#^ and also this is mostly w my au version of canon characters in mind too

[robingivesmemagic]

im still not entirely 100% on colors and i am still working on them but OC JUMPSCARE!!!! s'ayge vol-m'yrzz aka sage myers :3 bit of info under cut cuz it got a tad bit long

the idea is that shes the child of a kryptonian and martian (kryptonian father meeting martian mother through some type of lost in space / expulsion situation) she isnt raised on earth at all but probably ends up crashing alone there with no recollection of how it happened.. interactions with canon characters are still kind of being decided on but he would be more attached to the supers and martians already on earth (specifically thought it would be funny for him to think kon is sooo cool and bugs him all the time)

they have a mix of martian and kryptonian powers but with some issues since some of them do clash; mainly like they Are able to absorb solar energy of course but it makes their skin sensitive so they have to be a little careful. and also that means no sun dipping. heat vision might be possible but it might not be a very good idea

[drippingmoon]

Merry new year to everyone, again! 🥳💞🥂

I know it wasn’t an event this year, but writing a yearly wrap-up is really therapeutic, you know? So I decided to continue the tradition, and if anyone wants to join me, absolutely view this as an open invitation^^ Introduction is over, and now let’s see what 2023 looked like:

(spoilers: I adored it. I'm also probably going to make this my fixed post, in case anyone ever wants to catch up with me. And also because my second baby, AoS, is growing, and it doesn't have an intro, but I can't leave it out.)

Stats

Aquiver, Aglow: 181k (draft 4) + 195k (draft 5) + hmm, draft 6 is an outlier, because I didn’t rewrite from scratch, so I’m unsure of the written word count. I didn’t change much from draft 5, so I’d say an extra 15-20k. Total word count: 376k+

Remains of a Night: 120k 

Aberration of Sunlight: 134k

This was definitely my most productive year to date. And I got so hungry: the more I wrote, the more I just wanted to keep writing, and honestly? I’m proudest of myself for literally carving writing time whenever I got a spot into my schedule. Mostly it was from 8pm-11pm, but I had a mad run where my only free window was from 1am till I literally felt I was dying… I’ll talk about that separately🤣🤣👌

Though, I'm seriously understating it.

Like a lot of other people, I would have all these hours when I was younger when I didn't have anything to do, yet I'd still find some excuse not to write. "I'm waiting for the right time." "I'm anxious I'm not going to get it right." "Tomorrow! Tomorrow I can start right from the morning, and I'll have more time to write, yeah?" or "I'm too tired now, it's late..." and so the snowball rolled down and downhill and I found every reason under the sun not to write, now that I think about it. Sigh. So much time wasted. But I can't regret it either, because I needed those baby steps at that time.

And now! Now I do what I thought I'd never learn to: I prioritize, and I actually organize my daily stuff so it's not so impossible anymore to have a little bit of writing time. I don't take it for granted either. It feels like such character growth for me, I'm immensely proud of it.

And for the record? This year was a huge improvement over yesteryear mentally, too. It turns out, what I needed to get over my word count anxiety… was to be faced with people who literally didn’t give a fuck about it, and just cared about the story. One of the most unexpected things beta stage managed to do to me… was to quench all my anxieties. It’s as simple as that. I read and enjoy very long books. People also do that. So, I’m very happy to say I’m no longer in a tizzy about ‘quiv. It might kill my chances for trad publishing, it might not. I’ll be happy come what may.

Because it’s so simple how working on ‘quiv or thinking about it makes me joyous, and now I can just enjoy that freely. I will miss writing this story so much. I really will. But at least I’ll have it forever to reread, and I hope this thought brings comfort to everyone who also has problems letting go, like it does to me.

Let’s break it down a little, shall we?🤩

Aquiver, Aglow◇◇◇

My little star of the hour. How fond I am of it.

Like you could glean from above, ‘quiv went through three drafts this year. More specifically: in the first part of the year, practically almost as soon as February arrived. I knew it was getting closer to the final version, and gave me the push to finish all three back to back. I couldn’t justify anymore the bazillion AUs I do with rewrites (basically, WHAT IFs from events, WHAT IF it went this different way, WHAT IF Tyrone actually said this here… and so on and so forth. I wanted to test out as many pathways as possible, and did I exhaust every one of them in existence? Definitely not. I don’t think that can happen, you just keep getting new ideas. On and on. What happened, instead, is that these couple different pathways, at some point, cemented themselves as canon in my mind. I didn’t want to tease myself with alternatives anymore, and that’s when I knew they would be it. Some bits from the first draft, some from the third, some from the second. Some were even draft 6 originals!

It’s a bit of a weird process. I definitely didn’t need to reach draft 3, and meet Mezusa, because I could’ve feasibly made it work with just Yles in the story. It still would’ve made sense, though in a different way. But if I hadn’t… I might’ve missed one of the best characters I’ll ever probably have created, and the story (and Yles) is much stronger for her, if you ask me. 

For that matter, yes, full rewrites every single draft might take a lot of time and effort, but honestly I don’t think I’d ever change my writing process (save for the moments of frustration when I think I will lol) because of the sheer satisfaction of it. Whoever said so long never to settle on the first version, I owe you a beer and probably some curses as well lmao, but very lovingly. You shaped my writing life.

I don’t have much else to share about ‘quiv, other than it’s off with my beta readers my beloved, and maybe a tentative promise that, if anyone wants, you’ll be able to read this precious ball of hope of mine relatively soon. This story is so gentle to me. And as much as I loved to write and work on it, I dearly hope that whoever decides to give it a go, is treated just the same. That’s the only wish I have.

I also don’t know if I’ll go trad or self-published. Instincts say trad, because I fuckin’ suck at marketing (fact), and I know I’d grow resentful if I’d have to put so many hours into advertising when I know I could instead… write. I’m a writer. That’s the only thing I know how to do. Trad, however, might not be as kind on a ~200k as life’s been, so I might not have a choice. If it comes down to that… I’ll just treat it as I do everything. I don't love this story any less if I just write, publish without a fuss, hope that maybe, just maybe, a reader or two will stumble upon the story and we could talk. Maybe we can have the fun of our lives, create some genuine connection. I know that’s applies to a lot of writers. I hope we can accomplish it.

And so, I’ll finish this section of the wrap-up with a kiss to my ‘quiv, for all the warmth it’s ever brought me. It’s come so far, I know it can live distinct from me from now on. It brings me great comfort. And I look forward to the times I’ll reread it, and we can relive our best experiences together. Never thought I’d get to this point. Thank you, ‘quiv.

Remains of a Night♤♤♤

Mwhahaha! And because ‘quiv took all the pressure, this left AoS to be an extremely fun and spirited experience. Literally the chillest I’ve ever been writing. In many ways, it’s more my thing than I expected ‘quiv to be: I get to murder characters left and right, it’s more plot-heavy and banking on the tension created by a creature that horrifies the characters down to their marrow, but still the only way to defeat it is to know it better, which, uh, might have unpleasant consequences for them. It’s got chase and stealth scenes, and it always shoots me with adrenaline to think about them. In short, exactly my jam.

It’s not a new book, nope. You knew it before as Aberration of Sunlight, but from the get-go I felt it would be bigger than ‘quiv. Very fortunately for me, I had a place where to break it, and behold: there’s RoaN (book 1), and AoS (book 2). There might be a third book, which I dearly hope not because titling sucks, but it depends on the Sycamine arc. More on that in AoS.

One last thing to note, before we delve into the story (hoo-ray for earlier drafts, because I can talk more frankly about them). This is the culprit of my 1am writing adventures!!😫❤ My schedule became too packed, then NaNo came round and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to honor how AoS began, because it was last year’s NaNo, aaand I’m happy to say I won NaNo, somehow, with 56k down before I died. At that time, I only had one section left to write (from both books), otherwise, hahahaha, yeah, it wouldn’t have flown. Still, most of draft 2 I’d written in September-October, with my fairy lights, late nights, and cups of hot cocoa, exactly like how life should be<3

Alright. We’re going through them chapter-by-chapter again, exactly because I love seeing the titles so much:

ACT 1

Cracked Visor, Scorpion Grass

I did it! I did! Twas another shower thought I managed to get down in time. Bare broken sentences, but they did the impossible, and arranged this chapter into a structure I adore to bits and won't ever change. (And 'quiv's naughty voice left me alone for once and I could write it properly!) While I don't think I'll ever be happy with a first chapter (not as a concept, but the writing — part of me will always wish that the reader just had all the information already lol), this one is in the right place.

It pays its respects to the story of the broken helmet at the foot of a spaceship, and how it reconnects Madigan with all the people who'd suffered from being tethered to the planets when they yearned to fly, but the Beast punished them cruelly for it. It makes him feel phantoms of their efforts. The tone is exactly what I needed this story to start from: melancholy and numbly hopeless, against the backdrop of the Beasts's echoed cries.

Rain Through the Universe

Unlike 'quiv, because RoaN and AoS are way more plot-heavy, it's not as easy to change things willy-nilly (whereas 'quiv was all about character bonds and dynamics). As such, it's very similar to draft 1. Because of that, I'll frankendraft next (select and combine drafts 1 and 2, rewrite to connect them) and afterwards I'll try something I've always wanted to. (Scrivener keeps hinting at it!) I'm gonna split the chapters into scenes, and focus on those individually and how I can just rewrite them and set their purpose in stone<3 I'm excited!

As for the chapter itself, gods, I love the atmosphere. Just the wreckage of a sundered ship, and Madigan’s sudden madman appearance making a lasting impression on Spica, because how could it not. They no longer answer distress calls in that age, it just means more dead bodies. In fact, they're forbidden to. Madigan instead brings him what he himself lacks: hope. And a lot of crawling around while dreading the Beast's lambent eye opening, and oh my, the moments are really flying by😈👏 extreme fun for me as the writer.

Aberration of Light

If you remember, the books follow two timelines, which will connect at some point. The first and main one is Madigan and Spica’s story. The other is Holloway’s, in the distant past of that universe, and who’s been dubbed the most selfish man in existence. That’s important, because of how the Beast came to be. But that becomes important later. For now, a weird-ass new recruit has joined the ship, and the witchy crew will very soon start making bets if she’s the Beast in human flesh, which really wouldn’t bode well for their future.

Night Falls On Their Reflection

Draft 2 became Spica’s draft. It was high time. He didn't exist in the original idea beyond chapter 2, but he refused to die with his story untold. And now he's one of the most independent thinkers I've ever written. Now he's Madigan's son (yes, even at 25), best friend, back-to-back partner all in one, and I could watch the trust and mutual respect between these two forever. To be sure: Madigan comes up with the dumbass plans, and Spica's only too happy to follow him through everything (it is good fun.)

He's repaying the incredible kindness Madigan's shown him when answering his distress call, after all.

But it goes a bit further than that, doesn't it? Madigan is used to watching over myriad people. He's the Superintendent of his planet, and while he genuinely loves people, kindness is his default. It doesn't go further than that for him. He doesn't necessarily think people need, much less desire his presence there beyond Madigan extending help, and most of the time, he's content with that. Kindness does make him happy. And it should be the same with Spica now, shouldn't it? He's kind, but he's not Spica's family, nor ever will be. Yet he immediately feels a connection with the boy, that has nothing to do with bonding over escaping-a-cosmic-disaster. And so does Spica.

This is the moment when Madigan starts feeling guilty, for stepping where he should not. But here's the beauty of Spica's character: he's nothing if not dead sure of his own feelings, and what he sees with his eyes. It's okay if Madigan keeps unexpectedly taking steps back. For very long, there'd been nobody to support Spica's beliefs. So he does the same, as when he followed his heart to go into dead space: he believes in himself and Madigan, and that their paths aren't meant to diverge. They mean too much to each other for that to ever happen.

(In short, and legend says you can still hear me screeching about these two ten thousand years later, I love these two so much, and especially the parallels between Spica going alone into outer space and loving Madigan.)

(And, okay, obviously all these developments don't happen in a single chapter, but I couldn't stop gushing🤭🥰.)

Who Puts These Tombs in Ice

Overall, I think draft 2’s Luitgart performed worse than draft 1. Mainly it's the setting I want to revert (still an icy, sempiternally dark hell, but with different ice constructions) because some of the beats are a huge improvement, and again, I gotta combine the two. Otherwise, I’m still as obsessed about the Luitgart arc as I’ve ever been, and huge thanks to it for being so strong it could function as an ending of its own, allowing me to split the book.

Gettin’ into spoilery territory, but I have to un-kill Madigan so many times it leaves me in hysterics. That was what I was supposed to fix this draft. It got worse. Considerably.

(One constant: the chapter being a love letter to Madigan, and how his first answer will always be to help the other, no matter if they deserve it or not<3 and finally, finally, he gets acknowledged for it, and the favor returned.)

ACT 2

Lemon-Dotted Days + Remnant

Two Holloway chapters! I’m actually massively pleased with how they’ve turned out. Last year, I said the main issue was that I had an outline, and that never works for me. So I did what I do best and rewrote everything from scratch, and the result is both uncanny and… unexpected.

Unexpected, because I never in my life thought Holloway’s voice would make me laugh so much. He’s supposed to be unsympathetic, but then you get his interactions with Saintlark (the new crewmate, possibly Beast) where they’re contemplating the harvest of a nebula, and he’s harshly critical of it, which gives Saintlark hope… only to go deadpan One Moment Later: if they’d used the nebula to prolong their lives instead of bolstering the war, they wouldn’t have died like clown idiots. 

And, they could’ve maybe stolen immortality from the nebula. They would've had to share it with him, of course. Or he would've murdered them to get it.

That, my guys, is his personality in a nutshell.

I have a lot of feelings on Holloway now, and most involve me huffing and slapping my forehead while groaning, but oh my gods. Was it ever so fun. And wait, wait, wait. Since I'm talking of humor (apparently a lot of comedy fit into this horror lmfao) I have to show you guys the following section🤣🤣👏:

Corpse Snow

The drifters are set howling on the ice. They share glances, five separate vehicles nodding at each other. Madigan revs up the engine, splitting the air with a jet of steam and vibration.

The last of the marines are climbing into the box. A figure flashes past Madigan’s drifter — and he leans over, teeth grinding because of his ribs, and he does his very best to grab someone by the back of their suit and pull. Workout days were never his strength, though. He only succeeds in stopping them in the frost smoke.

It’s Spica dangling from his hand, expressionless.

Lieutenant Hahn instantly seizes on the situation. He throws Madigan a long, withering look. “Whatcha doing, Boss?” he asks softly, about to unhinge his jaw again.

Madigan nudges Spica into the drifter. “Picking up your boy.”

Spica gets the hint and deposits himself into the front seat, glancing from his father to his Superintendent. He seems to give up on whatever’s going on, and makes himself cozy in the frosty spot. And Madigan, of course, pretends not to notice Hahn’s drifter sliding closer.

“And you didn’t consider I might want to have my son with me?”

Madigan looks up and sighs. “Lieutenant, dear Lieutenant,” he starts pleadingly. “Why won’t you show some leniency to a poor, wounded man?”

Hahn’s drifter stops, summoning a breeze across the icy floor that gently rocks the other vehicle. His breathing distorts the comms with static. “And what exactly is my son right now?”

“My trusty navigator,” Madigan answers easily.

“Sir’s emotional walking stick?” Spica pipes in at the same time.

They both look over. Spica’s quietly turned to the navigation, as serene as daylight, seemingly oblivious to how Madigan's expression changes, lightning-fast. He quickly hides it under the guise of a polite mask, as the marines stir and turn their attention on them. They’re snickering.

Lieutenant Hahn throws up his hands, giving up on everything.

This is also the first 30k chapter I’ve ever written. It's everything I've ever wanted to do with ice.

Heart of the Void

The end of the book. Originally, it was the ending section to Corpse Snow, but since it already got so ungodly long, I chipped off that bit and I have to say I’m very happy with how it works as an epilogue! So it ends the frosty, weary journey, and I can’t see the two books as separate yet, but here we bid goodbye to the first.

Aberration of Sunlight♧♧♧

I did the unthinkable and created a fifth arc. This might not seem like much to you, but I was screaming bloody murder you guys😭😭😭. Sigh. It’s so sigh. For so long, AoS consisted of four clear-cut acts, but it was necessary. With the introduction of Sycamine, and making it two books, it was just needed. It’s still one of the worst things I’ve ever done because I was used to four😃💔

(The chapters continue from where RoaN left off – from chapter 10, to 21.)

ACT 3

Retro Spectrum

Sycamine, oh Sycamine. Definitely the break I needed before Days in Darkness. It made for a really neat beginning. It’s calmer, focusing on the knowledge they have on the Beast. It’s also a reflection on Procyon (their main star) and the story of the two straggler dog constellations, and what they'd been running away from. I liked the direction it took. It veered away from the Beast for a bit, so the tension kept expanding in the background. And when it returns, well... maybe they shouldn't have been so eager to see it again🤭.

It suffers from the same syndrome as draft 1’s first chapter… it’s there in the vicinity of the idea, but too much to the left. Not bad for a first attempt. The setting annoys me – I really don't enjoy writing cities, and AoS didn't change that. So, for our next try, I was thinking... maybe we don't need to be on the planet, but up close and veeery personal with it. It's a secret❤.

And, oh gods. I put a moustache-twirling villain in this. And then I couldn’t stop myself from naming some sucker Sweetman Calories. I don’t know what happened to me during those days, but I’m crying🤣🤣🤣.

Toast to the Light

Holloway and Saintlark’s story is slowly coming to an end. Unexpectedly bleaker than draft 1, yet it feels much more sincere. Holloway has a way of saying everything Saintlark needs to hear. No surprise. They did that to themselves.

Dissonant Recognition

Ahhhh, the Madigan-is-slowly-losing-his-grip-on-reality chapter, or maybe he should really stop staring into the suns. One of my favorites<3 Also because it features Moren (!!!) who has a blast staying in the grey morality area, because she doesn’t know if her actions could ever matter, or if she could change anything. Does she just exist? Is she a player or just pawn? Who knows. Besides that, she gets along great with Spica. They form such a teasing duo, the level of mutual respect they felt for each other on sight was a delight to write. My favorite ally of theirs, even if her destiny lies elsewhere.

Night Beneath the Elevator

Best title hands down, dethroning Solgesis. I’m going batshit crazy about the visuals, it's exactly my thing. This half-light slanted over an elevator waiting in a rundown basement to be boarded. And there's something underneath it, and always has been. Something insidiously creeping up and waving its tendril fingers at you as you're just waiting for the fucking thing to ascend. Immaculate, guys, I'm telling you, and I'm cursing my hands because I can't make a wallpaper of this. I want to eat that atmosphere.

Time-sensitive missions, y'all.

And why the heck did nobody inform me I was going to add Command as an actual character and have them talk with Madigan?! That entire convo, made up entirely on the spot but somehow with a direction, made me realize what an idiot I’d been for not doing it sooner. They mean so much to Madigan, after all.

(And Mariya. So much Mariya in these chapters.)

ACT 4

Loop System

Like Who Puts These Tombs in Ice, draft 1 might’ve done it better. Not Spica and Madigan, though, because of the sheer development Spica’s been through and the dynamic he’s managed to form with the crew. It's different from Madigan’s, but similar enough that it’s got Hahn commenting lightly: [Spica’s] picked up quite a few habits from Madigan, hasn’t he? Almost as if they’ve gotten very very close, huh? How about Madigan tell him more?

(I adore writing Hahn.)

Outreach

Another Holloway chapter. Doesn’t have the punch of the kids subplot from draft 1, but this just makes it worse for Saintlark personally, because, this time, the consequences are on her.

Days in Darkness

I knew the moment I first got the idea this would be my favorite chapter. Well, it finally happened in draft 2: when the entire crew is here, this time, and ready for the final countdown, to relive the experience of being trapped in a ship that's disintegrating. No more heroes left behind. I'd been so tired writing this chapter in draft 1, but this time around it was incredible. Everything went up sharply from here, both in terms of events and how on fire I was.

(Maybe less than the gorgon, but I was.)

ACT 5

Echo Terminal

The first of the two log chapters.

I've never written smoother, more visual chapters than in this period. Days in Darkness changed me so much, I was writing day and night by this point and couldn't get enough. Well, I hit my limit in the second half of the very last chapter, but I am beyond satisfied. Even the Beast's metamorphosis took me by storm, because I'd been wondering what the final verbs, the final images, the final design for it was going to be. I didn't expect it to come to me this early, and with such thrill. Those were my very best days of the year, and I toast to them.

(And I knew it was going to be fantastic when Halo's Warthog Run OST started blaring in my head, with as much adrenaline.)

Where, Now? + Solgesis

My beloved. The second and last of the two log chapters, but it’s Noelle Saintlark’s log.

Holloway’s timeline ends here. Or maybe it just gets carried into the future. I thought I’d want to rewrite his parts again, make the plot just a tiny bit more psychedelic and nonsensical because it’s so close to the Beast… but Solgesis put all my fears to rest. Even the formatting and layout is a bit of that special thing I’ve always wanted to try, and it really changes the perspective of the previous chapters. There's a new confession that stands at the heart of Holloway's stories.

Honestly, the only thing that needs urgent working on is the anger at the end of the chapter.

Anger is so hard for me to write sometimes. Not because I don’t connect with it, but because I feel self-conscious writing it. The wildest I felt it was when I tackled 'quiv's chapter 3 and Imera's Turning speech, both in quick succession (before I'd even written draft 1. I'd been taking notes.) Since then... I just thing back to how keenly I'd felt that anger, and I kind of intimidate myself out of it. Kind of like a natural resistence, I quench it from myself. Which is actually hilarious when you think about it. It’s like I’m going I BANISH THEE FROM MY BRAIN because generally, as a person, I dislike feeling and operating on anger. But no worries. I’m going to find a way around it.

Watch me😎.

What Goes Around…

(Now it’s the time for me to start crying some rivers, and, alright, it won’t be visible so I’ll say it: the chapter titles are holding a conversation, guys. They speak to each other. And sometimes it’s both sides of the same coin, like how What Goes Around (comes around) hints here. If you take two chapters, one from the beginning and one from the end (for example 1 and 21) it'll tell you a little secret. Okay, What Goes Around and Rain Through the Universe communicate through their plot, which I can’t spoil but of course it has to do with Madigan and Spica and how they first meet… but there is one title pair that does it best visibly. 

Lemon-Dotted Days and Days in Darkness.

And I hadn’t even planned this. All the parallels I wanted to draw… I feel like they built themselves, guys. They really did, and it makes me so wildly happy I don’t even know how to stop my hands from flailing.

And, with them being 21 chapters, they meet in the middle, on the one unpaired chapter.

Called Toast to the Light.

I friggin’ love everything.

New Sunrise, Forget-Me-Right

Of course, Forget-Me-Right is a play on Scorpion Grass. But it’s also such a gentle name for the chapter, because everything ends here. Lying on their backs, staring out into the universe, and it really, really is over. Just a dark horizon on which stars flare and bloom. And suddenly, that maddened rush to make every sacrifice count, to remember every soul they’ve encountered because the legend says the Beast absorbs you when it kills you – all that suffocating pressure dissipates. Lightness remains. Because they’ve protected each other.

For the first time in my writing journey, blood rushed to my head with such emotion I had to stop writing, which never happens. I had to look up and exclaim, holy fuck. But how could I not, considering how the story ends for the Beast? I am speechless. A lot of gorgeous surprises this draft.

Conclusion□●□

Whew, what a year it's been! As for how 2024 will probably look like, though I don't like making plans: finishing the beta stage for 'quiv, and tackling RoaN and AoS's draft 3. Thaaaat one I'm actually starting on Christmas, when I can (finally!!) reread draft 2 with my mug of hot cocoa (or maybe mulled wine for a change) and, no surprises here, I'm hyper stoked for that<3 <3 <3 I legit can't wait to see where the new draft brings them. I might not have set any expectations for them, but they're vying to keep up with 'quiv and I adore it🤭❤

As for my lovely friends... well, you know by how I spam your tags how much I adore you and wish you happiness forever🤩🥺🥳 I don't know what my activity will look like in the near future, so for now I won't be saying anything, and my semi-hiatus continues. Semi, because you're unforgettable and I crave to see what everyone's been up to and (!!!!) what you've written!

So let's meet in 2024 again, and all the best wishes to you, the reader🥰🥂❤.

[kiwibirdlafayette]

✨💫welcome to the space jam its mianite’s gayest block people ‼️🔥

✨what up my gamers its me :3 I'm your fav chaos scrunkly Jay-Monty (im chill w either name); i also go by Kiwi and Grail! all i do here is be a menace but if you're into that welcome in to my hubris. i'm an artist, cosplayer, (occasional) writer and professional silly guy who loves me a good gay people and a good lore :D

Main Fandoms: MCYT (Mianite, Captainsparklez, Hermitcraft, Life Series are the current favs, but I also love Empires/New Life/SOS, and Origins SMP), Watcher Ghoul Boys (Ryan and Shane), Arthuriana, Monty Python, and Good Omens

Yar there be shippin here! I love gay people! My favs are syndisparklez, ethubs, ranchers and foxxsize <33 (always only the characters, if i engage in rpf content, its in a joking way or something the CC said first!) (directed heavily at thomas george cassell /threat)

@grailknightmonty for art-only + me me big boy masterpost (ft. all boundaries and other social links)

@arthurshuge-tractsofland is my Tales of Arcadia sideblog now but all my trollhunters posts are still here under the fandom tags <33

Tagging System, AUs/Fanon Masterlist and more below :D

Tag Directory

#gkm arts / #lafakiwi draws - my art tags! the gkm has all my work from 2021 on, lafakiwi draws has everything from when i joined this hellsite in 2014

#lafakiwi talks - general tumblr posting from ya boy! asks i answer are also tagged under here

#lafakiwi writes - all my writing from fics and character analysis, to lore headcanons and theories C:

#lafakiwi cosplays - cosplay posts! tiktok is for cosplay videos, but i'll post stills and photoshoots here, and the occasional CMV

#verdigris musings - rambles related to ideas I have! can be art ideas, AU pitches or just hey. this is a cool idea that came to mind but i dont have the energy to do anything with it right now

#rambles from the heartsgone - consists of me shouting into the void mostly! rants also tend to live here

I mostly just rb shit whenever i see it but if I queue posts its under #yar queue a worth appointent , asks are just tagged with "asks" and the user who submitted (anons are under "anon" ) For a bonus #things to keep in mind is where i store all the feel good posts and

AUs/Headcanon Projects

Trollhunters AU Masterpost (because it would be a pain in the ass to list them all)

Starborne Kingdom of Dianite :: My MCYT Starborne AU! Builds off Jordan's origins smp lore, continuing the story (since he fucking won't /lh /j) and adding worldbuilding to the realm of the starborne (in my headcanon, its a version of the Aether!) How the Aether and the cast works comes off a tidbit from non est ad astra (see below) so we got two tiem reesters + hermits + lifers and the canon OSMP cast

Masterpost | AU Tag

Tales of Aitheaca/Gays on a Boat :: Mianite Post-canon/post-Isles fanstory! Gays on a Boat follows tiem reester after season 2 and goes up through Isles (following everyone else but tom and jordan). Tales of Aitheaca picks up where Isles leaves off (if i pretend like the end of Isles doesn't exist it can't hurt me) and takes them to another relative universe in pursuit of a multiversal anomaly, where ultimate balance rules. also the boat is a dimension traveller and to everyone's shock not the only one

Gays on a Boat | Tales of Aitheaca

Mianite Godswap :: Joke AU I made during Octobernite, but also has a bit of story tied to it. mostly an excuse to make syndisparklez between a dianitee and mianitee because that concept is fascinating to me

Mianite x Life Series :: Fan season of the Life Series that builds off a funny little game that Ianite, Dianite and the Watchers play with their casts and swap them around, putting the lifers in a blank slate world of Mianite S1 with the objective of being the last one standing, and Jordan and Tom in a hardcore world where of they die, the world dies

Death’s Scale of Justice :: Headcanon for cEmeraldduo in the Mianite universe! :D Inspired by when Philza showed up at Jordan’s witch hut, Phil is a priest for Ruxomar Ianite and former friend of Spark lookin for his goddess when he disappears. Also includes the backstory for cTechno where he unearths Bellinite, the god of anarchy, revenge and blind vengeance (aka the Blood God) from the depths of the S1 World

HC10: Upon the Mountain of Magic :: WIP, expansion and theory on the story behind Magic Mountain in Hermitcraft season 10 using Joel's temple to Lizzie and Mumbo's mined lab lore as a baseline. no tag yet but is in reference to the mosaic of lizzie and jim on art blog + canary in the iron mine painting

Original Projects

non est ad astra, mollis e terra via :: Multiverse lore dev, work in this is used mostly in reference to MCYT fanon, but also is a project i'm using for some OC stuff (includes worldbuilding for my Mianite RPG characters Ophi and Aurelia, and concepts for the Nightmare Spectrum)

For Good Measure :: Story of my stream sona, Sir Monty Jones aka where he was prior to becoming the wanderer of the outerverse. Takes place prior to Arcadia of Avalon and is basically monty python but if they were my ocs and silly knights and also minecraft

Arcadia of Avalon :: Original Arthurian retelling but i don't gaf I just think knights deserve to be stupid, gay and full of angst as the gods intended. Mostly an excuse to write my rarepairs and do some funky worldbuilding where the land of King Arthur is a war over the power of creation. i can't explain it better than that but trust me its a good one

Wide Awake in the Witching Hour :: Current set of lore and story for my sona Sir Monty Jones. Continues where For Good Measure leaves off and is, relatively time wise, lines up to the current timeline of HC10 and the Mianite RPG

[batsplat]

adsfdfgjk spuffy are kinda my eventual post s7 endgame and I mostly ship just them, even tho as a lesbian I obviously see the vision w faith/buffy. but I also don’t really read any spuffy fic at all bc I am mostly satisfied with what we got on the show and how it all concluded - clasped hands ingulfed in flames?? the “I love you” “no you don’t” WHO DID IT LIKE THEM. but many fics just want to flat out ignore s5-7, and specifically s6, and there are lots of like time travel aus or spuffy getting together earlier etc. and obviously I am not judging anyone you do you and have fun but that’s not my jam at all. like if there is a spuffy fanfic that mets my super specific expectations I would love to read it but overall I’m fine as is!

and in general this seems to be happening quite a lot when it comes to het pairings for me? like no matter how frustrating/painful some parts of it are, as a whole it makes sense that x and z can’t be together at this point in canon (but maybe they could in the future). maybe it’s bc i gravitate towards more unconventional het pairings and quite a few ppl’s ideas of a happy ending/happy relationship are too white picket fenc-y? perhaps but🤐

right righttttt yeahhhhhh I think a lot of fans like an idea of the relationship that didn't actually happen? to be clear I'm ON BOARD with the spuffy post s7 vision, I don't need to choose between that and buffy/faith in my mind, I'm just... hm, even as someone very anti the idea of redemption equals death, I'm also kinda okay with the idea they can't really find a happy ending with each other? like it's kinda the brevity of that relationship also provided it with meaning in canon, it's two people who did love each other in a weird way and found comfort in each other in a weird way and gravitated around each other and... can that work, can it not, could they ever have made it 'work' in a long-term sense, who knows!! but it's the canon specifically that I'm into rather than kinda... the hypothetical version of the relationship spike and buffy could have had. I wouldn't want any changes to canon!! I couldn't see them get together earlier with each other!! it's very. all power to you lot. do whatever. but to me there's one version of that relationship that works - and it's the one that's the mess it is in canon. spike is a vampire without a soul who falls in love! he has a chip that makes him impotent! he ends up getting a soul and a trigger! he's basically just one big experimental test tube used to explore what identity even means, what behaviour tells you about identity, what the conditions of morality are and so on... buffy dismissed him, then finds herself leaning on him, then eventually finds herself needing to confide in him as she is alienated from her own humanity... I don't know, one thing I've always really loved about buffy as a show is its flexibility, how playful it is with genre and what roles the characters fulfil in a way that still provides consistency in characterisation. I really like how that relationship has a completely different vibe in every single season!! I think spike is kinda uniquely well suited to that flexibility, that malleability of identity, and it's cool! I don't really want something that messes with that!

and yeah big agree on enjoying unconventional het lol. the thing is, right, I consume a fair bit of het (something that sounds a bit weird now I've typed it out but I'm keeping it). part of that is just how I, y'know, like women, which definitely doesn't mean I DON'T engage with plenty of m/m slash but I would quite like stuff to occasionally have women in it? and whichever you slice and dice it, the femslash pickings are just slimmer and often doesn't get produced about characters I'm particularly interested in... or just ends up falling into. weird. boring tropes when people are writing for it. but also het is fun!! I like playing with my het couples, I love doing a gender on them. I like spike and buffy doing a gender!! one of the big things with spike is constantly being emasculated, he's doing weird genders, I'm not saying the het relationship is Actually Not Het but idk I like the gender stuff!! like yes threaten him with those stakes!! straddle that evil vampire!! I'm enough of a romantic to occasionally want my doomed hets to have a happy ending, but like, yeah! don't white picket it!!

[namethatghostling]

Please tell us EVERYTHING about your dyke scarecrow au🎃🐦‍⬛

ghjk its not even rly like a full fledged au or anything i just resonate so heavily w the character and i was like. sure ok everyones making their own version of their fav rogues, why not me? so basically shes just like a mishmash of all my favorite interpretations and adaptations of the character with a heavy sprinkling of Gender

(also some vaguely paranormal spooky shit bc im so obsessed w scarecrows potential as like an actual horror character. in my version its left deliberately unclear if scarecrow the villain is %100 a persona made up by jon or if its a literal possessing force that has haunted her from childhood. make of it what u will.)

the whole origin story thing goes a little like this. jon crane (she/he/they/it), born johanna keeny, was raised by his fundie xtian grandma, mary keeny, in a farming town in georgia. from childhood she was kind of an oddball, and had a strange preoccupation with fear, loving ghost stories and occasionally menacing the crows that were common on the family land just to see them scatter.

they were always booksmart but also pretty socially inept. bullied at school and either ignored or brutally "disciplined" at home, she found consolation and comfort in books, everything from classic literature to dense scientific texts to trashy pulp horror. jon also struggled with (largely undiagnosed/untreated) chronic pain and, as a result, sleep issues. when she was able to sleep she often experienced sleep paralysis which manifested in nightmares and waking hallucinations of the scarecrow in the field outside the window speaking to her. its voice was wretched like nails scraping glass, but it spoke kindly to them, promising to protect them from the true nightmare that was yet to come. jon tried not to listen. she considered herself too sensible to believe in boogiemen. but as she got older things got worse, her body and mind continued to act against her, certain secrets regarding her sexuality came to light, followed by a confrontation with her granny after she began to threaten her with the promise of "exorcism"...

eventually, jon was left with no choice but to let the scarecrow handle things.

more assorted infodumping below the cut

after using the meager inheritance left by dear departed granny to pursue higher education in gotham, jon legally changed their name both in order to make it harder to track down their history and as a final spiteful gesture, taking the surname of the man grandma keeny had blamed for the corruption of her daughter.

legally she is still johanna and doesnt necessarily mind her given name but still vastly prefers jon. a very select few people are allowed to call her jonny, and NO ONE is allowed to call her joni/joanie any variant thereof.

their rise to villainy is still mostly the same since thats one thing that is generally p consistent in canon. professor of psychology, not well liked by students or staff, secretly working on a pet project involving testing the affects of fear on the human mind with some less than willing test subjects, yadda yadda yadda

scarecrow both is and isnt a separate entity from jon. jon, being scientifically minded, most of the time considers scarecrow to be the natural result of a traumatic childhood manifesting in a protector figure that gains control of their shared body during moments of intense stress or panic. this is true! in certain less rational moments however she believes it to be a completely foreign being, a literal demon that has plagued her family line for generations, like granny always said. this is also true! how can both of those things be factually correct? figure it out yourself!

scarecrow is always eager to wreak some havoc on anyone who gets in jon's way, but as for jon, he has refused to directly inflict violence on anyone since his grandmother. she was his first and last. jon's far from a pacifist, but hes also not bloodthirsty, and scarecrow begrudgingly respects his wishes. after all, its better if the test subjects stay alive as long as possible anyway.

jon has hypermobile eds. as a kid they used to freak out their classmates by messing around with their double joints and stretching out their skin. it became a lot less fun for them in adolescence when the background hum of joint pain suddenly teamed up with their growing pains, also made worse by grannys dislike of doctors delaying their diagnosis for years and their refusal to use mobility aids when they needed them out of fear of the bullying getting any worse. they finally gave in and started regularly using a cane in college but sometimes theyll still try to go without it. not great.

also related to the above, she has had kind of a fucked relationship with self medicating to deal with pain in the past. and in the present to a degree. also kind of a fucked relationship with pain in general.

probably autistic and definitely experiences some flavor of paranoid psychosis and ptsd but was never diagnosed with either because 1) they knew it would impact their ability to pursue their field of choice since they would always be considered "too close" when it came to matters of psychology and 2) theyre pretty sure theres nothing another doctor could tell them about themself that they dont already know and better.

masks like their life depends on it in public and pretty well most of the time. people for sure know theres something up with that crane guy but not enough to really give a shit most of the time. fucking hates stimming around other people. fucking HATES being treated as infantile or less capable.

one of the many benefits of becoming scarecrow, whether in terms of the villain persona or the being that is and isnt jon, is being able to be a lot more visibly bizarre without being treated like a child. instead people just treat it like a threat, which it prefers greatly.

vocal stim of quoting lines from favorite books, old nursery rhymes, and even the occasional half-remembered church song. jons grandmothers religion was largely a burden she dropped as soon as she could, but unfortunately they kinda went off with the southern gospel.

she had her first kiss with a girl from her class after sneaking away from a halloween party together. they got caught and after the news got out the girl hurriedly got back together with her ex boyfriend to protect herself from the inevitable backlash. scarecrow thinks she should have gone the way of dear old granny, but jon stubbornly disagrees to this day despite it all.

people generally think jon is older than he is. this used to bother him but now hes kind of into the whole weathered old butch vibe. certified queer elder moment.

still as much of a nerdass bookworm as she was as a kid. cried until she made herself sick the first time she read carrie. will take this to her grave.

of course theres more but once again this is fuckin long enough already.

[zmediaoutlet]

happy wincest wednesday! inspired by that ask you answered earlier, is there a canon male character sam would allow to join them for dp-ing dean purposes?

helloooooooo happy happy wincest wednesday!

umm in actual honest to g nothing at all about canon has changed except that S&D are canonically fucking? I think the answer is... no. I think there are plenty of dudes Dean would be open to and there may be some that Sam is open to on his own (though clearly that's a vastly smaller number), but it's the integration of the other into the world of obsessive two that makes it so much more difficult. A random stranger? Sure, there's not really any problem there, although I think there might be a dynamic assessment that they'd do -- a twink is nbd, but another toppy guy...? Sam's going to have to assess, lol. (Of course this also slightly depends on when it happens, but I find my mental established relationship!chesters tend to be in the solidity of s11, and there Sam is very watchful of Dean's safety and happiness and so if he were doing the choosing, which lbr he would, it would be a very careful choice, just for Dean's sake. [muffled scream, they love each other so muhuhuhuhuch.])

But like, let's go through the likely candidates:

Castiel: no. It'd have to be in a VERY specific timeframe, particularly a moment when Dean wasn't mostly angry at him all the time. s4/5 is one of the better spots for the destiel part of the model, but they're really fraught in the wincest relationship -- and Sam's on his back foot for a while there, but he's never at a lack-of-self-respect spot where he'd let Dean supersede him at the same moment that Dean might consider Cas. s6, no. s7, no. s8, tricky -- Sam's guilt might allow it, but Cas is acting too g.d. weird w/r/t the mind control for Dean to let him in. s9 when Cas is human is the best shot I think they've got, and I have actually written that under commission, but Dean letting Gadreel into that situation already feels... off. Possible, but not for the most in-character versions I can think of. And then after s9 the likelihood just gets lower and lower. Sorry, Cas.

Crowley: lol, no. There's like 45 seconds where Sam almost kinda likes him but then the jealousy goes SUPERNOVA.

Benny: no, and it's really too bad. Sam doesn't trust him until he's dead. (What does that tell us about jealous!Sam, by the way.) But Benny's such a great candidate because he knows his place, exactly -- Sam's uppermost in Dean's mind always, and Benny doesn't argue about that at all, and everyone knows the score. I wrote a little canon divergence to make room, but in canon as presented -- sorry, Dean, you'll have to get your DP elsewhere.

And after that, really, who are our other legit options? Bobby? No. John? Ahaha but no. Garth, Ash, Max the Witch, Paul the Bartender, Cesar & Jesse for a fun foursome? Just doesn't seem likely.

You can construct these hyperspecific moments where a really-for-real-canon character might go for it, but you have to get past 1) whatever canon debacle is happening at the moment, 2) ensure that the wincest element is safe and solid, and 3) get the third over the fact that they're fucking brothers -- something easy to gloss over in 'private' wincest, but it's something that shouldn't be discarded in threesome fic. Even if the third might not care -- monsters&angels&demons might totally shrug -- Sam and Dean might care, and particularly Dean, and Sam knows that Dean sometimes gets off hardest when he's humiliated but it doesn't mean he wants to invite that into their bed when he doesn't need to.

So. A hard sell. (Canon divergence AUs are our friend.)

[exploding-carrots]

I’ve been wanting to draw or write out my ‘future’ Bottom ideas for a while but haven’t gotten around to it. So here’s a long post of some head canons and a general story line of them vaguely developing as people at some point set after the live shows. If anything this is just sort of my personal AU for the characters getting together. Mostly focused on the progression of Richie and Eddies relationship and my thoughts on both of them being trans

- They’re both trans, (a lot of Ades characters give me trans dudes vibes but that is 70% me wanting to time travel and body swap w the man) Eddie is a bi trans dude (who medically transitioned young, but is not necessarily out as either) and Richie is a closeted/repressed bi trans woman who begins to come to terms w it during the whole island era

- Richie is also intersex, which while yeah is sort of canon in a mean way, is sort of important to me for the character 🤭 However she is not aware of the fact

- Eddie is dyslexic and has ADHD which both contribute to him struggling on and off (which was really just a gag they went with when funny) with reading/writing depending on how well he can focus on it at any given time (example: the Edies Bra sign vs the grave stone). I am not even going to attempt to say what is going on w Richie but the woman is a mess of unresolved issues and trauma complications

- After everything they go through in the live shows they do somehow make it back to the flat which is unexplainably the exact way they left it.

- Every single joke about Richie going off and fucking dudes from the live show is taken as fact. It is the most poorly kept secret amongst the cast. They literally do not talk about it unless Eddie is trying to make a point or piss off Richie

- Eventually Eddie IS trying to piss off Richie and does bring up everything about her sex life and the clothes, and... well everything else. After a ridiculous fight it somehow turns into an almost semi-serious conversation. Eddie makes the assumption that Richie is gay and Richie counters with the fact that she is genuinely interested in women but it’s a hell of a lot easier to get attention from specific types of men. Gets some wheels turning in both of their heads

- Personality wise they never really calm down, but they do start to slow down a little bit as it takes them longer and longer to recover from their fights. Obviously there is still the odd dart to the forehead or gentle push down the stairs but the ridiculous games and completions they make up take center stage

- they get weed at some point (Dave Hedgehog and Spudgun seems like a feasible source, because let’s be honest if Richie and Eddie tried to buy weed it would not work) that leads to all sorts of embarrassment because Eddie gets crossfaded as all get out and starts hitting on Richie. Which while having a precedent in their history (I mean, the first episode gives us that right away) takes on a new sort of meaning once the concept of bisexuality has been rolling around in their heads. Nothing particularly saucy happens at this point Bc they are high, drunk, and old but all of the actual acknowledgement of feelings start to really develop after this point

- in an attempt to do something with her time Richie picks up sewing and picks up where she left off with the wrap skirt and rubber underwear she made on the island. Starts to really develop the little wardrobe she wears when she’s alone. It’s a mix of the same awful button up shirts she always wears and some dresses and skirts along with a couple pairs of sexier (for Richie at least) under garments

- eventually Eddie comes home while Richie is still in her feminine clothing. Eddies Reaction is different from the first time he saw her dressed up that way since now there is a precedent. Eddies approach is much more “playful teasing” and fake surprise than it was previously.

- Slowly Richie starts dressing up around the flat more and more often as opposed to just when alone. Eddie ramps up with the pet names and husband/house wife dynamic they already had going on.

- THE MOMENT is when Eddie is leaving the flat to go to the bar and there is an ‘accidental’ kiss on the cheek along with his usual good byes. Eddie realizes what has happened immediately and bolts before Richie can say anything. Richie has a moment of “teehee that was nice” still in her little fucking house wife head space before it catches up w her.

- Richie panics, paces around the flat, gets changed like 8 times, cooks dinner, throws it away, takes it out of the trash, paces more, breaks like 8 things, and essentially just fluctuates between “Ooo Eddie fancies me” to “oh fuck the bastard is making fun of me again” to “it was an accident and Eddie is going to make it into a fight” back to “ooo Eddie fancies Me~”

- eventually Eddie comes home, pissed to hell and back way later than he’d normally come home. Richies passed out on the couch. Eddie wakes her up by pushing her over on the couch so he can sit. Eddie says something along the lines of “I’m fucking drunk so I’m only going to say this one” before saying some incomprehensible drunken rambling and pulling Richie into an awkward full kiss. It’s a nice moment for maybe about 5 seconds before he stands up again, pulls a pint out of his jacket, chugs it and says something about drunkenly passing out before doing just that across the coffee table.

- Richie just sort of gawks at Eddie sleeping across the table before giddily tossing a blanket over him and heading off to actually go to bed.

- relationship wise this really just sort of introduces a sexual/physical dynamic to their relation while ramping up their camp version of domestic life

- it’s Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog who actually say something to Eddie about it. They’ve always been in on the “oh look, it’s Eddies terrifying wife” thing. Probably only actually say something about it after the 2nd or 3rd actual display of physical affection they witness. It’s more of one of them asking Eddie if Richie really is his wife (in that half aware sort of way they observe things). This alone doesn’t change much, but it does takes a lot to get through to any of these repressed bastards

- Richie grows accustomed to the more feminine/soft pet names that Eddie uses for her. At one point Eddie uses more traditionally masculine terms which sets off “oh actually I am not a fan of that” in Richies head and leads her to asking Eddie to not refer to her that way. Leads to an awkward half coming out on Richies part. Eddie does genuinely switch up how he refers to Richie at this point and her gender just sort of becomes an silent fact that they both respect. Everyone else sort of knows them as those weirdos who have some sort of common law marriage going on and it’s not really questioned. This is the point where Richie starts to earnestly medically transition without really saying to much about, canonically she has been on estrogen pills before (even if it was a ‘mistake’)

- End game is essentially just them being casual about their identities and relationships in a unspoken sort of “well that’s just how it is” way that naturally sort of bleeds into a the other aspects of their lives.

- Additional note on Eddie being trans: Richie is already vaguely aware of this fact Bc obviously they’ve been seen what the other is working with at one point or another but the fact that she is unaware that she herself is intersex and has a skewed sort of idea about genitals and peoples bodies Richie genuinely does not think about it all too much. Eddie assumes that she knows, especially as they get older and casually refers to being trans (in my mind probably during the entire “Edwina” disguise thing. I imagine Eddie wearing the dress came down to the clothing size and some off hand comment about him “having experience”, which is total shit Bc even before he transitioned Eddie never presented that way). That’s probably around the point that things start to click in Richies head about Eddies identity and she starts comparing and contrasting Eddie to other ppl and such.

[masterhandss]

(I know you have a lot of asks to get through, but thoughts on this prompt. It hasn’t left my mind since I read Vol.8) I have made a prompt/concept/theory whatnot called “Only the Fourth”. Alan is my favorite and I like throwing him into not so good things. So my main ask is your thoughts on the prompt and/or if it’s a logical one that ‘could’ happen and not that far from reality/canon.

I’m really sorry for taking such a long time to answer all your asks (and everyone’s asks/questions in general ;;-;;) but i’ll do my best to get through everyone as fast as I can!! qwq

So I finally read Only the Fourth and its honestly a really interesting concept that I can see as something that can happen in the books itself. The series itself doesn’t do anything with the idea of how Alan is perceived by there people since we usually just focus on how his self image affects himself. The idea that some foreign nobles consider him to insignificant that he’s basically free real estate it pretty darn sad but can kinda work. 

I’m no historian though, so I don’t know what happens to princes that don’t ascend to the throne. While a scenario where Alan gets kidnapped for his magic/lineage sounds exciting, I don’t really know where the scummier or lower nobles would get the confidence boost to consider kidnapping Alan.

Spoilers for Volume 9 btw, it says there that some nobles in Sorcier is working alongside the nobles of Lousabre in order to kidnap citizens (the ones in the book were commoner children) in order to improve their own country. It’s not just nobles with magic that they want, but the general populace because they are jealous that even commoners can read and write in Sorcier, but only a fraction of the nobility in Lousabre can do it. 

I’m only mentioning this here since a prompt like this is very interesting, but if we’re talking about whether it “could” happen in the story, it’ll only work if the kidnapping of the baroness in Volume 8 and 9 and the other children in Volume 9 are isolated cases that just happened to intersect (and both of these can happen at the same time though, its just that V9 didn’t imply it to be that way so I can only assume whether these kidnappers’ motives are both or not). I can’t really say for certain though since I mostly skimmed the volume out of curiosity and just plan on a full analysis read when the english version comes out. 

If the nobles in Lousabre just needs pretty much anyone from Sorcier, regardless of their social status, just because they need more literate people, then the chances of Alan being targeted would be very small. BUT! if Lousabre also wants to populate their country with magic users in order to imitate Sorcier(/become the new magic country of the continent) or to wage war against them then the chances of Alan being taken for such purposes would increase. 

“He’s only the fourth prince, I’m sure in due time people will forget about him.”

Alan might not be a contender to the throne, but he does have a good reputation among the nobility, which is much better than his Fortune Lover counterpart. He constantly performs music at gatherings which helps improve relations and opinions of the nobles to the royal family. He’s also smart (I don’t know if the light novels have clarified the roles of the Student Council beyond Geordo being the president and Maria being vice pres in their second year, but in the Modern AU Side Story, Alan is noted to be the Secretary, which works since he’s rank 3 overall) so it would be such a huge shame to lose him as a possible vassal to whichever brother of his ascends to the throne. He is the least important prince but that’s not to say that he’s completely ignored, I mean he’d important enough to be given work and training like what he says in Volume 6 and 8. 

Alan is also a prince, so regardless if its for the purpose of increasing literacy in the country or breeding magical blood into Lousabre, I’m not sure how likely they would pick Alan considering that getting caught (regardless of whether they find Alan or not, just that they link the event to any country/family) could cause an international crisis and ruin alliances between countries (unless that’s their goal somehow). 

Plus his big brother Geoffrey loves him so much that I doubt a search party (since you mentioned one occurring but that it probably wont last long) would conclude until he is found. Even if other nobles and knights try to convince Geoffrey that searching for his baby brother would be a lost cause, he’ll either ignore them or reduce the search party to a few of the most skillful people he can find. 

Regardless of the specific circumstance, again I think an arc or story like this would be really interesting. I’m not really disagreeing with the prompt at all, I’m agreeing that it’ll be very fun, and I'm already imagining the various reasons why the lower nobles would regret their decision to target Alan for the rest of their lives hahaha. 

In the past few paragraphs I was just thinking of reasons why they wont dare to choose Alan, but the fact that lower and foreign nobles don’t/might not know these things about Alan is enough to contradict me and reaffirm their decision to target him. Lower/foreign nobles can just be ignorant, self-centered and dumb, they don’t seem to need an elaborate reason to choose Alan, just like what you implied on your original post

It’ll be very cool to see lower/foreign nobles call Alan insignificant just because he isn’t a contender to throne, only to realize how important he is to a lot of people when the characters inevitably go on to rescue him :DD. It’s a very nice prompt that can open a lot of character developments for Alan and his brothers, reaffirm/question his self-worth and expand on the world-building of the series. I can see a few holes in it, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting/exciting to see in writing. 

It’s so nice to see so much Alan love in your account, even if it comes at the cost of you throwing dangerous situations at him XDD Reading your ideas and headcanons about him has been really fun and now I kinda feel like reading fics in AO3 again

Thank you for the ask! I’ll do my best and try to mow through all these questions ;;w;; Anyone is free to add their ideas on here if you guys want :DD

[beaniebabs]

hii bestie tell me abt elijah rn or i will kill u 💖💖 i dont rly know much abt him aside from what bestie rox has posted so yeah🥺🤲

omg hai bestie!!! the mortifying ordeal of being known 💖💖💖 KABDNANDNSN

ok so!!! eli. there are two “main” versions of him, being the 80’s universe and the modern AU. idk which one you want but i’ll start w the 80’s for this ask since it’s actually canon n maybe do modern stuff if i feel like it <3

to begin with, his most important character trait (/j): he’s fuckin’ stupid!!!!! not in a himbo way because he’s mean and rude, but he IS very dumb, and not just because he isn’t well-educated. he “dropped out” when he was 15 (aka he just ran away after killing his dad and never went back to school <3) but even if he’d finished school he’d still be dumb as dirt. he’s the type to think chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

so!!!! i gotta say this just in case: in the 80s, eli was born as “john robinson,” the same as jack was, because they’re genetically the same person but from different timelines/AUs. in the modern AU they’re twins, but in the 80’s they’re. the same, with basically identical backstories. but they have very different personalities and killed some different people <3 (aka eli killed LESS people. sad 4 him.)

elijah fucking LOVES sweets. he’s very bitter and angry but deep down he’s just a scared child, and by far the easiest way to tell this is by watching him eat or giving him treats. he almost exclusively eats sweets and sweet food because he doesn’t wanna eat anything else, which sucks for hannah (his big sis that he lives with well into his 30’s) because she has to take care of him AND her own child, so yeah, she’s miserable but it’s okay! he likes yummy candy <3. he is especially a huge fan of chocolate; regular chocolates, chocolate milk- just anything with sweet chocolate in it. he’s genuinely obsessed. if you wanna get on his good side (which isn’t necessary at all, he’s mostly just an annoyance when he’s not murderous) you can do it with sweets.

if there’s one thing that can compete with his love of sweets it’s his love of cars. he’s OBSESSED. when he was about 15/16, he started working as a mechanic, and it was basically his dream job. as a kid he’d always play with any car toys he’d occasionally get, and his love of cars never really stopped. he thinks they’re really neat and loves working on them. funnily enough, i can see him either being scared of driving or just not having a license of his own, so it doesn’t matter! he either can’t or won’t drive <3 (also: yes, he’d absolutely love nascar and hotwheels forever.)

uhm also <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 he probably isn’t too fluent in the 80’s, but in the modern au he’s actively learning vietnamese thru his momma!!! (he’s half-vietnamese y’all <3) he’s doing a great job and i’m proud of him (:

hi i just keep remembering shit about him lol. SO!!!!!!!!!! in high school in the modern au, he was “emo” as FUCK. his hair’s already black so he didn’t really have to do much with that, but he exclusively dressed in all black and wore eyeliner and MASSIVE boots (like demonias) to make him even taller. keep in mind that at his tallest he’s already 6’5”. also, this isn’t a drag at people who like the emo style or anything, i think it can be really cool- he just did it because he wanted to look scary and angsty and he is now extremely embarrassed by his past self. i think it’s funny idk 😔 <3

OH OH OH OH OH AND !!!! this is probably the end because i don’t know what else to put because my brain is mush but!!!! his birthday is february 14, aka valentine’s day. i don’t know if it’ll forever be canon, but it’s fucking hilarious to me. he’s alone on his birthday AND valentine’s day in one!!!!!!!!!!! <3 AKDNMAND

but yeah basically i love him a lot he’s probby my favorite character of mine even though i know i didn’t do him any justice w the way i described him n probably made him seem rlly boring AKHFKAHD. okay bye bestie i’ll probby post more abt him if i remember random trivia <3

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello lovely! I was just wondering if you know any fics of sort of developing relationship, in the sense that Sherlock and John are orbiting each other, growing realy close and intimate, but not quite aware they are falling for one another. All this mostly happening in 221b, in the private of their home, where they can be comfortable, let their guard down and just be the husbands that they are. Really hope you can help me Thank you so much❤️

Hi Nonny!

Oh GOSH, I have a tonne of Developing Relationship fics, and the lists I have are so scattered and messy because I did them before I had a system for my fic recs lists and decided to keep everything separated. But I’ve SO many of them that to plop them all into one fic list, I realised as I was trying to do it, would have been too many fics for the list, so I’m going to continue to stress about how disorganized the old lists were and make a Part 4 to my past lists, LOL

DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS / SLOW BURN Pt. 4 

See also:

Love Confessions / Slow Burn / Dev. Rel. (Fluff Version)

Falling In Love / Slow Burn / Dev. Rel. || [MOBILE POST] (April 2019)

Platonics & Domestics Pt 2 / Hugs, Cuddles & Kisses Pt. 3 / Tooth-Rotting Fluff Pt. 5 / Love Confessions, Slow Burn & Dev. Rel. Pt. 2 / Established Relationship Pt. 3

Slow Burn / Dev. Rel. / Falling in Love Pt. 3 (Nov. 2019)

To the Nines by suitesamba (M, 2,724 w., 1 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Magical Realism, Pining, Angst, John Whump, Time Travel, Fortunes, Time Jumps) – John skips forward in time, and Sherlock reads the signs that point to nine. John knows he’ll eventually be with Sherlock, but the waiting is nearly impossible, and his body is a lot more than transport. A foray into magical realism where all the canon events occur, and a hell of a lot more.

Stranded by BeautifulFiction (T, 5,798 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss, Communication / Relationship Discussion, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, BAMF John, Doctor John, Case Fic, Drinking, Huddling For Warmth, Friends to More) –  When stranded on a derelict barge at high tide, John and Sherlock reconsider their friendship.

Bridges by sussexbound (M, 6,602 w., 1 Ch || Post-TLD / S4 Fix It, Love Confessions, Mending Relationships, Moving Back In, Pining Sherlock, POV Sherlock, Past Abuse, Shaving) – The silence between them is deafening, interrupted only by the hum of the traffic outside, and the soft click-clunk of the plastic cups Rosie is playing with on the floor beside them. It is the first time they have been alone together, since Sherlock’s birthday. It’s only been two days, but it feels huge, important, like there is a precarious bridge stretched out before them both that they need to at least attempt to traverse.

Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Pining Sherlock, Frustrated Wanking, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss/Time, Virgin Sherlock, Love Confessions, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Bum Appreciation, Hanging out with the Yard) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can’t be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade’s team and something happens that will change everything about their lives…

Anchor Point by trickybonmot (E, 49,856 w., 80 Ch. || Truman Show AU || Psychological Drama, Suspense, Slow Burn, Dark Characters / Fic, Alternating First/Third Person, Protective John, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Tender Moments, Love Confessions, Hand/Blow Jobs, Cuddling, Jealous John, First Kiss/Time) – The world tunes in nightly for Sherlock, the ultimate in reality TV: Sherlock Holmes, a real person with a legendary name, unknowingly lives out his life in a staged setting contrived by his brother. Things get complicated when a retired army doctor joins the show to play the part of Sherlock’s closest friend. This fic borrows its concept from the 1998 film, the Truman Show. However, you don’t need to have any knowledge of the movie to enjoy this story.

Points by lifeonmars (E, 53,791 w., 42 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || HLV Rewrite / Canon Divergence, Married Life, Pregnancy / Baby Watson, Drinking to Cope, Boxing / Fisticuffs, Clueless John, Angst, Minor Medical Drama, Tattoos, Christmas, First Kiss/Time, Eventual Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Doctor John, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn, Case Fic, Drugging, Blow/Hand Job, Emotional Love Making, Parenthood, Passage of Time) – What if His Last Vow never happened? This fic picks up a few months after John and Mary’s wedding, in an alternate universe where Magnussen doesn’t exist, but Mary is still pregnant. Life continues – just in a different direction. And slowly, Sherlock and John find their way to each other.

Just To Hold You Close by sussexbound (E, 70,841 w., 18 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, Sherlock POV, ASD Sherlock, PTSD John, Demisexual Sherlock, Bisexual John, Cuddling/Snuggling, Platonic Cuddling, Enthusiastic Consent, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, First Kiss/Time, Sexual Tension, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Cuddle Negotiations, For a Case Until It Isn’t, Hair Petting, Sexual Negotiation, Anxiety, Trust Issues, Slow Burn, Panic Attacks, Frottage, Hand/Blow Jobs, Referenced Self Harm / Abuse / Suicidal Ideation, First Kiss/Time, Anal) – When a woman is murdered and the last person to see her alive is recently invalided army vet turned reluctant (and prickly) professional cuddler, John Watson, Sherlock Holmes is pulled into a world of intimacy and intrigue he never could have imagined. John is a conundrum and mystery: frank yet reserved, tender yet angry, open yet afraid. Sherlock is instantly drawn into his orbit, and begins to feel and desire things he never has before.

Thermocline by J_Baillier (M, 83,557 w., 14 Ch. || Scuba Diving AU || Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Marine Archaeology, Asexual Sherlock, Horny John, Relationship Drama, Technical/Scuba/Wreck Diving, Slow Burn, Underwater /  Medical Peril, Doctor John, Hurt Sherlock, Anxious Sherlock, John POV, Protective John, Body Appreciation) – John “Five Oceans” Watson — technical dive instructor, dive accident analyst and weapon of mass seduction — meets recluse professor of maritime archaeology Holmes. As they head out to a remote archipelago off the coast of Guatemala to study and film its shipwrecks for a documentary, will sparks fly or fizzle out?

The Bang and the Clatter by earlgreytea68 (M, 137,049 w. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Baseball AU || Slow Burn / Dev. Rel., Possessive/Obsessive Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Body Appreciation, Depression, Closeted Sexuality, Family, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Ogling Each Other, Anxious Sherlock, Panic Attack, Drunkenness, Talk of Forever, Big Feelings™) – Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it’s a baseball AU. Part 1 of Baseball

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.

[mikiruma-art]

4 14 20

i’ve seen human aus on my dash recently and i thought, since i’ve been tossin my own ideas around by myself for a bit, i’d throw out what i got (solidified/so far)!!! notes under the cut

🏆 commissions 🥊

strong bad

as much as i’d honor his canon skin color, i figured i’m not really honoring anyone else’s (paper white > bright orange > blue??) so i decided to make him mexican, mainly bc of the wrestling mask & accent. so like u can tell i was ready to Not see another white strong bad lol

the other brothers strong aren’t more solidified yet so there’s no real “scale” but sb is the shortest. strong sad’s about homestar’s height and strong mad is gigantic. also yeah they arent white either

top surgery scars bc im smart free easy reason to go around topless all the time

round/oval face ofc. i didnt put the mask on for this but i did make his eyes green

not shown: i was tooling around w an embarrassing middle school version where he dyed his hair stinkoman blue. i should draw that too

homestar

ok honestly i thought it’d be cool to model his hair a lil more after tbc but then i was like. oh wait then technically i have to do that to every other male character. but i couldnt shake the thought of curly hair homestar (even if its kinda hard to tell under the hat) so theres that

another nitpick: homestar’s an athlete and i haven’t seen ppl honor that outside of various sports uniforms... which is super cute mind you and im very gay for that but i plopped a bit of muscle, its more noticeable in the leg regions since he. runs.

i gave him a more square-ish face, that was mostly based off the cutoff for his flash rig’s head

[daughterofluthien]

4, 11, 20, 24?

So we’re gonna mainly be focusing my new fic for this, b/c it just got published and dangit I wanna talk about it :P

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Okay, so this one actually ended up being more difficult than I expected? Mostly because I’ve been working on this fic for so goshdarn long that at some point I have both loved and hated pretty much every part of it lol.

sO instead we’re gonna take this a different direction, and highlight this bit: 

(They’re seven and it’s Stiles’ hands on Scott’s shoulders because Scott’s dad just left, and Scott’s crying because he doesn’t know why, or if his dad’s ever coming back. They’re ten and the roles are reversed because Stiles’ mom has just died, and he does know why and she isn’t coming back. They’re sixteen, and the roles have switched again, because Scott’s filled with an aggression he doesn’t understand, desperately trying to keep the gold from flashing in his eyes.)

It’s not necessarily my favorite passage, or the bit that I think is the best written or anything, but it is the passage where I actually figured out what the main conceit of this fic was going to be -- specifically, the whole memories/flashback thing.

When I first started writing, I was mainly inspired by the fact that so much of the “I’ll do something” scene in Riddled is implicit rather explicit, but you can tell through the acting that both Scott and Stiles know exactly what they’re talking about. And like. I go absolutely feral over crap like that.

So the original concept was a No Nogitsune AU where Stiles gets the bite, but the whole thing is told without ever explicitly stating that -- an original potential title for this thing was actually “Unspoken” 

(And this is actually kind of carried through to the final form of the fic, even though it isn’t the focus. ‘Werewolf/werewolves’ is only said twice in the whole thing, and then only in reference to Scott or to the species in general, and ‘the bite’ is only mentioned once. In fact, the bite itself technically even happens offscreen.)

But anywho, I didn’t have the flashback concept at all until I wrote this particular parenthetical. And I ended up liking it so much that it ended up being one of the main conceits of the fic. So, y’know. I’ll take it.

(And yes, that does mean that every flashback that shows up before this was part of a subsequent edit, and not originally present :P)

11. What do you envy in other writers?

This is gonna sound dumb, but how the heck do you people write just like. Normal scenes. I have a tendency to sink so deep into the mindset/head of my POV character that like... externally conceptualizing what’s actually happening sometimes makes zero sense? People are doing things?? Moving from one place to another?? How do I show that???

Basically anything that isn’t just an overly complicated character study seems fake to me, how do y’all do it :P

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

LOL. So uh. Literally a full 50% (if not more) of this fic is references and callbacks to things that happened previously in canon. But most of that is explicitly stated and therefore not that interesting. However, there’s also a few references/parallels to things that happen post-Riddled in canon:

For example, during the scene in the Stilinskis’ kitchen in the fic, Scott tells Stiles that he needs to be honest with him about how bad it’s getting. This is a sorta slant parallel to Insatiable, where -- during a similar patented Scott Crouch Moment -- Scott tells Stiles that he needs to tell him the truth about how much pain he’s in.

Another smaller example of this is the fact that in the fic Stiles remembers waking up post-bite with Scott’s jacket under his head, which also happens after Stiles faints at the end of The Divine Move.

OH, also, in this fic Scott bites Stiles on the right upper arm, which is the same place Scott bites the Nogitsune in The Divine Move. Plus, the bite happening concurrently w/ Stiles’ memory of Scott’s roar is kinda my version of the roar in De-Void. 

Not that everything I just mentioned was explicitly planned to be a parallel, mind you. But I def leaned into it. 

...Basically one of my favorites bits in au’s (whether we’re talking about fanfic au’s, retellings/reboots, and actual sci-fi alternate universe), is the concept that -- no matter how different things are or how the timeline’s been changed -- some things are going to remain the same. This was sorta my version of that. 

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Hell yes lol. Like seriously, if you compare my first-ever published fic to this one, there’s... kinda a world of difference.

At the very least I’ve learned not to abruptly jump between POV’s during a single section of a story :P

Ask me meta writer questions!

[heeres-suffering]

Be More Alluring: a Personality Swap AU

[pic description and source will be at the bottom of this post, under the read more]

Start of summary:

“You need to be more alluring.”

"... don’t you mean attractive?”

“I do not. Your attractiveness is adequate, Brooke; if you want to mask your apparently latent queerness, you have to make them want you straight. Isn’t that why your step-father defended you?” 

Brooke Lohst is a loser.

But you know what? That was okay.

She always knew she was a weird one. The intensity of her affection for puppies, picture books, and near-constant daydreaming has lasted well-past a normalcy she can’t seem to grasp; when coupled with her inability to befriend anyone (besides the similarly self-identified loser Michael Mell), it’s not a surprise the rest of her peers have left her behind.

However, there were... ah, worse things in her life to worry about then some mild bullying. She liked her passion well enough, and all of her true insecurities went largely unnoticed, so any insults or weird looks rarely lingered in her mind. It’s not like she was a constant target either, which helped a lot. All in all, she just planned to hunker down, wait out the awkwardness of High School like everyone else, and move on to the rest of her life... 

Except.

When Brooke develops a crush on a girl she’s never talked to, after years of avoiding fairy tale romance and trying not to think about the inevitability of marriage (or how finicky her attraction to boys is in the first place), it feels like her whole world is about to cave in. She’d do anything to make sure her parents, especially daddy, never find out... including buying an edible super computer from the loudest, tiniest guy in school.

End of summary.

Alright!

Hi, hello, it’s Mod Seb, and here’s an AU I’ve been rolling around for a few days! You are free to do with this concept whatever you want, but I wanted to introduce it with a good chunk of the info I’ve already worked out in my head.

So. As the CWs are... too numerous, I’m going to go with a blanket “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” label and encourage you not to read the rest of this if you have any big darkfic triggers that could be upset by mere mention; this isn’t a fic tho, so descriptions of anything awful won’t last long. 

Although, I will mention upfront that Brooke isn’t a binary lesbian. I know the description might read like I’m setting her up to be 100% homosexual; she’s bi with a strong preference for girls, and anyone who presents soft enough in gender or appearance. If it wasn’t for the end-game pairings, her unfamiliarity with smaller details/history of the LGBTQ+ community, and general “gay newb” status, she’d likely ID as a bi lesbian!

(ships and everything else under the Read More)

Okay. That out of the way, there’s quite a number of pairings; I’m pretty sure it’s a super polyamorous and sexual AU, though you’re free to change this list as much as you’d like:

[bolded are end-game ships. italics physically hook up at least once. strike-through means they were in a relationship but break-up in some way before the ending. (H) stands for healthy, while (T) is toxic and/or noncon. underlined characters are pining for the other and may never confess their true feelings]

Brooke/Christine (H), Brooke/Rich (H), Brooke/Jenna (H), Brooke/Michael (H), Brooke/Chloe (T), Brooke/her Daddy (T), Brooke/Squip (H), Brooke/Jeremy (soft T at first bc of mirrored canon-compliant manipulation, H later on), Brooke/Squip/Jeremy (H), Brooke/Squip/Jeremy/Rich (H), Rich/Moses (H), [insert every form of Rich/Mo/Squip/Jeremy here] (H), Jeremy/Chloe (T), Jeremy/Michael (H), Michael/Christine (H), Michael/Christine/Mr. Heere (H; no, seriously), Madeline/Brooke (H)

This is, of course, a role swap AU where Brooke and Jeremy trade places based on my personal lore for their home lives. I always have some pretty fucked ideas as I don’t imagine MB is a great place with great adults, and I pick and choose which parts of canons I use and which I don’t. 

There is no definite ending planned in mind as this isn’t an outline; it’s meta (or an imagine or w/e) for an AU that you’re free to do whatever with. 

So,

The big difference is that Brooke was picked by Michael, while Jeremy was picked by Chloe. Jeremy is trans and hadn’t come out yet; if Chloe had known he was a boy, she wouldn’t have grabbed him. In contrast, Michael’s never gave a shit about potential friends genders.

Jer and B’s personalities... are altered some. Not ALL the way, but kiiinda fusing into their roles, kinda tweaked (I'll get back to that).

The main point of this for me was Brooke/Squip/Jeremy, with B/Jer having a MUCH stronger focus than in canon, and a really bad Chloe acting as one of the major villains.

Michael gets roped into Chloe’s shit, even tho he's still generally a good guy here, bc he's worried about B and thinks she can't properly take care of herself.

While B DOES have a strong crush on Christine, she’s the opposite of the Squip’s “goal”; that’s (obvs) masking, or making passably digestible, her queerness.

Her Mom and step-’Daddy’ have reacted to her friendship w/ ‘openly gay moms, also very flamboyant and GNC’ Michael... poorly.

Michael thinks the solution has to be “act as aggressively yourself as you can, and if they reject you, you know me and the mom’s have a space for you”. This works for him bc he’s permanently hyper-visible, what with all of his own marginalized identities. But, not only has she flied under the radar in comparison to him for years, he doesn’t know everything about her life.

In fact, he doesn’t know most of it. She’s very good at hiding things.

Meanwhile, Jeremy, one of the more popular ‘boy... ish’ (we’ll get to this, too) people in school, is mid-psychosis and self-destruction. He actually has schizo-affective disorder--as is the case with all of my versions of Jeremy--which he needs medication for. Combined that with so many bad influences and trauma, he can no longer fully control himself or his life.

The way he handles this (badly) is to ‘whore around’--which, besides being Chloe’s pet, is kinda why he’s so popular. Nobody respects him, but he’s viewed some form of favorably.

Jeremy is in a relationship with Rich, but he won't let him get as close/protective as Rich wants; Mo and Rich were doing their own man-whoring (but healthy, just droppin’ panties and making dudes and chicks swoon--yeah, Rich is out as bisexual, this is a very ‘the Squips are a good thing’ AU) to gain their standard reputation, but in the course of that, they got together with Jeremy and it became... complicated. Both of them are very "nnn" about how bad his life is for Jer.

The way that their personalities are altered is... okay. To explain this, I have to talk about my characterization of canon-Brooke and Jeremy in relation to this, starting with Brooke:

I imagine B as just a liiittle below the line of "all the way there" for sorta-similar reasons to Jeremy here: trauma, and Chloe (which is why that’s what Jeremy gets in this, it’s just WAY worse when compounded by everything else). She’s also--like me, and like almost every character I write as a result--autistic, in a near-permanent state of “not enough accommodations” and over-stimulation. This leads to a lot of dissociation and a very wandering mind, as well as being perceived as a bimbo or dumb blonde or w/e misogynistic bullshit is projected onto her by the boys she dates (she’s also much more down the middle bi outside this AU).

So, going back to how she is for this AU: she's actually not super nerdy, despite the close connection she and Michael have. Honestly, it’s their general neurodivergent weirdness that bring them together, and so she’s mostly adopted her nerdy interests through him, whether directly a thing he likes, or finding a whimsical variant that fits her tastes.

Obviously, unlike Jeremy, she doesn’t mind being called a loser. She does any insinuation she might be queer. This including anyone who calls her gay or a dyke.

She has too much Cis Male Trauma (unlike canon, where it comes from both cis angles) to really entertain the idea of a Traditionally Male Partner. This means she skews HEAVILY towards hard GNC guys at the very least, and generally finds herself most interested in the idea of enbies and women. she's also not super into butches tho, bc her trauma mixing with her sexuality has latched on to Strong Masc People Are A Threat. 

An expansion on her interests, in canon and otherwise: animals, ASMR/sensual service work (including massages and stuff), spending hours just sorta sitting by herself and letting her imagination wander, fairy tales, and YA-and-under fantasy books.

(Here, she tries to avoid het or f/f romance... except that, this past year or two, she’s started really like m/m stuff--esp after getting REALLY into drag shows, which she could enjoy safely since girls like Chloe have gotten into them too; in canon, she’s a romance fanatic)

Now... this is one of the really darkfic element; she's fucking her step-dad. 

She does this so that he doesn't walk out on her, her mom, and her little sister*. Her mom has a good-enough job as a standard office woman, but he makes enough to pay the rent on their nice townhouse and all the bills she can’t. So, after he expressed interest in Brooke and then casually mentioned he could always just leave if she wasn’t comfortable, she reluctantly entered a relationship with him

(* = her sister is currently know as her brother; he’s like 12 or 13, and started showing signs of trans/queerness which have been Heavily Discouraged. Brooke worries about him a lot)

((I didn’t use she/her pronouns bc I’m not entirely sure he would change them? This is an OC Oli created at the beginning of our interest in BMC, and we haven’t worked on him at all since, so how his characterization will be is up in the air))

Canonically, Brooke's "in love" with her daddy, which is a self-imposed delusion; if she actually addressed it, she’d says she’s well aware that’s not true, but it's so much easier to pretend when you’re cornered like that. Brooke’s life blows.

She’s a lot more honest to herself about hating him here; still, she tries to be as polite and generally-friendly as she can, doing what he says whenever he wants.

OKAY, THAT’S BROOKE. If any of that is badly described or potentially-offensive, it’s just bc I glossed over SO MUCH DETAIL, even in that amount of it!

So. Jeremy.

I don’t have to go over him much and we’re all mostly aware of how I feel about him and also I don’t have the energy to do this again--

(just... read my fics The Devil at your Door or hello yesterday or something... eyyy actually do that, my ao3 username is Sedusa, blah blah blah ANYWAY)

--but basically: He's still very nerdy, like, he’s super into film as well as video games (which is another constant for me), but after being largely ignored in elementary, he's been trailing behind Chloe at her orders since they were in 6th grade. As a result he isn't very open about... any of his interests.

In 7th grade, he came out as trans to everyone. Chloe was furious, but at the same time, intrigued; this was around the time Chloe gets her own... ah shit I gotta go into that too--

--yet another hc of mine is that Chloe gets a Squip on accident around this time at a party (there was one in a “”candy bowl””), and from there, she claws her way up the ladder. I... will not go into that much, but her Squip was crippled by the drugs and alcohol in her system, and therefore largely at her mercy. She’s used his power to manipulate certain things about herself and to sharpen her focus on popularity to the point she’s full-blown Alpha Bitch.

Man, I’ve had to go on so many tangents, I apologize.

Anyway, she drags Jeremy around as a punching bag. She constantly mocks Jeremy's transness, even though she usually calls him by his correct name and pronouns.

This has made the rest of the school follow her lead, hence why I said “boy-ish”; he’s popular, he’s technically ‘well liked’, but nobody really takes him seriously. This is compounded by Chloe’s refusal to let him dress in 'dorky' casual clothes, and, as he’s both too poor to afford designer clothes and also generally hates popular guy fashion, he has to wear the hyper femme clothing Chloe specifically tells him too/

As such, people call him a boy but largely see him as either an idiot, a slut, an attention seeker, or all of the above.

So of course, in Brooke's place, his neurodivergence is more prominent than ever; every day he slips further into this psychosis and self-infantilization haze, as his his mom leaving, his dad severely depressed, Chloe's sexual violence, and other repressed trauma (see: my fic hello yesterday on ao3) all weighing on him. This makes him INCREDIBLY regressed, like, all the time by Junior year.

And then Brooke's Squip (IE: canon Squip) falls in love with Jeremy extremely fucking hard. He pushes her to date him as a way to compromise on her queer desires, since Jeremy is technically a boy, and certainly a few other straight-ish girls have hooked up with him in the past.

WHEW. That is a fucking lot. To wrap this up, lemme go over the interpersonal relationships not already mentioned, and what directions I think it takes.

First off, Madeline has a more prominent role, as I quite like her tbh; she’s a sex worker, she has her own Squip, she’s one of Chloe’s most hated enemies, and she gravitates towards both Brooke and Jeremy. She’s also Actually French, Chloe’s just weird.

(Anyway she prolly sees through Brooke’s straight act and asks her why she’s pretending to be a good little cishet. It rattles Brooke.)

Chloe is scum. This bears repeating. She DEFINITELY rapes Brooke at the Halloween party, and becomes obsessed with her, along with already being obsessed with Jeremy and Jake. 

Jake, by the way, has a lot of regressive behavior and impulsiveness bc he’s been in an abusive relationship off and on with Chloe for years now.

Speaking of Jake, moving on to his best bro: Rich doesn’t set himself on fire. He’s having a good time with his Squip.

But.

He IS set on fire at the Halloween party.

Instead of the Smartphone Hour being about Rich's instability, it's actually about the mystery of Someone Did It To Him But No One Saw Who It Was, They Were Disguised.

The answer relates to the fact that Rich and Brooke are ALSO hooking up, after she’s already with Jeremy, bc he Properly introduces her to him and the three of them hit it off really well.

(She initially wasn’t interested, but while Rich is loud and still kinda abrasive, his Squip doesn’t drive him to act like a bully--and in private, his nerdiness is really obvious and he’s extremely gentle with her and Jeremy. Add to that that he’s bi and trans*, when Brooke connects best w/ queer men over cishet one, and it off-sets his masc-ness enough to make him an Exception.

* = I always imagine him as trans. See: all of Vanceypants fics.)

Sooo... the culprit is actually Brooke's daddy, who sees her with this obvious heartthrob and Cannot let that be.

Chloe convinces Michael that the Squips are Very Very Bad and has him team up with her to force Brooke into drinking Red, with the intention to convince him to kill himself after to get him out of the way, bc she’s really going nuts at this point.

Eventually, he snaps out of it when he and Christine get together (he’s thought he was Full Homo all of his life, but Christine’s prolly genderqueer-ness makes him realize “oh shit, I’m bisexual”) and she starts to question why he’s acting the way he is towards Christine.

He also definitely has a crush on Jeremy and during his time with Chloe he kinda tried to flirt a little but couldn’t really... he’s not up for dating someone as sexually active and a push-over as Jeremy is in this.

However, when he snaps out of Chloe’s manipulation, he and Christine approach Mr. Heere to convince him to straighten up and help Jeremy and also bc they really need an adult to successfully fight Chloe.

This requires a month+ of Christine getting him to see her psychiatrist (the one who prescribes her ADHD meds). Jeremy spends the majority of his time staying with Chloe, and very rarely comes home to gather things or to make sure his dad is eating/still alive, as much as he can remember to in his own haze of mental illness. Anyway, point is, he doesn’t know Christine and Michael are there often... not that, in the course of growing close to Mr. H, they both fall for him hard and it becomes one of my stranger OT3s.

(God, Jeremy goes through a lot of shit in this, tho.)

Pre-Squip, Jenna was kinda-sorta Brooke’s friend--or, well, friendly. However, she’s actually full blown “oh my God she’s wonderful” in love with Brooke.

Brooke isn't aware of that, esp since Jenna tries her not to be around her a lot. She's also trying to hide her own queerness, bc she’s a trans woman and she knows Chloe finding that out would be extremely dangerous.

Eventually, Chloe succeeds in making Brooke take the Red months after canon usually ends, w/o Michael’s help. If you’re curious, Red doesn’t affect her normal Squip bc she’s had him too long and a lot of his receptors and stuff are damaged, so it’s the second one she gets in canon that turns off.

This plan backfires, however, as Brooke’s Squip comes back with a physical body w/ help from Rich and also-bodied-now Moses.

With a body, and shenanigans, Mo and Squip take out Brooke’s daddy too. His life insurance more than makes up for the loss of his income, as it’s a sizable amount. Now that Brooke feels more empowered and strong, she overrides her mother’s neglectfulness and takes control of the household w/ her boyfriends*, comes out as queer, helps her sister transition, and begin to heal from all of this trauma.

(* = Rich and Mo move in, as does Jeremy eventually, after graduation; Jeremy gets a psychiatrist and a therapist and prolly has to go through some intense outpatient care and possibly a stay in the hospital, before finally making major breakthroughs and looking like himself again. The five of them are now happy and in love.)

Chloe, after her arm gets twisted by the Squip’s protective presence so thoroughly, gives up on Jeremy and Brooke to focus on Jake. This too gets abandoned when Rich and Mo help him cut her off, and so she stays in her own popularity bubble, bitter, until graduating and going to a community college in a different state.

All in all, things work out well in the end, but getting there is a long, difficult process. This AU fascinates me immensely and feels like a great way to examine some of my really dark headcanons about MB, as I think it’s a town similar to Derry in Stephen King’s IT--as in, just chronically The Worst Place Ever, with this, like, miasma of low-key despair around it. People adjust and don’t question it, which is why so much of BMC is this flippant dark humor in the face of some highly questionable shit.

I’m so sorry this post is so long (I’ll be uploading it to AU under my usual Sedusa account, as metas like this are more than allowed), but I really adore these characters and the way they can be twisted around, so I had a lot to say!

Thank you for reading <3

-mod Seb

image description: virtual-like stairs pointed forward and bathed in neon yellow and blue to represent Brook and Jeremy, which I’ve modified from the original blue-only design.

source: x (link description: a free Wallpaper Flare image that I found off Google Image’s “filtered by ‘labeled and reuse with modification” feature) 

[silenthillmutual]

if ur ships in danganronpa could translate into quadrants from homestuck, what would they be? for example, naegiri be moirails, sakura and aoi fluctuate between pale and red, etc. doesn't have to be clear cut, cuz quadrants get messy lol. mostly curious about what ishimondo would be like, i'd imagine there'd be a lot of switching quadrants between them lmao.

ANON UR SPEAKIN MY LANGUAGE

in fact i had to put this under a cut bc it got SUPER long sdfsd

I think Makoto would be like Kanaya. He’s The Auspistice(TM), whether he wants to be or not. Everyone just assigns him to being in the middle of everything. Eventually he’s able to convince Mondo and Taka to find someone else to ♣️ their relationship, so that winds up falling on Chihiro.

For the record, hard agree on Makoto ♦️ Kyouko. I do ship them romantically, but my hc for Kyouko is that she’s aro. I think Bykauya would be kinda Eridan in that trying-really-hard-to-be-someone’s-kismesis front. Like he’d try to be Kyouko’s even though she tries to indicate she’s not interested, then he’d be really spades for Makoto after awhile - although I don’t think that Makoto would really feel that way back. If I were going to go so far as to complete a Homestuck AU, I’d think he’d be one of the human kids, actually. So he’d be extra weirded out by the trolls dragging him into their romance stuff. I think Byakuya would also try and make himself have black feelings for Junko and failing that just try antagonizing everyone else in the class to find something that sticks. 

(I really like the idea of him trying to do that to Mondo and Mondo being weirdly offended bc he’s already dedicated himself to a kismesis.)

Kind of obviously, Toko would have an unrequited Flushed Crush on Byakuya (but since I don’t really ship that I wouldn’t keep that a thing, I’d probably have Toko move onto Makoto’s sister but I haven’t played UDG yet so I’m not sure where I’d go with that?) and Mukuro would have one on Makoto. The latter would feel forced into being her sister’s Moirail...I like Mukuro more than to ever write her staying like that, lol. I kind of like Makoto/Mukuro/Kyouko as a ship, so maybe Mukuro and Kyouko being pale or red? I’d probably have Kyouko’s actual kismesis be Celes. And I don’t think there’s anyone in in the class I could see Celes having as a matesprit, although she’d probably string along Hifumi so she can use him. She’d probably decide Makoto is her moirail because I could just see Makoto being everyone’s fill-in option for whatever quadrant they have missing.

Sakura and Hina would absolutely fluctuate between pale and flushed, and people probably would think it’s weird that they don’t look to fill either quadrant elsewhere. I think they’d be like the Rose/Kanaya of the group. 

Soooooo I think Chihiro would be Mondo’s moirail, their friendship does kinda have a Nepeta ♦️ Equius feel to it (and I do ship Chihiro ♥️ Makoto so that works out too). I also kind of ship Taka and Makoto, so I’d probably have it be like, Taka is like the second closest Makoto would have to a moirail after Kyouko and he doesn’t mind that Taka has the pale feelings for him because he doesn’t really force it on Makoto. 

I don’t have any Homestuck reactions saved anymore so I can’t remember who had this reaction? My gut instinct says Karkat, BUT I seem to remember someone having a reaction image where they just had the quadrants symbols were just rapidly looping because they couldn’t figure out what they were feeling and I think THAT is Taka & Mondo’s relationship. 

I actually think it’s kind of funnier if it starts out with them like insisting that they don’t even have caliginous feelings for each other, they just flat hate each other, and everyone is just like “.......okay,” about it. But like once they admit that’s an actual relationship they have they don’t really act like that’s the quadrant their relationship is in because Taka’s weirdly happy about it. They actually schedule time to antagonize each other and whenever someone points out that’s kind of counter-intuitive, Mondo should just go bother him NOW, that’s what’s most inconvenient, he’s always like “what the fuck no? that would be rude. i’m not gonna do that we have a relationship here.” So everyone even in the vicinity of this bullfuckery is confused. 

Eventually they wind up having a heart-to-heart because Taka’s clearly not feeling being annoyed/being annoying and that bothers Mondo and he’s not sure whether that’s something he can/should bring up or not, and when they actually talk it out Mondo’s like “oh SHIT what quadrant is this” and has to like. Break moirails w Chihiro for a bit because he doesn’t think he’s supposed to have two and he isn’t sure what quadrant this qualifies as and he’s sitting there with the rapidly vascillating quadrants in his head all day every day.

I think Mondo’s like Karkat in a way (ig in part bc i hc him as a Blood player) so i think he’d have that whole “you want her in every quadrant like a desperate fool” conversation with himself that Karkat has w/himself about Terezi, probably right around the time Taka realizes that he doesn’t find Mondo as irritating as he used to and he’s probably looking at one of the lighter quadrants, if not both of them. So Chihiro has to auspistice or something like it again, not because they run the risk of killing each other but because they are both just so very stupid with emotions that they can’t really have a proper conversation about what’s going on.

I think after that though they’d probably have a relatively stable grasp on their relationship being flushed and drifting into more pink or black areas occasionally. 

SORRY that got long! Also I don’t have a ton of ships for sdr2, but I’m kinda thinking  Sonia Gundham Akane, Gundham Fuyuhiko Imposter, and my default for Hiyoko is /

Also that kinda makes me wonder how Mechamaru would work out, you know, since there is a canon mech version of a character in Homestuck. Would that mean Souda programs Mechamaru to be ♥️ for him? 

The only other real opinion I have is Juzo

[arks-self-ship]

The main Baby Blue Boys!

So I like to jump around AUs with my F/O N//ightcrawler, and with M//arvel’s multiverse that makes it easy! But I do have a few main base versions of my F/O that most of these AUs are built off!

Blue: Blue is the generic 6/16 base, He’s a sweet boy.

Goldy: Ultimates but if ignoring a lot of canon. Super gay and sometimes ends up leaving the x//men with my S/I so he can begin to actually heal from his tramua. I tend to use this one a lot because I like angst. Warning: due to the canon I pull from his behavior can often be considered borderline "yandere" so feel free to avoid that, but he's non violent just very possessive. My S/I knows how to deal with that and is very good at setting boundaries with him.

Three: Three is a version of Ultimates who was in the W//eapon X program much much longer. In canon it was implied he was there for less than a year (Even saying “all these months in this horrible place” and a scientist dude saying something about a few months ago too) but in this AU he was there for almost 3 years and it kind of broke him. He’s a lot tougher, stronger and scarier and often seems to be very distant and grumpy but he does have a huge soft spot for my S/I. Unlike Ulti and canon ultimates he has no problem with killing anymore, but tries to only do it if he has too. He usually has a knife made of mysterious material (not metal, but looks metallic and is as strong as a//damantium) that he’s very attached to and always has on him. The knife was sometimes given to him by my S/I sometimes it was stolen from the person who tormented him at W//eapon X. Very protective of my S/I

Nighty: Kind of a mix of E//volution and a bit of the A//pocalypse movie version. Just a really sweet goof who’s not always sure what he’s doing. Usually already struggling with his sexuality when my S/I shows up. Mischievous baby who just likes to cause (mostly) harmless problems. Very very casual best friend vibes with my S/I until whoops they kiss! (bro...) Still keep things very casual after though. Usually has a secret dating trope thrown in for extra shenanigans. Aged up, usually having just entered or about to start college but has known my S/I for a few years. (Please note I only ship with him because I was the same age as he was in canon when I first started shipping with him and he aged with me. It's the same storyline as back then)

Baddy (under construction, not available for asks): Villian AU and also kinda a Soulmate AU where Kurt works with his parents as part of a family "bussiness" that involves a lot of robberies and theft. When my S/I comes along and they finally meet he brings them into the family bussiness. They're more "be gay do crime" than world domination so it's mostly stuff like stealing from the rich, vandalism and random destruction of property, and just fucking with super heroes at random cause they get bored. They got a particular beef with the X/Men cause they were really shitty to my S/I when they first got there. VERY protective of my S/I

For Hire (Inactive, not available for asks): Kind of another Villain AU that's a combination of Three and Baddy. After escaping W/eapon X and learning it was shut down Kurt was left alone in the world with his only skills being sneaking and killing. In this AU he became a mercenary for hire, killing or stealing so he could have enough money to survive. When my S/I comes along they team up, constantly taking jobs just to meet rent each month and be able to eat. He does all the killings, but they work together for everything else. They're constantly butting heads with the X//men. In some storylines eventually get a redemption arc, joining the X//men but secretly whoever is in charge (be it X/avier, L/ogan or Scott) is having them take people who are to dangerous out (X/Force 2008-2012 style) so they can stay somewhere safe to live and not worry if they're going to be able to eat that night. Very very protective of my S/I, includes a frenzy mode where he sort of loses touch with everything around him and just kills anything that isn't my S/I.

Big Blue: Based on the 2015 X//men inferno S/ecret Wars thing where N/ightcrawler gets his soul ripped out and is turned into a monster by D/arkChild. Slightly different than canon where G/oblin queen doesnt kill off his mind and at some point my S/I is able to use their empath powers to sever the control D/arkchild has over him (although for plot reasons how they break him out of the control varies depending on what I wanna do). Usually involves them helping him find his soul again, and once he gets it his mind is still kind of broken but he’s closer to normal and able to transform back and forth between his beast form and a slightly different version of his normal self (look varies, usually has horns, longer fur on his forearms and claws). But hey hes got a bunch of sweet new powers! And after kind of going feral in his beast form and killing D/arkchild he becomes basically a scabbard for the S/oulsword, which both he and my S/I can wield. Tends to be extremely protective of my S/I and in constant need of attention

Kid: based on the Kid N/ightcrawler from the 2012 X/-treme X/men series, classic kid genius and usually around 14 like canon. Non-Romantic character!!! Usually a little brother figure for my S/I! Unlike in canon he did not die in the X/termination event (only x/avier did), instead having serious injuries and losing his left leg and messing up his ability to teleport to the point even a couple teleports will completely wipe him out. His Earth’s version of my S/I was a huge hero, considered one of the big five (alongside S/piderman, Capt M/arvel, T/hor, and B/lack P/anther) so he’s very star stuck and admires them a lot. Sometimes shows up if my S/I gets knocked out of their dimension and needs to go home, othertimes my S/I is a part of their team with a romantic version of NC on the team too cause I do what I want

Red: A/OA based K//urt D//arkholme, and follows canon up to the point of X/termination, where he also didn’t die but his reality was sealed off and he can’t go home. Due to what happened with X/force he instead takes up the offer to travel with the X/treme x/men and continue to dimension hop and help other realities. Not always romantic (but it depends on the AU) and is instead usually an almost mentor to my S/I. Often also is a mentor to Kid as the two are usually coexisting in whatever AU this is and helps him with his powers. Very stoic and kind of grumpy, but secretly cares a lot about this team.

Band: Kind of a mix of Goldy and Three, having left the X//men to join my S/I’s band, reasons vary depending on what I want to do, usually its due to the severe manipulation of X//avier and just how it was destroying his mental health. Tends to kind of split from here, sometimes he ends up the lead singer with my S/I on guitar, or my S/I as the singer and him as the drummer who likes to not be seen by the audience so his drums are kept in a dark spot of the stage. I generally default to two storylines too, sometimes he stays in his original world and trying to help m//utants as best he can and refusing to talk about his time in the X-men. The other storyline is for whatever reason the band ends up reality hopping, going from multiverse to multiverse and setting up camp for awhile and playing their music there. This is the angstier version and often ends up featuring Nighty or just general E//volution Kurt cause I like angst sometimes. Generally a very casual AU that i just like to think about when listening to music. Band is very much punk/ punk rock.

Real quick, when I talk about a U/ltimate’s universe I mean my own AU of it because what I do is ignore huge parts of canon because I feel the writers were trying to be edgy and tackle a lot of social issues of the time and sadly my baby blue in that got the shit end of the stick on being nice about some stuff because he was religious. I ignore all of that because Its my F/O and I’ll do what I want. I’m honestly not a fan of u/ltimates and just like to snag certain character dynamics, backstory and design and mix it with 6/16

[infini-tree]

3, 8, 17, 29, 38? For the fic writers meme

| memes for fic writers

|      3. Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

besides the obvious Nasty Stuff, any sort of epilogue that’s just. “and the main ship got married, had biological children, and the once (usually cool as hell) female character got relegated to housewife”. long story short its boring as hell and usually the female character who was fridged to being a housewife would never??? i guess that extends to just any fic involving pregnancy as a concept

also, while not as severe but just not interesting to me-- amnesiac redemption arcs, bc what’s the point of a redemption arc if the person whos being redeemed doesn’t know what they’re redeeming themselves for?

|      8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

ok. im going to cheat and show off a preview of a fic i haven’t posted yet. for context its a set of fic drabbles that highlights oogway’s transition from warlord to grand master and this happens right after he kills sends kai to the spirit realm

as for why i’m proud of it? oogway is Extremely Difficult to get into his headspace, au, mainverse or otherwise. writing him in what is effectively the beginning of a rocky redemption arc even moreso. it comes down to having to figure out what bit of character oogway has in canon is something he inherently has (clever vibe, tendency to flip to a conversational cadence even in high stress situations), or something he had to work towards (like his patience).

“Really?” He clasps his hands together as he enters the room, claws raking against each other deliberately. His tone lilts in disingenuous curiosity. “You’ve never done such a thing before-- usually, me and Ka--”

“Don’t speak his name here.”

“Kai,” he said, almost an attempt to taunt. “Would clean it ourselves. And I would like to continue that-- I thought you pandas would understand tradition.”

That bit of bravado was snuffed quickly, and the panda in question bristled angrily as the words of his people were thrown back in his face. One of the ears on the pandas pinned back in alarm as he took a step forward. 

This was too easy.

“Get out.” It was a raspy hiss of a command.

“...What?”

“I know you understood me the first time.” His cadence flips back to a mock-conversational tone. “Do not make me repeat myself.”

He takes a deliberate step forward. The pandas flinch, and eventually comply, bounding out the door all at once.

“You haven’t changed, have you huojia?”

|     17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

as i’ve always joked ever since my hoastory days-- chronology is my Enemy. i just write all the Fun Stuff first before getting into the connective tissue, which really shoots me in the foot when i do anything longer than a oneshot sorry @ everyone waiting for the next part of bukesiyi

|     29. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

what’s the middle equivalent of a pre/sequel? interquel? bc i would do that for the other grandmaster. heck, even going straight sequel would be fun bc kai is? probs alive still to see tl. and shen

|     38. Talk about a review that made your day.

there’s this one for bukesiyi. i’ll just post the bit of quote that stuck w me

When I first started reading this fic, I sort of was expecting it to be just like the movie except with characters switched around. But no! You've made it your own in very powerful ways, and I love how you're representing everyone and how the their changed backstories have changed them. I can still see the movie versions- but your versions shine out beautifully on top of that. It's a wonderful feat that you have accomplished that not many others would be able to do- so feel rightly proud of yourself!

and like, i think to myself, wow, i made a person think about my writing that deeply? i feel emotional and kinda honored that someone cared a whole awful lot abt this au-- which, mind you, has a main cast that consists of mostly secondary characters that are sometimes overlooked and one villain in original canon. i just. YELLS