bela

I can't believe I have to still address this—since this continues to come up even after my previous statements, I want to make one final clarification. I've already said that my admins do not speak on my behalf and are not responsible for announcing, confirming, or deciding anything about my stories. That has not changed. At this point, I don't know how to make that any clearer. I understand that the concern being raised now is about "fairness" because my admins have direct access to me and, as part of the team, may naturally be closer to me than other readers are. But being closer to the author does not mean being given authority over the story, nor does it mean that a personal opinion suddenly becomes official information. My team members are also readers. They are allowed to have opinions, theories, preferences, and favorite ships. They can discuss the stories and react to them like readers do. What they cannot do is speak for me or make canon decisions on my behalf, and they have not been doing that. If an admin has an opinion about a story, that opinion is still just their opinion. If they happen to be right, that doesn't retroactively make their opinion an official confirmation. And if they happen to have discussed something with me as a reader, that still doesn't make them a spokesperson for me. If any of this led you to believe that something had been officially confirmed when it hadn't been, then I genuinely apologize for the confusion. That was never my intention, and I hope this makes everything clear moving forward. I also want to address the idea that readers were given "false hopes." The relationships in these stories were not decided recently. They were not decided by my admins. They were not decided by reader reactions, ship popularity, or anything that has happened over the past few weeks. They were decided by ME. MONTHS before you even knew there was going to be a second gen. These are my characters. This is my story. The major relationship arcs were planned from the very beginning, and those decisions have remained consistent. If readers choose to speculate, theorize, or hope for a particular outcome, that's completely normal. But speculation and hope are not the same thing as a promise from the author. I have never announced that the endgames were undecided, and I have never told readers to expect a particular pairing. I've also seen claims that people were mocking other readers. If there are specific concerns about specific comments, please address what was actually said rather than assumptions about what people may have meant or believed. I don't think it's fair to accuse someone of something without being able to point to the actual behavior being referred to. As for my team, I've already spoken with them privately. Those conversations will remain private. I don't believe all internal discussions need to become public statements just to prove that something has been addressed. You know my position, and my previous statement was already my position. I will confirm or debunk things about my stories when I choose to. I've already chosen to clarify some things, and I've also deliberately left other things unconfirmed because those are my decisions as the author. If you want to imagine a different ending/pairing, that's what theories, AUs, fanworks, and your own stories are for! I genuinely love that people do those things. But the canon of my books is ultimately mine to decide. For other comments, if you no longer enjoy my stories, that's completely fine. I don't want anyone reading something they no longer want to read. But I don't think it's fair to say that I created a divide between my readers for this. I have never asked anyone to fight over ships (I am AGAINST it) and I've consistently encouraged people to enjoy their theories, edits, AUs, and favorite pairings. You were allowed to hope for whoever you wanted. But hope isn't confirmation, and a theory not becoming canon doesn't mean I misled you. If you felt that regardless, then I am sorry. Do not punish other readers for liking or creating for a different ship, either. Mga subtweets, parinigan, hostility, or making others feel unwelcome because of a ship—I don't advocate for any of that. Para sa ship? No. There are bigger and more important things in the world. I've spent the past week in Japan and the week before that at MIBF, and from my end, I genuinely thought we were all just having fun with the stories. I was having fun seeing the ships, the edits, the AUs, the theories, all of it. That's what I thought we were creating together. So seeing that turn into this much hostility over ship wars is honestly not something I want to encourage or participate in. I'm incredibly grateful that you care this much about my characters, but I don't want that care to come at the expense of other readers. Most importantly, I am incredibly grateful for the love, enthusiasm, creativity, theories, edits, fan art, playlists, AUs, and discussions that have come out of these stories. I genuinely love and appreciate the time and effort you've invested into seeing people care this much about these characters. But I want that enthusiasm to remain RESPECTFUL. I have already addressed this three times in the past 24 hours. I have explained my position, clarified the role of my admins, and addressed the concerns being raised. I believe that is what accountability looks like here: I am the author, this is my team, and when something involving my team is brought to my attention, I address it. I have spoken to them privately, and I have also addressed the matter publicly. I don't think continuing to issue statements until everyone agrees with my answer is productive, nor do I think I'm required to keep defending decisions about my own stories. These are stories. These are characters I created, and the decisions about where their stories go are mine. Please let us enjoy them that way. I will continue to RT, like, and be appreciative of whatever content I see in relation to my stories. Thank you so much. This will be the last time I address this matter. Thank you!