed by the nanites being removed and Elena being cured, but Ben is terrified of her now because holy shit levels of stalking and violation of trust)
#Technopath Stalker AU (Ben's personal life is filmed for months and snippets released on the internet in a power trip/attempt at humiliation/grab for glory/etc.)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
I mean there's so much to interpreting Ben as trans already. Like that also being a part of this narrative only makes sense. Obv not intentional but like. Okay what makes more sense, a boy who is canonically smaller than 80% the other male cast, I think only kid in omniverse flashbacks to still be dubbed by a woman instead of an adult man trying to sound younger which makes him stick out like a sore thumb and is CANONICALLY IMPLIED TO HAVE A UTERUS LIKE HE WAS STILL PREGNANT AS A HUMAN, is to get body dysphoria, or to get randomly addicted to cocaine by the age of 11.
Not to mention his alien body euphoria came with instant, painless transition in the transformations, had him skip puberties/adolescent eras as those aliens because he is REPEATEDLY mistaken for an adult from ages 10 and up (Tini thinking he's an adult tetramand at 10, passing as Bivalvan who is an adult when Ben is 16), and instantly has superpowers
Even the fucking DOG is euphoric, and I get it; You ever run up the stairs of your house on all fours? Shits magical as a child. Ben got that but actually being quadrupedal.
Also dying at the uterus thing; it really is either Ben actually had that to hold his eggs or the Omnitrix was still pumping the pregnancy hormones in him when he's detransformed. Buck wild
YES YES THIS THIS ALL OF THIS!!! Overall omnitrix seems to be just the perfect super power for a trans person, and Ben 10 as a show does feel like a transmasc fantasy to me. Like even the future episode where he meets his older self and he looks so cool and perfect and tall and a pinacle of masculinity?? YEAH. Especially as Ben 10000 doesn't even feel like a natural progression from teen Bens, considering how he almost doubles in height which is a little silly UNLESS we do consider magical space testosterone, which is rather likley considering I think I heard it is canon (I got no sources so take it with grain of salt) that omnitrix did alter Ben somewhat which allowed him to end up as Ben 10000
Like so much about Ben feels like it's about transness, honestly it blows my mind how much they did unintentionally beacuse I would have to activley try to come up with a character that's so esentionally trans yet it's not all they are about and I'm litearlly genderfluid and all my closest friends are transmascs. That shit is NOT easy and they just pulled that off efortlessly, propably not even conecting the dots. Okay.
Also thing is, I don't think omnitrix pumping hormones into Ben would be the weirdest thing it ever did, however, those didn't seem to be Necrofriddgean hormones. Like Ben didn't get weird cravings for metal and like chew on aluminium foil, or have an urge to make a nest out of his bed. No. He had goddamn pickle cravings. I DON'T THINK NECROFRIDDGEANS EAT PICKLES. So either Omnitrix was being SUPER quirky and producing hormones suited to human pregnancy, or bro's got an uterus
I like to headcanon that Ben’s sudden beefiness as Ben 10K is a result of the Omnitrix overcorrecting his appearance because he spent so long as aliens and never himself in that future it doesn’t know what to return him too after all the passed time, so it overcorrected into Muscle Man. This includes ULT Ben who is just, ultimated.
The classic shapeshifter body horror of “I don’t remember what I look like” but it’s still in Ben’s favor bc “Fuck yeah, alien tech T and bottom surgery!!”
He’s all too happy with the Omnitrix, best thing that ever happened to him. No Watch Ben is cursed to bind and do his hormone injections like a normal FTM and hate how boring his life is without superpowers. Rip NW! Ben
More on that Ben v Rook thing on the Humans Are Space Orcs Idea and stamina where Ben’s human traits bleed into his alien transformations and there’s something terrifying about any one of them just slightly nudged towards persistence predator traits/habits.
Like, I’m sorry, but what do you mean the species that famously took over its planet and outcompeted the other sapient life there by exhausting things to death can now turn into anything between a Vulpimancer and a goddamn Celestial Sapien?? What do you mean it can hunt me for days on end as an Ectonurite because his transformation doesn’t burn in sunlight? What do you mean he has a one of its kind species that’s barely visible to the naked eye because of its size (Nanomech) that shoots lasers and flies around?
Worse still if he uses an Echo Echo or Ditto strategy because humans are also terrifying in packs and Ben can be one all his own.
yessss this exactly! The Omnitrix would be formidable in the hands of many lifeforms, but humans? Who drink poison for fun? And put holes in their bodies for style? And rearrange their mouths with metal anchors and wire??? Like????
Humans in the Omniverse aren’t noted as being particularly strong, fast, agile, or smart. But it is heavily implied that humans are uniquely creative, given Azmuth says Ben used the Omnitrix in ways he himself had never considered. It’s also generally shown that particularly strong beings lack some agility, particularly fast ones lack strength, etc.. They tend to rely on whatever trait they have the most of, which makes sense, since that trait probably evolved for a very good reason.
But Ben? He makes good use of all the abilities he works with, not just because the abilities are powerful but because he knows how to use things like leverage, friction, momentum, etc. to his advantage. Humans, due to not having super abilities, are better equipped to use their environments in physical altercations.
And also, since humans are more prone to injury than, say, tetramands, things like recovery time and pain tolerance will be way higher!
Humans are also used to traveling in a way that requires reaction time much higher than what we would need while running (see: riding a bike, driving, etc.). So it also stands to reason that someone used to having slower reaction time than their vehicle would, when their reaction time is proportionate to their vehicle (as in, any species with superspeed Ben can become), they would make better use of that reaction time! Not because a human would be better at being a kinecelaran, but because a kinecelaran wouldn’t have the experience of compensating for a lack of speed. If that makes any sense.
Anyway. There’s this narrative of “humans suck and are super weak” that shows up a lot in sci-fi, which is part of the reason I like “humans are space orcs” in general, but even in a universe where humans aren’t considered particularly tough (like the Omniverse), the ways humans adapt to lacking certain things gives them an advantage whenever they have those things.
And that’s why Ben is, in the form of any given alien, capable of beating that type of alien in combat.
(And also the “peak physical condition” thing, but I’ll point out that he beat a female tetramand of royal ranking in OV, explicitly stated to be naturally stronger, so clearly he can work around a disadvantage).
(The constant adherence to sexual dimorphism in the worldbuilding of the Omniverse is its own rant. I’ll leave it for now lol)
Do you think Exextra could run a restaurant alone?
I think Exextra would be incapable of customer service long-term, but she could manage the back of house work if she learned enough about food prep, cooking, baking, etc.
If she ever tried serving, hosting, or bussing… yeah, no. She’s prideful, so she’d piss some people off really quickly by being a smartass, and when they asked for the manager, she’d show up and back herself, and the restaurant would accumulate terrible reviews for customer service.
She also probably wouldn’t be interested in working at a restaurant in any capacity, unless it was a front for some sort of over-the-top heist setup.
truly some people have no genre savviness whatsoever. A girl came back from the dead the other day and fresh out of the grave she laughed and laughed and lay down on the grass nearby to watch the sky, dirt still under her nails. I asked her if she’s sad about anything and she asked me why she should be. I asked her if she’s perhaps worried she’s a shadow of who she used to be and she said that if she is a shadow she is a joyous one, and anyway whoever she was she is her, now, and that’s enough. I inquired about revenge, about unfinished business, about what had filled her with the incessant need to claw her way out from beneath but she just said she’s here to live. I told her about ghosts, about zombies, tried to explain to her how her options lie between horror and tragedy but she just said if those are the stories meant for her then she’ll make another one. I said “isn’t it terribly lonely how in your triumph over death nobody was here to greet you?” and she just looked at me funny and said “what do you mean? The whole world was here, waiting”. Some people, I tell you.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Been thinking a lot about Mad Ben’s Rook… Like imagine if your evil tyrant had a doppleganger that freed you from his reign, put you in charge of the planet, and told you to stop swearing
#and also knows you’re using your people’s specific version of swearing#bc I think we can assume Revonnahgander culture is not mainstream#in this universe
it’s a shame more vampire media doesn’t pull from vampire bat behavior because they’re such sweeties. they can only survive their incredibly specialized diet because bats will share blood with colony members that didn’t find a meal! there’s evidence that suggests the donors sometimes initiate this behavior themselves by approaching hungry bats! the colonies are mostly harems of females with a few males but they’ve been observed letting unrelated males in when it gets cold so they can all stay warm! cute little social critters!
ID: tags reading "#this post gave me a beautiful mental image of a vampire mansion full of beautiful goth women #dragging in brooding ya vampire boyfriends from the cold like stray cats" END ID
I never know if I'm answering the same Anon, but I try not to assume what anyone remembers, so sorry if I mention something you knew about!
Oh, absolutely. She's a hopeless romantic, and by headcanoning Splixsons as majority aromantic, I hit her with the aro angst beam and made her reverse aro. somehow. because that's a thing.
(in all seriousness though I think it's conceptually interesting to think of alien lifeforms for whom queerness has a very different form — like in a species that mates for reproduction but not partnership, wanting romance would be uncommon; in a species that can change sexes based on environment/preference, not being fluid in gender identity would be uncommon; etc. etc.. like. queerness is culturally informed, and culture is biologically informed, so queerness looking very very different on different planets is something that makes perfect sense for the omniverse. I digress)
So I think, in the same way that us aro folks sometimes emphasize how much we love our friends or like alone time (as a way of reinforcing our identities and distancing ourselves from the expected/majority perspective, strengthening our connections to other aro folks, etc.), a rare amato Splixson like Exextra would really emphasize her romantic relationship, not because she devalues friendship but because it means so much to her that she was able to find what she was looking for in the first place.
(this is me hitting her with the aro joy beam by making her reverse aro. in case you were wondering)
Also, marriage has come up before! I think the general idea was her being the one to propose, and also them probably getting married in prison so that they could get it legally recognized. She's the one to initiate most milestones in their relationship, but Albedo never minds because he's totally gone for her (and terrible at hiding it).
The weird kink I think Exextra be into would be group stuff
ngl this made me cackle a little. I'm bumping this ask up in my list bc it's related to a post I just made responding to another ask, for anyone who's wondering.
I agree that she would be, but again, I don't think she'd consider it weird, and I don't think any other Splixsons would, either. Also, I know it's implied in OV that Galvans are monogamous, but a) that's lame and b) they're basically frogs so that makes no sense. So I don't think Albedo would find it too weird, either.
Honestly, I think she'd consider "group stuff" a default, rather than a kink.
(slightly nsfw reason under the cut — not really explicit, just slightly nsfw)
I feel like she'd default to the option where she experiences multiple orgasms at once, y'know? She's not really worried about hedonism or purism or anything; she's a pleasure-seeker, not a moralist.
See: she's an intergalactic thief almost entirely for the love of the game because she's a drama queen
Your trademark is your Ben 10 writing. Love the way you write Albedo and the exextra
link to the "trademark" ask game
tysm! I really enjoy writing for this fandom, and I still think it's really funny that I like... accidentally co-created an OC with an (unknown number of) anon(s) like??? wild. The Exextra Convo(tm) has been really fun to write, and I love all of the asks I get for Ben 10 in general because they prompt me to really think about characterization and character dynamics, which is really nice :)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Her conception of what's "weird" is very different from what's considered "weird" on Earth, so there's an automatic yes there in that what she's into would be considered "weird" to humans.
However. I think anything she considered weird, she wouldn't really get into. She'd probably be a "try anything once" kind of person, but if she didn't immediately vibe with something, she's not trying it again.
To be clear, she also has a very different conception of what's weird than Albedo does, and considering he's her partner... well. He definitely think she's into weird stuff, lol
I don't have a long answer for this one, but I do have a funny one.
Exextra is incapable of collaborating with anyone, even and especially herself, if they're sharing a role. Even if she has a duplicate on every chapter of a piece, half of them are going to totally diverge from the original plan in a way that makes the next chapter not work at all, and all of them will have at least three duplicates in total agreement with the reworking and at least three other duplicates wanting to throttle them. If it's something like video-editing, where each segment isn't totally dependent on context from the one before it, it's fine, but she cannot do it with writing.
also I don't think Exextra is much of a writer. like she's a nerd in a lot of ways but I don't think she like. really likes storytelling. idk
given the current climate this pride especially i feel i must mention that i love my trans friends, i stand with trans people in the fight against transphobic legislation and those who would enforce it, and this blog is not a good place for you to be if you do not vibe with that
TUMBLR ADS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO AUTO-PLAY AUDIO! THAT IS A BUG AND YOU SHOULD REPORT IT!
"This ad is auto-playing audio" is literally on the drop down menu for reporting an ad. Tumblr isn't trying to implement this! Don't protest this "new policy", cause it's not one.
They are not supposed to automatically redirect you without you clicking them, they are not supposed to cause a pop-up, they are not supposed to freeze your screen.
This is all bugs or malicious advertising which is also against tumblers ad policy. You should report all ads which do this.
Let’s get rid of those horrible monopoly ads, together.
Oh hey, I found you out in the wild. I like your Ben 10 fic wherein he gets hospitalized over a stab wound, (and found you while perusing the whump tags).
I should probably ask a fun question, huh?
Let me think… You seem to partake in whump a fair bit, and are a fellow Ben 10 fan, so what kinds of tropes or prompts do you think best suits him? I favour ones involving tiredness, but I’m also a chronic hypersomnic, so I’m nothing if not biased.
hey! sorry this took me *checks date* like two and a half months to answer. I have no excuse
thank you! I'm always delighted when my fellow whump-lovers enjoy my works. "while perusing the whump tags" is possibly the best way anyone's ever found me, lol
that's a very fun question! I'm gonna answer in two versions — what do I think is most realistic to his character, and what do I think is most interesting for his character?
So, one of the reasons I love Ben's character so much is because he really is just... Like That. I'm far from the first person to say it, but so many superheroes have some sort of massively tragic backstory or a destiny they have to fulfill, and while Ben technically is destined to become who he becomes due to the multiverse-level time loop nonsense, that time loop wouldn't have happened in the first place if not for Ben being who he is.
So basically, you've got a character who is 100% on board with being a hero, threats to his life and all, and considers near-lethal battles fun. He's an thrill-seeker with a heart of gold and no sense of self-preservation. In other words, he's a somewhat atypical character, and definitely atypical for a whumpee.
That said, there are definitely some episodes that give us a glimpse of what he would be like as a whumpee, so...
Realistic-to-his-character whump tropes:
for the record I had extensive receipts on these but it got a little long. I will explain myself if asked but I figured I'd try to condense it
Defiant whumpee
See: almost always. but in particular the Techadon Weapon Master episode and those times he was hunted for sport
Tries to hide it and often succeeds
See: his whole confident act, literally stated to be an act he puts on to cope with the pressure
Complains about a paper cut; ignores a stab wound
See: the secret of chromastone episode, in which he's miserable about a common cold and mildly irritated about being broken into pieces
Witnessing others' suffering is worse
See: all the time. but especially anytime Gwen gets hurt
Irrational fear is worse than rational
See: everything with Zombozo, versus how chill he is when being shot at
Accidental self-sabotage (bad at listening to his body)
See: consecutive all-nighters
but on the flip-side, there are tropes that don't fit his (usual) character as well, which you see when he's at his complete frickin' breaking point
Begging
See: "Azmuth, help me. Please, just so I can help them."
Breaking down in front of others
See: the above
Apathetic/lacking compassion
See: the Ultimate Kevin arc
Understandably — but uncharacteristically — reacting to a genuine threat
See: reverting to full panic mode whenever Elena is suffocating him
Now, as for what I find interesting for him, but which doesn't necessarily show up in canon...
Making it through a battle on adrenaline, then collapsing from an injury no one else knew he had
I think this one is pretty realistic for his character, except that it's hard for him to get majorly injured in a way that sticks, considering most of his aliens' regenerative capabilities.
Begging for death
Definitely a trope I enjoy, just in general, especially for characters that have something keeping them alive. I can imagine a particularly messed up universe where Ben goes to Azmuth and begs him to take the Omnitrix so it stops reviving him. and Azmuth would probably point out that Ben didn't let him suicidally doom the universe, so turnabout's fair play. But while we're on the topic of the Omnitrix bringing Ben back to life...
Dying, coming back, and not telling anyone
It's not even that he'd hide it; he just wouldn't bother mentioning it because, like... he almost dies all the time. So what if he remembers the feeling of his heart going still and his lungs freezing and his blood starting to pool? So what if he has phantom pains where the wounds to his vital organ/artery/half his skin/entire body were before they just vanished? No big deal, right?
Comforting someone else while he's hurt
He understands the pain of watching someone you love suffer or die, so he'd want to mitigate that in any way he could. Smiling through reflex tears, biting back a scream, coughing up blood after every word, barely able to lift his hand but still holding theirs, saying it's okay. It's gonna be okay. It's not your fault. He knows it's bad but it doesn't matter. He needs to make them feel better. That's all he knows how to do.
Whump reveal entirely against his will
There are so many ways for this to happen, and whether it's a canon occurrence of whump or not, I love reading stories where other people are very suddenly confronted with a reality he did not want them to know about.
...
okay, and a couple of sleep-related ones, since that's such a fun subcategory of whump
Canonically pulls all-nighters? Well, how about him getting knocked down during a battle, and it looks like he's dazed/injured, but really he's just so tired he doesn't want to get back up? How about him hearing his mom call his name three times before realizing it's not an auditory hallucination from sleep depravation?
(...I've had the kind of auditory hallucinations you have as you wake up and as you fall asleep, and it's always someone calling my name. Which can make it hard to know whether or not my name is actually being called when it is, if I'm near sleep. For the record, sleep-related hallucinations are pretty common; upwards of ten percent of the population, iirc, will have them at some point in their life. So Ben definitely would <3)
Canonically has nightmares that keep him up? How about he wakes up shivering in a cold sweat, and he can't get warm? How about he curls up on his side because he doesn't have the energy to get up, but he's too riled up to sleep, so he just lays there and tries to doze for the three hours before morning?
Sometimes, he goes home and passes out without even taking his shoes off, so exhausted from a battle or a stakeout that he barely makes it to his bed. Sometimes, he stares at the ceiling for hours, on edge for no reason or replaying a moment where something went wrong in his head, and the sun is rising before he manages to drift off.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
#my inbox is currently a graveyard of good asks i forgot to answer 😔. im so scared to look in there #theres some really good ones in there too like WOW i wojld LOVE to answer this one. unforchies ☝️. um. unforchies
