moonflowers and sunrays

Villain is hiding out in a warehouse by the port when they're discovered. They ready themselves for a fight, spotting only Hero and Superhero— manageable foes, even in a 2-on-1.

However, they notice the two seem to be arguing. Even as Villain comes within their sights, they don't stop. Villain taunts and mocks as usual, but suddenly, Superhero lifts their arm to reveal a switch, and Hero fails to stop them before they press it.

Villain feels a horrid shiver down their spine. Within seconds, their legs betray them, and they collapse to their knees. Staying upright goes from difficult to impossible by the end of the first minute, and Superhero approaches them, followed closely by Hero, who radiates guilt.

"This must be confusing," Superhero says, "I'm certain you yourself found it odd when you failed to locate any sort of tracking device."

Their face against the concrete, Villain slurs, "what'd... you do... t'me..."

"We tried something new. Something that doesn't buzz with radio waves."

Superhero kneels down. They lift Villain's head by their hair, body sagging behind them.

"A sedative pump," Superhero finally answers, "I'm glad to see it's functioning properly."

Hero had never bled this much, since their suit was made from some sort of carbon-fiber-metal-shit. But it just takes one too many supervillains (and a huge lack of sleep) to make it a first. Turns out, blood is very warm and thick, and they were losing it at an alarming rate. That was problem number one. Problem number two was the lack of a safe place to go.

There was one place, actually. Maybe it wasn’t safe, per se… alright, it was extremely dangerous. But hey, at least they wouldn’t be dead in a dumpster!

Hero staggered across the asphalt, streetlights leaving their reflection in the water tucked in the cracks of the road. Moths flew at their face, but they didn’t have time to care. They just had to make it a few more blocks.

When they finally reached the familiar magenta house with the cracked pavement and the pea-filled gardens, Hero almost cried tears of joy. They checked their watch: 4:40 am.

Well. I’m fucked.

Knock, knock, knock.

No response.

They tried again.

Knock, knock, knock. “Villain, let me in!! Its an emergency!”

Upon crying out to Villain, Hero heard a shuffling sound from behind the door. Then, the doorknob turned and the door slowly creaked open.

And there was Villain.

And holy shit, they had abs.

Hero, in their dazed state, moved to go touch them. But their brain wasn’t functioning properly, and between the blood loss and the sleep deprivation, it looked like the 70’s threw up on Hero’s entire world. So, when attempting to move, their legs didn’t want to, resulting in them falling to the ground.

But they didn’t. Villain caught them.

before yoy come at me sluggishness is a real word ok

also i hate the way delirious is spelled liie i knew how to spell it i didnt look it up i js hate it like it shoyld be delerious or something

nvm delerious looks stupid but like u get the idea the i's js dont get the message across yknow

----

It was uncomfortably cold in Villain's bedroom that night.

He shivered, despite the multiple blankets that covered him from head to toe.

Villain rolled over to look at the clock: 4:40 am.

Jesus.

He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep for the hundredth time. And slowly, he felt the soft fog of dreamland begin to seep into his head.

Drifting, drifting...

Knock, knock, knock.

He flinched, but squeezed his eyes tighter.

Knock knock knock.

You've got to be shitting me.

He took his pillow from under his head and put it onto his face, covering his eyes and ears. But then, he heard a voice.

"Villain, let me in!! It's an emergency!"

He knew that voice.

Villain's eyes cracked open as he tossed the pillow off his face. He begrudgingly pulled the blankets off himself and managed to crawl out of bed, though he did run into the wall twice, and groggily trudged to the door, scooting clothes out of the way with his feet and fumbling with the key.

Upon opening the door and seeing his nemesis in the state they were in, all the sluggishness left his body. He heard them mumble something about abs before collapsing forward into his arms.

"What the fuck?"

Villain lifted up Hero and tried to carry them as carefully as possible to the couch. He ran his eyes over their body, trying to figure out exactly what needed to be a priority, but after seeing yhe gash in their side he didnt waste anymore time and went to grab the first aid kit.

Villain went as fast as he could coming back. He lifted up Hero and rested their back on his lap.

"Idon't know why you came here, given that I'm your nemesis, dumbass."

He then began to clean the wound, resisting the urge to press into it. Old habits die hard.

"I mean, not only do I have zero medical knowledge whatsoever, but I'm also supposed to hate you."

Villain reached into the kit and grabbed a roll of gauze, wrapping up their sliced arm and abdomen.

"I mean, to be fair, you were probably a little bit delirious after getting hacked up like that. But still. Me? I could kill you when this is over, knowing you're injured. Or even better, I could kill you now! You're completely helpless, Hero. What's stopping me from ending you, right now?"

He turned their head a bit to inspect it, noticing a bruise on their throat and dried blood all over their nose and mouth.

Villain sighed, moving a hand to tuck a hair out of their face.

"Idiot", he mumbled.

He placed Hero's head back on the couch, and continued to scan them for more injuries.

When everythinf was cleaned and bandaged snd stiched uo, he carefully lifted them up in a bridal carry and placed them onto the unused side of his bed.

He looked at their face for a moment, before tucking a stray hair behind their ear.

He sighed.

The next few days were brutal. But Hero never gave in.

Villain had thought it would take him, say, two days. Two days to break. Hit back, resist, even just a complaint. A scream. A groan. But Hero was completely silent during the whole ordeal. A few tears, sure, but that was allowed. That was a granted freedom.

It had been one week. When Villain walked into the cell on Saturday evening, Hero stood up as best he could. He swayed back and forth, and his half-lidded eyes were lifeless.

"We meet again."

He just blinked.

"Not going to say anything back? How rude."

"H-hi, 'illam." He spoke very softly, and his voice was extremely scratchy.

Villain leaned in and smirked. "Hi Hero." She and the beaten man stared at each other for a few moments. He felt warmth coming from her and leaned into the comfort. He almost fell onto her before she stepped to the side and let him fall onto the cold floor. He caught himself before faceplanting and sat there for a second before getting back up.

She began to circle around him like a vulture circles a dead animal.

"Its been one week. You haven't broken the agreement yet." She paused behind him. He shook his head.

"Will you?"

He just stared straight ahead. She smiled.

"Thats called having manners, dipshit."

"Why were you even at my house in the first place if not to drink my blood? Huh?"

"You told me to come over and that it was urgent."

ganggg i like this one a lot😬

----

"Okay, is- is tighter fine? Wait, no, don't answer that. Be quiet. S-stay still. I'll tie you up and you're gonna have to deal with it."

"Aye-aye, captain." Hero mocked.

"No- No talking. Alright? Be quiet."

"First time, huh?"

Henchman felt the red creep onto his cheeks. "Shut up." He kneeled and grabbed an ankle monitor, struggling to fasten it to their leg.

"Let me help you with that, pretty."

Henchman blushed harder as Hero leaned over. Too close, too close, too clo-

"First, you're gonna want to..." Hero's voice faded out as Henchman stared at them. No wonder Villain was in love.

"Then set the code to 420.." Henchman nodded and mindlessly clicked buttons, focused on the intricate details of their irises.

"If you think I'm good-looking, just say so." Henchman snapped back to reality: the dark and damp cell, crusted with mold and bloodstains on the walls, and a jaw-dropping Hero making direct eye contact with him. Still too close for comfort.

The redness was back.

"I-I don't- What makes you t-think that I-"

"It's all over your face, pretty. Speaking of which..."

They drew their hand out from behind them and wiped the Henchmans cheek with their gloved thumb.

Hero chuckled. "Blood. Cute."

Henchman gulped before shaking his head. Snap out of it.

"Didn't I... You were tied up.. weren't you?"

He stood up.

"What...What did you-"

Hero stood up, and Henchman looked down at their hands. A knife. Fuck.

They smiled. "Look, you're a pretty little thing. I wouldn't want to damage you. So let's do this the easy way. How do I get out of here?"

Henchman stuttered. "I-I'm not in a p-position to-"

Hero slammed them against the wall, holding the knife to their neck. "How about now?"

"AH, AH, Don't hurt me, we k-keep our chloroform in the supply closet. Jars of it. Please d-dont hurt m-me. The exit is on the floor right above us. J-just, please, dont hurt me. Pl-please."

Hero paused for a moment.

Was that convincing enough? Oh god.

They smiled and backed up toward the door, pointing the knife at him. "Thanks for being such a doll, pretty. This has been lovely, really. When Villain finds you tied up here and fires you, give me a call. Not for a job or anything, but, y'know." They winked and shut the door behind them.

Not even a minute later, Henchman was contemplating his existence when a hand reached from the other side of the bars and covered his mouth with a rag.

"Oh f-fuck.. y-youu...."

Villains steps rchoed through thr hallway.

"Oh, Hero!!" He sang. "I'm so glad you came to.. visit...."

He glared at his tied up lackey, complete with a bow on his head and a note in his mouth.

Villain swung the door open and plucked the note from his mouth angrily.

"A gift for you, love. P.S, are all your henchmen this-" he looked at Henchman and clenched his jaw, "-cute?"

Ugh.

She hated work.

Every day, it was the same: beat some heroes, sneer at them. Sometimes she even added some flirtatious banter, but it never went anywhere. Not that she wanted it to.

It was so dull.

The villain grabbed the left side of her jaw, tilting her head the opposite way, forcing it to pop under the pressure.

She wasn’t a shallow person. Sure, the current batch of sprightly vigilantes weren’t the sweetest eye-candy, but their personalities were sour too. After winning fights, they wouldn’t rub it in her face. After losing, they wouldn’t crawl on the ground in shame. They would fight, and when it was over, they’d walk back to whatever hole they crawled out of.

It was so obnoxious.

The street was dark, besides the occasional streetlight leaving reflections on the ebony road below. ATM machines appeared in front of closed coffee shops and cookie cutter oak trees dotted the sidewalk. The air had a bit of a bite to it, and certainly Villains nose was bright red.

How embarrassing.

Luckily, there was no one around to see it.

She had started at her latest fight, which she had gotten out of with no injuries (save for a bloody nose), and ten minutes later she was at her apartment, nodding at the doorman and making her way to the elevator. The floor was lined with velvety green carpeting, which wouldn’t be tacky if the walls weren’t. They were covered in portraits of women from the 20s, all made of plastic.

How Villain ended up living there, she’ll never know.

She walked into the elevator, acknowledging the operator with a nod and a “4, please”. The button dinged and she heard a whirring noise as she was taken to the fourth floor.

The elevator dinged as the doors released and Villain walked out. She followed the trail of ugly fluorescent lights until she found the door labeled 204, turned her key until the lock clicked, and swung open the door.

That’s weird. I don’t remember leaving the lights on.

More than weird, actually. Nothing was a coincidence when you’re the most well known villain in the state.

She walked into the foyer, her hand quietly powering up at her side. Her feet were like mice, completely silent.

Just then, from behind her, her office chair spun around.

“Hey honeybun. Your wallpaper is ugly as fuck.”

Villain whipped around, firing a laser right next to Hero’s head.

“GAHH!!”

Her shocked expression calmed a bit when she saw it was hero.

“Hey, watch it! At least take me out to dinner first.”

Thoughts fired through Villains head so quickly, one could actually see the gears turning.

Suddenly, she jolted and ran to her bedroom. “MY PLANS!”

“For the freeze ray? Read ‘em. You’re missing a conductor in the second valve on the right.”

Villain stopped. “Oh. What about my-“

“Love potion? Add less rosemary and a little more cinnamon. Stir it clockwise.”

“Well-“

“I also read about the llama pants. I’m a little concerned about your thought process, but i would maybe say don’t use maple syrup.”

Villain stood like a deer in the headlights.

"So-"

"Why am I here-," Hero interrupted, "Good question. Basically-"

Villain sighed. "Save it, Hero. Go find another Villain to mess with. Granted, they wont tolerate you for as long as I have, but maybe that's a good thing."

Hero jokingly frowned. "Heyyy!! Not nice. And I'm here for an important reason, if you'll let me speak."

"Hero, I can promise you, I don't care. Now leave." Villain furrowed her brow, concentrating, as her irises turned purple.

Hero noticed. "Hey, wait, no! Stop, stop, stop, you'll really want to hear this I promise!"

A purple energy surrounded their body as they slowly floated above where they were sitting and towards the door.

"Sorry Hero. I've missed fighting you, I guess. Let's do this again sometime. Toodles!" Hero's body was halfway out the door when they started holding onto the frame, grimacing as they used all their strength to hold on.

"You're starting to really bug me." Villain stared at Hero's fingers, concentrating, moving each one off the doorframe, one by one, until they only had one hand holding on.

"Villain!! Its about Sidekick!"

Immediately, the purple color faded from Hero's body and they dropped to the floor with a groan. "My back..."

Villain, however, wasn't amused. Her face fell, and her eyes widened in shock.

this one goes out to you @kamiozo u a real one 😘

On the moody evening of September 22nd, the sunset was subpar. According to Civilian, at least.

"You know, I never get sick of looking at you."

Sidekick rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, and that eyeroll! The famous Sidekick sarcasm! It's just perfect."

He'd never roll her eyes around her again.

"Just for me." Civilain mumbled.

Weirdest.

Kidnapping.

Ever.

He tried to speak, but it was muffled by the gag.

"What's that, hon?"

He spoke gibberish again, to reiterate the fully operational status of the gag.

Civilian walked over to him and sighed as she removed it. "What?"

"What I was trying to say, is that if you really want Hero and Villain here, why not just kidnap them? Why involve me at all?"

Civilian smiled. "That's a great question, sweetcakes."

Sidekick scrunched his face in disgust.

"The answer isn't very satisfying, I'm afraid, but it's the truth- I'm not strong enough for Villain.

Sure, after such a long hiatus, Hero's gotten weak. But Villain's been practicing and staying sharp.

She's a force to be reckoned with. You're the perfect target: you have a history with both Villain and Hero, and, no offense, but you're... let's just say you're easy to capture."

Sidekick frowned.

"Plus, it's not like I'm against having you here."

He thought for a moment, but while he was thinking, she slipped the gag back on.

"Hey!" He attempted to say, but the word was unrecognizable.

"Sorry hon. Just business. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go check up on our dearest friends, Hero and Villain, just to make sure they're on track. Ill be back soon!"

Once she was gone, he tried to remove his bonds (again) but to no avail (again).

So he tried plan B.

He closed his eyes, and tried to fall asleep.

Getting into his dreamwalker state was easy. Falling asleep was the hard part, especially without his emergency stash of melatonin.

Despite his lack of sleep meds, he noticed himself start to drift off.

Almost there.

Just slowly, slowly drifting away.

Almost...

"GAHH!" Sidekick's eyes jolted open as he yelled. Electricity coursed through his veins, his knuckles were white from trying to keep himself from screaming.

When it was over, he gasped, blinking and looking around feverishly.

Just then, the door swung open, and in walked Civillian.

"Oh sweetcakes, did you try to activate your powers?"

He nodded, bug-eyed.

"Look over here." He did.

She pointed to a spot on the back of his arm that he couldn't see. "See this little thing?"

He nodded.

"This means that you can't activate your powers. If you try, you get zapped!"

Sidekick looked at her smiling face. He didn't think this was amusing whatsoever.

The thing is, for him, falling asleep without activating his powers would be like breathing without inhaling air.

But he can't activate his powers without being electrocuted.

His eyes widened with this new realization.

Civillain smiled.

The Assistant didn't know what to expect when villain had offered to take them out for lunch.

Ugh.

She hated work.

Every day, it was the same: beat some heroes, sneer at them. Sometimes she even added some flirtatious banter, but it never went anywhere. Not that she wanted it to.

It was so dull.

The villain grabbed the left side of her jaw, tilting her head the opposite way, forcing it to pop under the pressure.

She wasn’t a shallow person. Sure, the current batch of sprightly vigilantes weren’t the sweetest eye-candy, but their personalities were sour too. After winning fights, they wouldn’t rub it in her face. After losing, they wouldn’t crawl on the ground in shame. They would fight, and when it was over, they’d walk back to whatever hole they crawled out of.

It was so obnoxious.

The street was dark, besides the occasional streetlight leaving reflections on the ebony road below. ATM machines appeared in front of closed coffee shops and cookie cutter oak trees dotted the sidewalk. The air had a bit of a bite to it, and certainly Villains nose was bright red.

How embarrassing.

Luckily, there was no one around to see it.

She had started at her latest fight, which she had gotten out of with no injuries (save for a bloody nose), and ten minutes later she was at her apartment, nodding at the doorman and making her way to the elevator. The floor was lined with velvety green carpeting, which wouldn’t be tacky if the walls weren’t. They were covered in portraits of women from the 20s, all made of plastic.

How Villain ended up living there, she’ll never know.

She walked into the elevator, acknowledging the operator with a nod and a “4, please”. The button dinged and she heard a whirring noise as she was taken to the fourth floor.

The elevator dinged as the doors released and Villain walked out. She followed the trail of ugly fluorescent lights until she found the door labeled 204, turned her key until the lock clicked, and swung open the door.

That’s weird. I don’t remember leaving the lights on.

More than weird, actually. Nothing was a coincidence when you’re the most well known villain in the state.

She walked into the foyer, her hand quietly powering up at her side. Her feet were like mice, completely silent.

Just then, from behind her, her office chair spun around.

“Hey honeybun. Your wallpaper is ugly as fuck.”

Villain whipped around, firing a laser right next to Hero’s head.

“GAHH!!”

Her shocked expression calmed a bit when she saw it was hero.

“Hey, watch it! At least take me out to dinner first.”

Thoughts fired through Villains head so quickly, one could actually see the gears turning.

Suddenly, she jolted and ran to her bedroom. “MY PLANS!”

“For the freeze ray? Read ‘em. You’re missing a conductor in the second valve on the right.”

Villain stopped. “Oh. What about my-“

“Love potion? Add less rosemary and a little more cinnamon. Stir it clockwise.”

“Well-“

“I also read about the llama pants. I’m a little concerned about your thought process, but i would maybe say don’t use maple syrup.”

Villain stood like a deer in the headlights.

"So-"

"Why am I here-," Hero interrupted, "Good question. Basically-"

Villain sighed. "Save it, Hero. Go find another Villain to mess with. Granted, they wont tolerate you for as long as I have, but maybe that's a good thing."

Hero jokingly frowned. "Heyyy!! Not nice. And I'm here for an important reason, if you'll let me speak."

"Hero, I can promise you, I don't care. Now leave." Villain furrowed her brow, concentrating, as her irises turned purple.

Hero noticed. "Hey, wait, no! Stop, stop, stop, you'll really want to hear this I promise!"

A purple energy surrounded their body as they slowly floated above where they were sitting and towards the door.

"Sorry Hero. I've missed fighting you, I guess. Let's do this again sometime. Toodles!" Hero's body was halfway out the door when they started holding onto the frame, grimacing as they used all their strength to hold on.

"You're starting to really bug me." Villain stared at Hero's fingers, concentrating, moving each one off the doorframe, one by one, until they only had one hand holding on.

"Villain!! Its about Sidekick!"

Immediately, the purple color faded from Hero's body and they dropped to the floor with a groan. "My back..."

Villain, however, wasn't amused. Her face fell, and her eyes widened in shock.

YOO i’ve missed you 😭😭

im…probably fine. trying not to get swallowed by school doesn’t leave much time to write *sobbing and weeping* but i’ve been pretty productive recently which is cool!

YOO i’ve missed you 😭😭

im…probably fine. trying not to get swallowed by school doesn’t leave much time to write *sobbing and weeping* but i’ve been pretty productive recently which is cool!

“Do you work for me or not?”

“Well, I-” The hero paused, restarted. “Technically, yes.”

original prompt by @gingerly-writing !!!

----

Hero stared at the floor, clenching her fists.

"Yes, sir."

The mayor beamed. "Wonderful! I'm so glad we're on the same page."

She turned to leave, slamming the door behind her.

---------

Hero checked her watch. 7:56.

Villain should be getting here any second.

She excused herself from her clumsy dance partner and swhng open the door to the bathroom, locking it behind her.

As she rifled through her purse, she caught of a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

She looked quire good, avtually. She was wearing a dark blue gown with an empire waist and balloon sleeves, and a mask that matched, with blue feathers on the sides and gold stitching. Her hair was down, though perhaps she should've put it up for practicality reasons. No matter. It was down now, and she looked good.

Hero finally found what she was looking for- a small pistol- and put it in a hidden holster under the dress. She splashed her face with cold water, went over the plan once more in her head, and finally, left the bathroom. And as she was walking towards a waiter holding a tray of hors-d'œuvres, she happened to make eye contact with the exact person she was hoping to see.

Villain.

She took a stuffed mushroom and positioned herself in his line of sight, making sure to be discreet. He was talking with a few people, perhaps colleagues, perhaps strangers.

Hero scoffed. He looked annoyingly good.

Just then, Villain looked at her, and they made eye contact.

Gotcha.

He walked to where she was standing, and held out a hand.

"Dance with me?"

Hero rolled her eyes in a way that she hoped was charismatic. "At least ask me for my name, first."

He smirked. "That kinda ruins the point of a masquerade ball, dontcha think?"

"Touché." She laughed as she let him lead her to the dance floor, taking note of where the mayor was as well- sitting with his partner at the head of the table. Figures.

"You're acting awfully strange, mystery girl. Care to tell me what's going on?", Villain said, jokingly, snapping Hero out of her world of thought.

"Ha-ha," she said, deadpan. "I'm just distracted by everything. Everyone looks so-"

"Beautiful?" He looked at her. "Yeah. They sure do."

"Oh my god, shut up. That was so cheesy." She snickered.

Villain grinned. "Agh, sorry. It's a reflex- I was raised on Disney channel."

They waltzed in silence for a bit, never missing a beat. After a while, Hero pulled on his tie, signaling him to lower his head.

"Meet me in the courtyard by the giant topiary in 5 minutes. Come alone." She smiled at Villain before leaving him alone on the dance floor.

Once she was out of sight, she took off her heels and ran to the courtyard, being careful to stay clear of guests. When she finally found the giant topiary, she stopped behind it to catch her breath before taking the gun out of its holster and putting her heels back on.

Five minutes later, Villain showed up.

Bingo.

He stood for a moment, waiting for his dance partner to show.

Hero silently crept behind him, holding out the gun. He turned around.

Shit, he's hot.

She held the pistol steady and pressed it om his heart as he slowy raised his hands.

"We really must stop meeting like this. mystery girl."

She blushed. Fuck.

"Cut the crap, Villain." He flinched. "We need to talk."

"And here I was thinking there wouldn't be much talking. Thats alright."

"Shut up."

Villain put a hand to his mouth and pretended to zip it shut.

She took off her mask for a moment. "I have a proposition for you."

"Im all ears."

"The mayor asked me to kill you."

Villain didn't even blink. "Do you know what a proposition is?"

She ignored him, and continued. "Actually, it was less of a question and more of an order. He threatened me too. If I dont kill you, he'll kill me."

Villain nodded. "Sounds like you know what to do then. Don't worry, I'll make sure no one uses your urn as a trash can."

"Very funny." Hero said, deadpan. "This is where you come in. You see, I have a few snipers here and there that are pointing right at you. I give them the word, and they pull the trigger without hesitation. Hear me?"

"Loud and clear, sir."

"Great." Hero tapped the gun on Villain's chest a few times.

"What do you want me to do?"

It’s something I’ve noticed over the past two years of using this site. It was gradual, imperceptible at first, something that most would brush off as a silly concern, or fault Tumblr algorithm for. While it’s true that Tumblr’s engine leaves a lot to be desired, I’ve noticed that even popular blogs have started to dwindle in terms of interaction or motivation. There could be a lot of reasons for this, but the biggest two I’ve noticed, experienced myself, and asked fellow writers about is this: (1) content being stolen, and (2) lack of feedback or interaction. I’ve never seen any logical person defend content being stolen, so I want to address point 2 instead.

Lack of feedback and interaction. I’m not saying this on my behalf so much as I’m saying this for friends and smaller blogs who have lost motivation to write. I was looking at my yandere writing blogs list the other day and noticed that a good majority of them no longer write. I usually update the list every few months, and by that point, more and more writers have stopped writing entirely. This isn’t a problem confined solely to the yandere fandom; in fact, there’s less writing blogs in general these days, especially ones that are active. I used to run a very popular BNHA blog with some friends, but that dissolved after our content was stolen and our followers stopped interacting as much. Out of our 8,500 followers, we hardly got 0.015% notes (~128 notes) on an average post. Tumblr is to blame for the lack of eyes seeing our posts, for sure, but that also means that at least 128 people saw one post and didn’t leave a comment or ask. We were considered a big blog; imagine what it’s like on a small blog.

My friend recently made a post that summed this up perfectly: 

“I’ve seen people say “Be grateful that people even lurk on your page.” and, while I get the message they’re trying to say, it’s more dismissive and hurtful in my opinion. Like you’re saying, “Oh your writing is mediocre, you should be grateful people even LOOK at it.”

Me personally? I’ve heard the argument that AO3 is a better place to post fanfics, and while that might be true, I’ve had friends experience firsthand the lack of interaction there too. I’ve heard the argument that interacting with some writers is intimidating (me included). I’ve heard that argument that followers might be too shy to interact. I’ve heard the argument that writers should write for themselves and not for views / likes / reblogs / etc, and while that’s ideal, it’s not sustainable for everyone. What works for one writer won’t work for another, but you know what will? Interaction.

That comment or ask that took you 2 seconds to write? We remember it. That reblog with the compliments in the tags? We remember it. Every single ‘named’ anon we get (heart anon, sunflower anon, etc)? We remember them. And the best part is? It’s actually easier to do these things on Tumblr since you have the option to send anonymous asks or make a sideblog specifically for reblogs! Trust me, whether the lack of interaction is the cause of a lack of motivation or what have you, every writer appreciates feedback (don’t be shy to offer some critique or compliments) or even a simple keyboard smash with some emojis. Even sitting down for 5 min a day per week to comment on your favorite writers’ new pieces makes a huge difference. Personally, since Tumblr’s activity feed is beyond terrible and I have over 1,500 posts, I don’t always see new reblogs or comments on my content; asks though? Always see those, can never go wrong with those. If you don’t want to reblog or leave a comment, then you can never go wrong with an anonymous ask. 

As my wise friend says: writing is an art, and in order to improve that art, we need other people’s eyes to see what we don’t.

He stopped in his tracks.

“What?”

“Are you hard of hearing? I said leave me. Fuck off. Go away. Et cetera.”

The Villain raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Now why would I-“

“Because you’re a villain,” Civilian spat, “And that’s what you’re supposed to do. So I’ll ask you one more time.”

He stared at the bleeding citizen.