#//ask or an actual starter i haven't decided on it yet

[waldau-archived]

wanna be yours — chwe hansol | 2,208 words | fluff

i'm asexual as fuck (the irony) but friends with benefits to lovers is a delicious trope i would love to see more of. title from i wanna be yours by arctic monkeys.

gender neutral reader. college!au. warnings: mentions of sex but no actual descriptions of anything. also reader is mentioned not to like coffee, because i dislike coffee. soz <3

the last person you expected to see tonight was chwe vernon, dressed in his usual bomber jacket and slacks. yet here he is, crashing into the empty place on the sofa next to you. he doesn't say a word, simply squeezes his eyes shut and throws a hand over his eyes. dino keeps talking like there's been no interruption, but you're hyperaware of the way your legs are almost touching.

you and vernon didn't really run in the same circles before you got together, so it is odd to see him here amidst all of your friends.

"hey," you say, ducking down so you don't disturb the others.

"hurts," he says back, pressing his face into your shoulder. you look around, but no one really seems to be paying attention to you, some of them engrossed in beer pong and the others making idle conversation.

"what does?"

"my...head."

you wince in sympathy. "drank a lot?"

he shakes his head. "not that much. but i can't find seungkwan, and he has the keys to our dorm."

"so you decided to find...me?"

"better you than anyone else."

you don't respond to that, and you can tell by the way his head grows heavier on your shoulder within the next few minutes means he's asleep.

the first few months of your relationship with vernon were based solely on sex. it's the usual story — you met at another of minghao's parties (really, a catalyst for trouble), and hit it off surprisingly well with vernon. there was something you saw between you both and following it ended up with you in his bedroom.

when it was time for you to leave, it somehow didn't feel awkward. so you decided to test the arrangement another time. and another. and it's led you to whatever you have now, which is arguably more complicated than a normal relationship.

for starters, the past few weeks vernon's been visiting your dorm haven't been about sex. no, you've had actual arguments about which lord of the rings movie is the best and why shrek deserves yet another sequel. you've even baked with him, for heaven's sake (which ended not so well).

it's been less about sex and more about you fighting the urge to cuddle vernon when he throws an arm over your shoulder, or when he shares his blanket with you when you're feeling cold (which happens to be your blanket in the first place).

long story short, you like him, and he makes you feel some type of way you can't possibly let him know.

vernon twitches a bit when you pick up your cup from the table, toying with it but not actually drinking from it. you rest your hand on his thigh, hoping he doesn't wake up, while you contribute to the conversation every now and then. you pointedly ignore the looks dino's giving you.

this means nothing. vernon only found you because he knows you the most out of everyone here. he'd be in his own place by now if he'd found seungkwan.

still, there's something about the fact that he trusts you enough to fall asleep on you in front of people he's not entirely familiar with. that has to count for something, right?

people keep entering and leaving the room as the party goes on into the night. when the person next to you gets up to leave, you shift a bit down the sofa and pull vernon's head into your lap so his neck doesn't hurt when he wakes up. dino asks if he should wait for you before he leaves, but you make him go. it's not often you get to be like this with vernon, and you'd much rather he got back in one piece.

it's only when your back twinges and the music begins dying down and you remember you have an essay due next week you haven't begun working on that you decide to wake him up. you look down at the boy in your lap. he looks so much at ease, face devoid of the frown he sports every now and then. you feel almost guilty waking him up.

"vernon," you say, pushing his shoulder. "get up, both of us need to sleep."

vernon blinks his eyes open slowly. "wha'?"

"you. me. sleep. now."

"you want to sleep together? now?"

you trip on your words. "that's not what— i just need my sleep, sol." you bite your tongue at the name that slips out of your mouth. he doesn't mind his close friends calling him that, but you don't think you're there. or you'll ever get there.

"oh," he says, pushing himself up to sit.

"feeling better?"

"much," he says, running a hand through his hair. "but i had to tell you something, actually." he looks shifty. that gets your attention — vernon is many things, but he's never hesitant.

"i, um. i think we should stop seeing each other."

that shocks you the way falling into an icy cold pool would, the water taking no time to permeate your clothes and sting your skin with the cold and rendering you somewhat unable to breathe when it finally hits. "i'm sorry?"

"i said, i think we should stop seeing each other. not that the sex was bad," he says hastily, and you wince. that's a weird thing to say. "no, really. it's been great. it's just...i like someone, like, actually like them, and i feel being in this relationship would be weird."

you can't resist. "do i know them?"

vernon meets your eyes briefly before they dart away to the blank television screen in front of you. "i guess you could say that."

you rack your brains for who it could be. some names pop up in your mind: a girl from his friend group you've spoken to a few times, another from the library, the guy in english lit — but none of them shine as the number one contender for his affections.

you're one of the few close friends vernon has, but it doesn't matter. of course he wouldn't like you like that.

"fine," you say, feeling anything but. "okay."

vernon's looking at you like you're an injured puppy.

"i hope you get with whoever it is," you say, aware you sound a bit snappish, but you don't care. it's not your fault for liking someone as brilliant as vernon, only to be reminded that he doesn't really like you back. you're certain he likes your body more than he likes you, anyway.

"that's it?"

"what?"

"you're fine with it? just like that?"

you frown. "i'm not going to stop you if you want to go. we're not together. you should be with someone you really like."

"sweetheart..."

you shudder at the nickname that falls from his lips. you always like hearing it, more so the fact that vernon says it unconsciously. but now it sounds like a nail scraping against a chalkboard. you're not the sweetheart he wants. "i have a couple of classes in the morning."

"wait. it's a saturday."

"so?"

"we don't have classes on saturdays."

"yeah, well, that's you," you say, pulling out your phone to check the time. it's much later than you expected it to be. "dino's in the lab on weekends and i promised to help him out this time."

"listen—"

"i'll be glad if you let me go, vernon. i shouldn't have stayed this late in the first place."

"why are you acting so weirdly?"

you look up to see him frowning at you. why are you acting so weird, huh?

"i'm not. i just— i don't have to justify anything to you." you know you're being ruder than the situation calls for, but vernon is one of a kind. he'd taken to you despite the fact that you weren't one of the "popular" ones when you started out, and you'd managed to find a lot of common ground with him.

but the fact that you thought he'd like you back was stupidity on your part. you curse dino for hinting vernon might like you back.

"i'm sorry," you say, resting a hand on vernon's arm for a moment. he moves back at the touch and your stomach sinks even further. "i'm sorry this didn't work out. i hope you get with whoever you like. i'm just...tired. a bit. i hope this doesn't mean we'll...stop being friends?" it's a stupid thing to ask, but it's your last resort.

"i would," vernon says, crossing his arms, "if they weren't so dense."

"what?"

"i'd love to get with them if they realized i don't call anyone else sweetheart."

you freeze. you become aware of the people still present in the room, someone laughing, bottles clinking, bass still thumping, but— sweetheart?

"what are you trying to say, vernon?" you ask, making your voice as steady as possible.

"i'm trying to say that the person i want to get with doesn't really understand what flirting is."

you almost drop your phone. "no. vernon, you're not doing this. you don't mean it."

"i do."

"vern—"

"i'm not drunk anymore, see? and i do mean it. i don't just want us to be friends with benefits. i want us to be more. i want to take you out to dinner and stay up hearing you talk about why freud is the worst person you've ever had to read about. i want to watch whatever the heck it is you like. i want to date you. if you want me to, that is."

you're more surprised at how lucidly he's speaking, without a pause, more than what he's saying. but the meaning of his words slams into you like a tidal wave hardly a minute later. "if i want to, he says," you laugh helplessly.

vernon raises a perfect eyebrow. "well?"

you sigh and fiddle with your phone cover. "i don't— i've never been in a real relationship. not a long term one."

vernon moves closer to you, your knees now pressed against each other despite the fact that there's no one else on the sofa you're sharing. you can't even bring yourself to care about all the other people in the room. "really?"

you nod, feeling a strange sense of embarrassment creep up your neck. vernon simply lays a hand on your thigh. "hey. you know that's not a bad thing, right?"

you shrug.

"it's not," he repeats, rubbing his thumb across your knee. "and it doesn't bother me. is that what's troubling you?"

you shake your head. "you're just...the first person to want to be with me, even if it's just for sex."

"hey, it hasn't been all for sex. what about all those movie marathons we had? and that one time i helped you bake a cake for jun?"

"you mean you tried?"

vernon flicks your forehead, but moves in immediately to kiss it. the slight touch has you burning up, and you pray he doesn't feel it. "yeah. tried. but that's the thing, isn't it? it wasn't always about the sex for me. was it...the same for you?"

you can't get yourself to lie now. "it was," you say, putting your phone down and taking his free hand, fiddling with his fingers. "it is. i didn't mean to clam up like that. it's just...i want this with you, too, vernon. i've spent so long thinking about it. i'm sorry."

vernon sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "don't apologize, sweetheart. and it's a relief. i've never felt this way with anyone before. also, i've only had a couple of flings before you, but i really want this to go somewhere. and i want to try it with you."

you try to speak, but nothing comes out. you bury your face in your hands. "aren't you supposed to be drunk?" you ask.

"you always sober me up, sweetheart."

you shake your head and let it fall against the back of the sofa, vernon's hand cushioning the fall. there's silence for a while before he speaks.

"you know, no one's like that."

"like what?" you ask, slightly affronted. "is that supposed to be an insult or a pick-up line?"

vernon laughs a breathy laugh. "no friend with benefits offers to look after their partner when they're bored or drunk or whatever. and they certainly don't show up to basement music shows. you're...really the only person who gets me, you know? but now that i know you, like, really like me..."

"like you back."

you love his grin. "can i take you out on a date?"

"i...don't drink coffee," you say breathlessly.

vernon raises an eyebrow.

"milkshakes. or i could drink coffee, maybe. you like it, so i can try."

"there. again. you're too nice for your own good."

"it's just...me. i can't help— mmph," you get cut off when vernon leans down and presses a kiss to your lips. and another. you push him away before someone notices and teases you.

"i'm going to get some sleep, and we'll meet tomorrow. at a good place. not in my bed."

"you mean today."

"do you want me to cancel on you?"

"no," vernon laughs against your hair. "tomorrow. anything you want."

[suzukiblu]

Can I ask how many stories you have with Lex as a more prominent character in the stories? Or where he actually makes an appearance? he's mentioned quite a bit, but he rarely makes an actual appearance. I just wanted to see if I managed to successfully find them all, but I probably haven't, so I figured I'd ask

Well one day this will all be yours is cartoon YJ as opposed to comics but is actually FINISHED and includes a significant amount of Good Dad/Bad Person Lex, which is my favorite kind of Lex, so there's that for starters. In addition, however, so far as stuff where he's not just a mostly non-speaking plot device or part of someone's traumatic backstory:

WIPs that prominently include Lex-

"hereditary behaviors", where Experiment Thirteen just woke up early in Cadmus and is very Luthor-possessive of its "father", and Lex is just like "alright I definitely did not forsee this chain of events but also let's see where this goes".

"I mean Match technically is also a Luthor", where Lex decides the Agenda has ripped off his IP and said ripoff is therefore HIS. Also tiny Lena II wants to host tea parties and corporate takeovers with her brand-new big/little brother and Match is just confused as to why his new owner isn't keeping him in a cell.

"the one where Kon's soulmark is fake", where Westfield had a fake copy of Clark's parental soulmark for Jon tattooed on Kon and Kon both hates that fact and just wants a fucking dad, and Lex has only had this stupid brat of a clone for a day and a half but if anything ever happens to him he is gonna kill everyone in the multiverse and then resurrect him once there's no one left to stop him.

WIPs that Lex just appears in-

"Amazon bb Kon", where closeted trans femme Kon finds out a) she has soulparents and b) they are Lex Luthor's two incredibly badass possibly-Amazonian-but-no-one-has-confirmed-yet bodyguards, and they have no idea what to do with their brand-new "son". Lex is mostly just there to say disparaging things about Superman and sign Hope and Mercy's paychecks, but he is there all the same.

"merfam drama. MERFAMA.", where Lex is the asshole antagonist and is just a horrible person who is keeping mer!Kon and mer!Clark prisoner in a fucked-up Sea World-esque park. Remix of someone else's fic.

Also he's due to cameo in when I see myself I always know where you are, though he won't be particularly plot-relevant or anything.

I thiiiiink that's everything I've currently got going with him having an on-screen role in it, though I've got a couple more ideas involving him that I might like to write once I knock out a few of my current WIPs, ideally. I really love to write Lex from basically every direction, he is just so enjoyable to write, the bastard.

[facetsofthecloset]

What order would you suggest reading Discworld in? :0

Oh my friend you have opened an entire Amazon warehouse of a can of worms, which is going under a cut because I'm so sorry, you've activated my trap card

1: Preamble

First, a caveat: I have not read ALL of the Discworld books yet. There's a bunch of the short stories and sort of "bonus content"-y stuff that I haven't got round to, and the last two books he wrote before he passed, (I Shall Wear Midnight and Shepherd's Crown) but I have read everything else!

So!

Ok, there are lots of “recommended reading order” lists out there for Discworld, and what they generally do is group books into subcategories based on the protagonists.

These are fine as a base structural framework to work from, but if you're asking me I'm guessing you want a more personalized recommendation, SO

It really depends on your interests! When I started Discworld I'd already been pilled on tumblr, seeing posts cross my dash every now and then (probably due to the Glorious 25th of May actually, which I'm spamming right now) about how great it was and how many books there were.

So I picked up the first book (The Color of Magic) even though everyone said don't start there, and I stuck to it because I'd kind of already decided to like the series, or at least be incredibly open-minded about it.

Listen. The Color of Magic was published in 1983, it was one of his earliest novels, and it's definitely a bit rough. But! Full of personality and chaos, from which stars will be born later on.

You can think of it as the primordial ooze, full of nutrients and ideas and things that could evolve, but kind of formless and a bit confused at the moment

2: The List

So if you're not a bit naive and desperate for a new fantasy series to be obsessed with as an adult and trusting wholeheartedly a lot of strangers online that things get really really good, and you want some proof upfront, this is my list of potential starters:

Reaper Man (Death subseries #2)

Witches Abroad (Witches subseries #3)

Feet of Clay (City Watch subseries #3)

The Truth (Industrial Revolution subseries #2)

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (YA standalone that takes place in the Discworld)

Going Postal (Industrial Revolution #4 or Moist von Lipwig subseries #1)

You'll notice that I've picked almost none of the "first book" in a subseries and I have good reasons for that! I'll talk about each book individually, but my main reason for starting you off a little ways into each subseries is that the Vibes(tm) of the very first book in a subseries are very different to the actual overall Vibes(tm) of the subseries generally, once it's had time to fill out and ripen a bit.

The books I've picked are the "early but recognizable" stages of most of the series', because I think you can go back to read the first ones as a sort of prequel treat for yourself later once you've started to run out of books in the series, which happens faster than you think given there's 41 of them.

But I'll go into more detail about that with the individual books! Again, I am so sorry this is so bloody long. I'm having coffee as we speak

3: List Breakdown

Reaper Man (Death subseries #2):

“What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?”

Protagonist: Death (the anthropomorphic personification)

Summary: Death is fired from his job for caring too much, and has to go live as a farmhand. In his absence, things start to get weird, leading to zombie wizards and sentient shopping carts.

Why start here: Death as a character shows up all over the place in Discworld, and he's wonderful. This is the 11th book in publishing order, and one of the first that had me almost crying at the end. A lot of the earlier books had me kinda going "ok that was fun but I feel like I'm missing something, why is it people keep going on about this series?" and while this book doesn't quite yet answer that question, it gave me a hell of a lot of motivation to keep going.

The Death subseries book before this, Mort, is also good! If you want to start there, that's fine. But to me, it's a prologue, and doesn't give you an accurate picture of what the Overall Vibes of the series are. Reaper Man is still also kind of a prologue in that sense, seeing as Death is not even the protagonist for all of the Death books, but I still say it's a good place to start. It sets the groundwork for future books but also...

...man that quote about the harvest, and yes the summary sounds absurd and it is because it's not just fantasy, it's parody and comedy, but in the same book you'll have moments where you just have to stare at the wall for a bit unsure if you're going to reach enlightenment or burst into tears.

Reaper Man is a very wholesome, funny, and casually profound place to start your Discworld journey. It's early in the timeline of the Disc, you get a taste of the Wizards subseries as well, and you can see how important settings like Ankh-Morpork, the main city, start out. One thing I love about Discworld is how it grows, so starting out earlier in the in-universe timeline can be nice to get the full effect of seeing that.

A later Death book, Hogfather, is one I would recommend someone read if they were under some kind of curse where they could only ever read 3 Discworld books ever, and of course you could jump right to that one.

But if you want a bit of build up and additional context, you can start with Reaper Man.

Witches Abroad (Witches subseries #3):

Lily: You'd have done the same. Granny: No. I'd have thought the same, but I wouldn't have done it. Lily: What difference does that make, deep down? Nanny Ogg: You mean you don't know?

Protagonist: The Witches/Granny Weatherwax

Summary: Magrat Garlick, youngest of Lancre's witch coven trio, inherits a fairy godmother's wand, and thus also a fairy goddaughter, named Emberella. Unfortunately, Emberella lives very far away in Genua, and none of the witches really know how to make the wand work, and hardly any of them have left Lancre much at all before, let alone gone all the way to fantasy New Orleans. And Magrat's the one who got the wand, so she really should be the one taking point on this, but Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax can hardly let the youngest, soppiest, and wettest-behind-the-ears witch of their coven go off and make fairy tales on her own, can they? They've got a happy ending to make, and a bad witch to find...

Why start here: More into witches and fairy tales? Like a good Cinderella parody? Want to know how to stop spelling bananananana daquiri? Well, Nanny Ogg actually can't help you there, but you can get the other stuff.

Granny Weatherwax, along with Samuel Vimes of the City Watch subseries, is the beating heart and deeply, calmly furious soul of Discworld.

She is THE Witch. Witches don't have leaders, but Granny is the First among equals.

You can meet her earlier in the series, in Equal Rites or Wyrd Sisters, but Witches Abroad are when things start to come together in terms of tone and style for the Witches subseries, at least for me. Like Reaper Man, Witches Abroad is fairly early in the in-universe timeline as well as #12 in the publishing order, right after Reaper Man. Between the two, you can get a decent idea of the early form of the Disc, though I'd add in Guards! Guards! to complete that picture.

On its own, it's a fun romp full of recognizable parodies and interesting twists, a good old fashioned road trip. And it punches you in the face later about the nature of morality and how people think, about identity and choosing who you're going to be.

It won't make sense unless you've read it, but I think about a scene towards the end and the line "This one," all the time. Start here, read the other Witches books, have a Granny Weatherwax permanently etched into the back of your mind, reminding you about the difference between thinking and doing.

Feet of Clay (City Watch subseries #3):

“You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...] Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'.”

Protagonist: Samuel Vimes

Summary: Commander of the City Watch, Samuel Vimes, now officially a Sir and married into the ranks of Ankh-Morporks elite, must have a coat of arms made. Thank gods there's been a murder for him to focus on instead. Someone's poisoning the Patrician--Lord Vetinari--too, and something strange is happening with the city's golems...

Why start here: This is it. For me, this was the book that made me go "Oh. That's why everyone loves this series." Every book up to this point had been interesting, funny, engaging, but as yet a little underbaked compared to the hype--until here.

Feet of Clay was the point of no return for me as a Discworld fan. This is the start of Sam Vimes, the man who IS Ankh-Morpork in many ways, the character you think of first when someone says "Discworld" (or boots. The "Sam Vimes Boots Theory of Economics" seems to travel outside of Discworld circles sometimes, from what I've heard.)

The City Watch books prior to this are all important to the formation of Sam Vimes as we know him mainly, which is why most people tend to start you off with Guards! Guards!. Totally legitimate place to start, but if you're going into it after being stuffed full of hype on tumblr and elsewhere, you're going to go "Hm. Is that it?"

Feet of Clay is #19 in publishing order, around midway through the series and part of what I've seen referred to as the "golden age" of Discworld books. As far as in-universe time goes, it's a bit farther along than Reaper Man or Witches Abroad, but not hugely. Things are established and the swing has been grasped, and Sam Vimes in freshly fully baked. (I keep using the word because it's relevant to the story lol) He'll go on from here to even greater heights, but this is a damn good start into Vimes being Vimes.

Now I will caveat this with a warning that if you are so ACAB that even seeing the word "cop" makes you break out in hives, then you probably shouldn't read City Watch books.

But I will say, policing as Sam Vimes does it is different from the modern American police. Obviously. This is fiction, it's based more on older English policing, it's a fantasy world, and Sam Vimes would be the first person to tell you that a cop who isn't a bastard is a liar, which is just another type of bastard.

It isn't pure uncritical copaganda, it's closer to Brooklyn 99, not CSI Miami, but if your stance is that making the protagonist a police officer we are meant to relate to at all is irredeemable, then yeah, this isn't going to work for you.

But so much of the Watch series--arguably all of it-- is about asking the question How do you be a good copper? What is a good copper? What is good? How do you be 'good' when you know that inside your head you're a messy, problematic bastard who thinks he knows better than everyone and has authority to abuse?

Who watches the watchmen? Sam Vimes. He watches himself, all the time. Maybe you won't agree with his conclusions, and I've heard people say the later Watch books where Terry's Alzheimers was progressing were too White Savior, but that's something you'd have to decide for yourself if you decide to keep reading.

For me, the City Watch books are the heart of Discworld, and they are absolutely worth engaging with.

Feet of Clay is a pretty classic and fun murder mystery, coupled with serious discussions of personhood and slavery, and has a plotline dealing with a lot of gender stuff that is expanded on in later books. It's far enough along in the series that the basics are established, and early enough that there is a lot of interesting development to look forward to.

I haven't reread it in a while, but it will always hold a special place in my heart for being the book where Discworld clicked home and became a permanent part of my psyche.

The Truth (Industrial Revolution subseries #2):

“The truth has got its boots on,” he said. “It’s going to start kicking.”

Protagonist: William de Worde, standalone

Summary: Printing presses were not allowed in Ankh-Morpork. Alas, times were moving on, and brought with them The Times, Ankh-Morpork's very first newspaper. William de Worde finds himself falling into the role of the Disc's first journalist. It starts with innocent stories of humorous vegetables and debates over when the coldest winter was, and ends with an attempted assassination (several, in fact), a shadowy conspiracy, a dog's testimony, and daddy issues (doesn't it always).

They say a lie can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on, but William's got a shoehorn and is prepared to tie some laces.

Why start here: Drop into an almost fully-established and stabilized Ankh-Morpork, watch a new technology drop into it and see the ripples. The Truth is categorized as an Industrial Revolution book, but it's also a standalone. You can know nothing about the Discworld and still have a damn good time.

It's honestly one of my favorites, possibly the favorite, owing to the presence of Otto Chriek, vampire photographer (called iconographers on the Disc) to The Times and also my favorite Discworld character ever number 1 no contest hands down don't talk to me. (Are there "better" and "more important" Discworld characters? Of course. Doesn't mean jack when it comes to personal favorites though, does it. Otto Chriek my beloved my darling my heart and soul this is his first appearance and after this he only gets mentioned in passing in the background of other books although he occasionally does get a whole scene and some dialogue I'm Normal About Him)

Ahem. Anyway.

If you want a good taste of what Terry Pratchett's writing is like overall, just one good sampler, this is a pretty decent choice. It's neat and contained but also has a lot of ties to the rest of the series that you could easily pull on if you wanted to. It's sometime after Feet of Clay, timeline-wise, but is really the start of the Industrial Revolution of Discworld proper, and you can make an argument for it starting off a second stage (maybe a silver era?) of Discworld books, in terms of publication order. There's Ankh-Morpork pre-newspaper, then there's Ankh-Morpork post-newspaper, and this is obviously the dividing line.

Because of that, it's possible that it would be slightly disorienting to read this first and then go back to an older pre-newspaper Discworld, because the dynamics are different. But that's one aspect of the series that I love, how it has its own historical eras. "Ah, this story is still in the Century of the Fruitbat, before the introduction of printing presses in Ankh-Morpork" or "Oh, this is from the post-clacks society," stuff like that.

It's a huge part of what makes Discworld feel like a real, entire universe, and how different books in the series feel like snapshots of their history. And history can be funny, profound, horrific, ironic, fascinating, and above all, human.

Even if "human" in the Disc doesn't cover nearly everyone. Barley anyone, you could argue. They have a lot of different species.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (YA standalone):

“People were people, even if they had four legs and had called themselves names like Dangerous Beans, which is the kind of name you gave yourself if you learned to read before you understood what all the words actually meant.”

Protagonist: debatable but I'll say Maurice (a cat. standalone)

Summary: The trouble with magic is that you never know what it'll do. Sometimes, it turns a bunch of rats (and one cat) from dumb animals into The Clan and Maurice, who work together with a human boy named Keith to run a Pied Piper scam.

Keith is human, and talks to other humans, offering to rid them of their town's rats, and The Clan pretend to be charmed by his flute and make a show of leaving town. Maurice--well, he's the brains of the outfit and makes sure no one grows too much of a conscience over the grift, and that he they get paid properly. And everyone likes cats.

One of the towns they come across, though...something is wrong here. There are no rats, or...are there? What is a rat, anyway? What's the difference between a rat and a Clan rat? What's the difference between a Clan rat and a human? Or a Maurice?

That was the problem with thinking. Once you started, you went on doing it.

Why start here: Similar to The Truth, a good way to get a decent, well-rounded sampling of Prachettian writing. You've got the parodic element in the Pied Pier story, some genuine horror in the antagonist of the story, existential questions on the nature of sentience and personhood, puns that you won't even realize are puns until you come across an explanatory post on tumblr, as well as the puns that hit you in the face and kick you in the fork and make you go "Fucking hell. More please!" Just because it's YA doesn't mean it's any lesser, it's just a slightly different tone of voice.

I don't remember exactly what era of Discworld it takes place in, but it's later in the publication order and I think timeline-wise, definitely after The Truth? I'm pretty sure newspapers exist at this point. It doesn't matter as much, since most of the story takes place outside of Ankh-Morpork. Either way, it's very accessible, a decent one-and-done. There's a rat named Dangerous Beans, who was voiced by David Tenant in the recent animated film. (Not a good adaptation but you could watch it. It's. Well not the worst, as Discworld adaptations go, but it's like. Fine. Kinda weird. Kinda boring. Read the book.)

Going Postal (Industrial Revolution #4, or Moist von Lipwig #1):

“Raise the stakes! Always push your luck because no one else would push it for you.”

Protagonist: Moist von Lipwig

Summary: Professional conman Albert Spangler is hanged for his crimes, and reborn as Moist von Lipwig--his actual birth name. His new lease on life comes with the caveat of resurrecting the long-defunct Ankh-Morpork Post Office as Postmaster General. As a consummate liar and career criminal, he's a perfect fit for government service.

And he's just in time--The Grand Trunk clacks company, under its newest management, has been plagued by enshittification. Once able to relay messages across the continent "at the speed of light," now it's expensive, breaks down constantly, and runs on the blood of its workers. But messages still have to get through, and you can't send a package by semaphore. The world needs the Post, and the Post needs Moist von Lipwig.

Him? He needs a new name. And a way to get rid of his golem parole officer...

Why start here: Moist von Lipwig is a late addition to the canon and only stars in 3 books (one of which is distinctly different in style, owing to the advancement of Pratchett's Alzheimer's at time of writing), but he is just about as crucial to Discworld as Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Lord Vetinari. He's a grifter who's all about style, and holy shit is he good at it.

To me, Going Postal is a perfect book, and the sequel Making Money is somehow even better. I got my friend hooked on Discworld by reading a passage out of the sequel to her and subsequently read her the entire book and Going Postal after. Get past his name, and Moist von Lipwig is all you've ever dreamed of in terms of entertainment.

The Moist books (lol) are formatted a little bit differently to the others, as it's one of the only Discworld books to have formal chapters and sort of chapter summaries? I'm not sure why this is but I think it has to do with Moist being, well, Moist. Everything in his life is a show and so his books also have a bit of extra set dressing.

I think if you read Going Postal and Making Money and those were the only Discworld books you ever knew about you'd still be obsessed madly in love and fanatic about the whole series. Moist comes into things when Ankh-Morpork is already pretty much fully-fledged, and he could have been the beginning to a new era. As his presence inclusion in the Industrial Revolution series implies, he brings about a lot of huge structural/technological changes to the Disc and it's amazing to watch it unfold.

Going Postal also has the distinction of having one of the only decent Discworld screen adaptations (look I haven't watched all of them and I'm really sorry if there's a BBC version or something that you really love, but the ones that I've seen so far are mostly...either really low-budget and weird or just boring). I'd say if you watched the movie version and liked it, you'd like the book even more but not in spite of the movie, you know? Charles Dance is in it as Lord Vetinari and aside from his hair not being black he's fucking perfect. You cannot go wrong here.

4: Conclusions

I'm sorry this got so LONG AHH

But! What you choose to read as your first Discworld book imo depends hugely on what your interests are and why you're interested in the series to begin with.

If you just want a quick way to see what all the fuss is about, I'd say any of the standalones or Moist books.

If you want a sample of how it unfolds and grows and are willing to put some time into it, start with Reaper Man and maybe read down the list I made, then go back and read the other books in their respective subseries. Or pick one that you liked a lot and follow that subseries first!

If you're really willing to put in the time and want to understand the series as a whole, do what I did and start with The Color of Magic and go by publication order. You're going to need a bit of patience and be generous at first, wait for things to develop, but for me it's been worth it. Again, if you have the time though. I mean, it is 41 books.

Or, if you're into a bit more chaos than that...use a random number generator and read whatever it tells you. Honestly, even books in longer subseries's are self-contained and pretty readable on their own, you just get more context if you read it "in order." The roulette approach is perfectly viable.

I mean, I do have Discworld books that I'm not as fond of, but none where I'd say you should never read it.

Even my least favorite (Interesting Times, part of the Wizards series) has a lot of redeeming qualities and I reread it a couple times before I decided maybe I didn't like it as much. (It's mostly because they go to fantasy East Asia and it's a bit Asian Monolith-y. Look I love Pratchett but he was a white British man who started writing in the late 70s/early 80s y'know? He's good but not perfect. The Wizards series has a lot of traveling around the Disc and a lot of like, racial stereotypes involved. Which is a shame because I do love the main protagonist of the series (Rincewind), it just personally makes me a little uncomfortable.)

That said, I don't hate it.

There are no Discworld books I regret reading. There's just ones I enjoyed even more than the others, and ones that have been permanently absorbed into my soul. You really can't go wrong.

This concludes my Starter Discworld dissertation I'm so sorry but you did ask 💦

[not-xddcc]

Using the chance that I haven't made a starter post for this yet to make an intro and write down the rules!

Hello! Welcome to NOT-XDDCC, a Pomni-centric ask blog!

I'm @ginumo, but you can call me Mod Numo (he/him, she/her, it/its), and I'll be the one hosting this blog!

Right now I don't. really have a plot set up for this, but I'm sure we'll figure out what direction I want to go with this soon enough!

#Spaghetti Code (OOC) will be used for mod responses or Out of Character posts, while #Todays Episode (IC) will be for actual responses in the blog's canon!

Alright, short intro, but now let's go over the Rules!

Anons are enabled! Magic Anons are also allowed, but I will probably limit what they can do and their duration.

On that note, I will decide which asks I want to answer and which not. Please do not pester me through DMs or the Inbox if I haven't answered yours yet.

Also also! I plan to go a little hog wild with each character's style, so some responses might take a while. Please be patient!

Also also also, if the proportions get a little wacky between posts, it's because I'm still trying to figure out how to draw each character!

I will not accept overly NSFW asks. Suggestive asks might get a pass.

Roleplay is... alright I guess? I haven't really done it with any other ask blogs of mine, so if they do end up happening it might look a little odd hah

English isn't my main language, so I do apologize for any weird sentences or weird grammar in general.

Alright, I think that's about it from me! If I do think I need to clarify anything in the rules, I will edit this post further. Thank you all for your time, and...!

[nymphilily]

Miscellaneous Fun Facts About The TWST Pokemon Conquest AU Because I'm Dragging My Feet On It And Some People Are Actually Interested, Apparently

I'm not going to explain the plot of Pokemon Conquest to you. I am however going to tell you to play the game, it's really good and probably one of, if not THE best Pokemon Spin-Off and Collaboration games of all time. Also go play Samurai Warriors. Believe me it has more to do with this post than you think

Ace, Deuce and Epel are the mandatory Starter Typing Trio, filling in being Warriors for the Fire, Water and Grass-Type respectively. They would all have the Paldea Starters as their Perfect Links if I didn't decide that Epel's Perfect Link should be the Aplin Line upon conception

Edit: I'm A Fool I'm An Idiot I just remembered Yukimura's Starter Pokemon is Tepig but his Perfect Link is Charizard. Epel can, indeed, have a Sprigatito

They're all also fugitives, it's how they meet Yuu. They found them knocked out on a beach on the edge of the Region while trying to flee

Unlike the Hero/Heroine, Yuu isn't a Warlord. They are instead the head strategist of their little ragtag army. Grim is considered to be a very fucked-up looking Meowth, and not allowed to battle since he doesn't really listen anyways

It's not made clear (ie I haven't decided yet) if Yuu is even from the Pokemon World or comes from a world like our own. They don't have their memories from before waking up on the beach, which is why they want to unify the Region and call up God to figure out what's going on

The very first actual, real Warlord the gang have to fight is Riddle, the resident Fairy-Type Warlord, who ends up mirroring the very last Warlord they have to fight, the Dragon-Type Warlord Malleus. We call that symbolism or foreshadowing I think

Malleus is still considered to be a Dragon Fae, although it's in that "descended from dragons" sort of matter. He doesn't have the ability to turn into a dragon

Cater is a lot like Okuni where he considers Bug-Type Pokemon to be very cute. If the internet existed during The Sengoku Period, A Time Of Chaos And Bloodshed™, his page would be filled of pics of all the Bug-Types he's encountered and raised as a Warrior

Both Lilia and Ruggie are Dark-Type Warriors, meaning they are the de facto Ninja's of this AU! Have fun with that knowledge because I'm certainly not going to expand upon it

What are you going to do to stop me from telling you that Vil's Starting Pokemon is Trubbish? What will you do?

Not necessarily a fun fact in the traditional sense, but Trey is the one and only Normal-Type Warrior that isn't an NPC, so he absolutely could have a Perfect Link with Arceus if I didn't have a very strict "No Legendary or Mythical Perfect Links" rule

If I had a nickel for every time I made a character's Perfect Link the spirit of a dead relative, I would have two nickels. Which is not a lot, but it's very on brand of me to do it more than once I love the Dead Relative Troupe

Idia would have absolutely handed over his army to Yuu's cause if Ortho didn't insist they at least try to defend themselves. Yuu's Army ends up getting creamed the first time btw

The Kingdom Sebek rules over sits on the very edge of the Region and has a dock that no longer see's any activity. Sebek spends a lot of his free-time in the lighthouse near said dock and is often confused for it's caretaker. Yes his Starting Pokemon is an Ampharos why do you ask?

Don't ask what happened to Crowley. We Don't Talk About What Happened To Crowley

[bejoomi]

post-hiatus cleaning!

hi everyone!! i've been on hiatus for several weeks now and technically still am, but i wanted to start Preparing to return a bit in advance, even if i may not write yet. i currently owe 20+ replies across all my characters here and as much as i would love to catch up i think that's unrealistic aklsjdfklasdg and some are also very old! so i've decided i will be starting fresh for the most part and dropping a bunch of threads. there are a lot of starters i haven't replied to and some that i still owe people and i'll probably message those people soon to ask if it's okay if we say they're happening at the present time instead of when they were posted, because everyone has had some recent developments! i'll cover those in another post as i nail down exactly what has changed while i was on hiatus.

i also do want to apologize for flopping on so many of these threads. i write 40 hours a week for my full time job and writing for rp on top of that can sometimes be a Struggle, and september was also a Rough Month. but i really do want to try to do better, and i would love new threads with everyone i've already threaded with and new people alike! i'll post a new plotcall at a later time too. i'd also be happy to chat about how any dropped threads ended if you'd like, and i may actually message some people about that myself! whew ok without further ado, i will list the few threads i am keeping under the cut.

KEEPING FOR JOOMI

her majesty - @bexsua

KEEPING FOR NAYOUNG

alcohol free - @beyinuo sunday meal - @lucielxbe catching up - @jindallaebe

KEEPING FOR RIHA

girls make me wanna die - @beyuji starter i've owed for ages - @beyeseul i <3 leg day - @shoutabe friends! - @bechangmin

also tagging rp partners that weren't already tagged in threads i'm keeping so they can see this:

@beyuwol @noelxbe @renxbe @beminseok @bejiayi

[aquariaries]

Kou Mukami 08 - Chaos Lineage

***I do not mind if you use my translations as a base for another language, I just ask that you credit both 46snowfox as the original translator and myself as the English translator if you do!***

Original translation credit: @46snowfox

https://46snowfox.tumblr.com/post/617475223016669184/01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08

You can find Kou's previous chapters in @tournesolia's masterlist linked down below!

https://tournesolia.tumblr.com/

————————————

Yui's Monologue:

In order to avoid fighting Yuma-kun, we decided to have him capture us quitely.

Upon arriving at the mansion, Reiji-san and the others looked at us in surprise, although I can't blame them for doing so.

After Yuma-kun explained the situation to him, Reiji-san's expression showed disbelief, but he quickly regained his composure and ordered the three of us to be locked up in the dungeon.

Then, Reiji-san and the others held a meeting to prepare a strategy. Yuma-kun said that he was not good at such matters and said that he would take care of watching over us instead.

————————————

PLACE: Scarlet Dungeon

Kou: Haah ... ... It's like we're back to being confined in prison cell yet again.

Azusa: ... ... Somehow it reminds me of the past ... ...

Kou: ... ... It does.

Yui: (That's right ... ... When Kou-kun and the others were little, they lived in an orphanage that was almost like a prison ... ...)

(Being in a place like this must make them remember many things.)

Kou: It was damp, dark and you couldn't see the sky. It would be nice if prisons didn't exist.

Yuma: Well said. I hate those kinds of places too.

Kou: ... ... You hate them too Yuma-kun?

Yuma: More or less. I don't know why, but they make my chest feel uneasy.

Yui: Eh ... ... ?

Yui: (Just maybe, this could be the trigger to awaken Yuma-kun's memories!)

Kou: Hey you two, maybe it's possible that Yuma-kun too ... ...

Yui: Yeah ... ... If we get a chance, we could possibly trigger his memories to return.

Azusa: I don't want to talk too much about the past but ... ... if it can make Yuma-kun come back like that, then ... ...

Kou: Hey Yuma-kun! Don't you have any old memories of living in a place like this before?

Yuma: Hah? What's with that all of a sudden?

Azusa: From a long time ago ... ... back from when you were still little ... ...

Ruki, Kou, you and me, the four of us ... ... Lived at an orphanage ... ...

Kou: Although that place was called an orphanage, it was actually Hell. And that's where we all met.

Hey, you haven't forgotten, right? We escaped from the orphanage following Ruki-kun's plan.

The blue sky we saw at that time, you remember it too, don't you!?

Yuma: Blue sky ... ... ? The hell are you talking about?

For starters, I don't remember living at an orphanage, and I don't understand when you say we're brothers.

My only brothers are Reiji and the others.

Kou: ... ... You're wrong. Yuma-kun, you really are ... ...

My brother ... ...

Yui: (I really thought we had a chance, but looks like it's no good after all.)

*Door opens, Kino walks in*

Kino: Good job, Yuma.

Yuma: Oh, Kino. Is the meeting over?

Yui: (Kino-kun?)

(Now that I think about it, I've heard his name several times since I came to this place, but this is the first time I've met him ... ...)

(He seems to be a vampire as well, is he an acquaintance of one of the guys?)

Kino: We're done talking for now.

Yuma: And? What will we do now?

Kino: We leave Eve chained in the dungeon, and execute the other two.

Yui: ... ... Eh?

Execute them, why ... ... ?!

Kino: Wow, were even you listening to me? We would like to keep them as prisoners, but our enemy is Carla after all.

He would be fine with abandoning his younger brothers you know? He would say something like “They no longer have any use".

Yui: It can't be ... ...

Kino: With that said, I'll come back when the day we're to execute them is decided. I already informed you, so see ya.

Yuma: ... ... Yeah.

*Kino leaves*

Execution, huh? That's a disgusting method ... ...

Yui: (It's all my fault. All because I carelessly let Yuma-kun capture us ... ...)

I'm sorry! If only I ... ... If only I hadn't said that he could take me ... ...

I'm really sorry…!

Kou: You haven't done anything wrong. If anything, you gave us a chance to talk to Yuma-kun.

If you hadn't acted, then we might never have gotten the chance to try and convince Yuma-kun without it turning into a fight.

In fact, if we had let this chance pass, we'd probably never get Yuma-kun back and it would be hopeless.

Azusa: That's right. Thanks to you Eve, we had an opportunity ... ...

Besides, it doesn't look like they're going to execute us right away ... ... There still must be something else we can do ... ...

Yui: You guys ... ...

(That's right. I suggested this, so I can't sink into despair now. We have to think of something!)

Thank you. I'm sorry I got upset.

We will escape before the execution. And there is only one way to get that possibility.

Azusa: It's Yuma-kun, isn't it? If his memories return, he will surely let us out of here ... ...

Yui: Yes. We failed when we tried with Subaru-kun however--

There is no doubt that a strong shock is the key to triggering the recovery of his memories.

Kou: So we need Yuma-kun to receive some sort of strong shock. But he didn't falter one bit when we told him about the past ... ...

The only thing that remains is to attack from this direction

Yui: Eh? Did you come up with something?

Kou: Fufu, pretty much. You two, lend me your ears?

*Time passes*

Kou: ... ... M-neko-chan, Azusa-kun. Are you ready?

Yui: Y-yes ... ...

Azusa: I'm ready too ... ...

Kou: Then here we go!

*He comes close and messes with Yui's clothes*

Kou: Hey, get rid of those annoying clothes!

Yui: N-no, stop!

Yuma: ... ... Ah? What is it?

Kou: It's obvious that I want to have a good memory before being executed, right? Now, hand over and give me all your blood!

Yui: Kyaa, please, don't do anything cruel to me!

Kou: Hey, M-neko-chan, you have to pretend to be more upset!

Yui: S-sorry ... ...

Azusa: I-It's terrible. S-suddenly Kou went rampant.

If you don't hurry up and get him out of there Eve will be killed.

Yuma: ... ... Hah?

Yui: (Uu ... ... He's giving us a cold look.)

Kou: I knew that this alone wouldn't be enough. I'm going to bite you a little bit, alright?

Yui: Eh? Kyaa ... ... Ah ... ...

(He's sucking sweetly from my neck ... ...)

(I wonder if he's being considerate of me? He's gently sticking his fangs into me …)

... ... N, nn ... ...

Kou: ... ... Haah ... ... Delicious. I'll drink until not a single drop is left.

Yui: Yes ... ... If it's Kou-kun then--

I-I mean! St ... ... Stop it!

Yuma: Look you guys. Spare your shoddy performances, and just be quiet.

Azusa: Ah ... ...

Yui: (W-we've been busted ... ...?! I guess it was no good after all ... ...)

Kou-kun, this won't fool him. We have to think of another plan ... ...

Kou: ... ... Hey, M-neko-chan.

Yui: Kou-kun?

Kou: Your blood is sweeter than usual ... ... I think I might have gotten drunk off it ... ... Nn ... *kiss* ... ...

Yui: Nnn?! W-what happened to you so suddenly?!

Kou: It smells very sweet ... ... Hey, why is it even sweeter than usual?

Yui: Kyaa!

*He corners Yui*

(He has me cornered, I can't move ... ... !)

Kou: Could it be that you got excited from being caught by the enemy?

Or are you happy that everyone sees you? What a bad girl you are, M-neko-chan.

Yui: Y-you're wrong--

Kou: I have to punish that naughty M-neko-chan ... Nn ... *kisses*

Yui: Nn ... ...

(What ... … He just kissed me ... ... ?! In front of everyone too ... ...)

Kou: Hey, everyone's looking you know? Is it okay for you to make that kind of face?

Yui: Ah ... ... No, Kou-kun ... ... !

Kou: No way, I won't let you run away. Since I sucked from your neck before, now ... ... I'll do it from your chest.

*He messes with her clothes*

Hey, you'll feel the sharp pain of fangs in the area I'm touching. Are you scared? Or could it be that you want it?

Yui: Th-that's ... ...

Kou: The idea of ​��leaving my marks on such beautiful skin is irresistible to me ... ... Nnnn ... ... Nn ... ...

Yui: No ... ... Aah ... ...

(What happened to Kou-kun ... ... ?! Did he really get drunk off of my blood?)

(Uwah ... ... His fangs ... ... feel good ... ...)

Kou: It feels good, doesn't it? How naughty. Now it'll be from this side of your neck ... ... Nn ... ... Nnnn ... ...

Yui: Aah ... ...

Kou: Ah ... ... It's so delicious that I can't stop ... ... Can I continue until I kill you ... ... ?

Yui: (Ah ... ... I'm starting to get dizzy. I can't think of anything ... ...)

*Yuma opens the cell*

Yuma: Hey, cut it out!

Kou: Uwah!

Yuma: Are you seriously planning on sucking her to death?! The hell are you thinking?!

Kou: ... ... You finally opened the cell door huh?

Yuma: Hah?

Kou: Azusa-kun!

Azusa: Ah– Y-yes ... ... !

*Azusa grabs and pins Yuma down*

Yuma: Wha ... ... Whoa?!

Yui: (I-in an instant he managed to pin Yuma-kun to the ground!?)

Kou: Capture complete ♪ Yuma-kun sure is kind.

You not only opened the door, but you entered too. I'm sorry I worried you.

Yui: Eh? Uhm, Kou-kun. Was just before that ... ...

Kou: It was an act of course. Since something half-assed wouldn't fool Yuma-kun.

Azusa: I really thought you lost your mind Kou ... ...

Kou: It was a realistic performance, wasn't it?

Yuma: Damn it, you tricked me!?

Kou: Even if it's you, if Azusa-kun and I both hold you down, you won't be able to move.

We've had numerous sibling fights, and we have learned how to face you, Yuma-kun.

Yui: (Geez, I was truely nervous. So he really was acting ... ...)

Selection:

————————————

-> I didn't notice ♙♡

Yui: I didn't notice at all ... ...

(By relaxing myself I started to get a little dizzy ... ...)

Kou: Are you alright?! I thought I was holding back, did I suck too much?

Yui: I-I'm fine. Although it may not seem like it, you didn't suck too much ... ...

(If anything ... ... Being cornered by a seductive Kou-kun is what has been the worst for my heart ... ...)

————————————

-> You could have told me ♟

Yui: I didn't notice at all. You could have told me ... ...

Kou: To fool the enemy, you must first fool your allies, right?

You and Azusa-kun are too honest and type that can't lie.

So I had decided that I would try to do that if the first attempt failed.

————————————

Kou: So Yuma-kun. How about it? Did you remember anything this time?

Yuma: Why have you been constantly saying nonsense things about whether I remembered something or not?

Also, let me go at once!

Azusa: Looks like it didn't work this time either ... ...

Yui: It can't be ... ...

Kou: Enough already! What should I do to make you remember Yuma-kun?!

Yuma: As if I'd know!

Kou: Well, I'll still consider it a success. Since the cell door is wide open now.

Yui: (That's right, if we're going to escape now is the time to ... ... !)

*Kino walks in*

Kino: Huh? Yuma, what are you playing at?

Yuma: Kino!

Yui: (... ... Kino-kun!?)

Kou: Damn ... ... What bad timing.

Kino: Why are you inside the cell? And to top it off, those two have you trapped.

Yuma: Shut it! Many things happened!

Kino: Yes, yes, don't yell. More importantly, we have an emergency.

The Oranges are attacking us.

Yui: Huh ... ... ?

(Ruki-kun and the others are?!)

-END-

[izloveshorses]

Why not all of them?

But just for starters, what about the one where they sneak around and fuck all summer? I think that's my favorite one of yours to read.

lol ayyeeeeeee i can work with that!!!

for clarification to those who missed, anon is asking for a director's cut commentary of this fic!

let's split this up section by section, bc it's a long fic 💀

section one:

we start us off with the classic post canon divergent "they missed each other on the bridge, so now anya is fully committed to being anastasia until one day dmitry strolls back into town" au. full disclosure i started this fic fully committed to not thinking too hard about very much ahdlksjf so dmitry literally strolls back into her life without any further explanation. in the fic before in this series, they obviously expressed some feelings ashldjkf but they didn't exactly Talk about any of it, so there's a lot left to be said here. but at the same time, once it's all out in the open-- that they simply miss each other-- they're on the same page and are able to start right where they left off, if that makes any sense.

idk how detailed you want me to be about the smut lol but in general i think anya is like always down to Jump him and dmitry has to catch up. and i think, based on descriptions of how the murder was executed (gunshots and bayonets to the chest) anya would have some pretty graphic scars that might cause some insecurity.

and when they're done, even tho they said they love each other, i think dmitry would still assume he wasn't welcome to stay the night/ that she didn't actually want him long term. which is dumb i know lol but he's an overthinker and has low self esteem, so can u blame him? so that moment towards the end of this section where anya asks him to stay was supposed to have a some emotional weight to it. and the line from the next morning, “I just really, really don’t want my second introduction with your grandmother to start with me buck naked in your bed," makes me laugh every time 🙈

section two:

this is how we go from just a silly night together to a ~pattern~. a habit. i like the bit with the tiara, this whole scene sort of spawned from that thought. i really really love writing pillow talk, which is this entire fic ahlskjdf so this scene they're just cuddling and chatting and i had a lot of fun <3 anya is sort of his common sense filter? she gives him very logical ideas of where to find a job and he's like oh i hadn't thought of that 🧐 it's just that they are both sort of lost at this point and they help each other find ways to ground themselves, reconcile the hardships they lived through with the lives they are living now, and get through the day, one step at a time.

section three:

montage moment! this scene was originally split into two or three and in different spots, but in order to fit everything we had to condense a bit. i knew we needed a moment with vlad, both to see how he's doing emotionally without his friend and bc it's funny to think about anya being a little flustered when the subject of dmitry comes up lol. the bit with the birthday gift was originally closer to the scene with the party/dancing/etc that dmitry gets invited to! but anya's birthday is in june so for the timeline to work out her birthday had to be earlier in the fic anyway. and i wanted the party to be later so their public reunion™ wouldn't raise too many questions yet, so the scene was split. it took me a long time to decide What the king of random gifts gives her, but i think a camera was perfect bc anastasia did carry one around a lot <3 nicholas was a big fan of photography and had all sorts of cameras laying around and was a fiend about documenting his family. so anya would have that muscle memory in her :)

this scene was also important to plant the seeds of how they aren't quite on the same page about the future. they're super into each other, obviously, but they haven't really talked about anything long term yet beyond tomorrow. anya wants something permanent but doesn't want to pop the happy bubble yet.

section four:

this might be my favorite part of the whole fic. i'm a simple girl, i love dmitry cooking and i love soft domesticity and (again) i love cuddling and pillow talk <33 this was meant to give them a taste (no pun intended) of what life could be like if she wasn't anastasia™, and it gives them a reason to be a little discontent with what's going on now. dmitry's work hours are Icky and anya doesn't really like her life as anastasia at all aslhkjdf but also they only have each other in a very limited way.

and again, they aren't on the same page in regards to the future, though they don't know it yet. again anya sort of tests the idea of marriage but dmitry still hasn't quite wrapped his head around the belief that he's actually enough for her. unlike his former conman lifestyle™ of reaching for things out of his reach, he thinks he needs to try to be content with what he has while he has it, because he's not used to people wanting him for more than a little fling. obviously anya is the love of his life and he's hers, but he doesn't really know how to believe that yet.

section five:

another montage moment! i wrote some of this very early on in the process <3 i really liked the part where they talk about their parents and how dmitry is a royalist now lol but i wasn't really sure where to put it in the fic 💀 but this is where it landed. and i also like anya telling him about the callers lined up for tomorrow, bc she finds it absolutely hilarious that anyone would even try to court her when her beautiful secret bf dmitry exists! and of course dmitry would just be sulky and jealous and sad at first. the man is too insecure. but she's like no mister this is supposed to be funny 😤 anyway yeah they are very cute to me 🙈

section six:

once again anya is always down to jump him 🌚 i knew there needed to be a moment where the dowager and anastasia would go out of town to visit relatives at some point, and who doesn't love good ol reunion sex lol. and i knew vlad would invite dmitry to a Function, and i knew there needed to be a bedroom eyes in a crowded room/ 'nobody knows we've been fucking this entire time tehe 👀'/ formal dress moment™ at Some point! they had to have a public 'reunion' late in the fic bc i didn't want other characters to start to get suspicious yet. originally this was supposed to be her birthday party but i already said why that wouldn't work. and as an echo of the previous section, dmitry would of course get a little too in his head about the whole thing and go scowl in a corner somewhere, unaware anya is ready to have him all to herself rn alhsjdkf. he's obviously jealous, but not in a possessive way, he's just discontent with the arrangement. they both are. and i needed them to dance for... reasons <33

idk about y'all, but i can never get enough of anya arguing about semantics (the bit where dmitry is like 'put me on the list') and dmitry finding it irritating and adorable at the same time <3

section seven:

originally anya's maid was supposed to be the one who catches them, she was gonna have a whole arc where she parallels the working class girl anya used to be and anya was gonna confide in her/ found her to be better company than the aristocrats she hangs out with, but i didn't feel like writing all that lhasdkf. and it makes more sense to use a character we already have than to come up with a whole new rando. and lily would be able to figure it out, too, since her love affair with vlad was meant to foil dimya.

section eight:

this fight was so hard to write 💀 i didn't want to over explain, but the whole reason why it escalated to a fight was really complicated; like yeah obviously they love each other and definitely want a future together, they just weren't on the same page as to what that would look like and they needed to hash it out. they certainly know how to make each other mad 💀

section nine:

i really wanted to write dimya in this dramatic jane austen period romance™ longing for one another in a parlor over tea™ needing to break apart when someone else enters the room™ situation... so that's the real reason why they had to fight asklhjdf so we could get them to do This and Feel Big Feelings across a room 😌 and in this fic the moment with anya and the dowager before the finale didn't happen yet, so it's happening here. 'dmitry refused the reward?' is now 'dmitry is coming to tea??' and i really love it when the dowager and dmitry get to interact in any fic. it's like candy to me. so deliciously tense and awkward. i also think their sense of humor is very Situational and Strange, especially in the eyes of a proper lady like marie, so having them commit to a bit as long as they can in front of someone else is funny to me lol. and i feel like while some nasty things were said in their fight, they reconcile pretty quickly bc they just want to figure it out and that's what matters <3 the musical has a lot to say about female agency, so i wanted to echo that theme here too.

section ten:

obligatory post-elopement epilogue <3 i cut this down a lot, mostly bc a lot of it was redundant and not really going anywhere productive and somewhat bc this document, combined with the fic before, was reaching 30k and i was ready for it to be over lol. but yeah. anya gave the grand duchess lifestyle a good try, but i think this was the best compromise for her. and now that they're married anya gets to call dmitry 'grand duke' which is a personal favorite of mine that hardly ever gets used alhskjdf. and i really liked the bit where she's like lets go! and he's like rome isn't going anywhere 😪 and she's like but our train will if u don't hurry up 😤 🙈

[smallraindrops-blog]

Boss Battle! Anon

Today, I bring a small chunk of the Pokemon au! It's still a work in progress, so apologies if some stuff doesn't make sense. I'm mostly trying to lay out the bones and some flesh right now.

Y/n - Fighting Gym Leader

Main Team: Infernape, Gallade, Hitmonchan, Crabominable, Pangoro, Annilhilape

Other Pokemon: Lucario, Medicham, Kommo-o, Rapidash, Mudsdale, Beedrill, Spearow

Info: A Fighting Type Gym leader who specializes in boxing. Is probably the last gym you face before the Elite Four. Despite having an Infernape, Ralts was his starter. Wants to make the gym to be double battle oriented so he and Hypnos can run it together, just like his Pa and father did when they ran it.

---

Hypnos - Sleep Themed Trainer

Main Team: Cresselia, Jigglypuff, Musharna, Abra, Snorlax, Komala

Other Pokemon: Drowsee, Piloswine, Darkrai, Morelull

Info: Hypnos family often gain the favor of legendary pokemon, he was (un)fortunate to gain the favor of two. One, however, prefers to stay in its pokeball rather than interact. He's also supposed to be training to take over Thanatos gym, as Thanatos will be joining the Elite Four once Charon retires. Only really battles when teamed up with Y/n or training with his siblings. He prefers to study his Pokedex.

---

Miscellaneous Ideas:

The first champion of the region was Nyx, then Hades, and now Zeus.

Elite Four: Charon, Achilles, Asterius and Theseus (double battle), and I haven't decided on the last member, but I'm feeling either Athena or Hades.

Achilles team is based around Steel types. (With a few water Pokemon being gifted to him from his mother.)

Patroclus was a gym leader but has since retired. Can't decide between making him a Dragon, Rock, or Grass gym leader. (Hell might be basic and just make him a Water type gym since he was by the river Lethe for so long. Would make for a good gym theme.) He still has plenty of dogs in this au, Stoutland, Houndoom, Houndstone, Boltund, and their previous evolutions, you name it.

Thanatos and Charon are Ghost type specialists.

Thanatos has a Lunala he secretly pampers.

Charon has a Giratina. (That he prefers not to battle with, the poor thing is so anxious not being in its void.)

Nyx focuses on Dark types, and it's rumored that she has a Yveltal on her team.

Chaos is the professor, with Nyx eventually joining them as their assistant. (And possibly Hypnos)

Chaos has an Arceus.

And yeah! Those are my silly little pokemon thoughts so far. Still needs a lot of work, but I figured I could share what I have so as I work on team ideas and story plots. Hope you enjoy it! (Also, sorry for any spelling errors, lmao)

I love this! I actually had my own idea with Pokémon au and we actually picked a lot of the same Pokémons for Y/N and Hypnos. ^-^

Putting the rest of my respond below. Gonna share some of my own HCs and thoughts. Gosh i love this au you created. And i am def interested 👀

I adore that Y/n’s starter Pokémon was a wee Ralts! They regularly appeared to cheerful people I believe. So i would love to know the story behind their meeting. (Was the ralts grumpy as Y/N and that why they bonded? Bc that would be hilarious, two grumpy peas in a pod.)

all his Pokémons are such a good fit for him btw.

silly hc i had for my au but I always like the idea that his powerful Pokémon are scary and standoffish to everyone else but become total obedient sweethearts for Hypnos.

Also them being a duo would be extremely difficult to defeat with Hypnos putting foes to sleep and Y/n knocking them out before the player could wake them up.

Another hc I had for my au that Y/n would train his Pokémon to maximize their critical hits and one shot kills.

The fact that he wants to make his gym double battle with Hypnos is basically a marriage proposal lol but I get the vibes that maybe they not quiet together yet? Or dating but neither had admit they fallen in love?

i can just see y/n asking Hypnos about what he thought about decor for the gym, trying get stuff that Hypnos likes and hypnos being totally oblivious.

I love how you set up Hypnos’ team btw! And I am def nosey about whoever that Pokémon is.

I can just see Hypnos’ team all napping together in a big cuddle pile. It is so adorable.

a few of Y/N’s Pokémon had definitely wormed in their way into that pile btw.

I like your set up for the Elite Four btw! Athena would be awesome and would well as the boss before Zeus since she is his golden child.

love Achilles’ type and fits him really well. Does he have Empoleon on his team since that is the only water/steel type? ( I think. It had been a while since i played Pokémon.)

If i can suggest an idea for Patroclus, have you thought having him a normal type trainer? He could still use dual types along it fitting with ppl underestimating him then getting their ass kicked by him.

but only if you want! I just like the idea of ppl being like ‘pat who’ then after getting defeated, they are like ‘Patroclus, the best of the gym leaders’ lol

The river lethe as a theme gym sounds amazing~~~~

Oh! And the fact that the legendary Pokémon just vibes with Hypnos and his family is such a funny idea. Imagine Christmas with all of them and all of the family Pokémon in one place. XD

I can see Thanatos and Charon as ghost type specialists.

awwwww Thanatos would totally secretly pampers his favorite Pokémon.

also poor Giratina! Glad it has a understanding and caring trainer.

oooo a yveltal! 👀

I love that Hypnos being an assistant (and maybe an optional battle if he found at Y/N’s gym at the right time? Or if the player does a special quest for Hypnos to get him to agree to a battle?)

Battle Anon, I love this whole thing and I can’t wait to see what else you come up with! ^.^

Ps. Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I definitely haven’t been playing Pokémon music on repeat since getting this ask lol.

[killerandhealerqueen]

thanks for the WIP shout-out 🥰🥰

tell us about #10 and another of your choosing! which ones are you most excited about? which ones have been dragging, if any? what's one thing you tried differently and ended up liking?

Ah, thank you! So, I've already done Vampire x Vampire Hunter for Killer and Healer so this fic #10, is for S.C.I. Honestly, all I have so far for that fic is just dialogue/sentence starters so I don't have any outlines planned, but all I know is that Zhan Yao is going to be a vampire and Bai Yutong is going to be the vampire hunter. They're going to work together on some case (I have no idea what case haven't gotten that far) and either Bai Yutong gets hurt or Zhan Yao gets hurt. Or both. Haven't decided yet. Like I said, all I have are dialogue/sentence starters so far

As for another fic of my choosing, I'm gonna talk about Monster Like Me! This one is gonna be long, so I'm gonna put it under the cut

So the basic outline/plot for this fic is Jiang Yuelou is a detective who is sent to go undercover in Chen Yuzhi's triad, mainly to see if Chen Yuzhi is dealing opium (because he's a doctor and he has the means and equipment to do so). Jiang Yuelou saves Chen Yuzhi one evening from getting shot at by an unknown person in a passing car and Chen Yuzhi offers the position of bodyguard to him. Jiang Yuelou agrees, as it gets him an in, and he follows Chen Yuzhi everywhere.

In following him everywhere, he gets invited to a party with all the big name triad leaders and all of the triad leaders start to poke fun and demean Chen Yuzhi by saying he got to his position and his money by sleeping around or "getting his knees" for people. Jiang Yuelou is enraged by this and stands up to them, ensuing a fight between him and a triad leader. Chen Yuzhi steps in between them and protects Jiang Yuelou while also basically telling the other triad leaders that he got his position by being good at his job, unlike the other triad leaders. He and Jiang Yuelou then return home and talk about what happened that evening while also flirting a little.

After the incident, Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi grow closer but Chen Yuzhi doesn't realize that Jiang Yuelou has been feeding the police department information about him and his business the entire time. Then one day, the police decide to do a raid on one of the warehouses and Jiang Yuelou is on the police's side, not Chen Yuzhi's. Chen Yuzhi is hurt and betrayed and asks if Jiang Yuelou ever thought of him as a friend or even liked him. Jiang Yuelou, of course, doesn't answer (lots of emotions going on), but he does notice that there's a sniper pointed at Chen Yuzhi from one of the windows in the warehouse (the sniper doesn't belong to the police nor does it belong to Chen Yuzhi) so he goes and tackles him, taking the bullet for him. Chen Yuzhi screams for both the police and his men to find the sniper while one of the police officers (idk if it's Jin Dacheng or Bai Jinbo haven't decided) offers to take Jiang Yuelou to the hospital to save him.

While at the hospital, Chen Yuzhi demands to know what the hell is going on and the officer (again, don't know if it's Jin Dacheng or Bai Jinbo) explains that Jiang Yuelou was sent to infiltrate the triad to see if Chen Yuzhi is selling opium. Chen Yuzhi vehemently denies being in the opium business and admits that he actually became a triad leader to find his missing sister, who was kidnapped three years ago. Just then, the doctor comes out and says that Jiang Yuelou survived his surgery, causing Chen Yuzhi to break down in relief.

When Chen Yuzhi is allowed to see Jiang Yuelou when he wakes up, he kisses him then berates him for being so fucking stupid, all while crying. Jiang Yuelou then admits that he does care for Chen Yuzhi, just as one of Chen Yuzhi's subordinates comes in and tells him that they found the sniper. Chen Yuzhi goes to take care of it when Jiang Yuelou gives his hand a squeeze, tells him to be careful, and to come back safely. Chen Yuzhi agrees, but he never comes back

Jiang Yuelou doesn't see Chen Yuzhi again for months but he never forgot about the triad leader. Then one day, when he goes to work, he finds Chen Yuzhi inside and he basically demands to know why he's there. Chen Yuzhi replies that he needs his help and Jiang Yuelou is just like "so you think you can just disappear for months and then show up without warning and ask me for my help and you think I'll say yes?" And Chen Yuzhi just replies sheepishly "yes". There's a reunion kiss here and then they get down to the reason Chen Yuzhi is there and that's to ask Jiang Yuelou for help to find his sister. The reason he was gone for so long was because he was following a lead and he's pretty sure he's finally found her...and he needs Jiang Yuelou's help to get her back.

They go to the location, they find Keying, Chen Yuzhi and Keying reunite, happy endings all around (I don't want to give away the whole story, this is just the basic outline/plot).

I'm most excited for this fic, even though it's a little similar to my KeixYaku fic, it's not really. I just think the Killer and Healer fandom needs more Mafia!/Triad Leader!Chen Yuzhi so I'm here to provide that (my KeixYaku au also is Detective!Jiang Yuelou x Triad Leader!Chen Yuzhi so...).

But anyways. The wip I think is dragging is my CSI: Jing City au and it's not because I don't like it because I do...I wasn't motivated to work on it for a while but now we're on the last case and I'm happy with where it's at and how it's going to end. The Killer and Healer rewrite is also dragging a little bit, but that's just me and not wanting to have to go through all those emotions again but unfortunately, I'm going to have to if I want to get this fucking fic done.

But anyways, thanks for the ask!

WIP list | ask me about my WIPs

[littlegnome145]

I'm back in my Starter Squad brainrot so uh.. here's some speculation + Squirtle character analysis:

I got back to the Starter Squad brainrot and I decided to rewatch it again in the backround while I did some routine stuff and there's something on my mind that I haven't seen ppl talking about yet. Spoilers ahead:

So, I was watching the compilation of the 10 episodes (I usually just watch them separately, so I think that's why I hadn't noticed it till now), and in the switch between ep 9 and 10 it's not just them stiched together, but there's this little noise. An echo of a saved file and a glitch, and then bam episode 10.

I was honestly mostly surprised bc I expected them to show that one post-credit scene in ep 9, with the caterpie wearing Charmander's head as a hat, but they didn't, instead there's those sounds.

Now, it might just be a cool indication that 1) that moment had consequences (save file sound) and 2) of Missigno still being around (glitch), which is not a problem at all tbh, if that's the case it's a pretty neat way of showing it, but idk there's something scratching at the back of my mind about it.

Now, this isn't really a theory as much as it is speculation, and I'll be honest, I'm most likely ovethinking this, bc there's not really a bunch to go off of, but eh it's a fun concept to think about so I'll do it anyway:

I think episode 9 might have more than 1 ending.

And I think this will have to do with whatever Wartortle is gonna ask at the gods in the mountain.

So, episode 10 is mostly centered around time. There are alot of things that it talks about, but time is like the little bow that ties it all together.

Specifically it's mostly about being stuck in the past, about how the past affected the present, usually with too much or too little time being the biggest issue.

Too little time to save Charmander, too much time letting the war continue.Too little time spent on actually getting to know the kids you decided to take care of (what drove Turtwig away), too much time to actually see results in training (what drove, between other things, Chimchar away)

Squirtle is mostly shown to be a character here that either does too little or too much as well, especially after Charmander's death.

He did too little to save his friend, he did too little/pretty much nothing to stop caterpie over the years, he did too little to actually be a good father/uncle figure to Chimchar and Turtwig in the ways that mattered.

He did too much when trying to apprehend Charmander, attacking him to the point the guy was almost dead even BEFORE Caterpie stabbed him; he did too much during the war, having it implied that he was the main fighter, to the point where the conflict only actually ended when Squirtle was let go; he did too much trying to protect the kids, he was sheltering them because he was terrified them getting hurt like his friends did, but that only drove them apart from him further.

And he already did that before, but it was in contexts with fewer consequences. It's usually that one song and dance of doing too little and then bam, something happens and the guy goes all out (either on purpose or on accident).

With his human trainer? He does very little to get out of his situation, even trying to fake that he's actually 'very happy here, no really stop laughing, guys'. And then bam, he screams at him and is overjoyed to see him dead later.

With the first caterpie encounter? 'Welp, sucks to be them', then bam Bulbasaur accidentally guilt-trips him into saving them and he shows up running with a shiv, taking almost everyone down accidentally, but still, the guy went in swinging.

Hitmonchan? 'Bulbasaur is with a real trainer now, we're not bringing him back, he's better off without you', and then bam, Charmander apologizes and says he needs his help and he decides that 'hey how about we break a frigging pokeball. No idk what's gonna happen, but it will probably be bad, so we win right?'

The forest king? He keeps waffling the whole episode, going along with the forest king's antics and talking about empathy, and then bam, the guy starts being too annoying and he just holds him down and tells Charmander to kick his ass. Bonus points in this one because he is totally against raiding a pokémon center and at the end he just let's it happen.

And the thing is, Squirtle/Wartortle is somewhat aware of this flaw, even as a kid, but he doesn't really understand the full thing. He knows he does too little, but didn't seem aware that him going all out immediately afterwards was usually just as harmful.

With Charmander it's where we see this in full affect, as soon as he becomes friends with him, he goes all out in trying to make him a better person. He usually fails, but still tries, and we can see that Charmander becomes more mellow because of this, either because he genuinely wants to become better or because he doesn't want Squirtle to be disappointed. It goes to the point where Squirtle seemingly sees Charmander's actions as his own fault just as much as it was the fire-type's, which he says in his episode 9 speech:

"How did I ever thing I was making a difference with you, you took so many innocent lives, and all I did was stand there!"

"… We were supposed to be a team, Charmander, but you were only in this for yourself and I couldn't fix you. But thanks to them I can finally fight back!"

He lectures Charmander alot, but he never actually fought him. He never genuinely tried to hurt him after they were on the same team, because he was the voice of reason. In his mind, this was him doing too little, and like always bam, he goes to the other extreme and does too much.

Like yeah, Caterpie did the finishing blow, but Squirtle did most of the damage, not just because of the type advantage, but because Charmander didn't seem to even TRY to fight back as soon as his friend showed up.

His flame was almost extinguished. Squirtle almost killed the guy, a mixture of him wanting to make sure Charmander wouldn't hurt anyone else, pent up anger and him wanting his friend to know what it was like to be on the other side of the fight ( "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want a turn?" "Seems kind of unfair, doesn't it?!").

In episode 10, he doesn't really talk about that part, he just says that he wished he could've done things differently at Turtwig's "you didn't just jump in and save him?" (Which implies that they probably heard a censored version of the story before, which highlights how much he shelters the kids)

And I think it's probably because he doesn't see it as THE issue. Again, he is aware that he does too little, which is his reason on going all out at everything else, something he never outgrew. Even at the end of episode 10, he has his big revelation, but it's still incomplete:

Again, he only realizes that he does too little. He did too little to save Chimchar, he did too little to stop Caterpie. Too little to stick by his own choices.

And caterpie was right in that flashback, I mean they also say some ouchie stuff, like how they pity whoever gets control of him next, but Squirtle sees this moment as him doing too little. Caterpie, however seems to understand that it's a mixture of both too little and too much:

It's not just 'You let me do whatever I wanted', it's also 'you gave me complete loyalty'

They also seem to at least somewhat understand why he does it, out of fear.

And Squirtle goes back to his pattern, but this time seemingly about his own self preservation and his guilt.

He's first, willing to go back, doing what he was told like he's a soldier again. It's the best thing for his self-preservation, but for him and his morals/ideals? It's a step backwards.

Then he has his revelation, and he goes all in, clearly screaming at the other pokémon as if he was screaming at himself. Not just that, he goes all in and bam, not only finally evolves, but legit kills the guy.

And the most important aspect of it all in this scene:

"If I'm gonna make bad choices, they're gonna be my own."

Because after this, yeah the episode pretty much ends, but he does not go back to the old song and dance. Squirtle usually follows his pattern of too little, too much, too little, too much,…

And he did the "too much" aspect, so you kind of expect him to calm down a bit, but he doesn't.

He looks at his dead kid, he talks about how if he had evolved he would've given them hell (Which let's be honest, it's not true at all. I do think he was already seeing the kids for who they were a bit, but it was clear that he was still putting him in that "Charmander" box. No offense to Chimchar, but Abomasnows are at least level 40, he was at most level 13.)

Anyway, he talks to his frozen body, and instead of going back to his "too little" thing, he remains on too much, and this is one of his biggest to date: he literally goes and decides 'actually, I'm sick of this, I'm gonna go up there and fight the gods or die trying. No I don't have a plan, no I don't know what I'm gonna ask them yet, what of it?', which was cool as hell to see, but let's be honest here, half of his main problem is still alive and stronger than ever.

"Okay, Babz, but what does this have to do with the sounds between episode 9 and 10?"

I'm getting there.

So they were going up Mt. Coronet, and Wartortle is going up there because he wants to talk to the gods, and in that mountain there are three: Arceus, Dialga and Palkia. It's where Arceus made those two even.

And yeah, Arceus is all powerful, but I'm gonna focus on Dialga here since them and Palkia are pretty much the mascots of the Sinnoh region.

Dialga is the god of time.

Time began flowing when they were born, and they can turn back the clock.

(Like okay Super Smash Bros trophys are not the best place to look into but this was the quickest example I could find so bear with me):

If you're ever running late, maybe you could ask Dialga to turn back the clock… Just a little bit?

Arceus in recent stuff is shown to turn back the clock too, but idk if that should be considered.

Anyway, what I'm saying is, turning back time is something Wartortle could potentially do if he wanted, especially if he wins a fight. It's extreme, sure, but the guy is still in his "too much" gig, so if given the possibility he would most likely accept it without much thought.

And yeah, again, this is mostly speculation. I was thinking about alot of this since last year (a bunch of ppl here were also talking about possible time-travel, but like me, it was mostly in a "cool idea"/"fix it au" kind of context), but since there didn't seem to be foreshadowing aside from the character arc and location (which again, can JUST be a character-arc, it's not just bc something CAN happen that indicates that it WILL), I left it alone for the most part.

But idk these little sounds almost seem like a clue.

And okay, I'm mostly someone who focuses on themes when talking about story theories/possibilities, and episode 10's is, again, centered around time and regret. Regret for the past, not enough time to change it fits a little too neatly you know?

The fact that episode 9 ends on a cliffhanger also doesn't help. At the time it came out I was not just wondering if Charmander was still alive, but also WHO was stabbed. It was one of the reasons why I was so interested when ppl started talking about "what if Squirtle was the one who was stabbed" scenarios and drew/wrote stuff for the shiv au, because back when the episode came out I genuinely thought it was a possibility and I wanted to explore it.

Anyway, this could all be wrong lmao, but I missed talking about the silly warcriminal starters so eh sfgdfhhdf

[velmashaircut]

Got back into ikevamp a few months ago and have been replaying some of the routes and I thought I'd shared my opinions + rank them (no order!!). Also SPOLIERS

Mozart: I liked his route when I first played and still do now! I think his route is one of my favs, I like how it's somewhat simple and not angsty, its a good starter route so I'm glad I replayed his first. I really like the development of his and MC's relationship, I'm a big fan of 'friends to lovers' and I think Mozart's route portrayed that well. I actually liked how he was rude to MC on their first encounter too, found it amusing and a good way to start of their friendship weirdly enough. enjoy his personality too which inevitably makes me enjoy his route more. I liked how the confrontation is handled with the antagonist also, usually the antagonist is killed one way or anther, the fact Mozart was able to part amicably with him and the antagonist survived was liked. Also enjoyed his interactions with Jean, I liked how Jean realised Mozart was falling in love with MC but decided to keep his lips sealed. I liked his letters too. A solid route overall, so I'd say 8.5/10, the only complaint I have for this route is that I wish Mozart and MC realised hey liked each other a bit sooner.

Isaac: I played his route when it first released but I skipped through it because I didn't find Isaac interesting. I ended up enjoying his route! I find Isaac relatable in the way he manages his relationship with MC, I can see myself behaving the same way he does. Again, I like the friends to lovers trope, but I feel as if this route handled the 'friends' part better than the 'lovers' aspect, as soon as they officially became friends, Isaac began thinking of her romantically, it felt rushed but I shouldn't complain since most suitors fall in love with MC within a month. I was a really big fan of the drama that unfolded between him and MC after Isaac bit her, I'm so glad we got to see Isaac's perspective on it as for me it made the situation for impactful as we got to see why Isaac was so afraid of pursuing MC. I also really enjoyed Dazai's advice to MC after too, partly because it was something I needed to hear. Another critique I have of his route is the confirmation with the antagonist, it felt silly to me and the reference to Vlad poorly executed. However, I did like how we got to see Shakespeare's reaction to Hooke's death and how that alluded to his character. I enjoyed reading his letters too, especially his fourth one. Another good route, 7.5/10.

Vincent: I remember I really liked his route when I first played but replaying made me wonder why that was. There is nothing wrong with his route, but the development of his and MC's relationship was hard to track, I can't tell when they actually began liking one another in a romantic sense? I like Vincent's personality but I don't think I truly understand his character which makes me confused with his route and therefore like it a bit less. His route isn't bad but I didn't like it as much as the other routes I've mentioned. I like Vincent's relationship with Theo, I find it funny and heart warming, its one of my favourite dynamics in the game. I Also, I appreciate how Vincent and MC were actually in a relationship for an established time before climax of the conflict rather than officially getting together in the aftermath, how many routes actually do that? My favourite part of Vincent's route was the antagonist, I haven't played all Ikevamp routes yet but I think Vincent's route has one of the best antagonists in the whole game, I think its written beautifully. When Will asked Vincent to send MC to her own time or he'd kill her, then ask Vincent to kill him? The shock i felt when i first played that scene?? Then Shakespeare falters when MC says his first name and she's then sent back to her own time?? Honestly, I think its some of the most memorable scenes in the game. The slow development of Will developing feelings for MC which lead him to take such drastic actions - chefs kiss! I should also mention, I like how Vincent and MC live in the future, its nice to see MC not having to give up her normal life for once, although I do feel bad for Theo. Not an amazing route but it's still good, 6/10.

Shakes: Like with Isaac, I didn't pay attention to his route when I first played. We meet Will and then go a few chapters without him or with him barely interacting with the MC, which annoyed me. But at chapter 7, things get interesting really quickly and I started enjoying his route a lot. I liked MC and Will's dynamic, their back and forth was entertaining to read and I think how their relationship developed well, it was angsty but also sweet at the same time, although sometimes I had no idea what he was saying at times. Before his route, Will was a confusing character to so to see his true face and his motivations cleared a lot up for me and explained his behaviour in other routes. I liked the way the murder of his friend was portrayed, but that and every other hardhsip Will faced made me feel so bad for him. I liked his friendship with Vincent too, and his troupe! I liked his involvemnt with Napoleon and Wellington as well, I was not expecting him to be stabbed, although he was talking to much, Vlad less so, it felt rushed. I loved his dramtic ending, espeocally th cg, you can see the differnce between his mask and true face, very dramaic route but i relly liked it 8/10

Currently 2/3's of the way through Dazai's route, plan on playing Fausts route and then Sebastians after.

[gildinbainas]

“ i can’t stop seeing their faces every time i close my eyes. ”

comfort starters

:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆ || @thecopynin-kakashi

In truth, Iruka had no idea which faces the rogue nin spoke of for as a shinobi, no doubt Kakashi had been privy to many tragic deaths over the years. Iruka was technically a shinobi as well, but having stopped promptly at the ranking of Chunin, his stomach and heart kept him within the walls of Konoha. It was likely seen as the cowardly way out, but Iruka tried not to let other people's opinion of him get to him. Having resigned himself to being merely an average shinobi, he had decided to play upon his strengths which was instructing their youth. Furthermore, Iruka actually enjoyed doing it so if he liked his place in their world why shouldn't he continue doing what he loved?

Of course, should such an emergency occur within the Leaf, he was more than happy to step up to the fight. Protecting his home was still part of the job whether he took on missions anymore or not. And as luck would have it, such a day DID finally come leaving Iruka tasked with the job of fighting for his village. They were stretched thin as it is with all the elite ninja either out of the villiage or fighting in other parts. After getting the children to safety, Iruka had found himself face to face with one part of the most powerful ninja he had ever come to know. And it hadn't taken Iruka long to work out that he wasn't going to survive. His ability to detect chakra levels and read opponents was an elite talent of his, but what good was such knowledge when he hadn't the strength or skill to do much with it? He'd been prepared to die but then---

"I'll take it from here."

And you know, Iruka never did ask Kakashi why he was there that day although considering the chaos happening in the villiage, it likely wasn't hard for him to slip inside to observe the horror within, especially while masked up. Iruka had always been one of the few who had a great many doubts about Kakashi's addition to the ninja world's bingo book, but he was in no position to voice this aloud. Konoha, though his home, was also a place filled with dangerous people who worked in the shadows. The last thing Iruka needed was to be followed constantly by ANBU black ops on suspicions of treasonous activity.

'Quite the thought yet here I am conversing with a rogue nin…'

Iruka didn't look up. Rarely did he get to lay eyes on the shinobi's form as Kakashi did well to keep his entire face hidden. Yet there was no mistaking that voice. He could never forget the voice of his savior considering Kakashi had done it on more than one occasion. Sometimes he likened the Copy Ninja to a guardian angel of sorts. He'd ( Kakashi ) would probably find the idea cheesy if Iruka were to voice it aloud so it was a thought he kept buried deeply and to himself. Even if Kakashi wasn't likely to see it that way, it changed nothing about the past. He had been there for Iruka on more than one occasion and the man would forever be grateful.

And maybe that's why Iruka kept taking the risk, wandering just outside the village in hopes of running into the other some nights. These weren't frequent meetings by any stretch either. The last one had taken place many months ago. Hearing his voice tonight was but a chance meeting; a hunch Iruka could not explain.

Iruka resisted the urge to look towards the clouds. He assumed Kakashi was seated upon a branch within one of the taller trees. They always kept their distance from one another yet conversed during these moments all the same. Iruka never really dwelled on why they had established such large boundaries, but he knew it was for the best. To become the kind of friends Iruka was prone to making would only complicate matters even more. In the same breath, there wasn't much Iruka wouldn't do for the guy who kept saving him, a fact that he'd also keep buried within.

"Is it safe to assume you haven't been sleeping well… Kakashi?" He dared speak the name aloud, but just a hair above a whisper. One could never know if they were being watched. There was no such thing as true privacy in the ninja world. "There is no cure for restless nights though I suppose…what we are doing now, can help. Talking about it. Or simply talking to someone in general."

[4ssun]

decided on long asks every 2 chapters and full story analysis every five ☝☝

soo idk if tyong is actually related to yn or is a close friend but in my head they've all known each other since young ages and i want to read ab that so. bad. like yk how in shows wherever there's the climax of an episode (movies too) and they skip to another scene?? i hope it's like that where something big happens and the next chapter is taeyong and baby yn having fun as children.. but then that would mean tyong did something.. cause like whenever at the climax the problem happens and hen they'll do a backstory to justify the villian and... i'm ranting but you get my point i think??

the foreshadowing is crazy like. if even we didn't know yet (cough cough the character chart) the suspense and clues would make me a little sherlock holmes.

the contrast is so funny to me 😭😭 but i wish we saw how sumin sees yn. they're "friends", a one-sided relationship as it seems, but i think sumin is sort of distanced too. i don't think she's fake, but wary of yn? considering how soobin doesn't know about yn despite them (yn/sumin) being roommates, i don't think she talks about yn when with him. it could be intentional or maybe the hatred is mutual. though, yn might either be looking too far into her hatred or sumin could genuinely be a bad person. as of now, we don't know... but i think it's jealousy on yn's side.

even moreso seeing how sumin's texts aren't hostile or passive aggressive. but yn's texts aren't either, making me think less that sumin is distant from yn and more that they simply have a roommate relationship but aren't friends.

i love reading your works because it's always letting me see a different side of people. like in cas, there was yn who was irrational, a completely different mindset than mine was at the time. and now, we get to see how yn's mindset and intrusive thoughts drive her behavior.

but also (back to characters) i see yn glorifying yet despising sumin. envy isn't a foreign concept to me, so seeing it portrayed perfect feels like a biography T0T

ahhh i love long asks </3 answer under the cut!

for starters, taeyong is yn's cousin!! he was also her legal guardian until she was eighteen because her mom [redacted]!! but yes, he's known her since she was born (he was 10 when she was born, now she's 19!) and yuta too because yutayong have been best friends since kindergarten so they've always been her family.

yong has no villain arc in this story... BUT he is involved in [redacted]. no spoilers!!

the character chart is accurate, but i'll give you this hint. yn's relationship lines are her inner thoughts (thus sumin's) but soobin's are a bit different... no spoilers!

also no spoilers for the next chapter, but you will get to see how sumin views yn! you're correct on some things, but a bit far on others.

tysm for this 😭😭 i always love your analysis! and thank you for pointing out the different yns! i really do enjoy dynamic yns who aren't all the same and i haven't seen someone try to pull off a "green with envy" yn!

[miyos-multiverse-express]

[OOC Note: Pelipper Mail, Musharna Mail and variants are on. Magic anons are off.]

Intro Post, the Third

what does it say about me that I need three of these...?

that our life is zubatshit.

probably. uh.

Hi! We're Miyo Hamasaki, at least that's what we're using. Since there's. Two Miyos and also I'm the Host.

might get like. a middle name or something, if we ever decide on one.

That's Fragment by way. I contain multitudes, multiple dudes and also a dragon.

I'm 20 years old and a Giratina Hybrid. Kind of. Tis Complicated™.

We sort of. Fused together following an Incident with an Alpha Rapidash that I am choosing not to think about.

Uh, hello? I'm gonna put mine here. I'm Minato Yuuki. I'm 16 years old, like Ace, and I share his Wild Card cuz I gave up my own. That means I'm kinda linked to somewhere else important, so I won't be around sometimes? Knowing my life, probably on Full Moons.

... Hi, I'm Ace (or Kagami), I. Also share the body. I'm a Wild Card (that's a Persona user), which has done some funky things to our Distortion powers.

Still recovering from that amnesia, by the way. I still can't remember anything from before I was 17 with a whole lot of clarity.

doesn't help that our mindscape keeps getting wrecked via Pelipper Mail.

... Anyway.

We are currently in Alola.

Specifically, the one with Ash Ketchum in it. Not entirely sure which year? Never asked. We haven't gotten all the details on the situation yet in general, but this seems like it might actually be half a vacation, sort of. Hallelujah.

(At this point, it's easier to just pack our Team under the cut.)

Hi. My name is Tohru Adachi, I'm 31 unfortunately, and I used to be one of the Wild Cards from my universe. Unlike Minato, I won't vanish, because we didn't use my body for. Where he's going to vanish to. Anyway. If you think you recognise my name - you probably do, and it's definitely not me.

I'm also what I've gathered is called an "eebydeeby". 'Belonging to a Trainer' is something of an awkward concept, though Miyo does have a Pokeball that's keyed to me. Because Bulbasaur are rare and I'd rather be registered to someone I know than be caught by some random kid. Thanks to Xerneas, I can transform between Bulbasaur and Venusaur at will, which is pretty neat.

(And thanks to Miyo, I can choose to be shaped like a six year old child.)

[Last edited - July 17th, 2024, according to our phone. That's not the date where we actually are, but who cares.]

Alter Appearances and Team are under the cut!

Our team is frankly enormous, but here it is anyway, in no particular order:

Nami our (Hisuian) Samurott, Akira the Umbreon, Milady the (Alpha) Sneasler, Conductor the Chandelure, Thera the therapy Sylveon, Hanabi the Cinderace, Aoki the Greninja, Hime the Gardevoir, Passenger the Galvantula, Yuri the Staraptor, Kuroko the Corviknight, Hiko the Infernape, Avalanche the Absol, Linux the Arcanine, Nino the Flygon, Annie the Mismagius, Isle the West Sea Gastrodon, Elias the Raichu, Jet the Altaria, Cymbal the Togepi, Tsubasa the Talonflame, Cylla the Aegislash and of course my starter Prima, a Shiny Roserade. (That is twenty-three Mons. Dear Legends.)

[Alter Introductions]

HOST: Miyo Hamasaki (age: 20, male, he/him)

I type in plain text!

CO-FRONTS (Protector): Fragment (age: ???, non-binary they/it)

i type like this.

MEMORY HOLDER: Ace/Kagami (age: 16, male, he/him)

I! Hopefully won't be around much! But I type in orange.

GATEKEEPER: Minato Yuuki (age: 16, male, he/him)

I won't be around much either, probably, but I use blue text.

//OOC:

Miyo's universe canon is this particular fic series! Granted, it has been 3-4 years since the events in the fic actually happened.

ARC TAGS (unfinished):

- #prologue station also known as the like. Three days I managed to have Miyo pretend to be normal before my excitement took over

- #Character Event: Land of Confusion also known as the Mini Pasio Arc!

- undecided so far is the overarching tag for the Sinnoh Anime Nonsense, but there's several smaller tags already? so incorporating all of that'll be. fun.

- also untagged is the Great Galar Collab with chaos-cousins. That's probably gonna be the tag name, though.

- #crossover cinema is Miyo's time in Persona Q2! Here's where things really start going off the rails, whoops

- #wrong hisui arc aka Hello Plurality, Amnesia and all sorts of fun stuff (read, trauma)

- #new tactics arc is my liveblog play through of Persona 5 Tactica, essentially

- #ace's third act is the P5 Royal third semester! So watch out for Spoilers.

- as yet untagged - The Pokémon X playthrough where Bulbadachi arrived on the blog

- #ace strikes back is Persona 5 Strikers, feat Miyo and Bulbadachi

- #the unova paradox introduces the Other Adachi (I call him Warden Adachi) via the Adachi Swap. Also Miyo mentors Hilda through most of a Pokémon Black run

- #iwatodai reload is where the newest alter joins Miyo! After. you know. Hell aka Persona 3 Reload.

- and finally, the currently ongoing #ultra vacation ! Miyo is back in the anime and I am. Low on spoons for him so he'll stay here for a while, probably.

- I also need to tag the Distortion Interludes at some point, huh

[desmondkane-of-ao3-fame]

you think hunter got off to easy but not lilith?

NOTE: This is a long, rambly, very unedited post. A post I made that I've completely rewriten three times. At this point, I just want to finish this. It starts off simple enough, then dovetails into a rant about Any Sport, then sorta gets back on track. I'm tired, and just want to put this question to rest. TLDR, yes I do. Want more? Please read on.

I have gotten three variations of this qustion since I wrote the post about my thoughts on Hunter, which you can read here if you haven't. In short, I don't care for Hunter or Huntlow, and the line this specific bit is reffering to is this: His redemption arc, despite supposedly taking up about 5 episodes, is the biggest mess the show’s ever had, filled with Hunter doing actions that would make Agony of a Witch Lilith call overkill and yet facing 0 pushback. And, to be honest, I stand by this position.

For starters, Hunter is presented as much more of a genuine threat from the very start. Lilith is more of a nuisance to Eda throughout the first season, trying to bring Eda to the EC so she can both be healed of her curse and prove herself the superior sister in the most petty ways possible. As a high-ranking member of the EC, it's likely she's commited more blatently evil acts off-screen, and I do wish the show explored that, but from all we see on-screen, Lilith isn't really 'evil' so much as 'pathetic'.

But what about Agony, when Lilith DOES do evil stuff?

Well, in Lilith's fifth apperance, she kidnaps Luz, almost gets her killed by dangling Luz over dangerous terrain, and, in the next episode is indirectly the reason Luz loses the portal when she blows it up to keep it out of Belos's hands.

The thing is... Hunter does all of that.

In his first voiced appearance, he threatens Luz, Eda, and King by dangling the first two over dangerous terrain. In his third appearance, he captures Luz. And in his fourth appearance, he is directly responsible for Luz being unable to go home when he takes the portal key from Amity. He also attacks Amity when she offers him help, uses Luz's life as a bargaining chip thus betraying any friendship they may have gained in 'Hunting,' and later kidnaps four children that he plans to take rip away from their families so that he brand them (his words) and force into becoming peons for a fascistic cult, which, ya know, bit dicey, not very PC I'd argue.

But what about cursing Eda?

Here's where I talk about the part where Lilith doesn't actually get off as easy as people like to make out. Because here, things happen to Lilith that never happen to Hunter: characters acknowledge her shit, and Lilith directly accepts a fitting punishment for her crime.

During her rescue mission to the Emperor's Castle, Luz is more then happy to try and at least incredibly hurt Lilith during their fight. It isn't until Lilith not only admits she deserves Eda's fate, not only explains what happened, but also reveals she saved Owlbert, that Luz is willing to side with Lilith. And later, when Lilith is about to be petrified alongside Eda, the latter would have gladly torn her to shreds without even asking why she's there if King hadn't stopped her. And when the group escapes, Lilith decides to take on half the curse herself so that she can save Eda, suffering the same fate as her sister. It's not going to make Dante Basco jelous he couldn't play such a deep and complex redemption, but honestly, I think it works for a single episode arc, and does satisfy my need to see Lulu face justice.

Hunter, meanwhile, doesn't really have that.

After 'Eclipse' you'd think 'Oh, Hunter's really in for it now!' Like, the Hexside crew would treat him as an 'Attack on Sight' threat. Especially Luz, given he betrayed her trust, threatened her girlfriend, and stole her best chance of getting home. 'Eclipse' should have served as Hunter's 'Agony,' the episode Hunter has to redeem himself from before anyone in the Hexsquad is willing to trust him.

Instead, we get 'Any Sport,' the episode where he, again, kidnaps a team of kids he's known only for an afternoon to force them into the EC. And in fairness, both Skara and Gus are at least a little peeved off about the whole afair. Except then Hunter turns to Willow to see her explain the other Entrails should be cool with this and...*

A brief reminder that Willow got Clover from saying she wanted to defend her friends, is arguably the most powerful of the Hexkids in terms of raw magical strength, knows about what Hunter's done to her friends, and has been shown as deeply hurt and angry when it comes to sudden betrayal by 'friends' before, to the point it becomes a magic power amplifier. Willow should by all accounts be so livid about all of this that she at least tells Hunter 'Actually, you're a prick and I don't really get why you think I would be down for any of this.'

Instead, she just crawls into corner and blames herself. Literally. Saying that Hunter kidnapping them all is her fault because she 'made a bad call.'

Which... is a thing that could, potentially, maybe, make some form of sense from both a character and story perspective. If I, ya know, bash my head into the concrete a little and squint until I go blind.

That tangent aside, Hunter then decides to let them go because Steve mentions their Palismen will be used for medecine for Belos*, and once he helps the Entrails not die at the hands of Darius,** Willow is so cool with him that she later proudly shows off the fact she's now friends with Hunter despite knowing that both Amity and Luz are clearly mortified by this.

And then... nothing.

No on-screen discussion about how Luz or Amity feels about Hunter, or scene where the show acknowledges maybe he did some bad stuff in the past unless it's just there to make you feel bad for him. Luz is now just completely cool with the guy who threatened Amity because he kidnapped Willow but also let her go later so-

See, that's what I mean. The show takes it that Hunter's redemption should just be a given to the audiance by now to the point Luz doesn't seem to care about the fact he's the same dude who stole her one way home. Instead, she want's to redeem him. No internal conflict about how to feel or justified anger about anything Hunter did to her or Amity, just the show deciding that letting a few kids go after kidnapping them is enough justification for Luz to not be upset by that.

Lilith actually faced consequences in losing her magic and taking on half the curse to save the one she cursed, and had the extra help of major characters actually being upset about what she did to them. Hunter, meanwhile, doesn't face anything after 'Eclipse' aside from Gus and Skara's condemnation for 2 seconds, and never has to even apologize for the whole 'assaulting Amity' or 'stealing the key' bit on screen.

And that, THAT, is why I say that Hunter did, in fact, get off lighter then Lilith.

*Also, if Hunter knew enough about friendship in 'Hunting' to know taking Luz in would be not friendly, why does he now believe that backstabbing people is the highest sign of friendship? Because Coven Heads do it? That doesn't ever actually get shown on screen, and the one time the Coven Heads DO betray each other is when Raine tries to kill Darius and Ebberwolf in 'Requiem,' which did not seem to be taken by Kikimora as a friendly jesture.

**Also also, this never made sense to me: Why doesn't Darius just... let them escape on the ship? Pretend he's so invested in Pensta that he doesn't notice Skara stealing the Palismen, letting them fly away, and just acting like it's not worth tracking them down? And when they later escape, was he just... gonna kill a bunch of children? You can say he wasn't but he seems pretty intent on doing so, and there's literally no reason to not just pretend you were too injured to fight? Why make a giant Abomination and cut down massive vines, seeming to be pretty invested in the idea of gutting Willow alive?