Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
*Rated T for Teen (Unless Otherwise Noted) – Sexual Themes, Language
Author's Note – There seems to be a war going on around Fanfic. I'd thought of staying out of the conflict and letting things run its course, but it seems that it is impossible now. So I'm going to set some things straight.
ATTENTION FANFIC READERS AND AUTHORS!
In the case of my good friend, Reizbar-Ookami, she specifically stated that she "seriously contemplated leaving fanfiction and deleting all of her stories just to spite." This means that she was so upset by some of the responses she received for her drabble that it made her not want to write anymore. And that is a very terrible feeling. She is a sweet and sensitive person. But attacking an author because they wrote something in a way readers didn't like is very disrespectful.
Every author on this site spends a lot of time working on their fics. They devote more time and energy than you can possibly know. And I do. I know what it's like 'behind-the-scenes' for a fanfic author since I am close friends with Reiz and a few others.
Our purpose as authors is to entertain you, to give you a temporary escape from your everyday lives, if only briefly. Our fics are here solely for you to jump into a different universe, watching your favorite characters develop and grow in a multitude of ways. There are no restrictions on how to interpret a character or how that character can be portrayed. As in our own live—all of us—we change throughout the course of time and the situations we are met with. The same goes for the characters we choose to represent in our fics. No one's personality—or who they are—is ever set in stone. You'll often find that change can occur at any time. This site is a place where you can express yourself. And I encourage everyone to do so.
And so this brings us to our next case, Fanfic Readers. Most times the reviews we authors receive are absolutely wonderful. But then there are some anonymous reviews, as well as reviews from people who want to be known, who attack said authors for what they write and how they portray characters. Sometimes they even attack the readers of these fics.
In my fic Fan Club, I received such a review. Here is an excerpt from what was written: "How anyone and I mean ANYONE finds this good writing and worthy of reading beyond the first chapter must really have NO taste or NOT CARE about Yu Gi Oh and its characters because this was an abomination to the franchise." The whole review can be found under the reviews for Fan Club.
Normally, I would turn a blind eye to reviews like this. But when individuals attack my readers, I really take offense. And you know what I do? I defend you! Why? Because I care about my readers and I respect you, because without you guys, I wouldn't go out of my way to write these fics.
What we authors right now are asking for is to be a little more appreciated for what we do. Sometimes readers forget that there is a human being who writes these fics and that we have feelings. And these feelings can be hurt. We value constructive criticism, but don't attack us directly because you weren't crazy about how a particular fic went, or who's seme or uke.
If you don't like something, that's fine. If you do like something, that's fine, too. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but there is a right way to go about doing it. And some of you have been going about it the wrong way. But I hope that this very long message has cleared some things up for all of you. And I hope that you will consider everything I've said. Perhaps we can all come to an understanding.
Thank you for your time, patience, and support.
Sincerely,
Willowsnake
Love Fern II (Rated T)
Seto was on the verge of having a heart attack. How could things have gotten so out of hand so fast? He'd only decided to bring Bob the Love Fern to his office at Kaiba Corp. to prevent Joey from asking him about it and inspecting it every two seconds. The brunet had placed Bob on his desk, watered it every single day, made sure it had an appropriate amount of sunlight and fresh air…
AND NOW IT WAS DYING!
Bob, which had once been lush and green, was now a sickly yellow and droopy. What had happened? He hadn't done anything wrong and the plant was dead!
…Joey was going to kill him.
"Mr. Kaiba? Mr. Wheeler is here to see you," came a nasally voice from the intercom. Seto felt like strangling his secretary. At a time like this, seeing Joey was the last thing he wanted.
"Let him in," the brunet responded. Did his voice just crack?
Joey burst into the room with a smile on his face, but that quickly faded when his eyes landed on Bob. He slowly approached the desk, his hand reaching out to lightly stroke one of the leaves.
"Seto?" the blond croaked. "What did ya do?"
"I-I didn't do anything! Bob is just…he's sleeping! Yes! He's just sleeping!" Seto cringed at his excuse. Not even a child would believe that.
"He's dead, Seto," Joey deadpanned, looking up at the brunet.
At this, he gave in. "I don't know how it happened. I swear! I watered him every fucking day, made sure he got sunlight…I even left a fucking window open so he could get some air!" Boy, did he feel stupid referring to this plant as a person.
Joey looked back at the plant and cocked his head to the side. The next thing Seto knew the blond bent forward and sniffed. What the hell was he doing? Realization flashed across Joey's face and he started piecing things together, which only made the brunet even more confused. Picking up Bob, the blond stormed out of the office, Seto on his heels.
But instead of heading for the elevator like the CEO thought he would, Joey stopped in front of his secretary's desk, slamming Bob down on it.
"You," the blond spat.
His secretary looked hesitant and…guilty?
"Ya killed Bob," Joey declared, eyeing her angrily.
"I did no such thing!" she protested.
"Shut the hell up! I know ya did it! When I came by ya before goin' in there, I noticed that ya smelled like bleach! And Bob also smells like bleach! You've been poisonin' Bob!"
Seto's secretary gaped at him. "Even if that were true, why would I do such a thing?"
"Because you're jealous!" Joey shouted, slamming his hands down on her desk. "Ya knew about love ferns because I heard ya talkin' about the movie the other day. And ya figured that if Bob died that I would leave Seto. As if that would ever give ya a chance with him!"
"He's more deserving of me than he is of you! You're nothing but street scum!"
Seto was about to step in, but Joey beat him to it.
"Please! Ya could get a sex change and I'd still have more of a chance with him than ya, even if I shaved my head and decided that I'd want to live out my life as a fuckin' mime!"
"How dare you speak to me that way!"
"No," Joey said softly. "How dare ya think that I'd let somethin' like this get between me and Seto. He's the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company and he went out of his way to take care of a plant because it meant somethin' to me. He wanted to make me happy. He was willin' to try even if it meant bein' ridiculed or even if he killed the damn thing.
"Hell, he even referred to it as Bob! What kind of a boyfriend does that? I'll tell ya. One who respects me. One who would do anythin' to show me that I mean the world to him. I love Seto. And he loves me.
"Now get your fuckin' ass outta this buildin'! You're fired! Ya got that?" Joey roared.
"You can't fire me!" she squawked, looking at Seto for help. She didn't receive it.
"You heard him," Seto stated coldly. "Now get out."
Grabbing as many of her things as she could, the former secretary bolted for the nearest exit.
Joey turned around then, wrapping his arms around Seto's neck before pulling him into the sweetest kiss they'd ever shared.
"I love you so much, Joey," he sighed, going in for another kiss. "So much."
"I love ya, too," the blond chuckled. "How about we forget the whole love fern thing?"
No argument there.
"I was kinda thinkin' we could get a pet anyway."
Seto blanched. First a plant, now a live animal? Well, it could have been a human being. But, he supposed a pet would do them just fine for now.
Author's Note – Thank you.
