#{ been DESPERATE to write from this verse xD }

[cipher-legal-and-ethics-dept]

Heyo! Its me again^^

I know team snagem isnt mostly part of your blog but i'd like to hear about your take on gonzap and what relationships you'd think he'd have with members of team cipher 🫎🌸

Much love (oh and im not sure if it was you but if it was thanks for the bouqette of flowers🫶 means alot!)

Heyy! Thanks for the ask, I do always love to ramble about my takes when people trigger my unskippable dialogue >:D

(Oh and yes, that was me with the bouquet. Ehehe. Glad you liked it, I just loved the idea and had to send one💜)

So! My man Gonzap. I don't have the most extensive lore for him specifically, but I have some ideas and some plot stuff he's involved in. I'll try to write it out without dumping too many unnecessary details regarding the history of the Orrean mob within the last century in general xd

Basically, in my verse, Gonzap is an old school gangster and mob boss. In that sense, he's similar to Evice out of all people. Unlike him, however, Gonzap didn't come from a rich, prestigious family or anything; he came, like many if not most children in Orre, from a not-so-great background. Barely scraping by, if not outright poor. So, again very much like many Orreans back then and still today, young Gonzap didn't have the kind of opportunity that would allow him to create a better life for himself, as a trainer or otherwise - at least not in the legal world. The Orrean crime scene is the main perspective for many young people who either want more or desperately need money.

Some miscellaneous Gonzap takes include that, while he's all rough and scary and loud on the outside, he does have a tiny, hidden soft side; said side of him still holds Wes dear, despite everything. I also recently considered this semi-serious headcanon that Gonzap's mom lives in Agate Village. She knows full well what kind of work her son does, but is on board because it's just so normalized in Orre. My good friend @desertsportshipping suggested it could be the old lady with the Mightyena which would be hilarious.

Anyway, back to the serious business: Nowadays, the main "player" in the scene and the (by far) most powerful faction is Cipher. Back in Gonzap's youth, however, things looked different: Many gangs existed, with Cipher being just one of many (certainly among the better and stronger ones, but not in a position of hegemony... yet). Gonzap was too proud to join any other gang and, as we all know, has a lot of faith in his own strength, so he founded his own: Team Snagem. They dealt in theft and illegal Pokémon trade, much like today. Thanks to his strength, grit, abilities as a trainer and not being stupid either, Gonzap made a name for himself, amassed followers and they all got by just fine.

Unfortunately for him, things eventually changed when Cipher decided they had gathered enough resources of their own and now want to be a big, fancy crime syndicate and take over the entire region. What followed is now known as the Orrean Gang Wars, though those who know the deep lore behind the scenes also call it the Second Cipher Purge. The first was more or less just Greevil busting unions for reasons that are beyond the scope of this post, and the second was all about dealing with the other Orrean gangs - either force them to cooperate or wipe them out.

This is how Gonzap met a young Nascour (who technically wasn't even of age yet, but Evice had been training him so he could do all the killing and fighting in the streets for him while he, Evice, maintained the Es Cade disguise). Needless to say, Gonzap was a) pissed off by the mere suggestion that he should submit to another gang and b) not impressed by some teenager who looks like a creepy porcelain doll and likes wearing skirts telling him to surrender or die. And so Gonzap told Nascour to go fuck himself and that turned out to be a big mistake.

I imagine there was at least one big, if not several fights between Team Snagem and Cipher, and even if Snagem hadn't already been at a disadvantage due to Cipher's apparently crazy resources, they were losing in numbers. My guess is that Gonzap lost about a third to half of his people and ended up having to flee, getting chased across the desert until he learned the hard way that Nascour's mastery of psychic types also lends itself to tracking people down.

The "offer" was repeated, and this time Gonzap accepted to save his people and himself. Team Snagem was allowed to survive for the small price of doing Cipher's dirty work from then on; and this is why Gonzap calls Nascour "master" and does his bidding. He's not risking the angry ribbons coming after him again - until the events of XD, it seems, at which point he assumes Nascour is out of the picture. Sadly, Gonzap will be wrong again as far as my verse is concerned, and he better think of a good excuse why he was caught talking about wrecking Cipher. He isn't fond of them, of course, and deep down he wants revenge, but this one time he's simply too scared (and for good reasons).

As for the other Cipher members, Gonzap doesn't have too much to do with them, so his opinions depend a lot on whether they're part of the Orrean criminal scene and what their reputations are. I'll just list my spontaneous thoughts on that (never considered this much before x)):

𖦏 Venus: By the time of the Orrean Gang Wars, my Venus had already succeeded Agnol as the "de facto ruler" of The Under (more on that here) and was with Cipher. If Gonzap had any dealings down in The Under, he would've already known not to mess with her and he definitely knows now that she may or may not have been involved in nearly destroying Team Snagem. Similar to Nascour, he may not exactly like her, but fears her.

𖦏 Ein: In my verse, Ein is neither Orrean nor a criminal by trade, so to Gonzap he's "just some foreigner". Since I doubt Gonzap is a man who has the patience for endless scientific yapping and experimenting, he most likely has zero respect for Ein, but with Ein being Ein the feeling is mutual. It may be that Gonzap will be forced to change his mind if he ever has to find out just how mean Ein can be, but for now that's how things are.

𖦏 Dakim: Dakim was never too deep into the Orrean crime scene before he joined Cipher (more Nascour shenanigans, though a far more amicable test of strength), but is about as Orrean as they come. Maybe he and Gonzap crossed paths a few times while engaging in illegal street battles to make some money. I would say that Gonzap has some respect for Dakim, hell, I could even see them getting along if the circumstances were a bit different (with Gonzap holding a grudge for understandable reasons, whereas Dakim is genuinely loyal to Nascour who can do no wrong in his eyes),

𖦏 Miror B.: He's very much from the same scene as Gonzap, but I doubt Gonzap is much into dancing. He probably sees Miror as a bit of an "odd" rival, since they both enjoy stealing a Pokémon here and there, but never took him seriously. This might have changed slightly once Miror became a Cipher Admin and briefly took over Pyrite Town, but I feel like Gonzap is a decent-ish judge of character when it comes to other criminals and his pride doesn't get in the way, and so he may have caught on to the fact that Miror is not really serious about the whole Cipher thing and still just wants to dance.

𖦏 Evice: Evice has likely never dealt with Gonzap personally and considers himself above that; though all arrogance aside, he also has to maintain his disguise. I feel that Gonzap might actually know that Nascour is acting as a "decoy boss" on someone else's behalf and even that it's Evice or have some idea at least, but I doubt he was properly informed.

As far as the XD Admins are concerned, I think Gonzap doesn't know them well, if at all, due to breaking away from Cipher, but I would say:

𖦏 Gorigan: Gonzap may have met him before, but Gorigan was never really involved in the crime scene either; he worked as a mechanic for Greevil's mining company and later got transferred. They could have a fun night out under different circumstances, but with Cipher in the picture... yeah.

𖦏 Snattle: I doubt any Orrean criminal likes politicians, and Gonzap would be no exception. He would attempt to punch Snattle and then probably end up with his hideout getting blown up again by explosion strats, which... yeah. They're not getting along for sure.

𖦏 Lovrina: Similar to how things are with Ein, though Gonzap would ironically respect her more since she's not some fancy-pants nerd from university; in my verse, she actually has a very similar background as him.

𖦏 Ardos & Eldes: Gonzap probably hates rich kids too and wouldn't even consider them "proper criminals", since they don't do the dirty work and just hang out with their father all day. In my verse, it's currently Ardos who later snitches informs Nascour about Gonzap's "betrayal", sooo... that's fun :)

𖦏 Greevil: Gonzap would like to be best friends with Greevil's credit card actually. Jokes aside, I think Gonzap may or may not even know Greevil exists, and if he does have some idea, he probably doesn't have much respect for some rich guy who got in on a crime syndicate.

So yeah, those are my random incoherent thoughts, hope you enjoyed ^^

[xoxobuckybarnes]

November 2023 Stucky Fics

Completed

Yours, Steve (Rated: G, Words: 9K)

Summary: “I’ve been writing a lot lately, y’know? Sam told me it’d do me good.” “Oh yeah? What do you write about?” Steve shrugs, suddenly self-conscious. “Stuff about him. How I feel. Stuff that I feel would help him remember, if he ever read them. It’s... weird. They’re letters, you know? Letters for him. Even though I know he’ll never read them.” “Well,” Nat says. There’s a determined glint in her eyes. “Do you want him to?” Steve blinks, dumbfounded. A smile slowly creeps across his lips. (In which Civil War never happens and Bucky makes a life for himself in Bucharest, tries to heal on his own. Steve waits for him, and writes.)

The Intelligence Nerd and The Avengers (series) by LilyInTheSnow / @lilyinthesnow

Bucky Barnes: Intelligence Nerd (Rated: E, Words: 114K) Summary: How Bucky Barnes accidently became an Avenger and married Steve Rogers. Or some shit like that.

Twitterpated (Rated: M, Words: 12K)

Summary: Steve's POV of Chapters 1-7 of Intelligence nerd. Steve's not twitterpated. Really he's not. Bucky's just a total badass and his future husband is all.

Twenty Minutes in Heaven (Rated: M, Words: 5K) Summary: Bucky's missing twenty minutes from chapter 9? of Bucky Barnes: Intelligence Nerd as told from Steve's POV. Plus a little extra. Pandamonium (Rated: M, Words: 4K) Summary: Bucky has a nightmare. It's pandamonium. xD A Small Matter (Rated: E, Words: 13k) Summary: Steve gets shrunk during a fight with Hydra, but retains everything else the serum gave him. Bucky's not quite sure how to handle Twink!Steve. In the end Twink!Steve handles Bucky. Tony, Bruce, and Doctor Strange have no idea how to fix it and Thor thinks Loki might've had something to do with it. It's fine though. Everything is perfectly fine. Probably. Or: Steve gets shrunk, fucks Bucky's brains out, and they make a trip to Jotunheimen, Norway. Steve might steal Stormbreaker from Thor and they might get chased by a mutant maneating weremoose. They also might get into a drunken snowball fight. Oh, and Loki is there too. Reading Fanfic Pays Off (Rated: E, Words: 16K) Summary: Steve and Bucky from Intelligence Nerd wind up in the Hello Future Husband verse. Barista!Bucky takes Intelligence Nerd!Bucky lingerie shopping and some other stuff happens too. Like maybe Steve gets jealous and bones Bucky against a tree.

***These fics are complete but the series is not. ***

Hello, Future Husband (Rated: E, Words: 20K) by LilyInTheSnow / @lilyinthesnow

Summary: Bucky Barnes might kind of, sort of, be desperately in love with Steve Rogers. Steve might be a little bit oblivious. Bucky might be a little bit desperate. Natasha and Clint decide to help. Kinda. Mostly they just watch and giggle, but whatever. Enter: Lace panties, super tight skinnies that may or may not be cutting off circulation to various parts of Bucky's anatomy, see-through shirts, and a small variety of now visible nipple jewelry. Nipple shields that look like Captain America's shield? Bucky's never heard of 'em. Never seen them before. How'd they get in his jewelry box?

Let me love you (Rated: T, Words: 4K) by thatgreenleaf

Summary: The Winter Soldier keeps trying to shower Steve with affection in the middle of fights. Steve keeps mistaking them for fight moves.

Fantasmic! (Rated: T, Words: 11K) by mambo / @whtaft

Summary: It's Steve's second summer working at Disney World when he meets Prince Charming (aka: Bucky Barnes, college kid from Brooklyn whose ass looks absolutely devastating in his Prince Charming slacks) and maybe starts to feel a little Disney magic in his heart.

I Held You in Gloved Hands (And I’m Not Letting Go) (Rated: E, Words: 48K) by Voylitscope_speed / @voylitscope

Summary: Bucky Barnes jumps at the chance to take a job opportunity hours from home. He's expecting a fresh start and a decent salary jump. He's not expecting to run into his childhood best friend, Steve Rogers, on his first day. The years since they last talked have been hard ones for both of them, but falling back into their friendship is shockingly easy. Despite their time apart, December in this small town might bring them closer than ever. (Or, a holiday romcom in which Bucky reads to children, Steve teaches art, new friendships are made, difficult conversations are had, cookies are baked, way too much coffee is consumed, home is found in surprising places and, eventually, feelings are confessed.)

I Feel Warm with You (Rated: G, Words: 7K) by LelsieSphinx / @kittytheroseofkirea

Summary: 5+1 winters throughout the lives of Steve and Bucky; filled with fun, kisses, wars, separation, reunions and softness.

Podfic

Late Show (Rated: E) by ipoiledi & thatsmysecret

Summary: “Rogers,” Bucky says, seriously, “You wouldn’t know how to shake your ass if one of those sweet ladies herself tried to stand you up and teach you.”

WIP

Treading Water (Rated: M, Current Words: 261K) by sparkagrace / @sparkagrace & art by Dyslexic_Fetus (Reagy_Jay) / @reagy-jay

Summary: Olympic swimmer Bucky Barnes always believed that when the time came to retire, he would walk away with his medals and world records firmly in the history books and never look back. He never thought the water would leave him first. ***Part of the series Lane Lines: Lane Lines (Rated: M, Words: 132K), Lumière (Rated: M, Words: 5K), & New Traditions (Rated: M, Words: 6K)***

Lost Vocabularies that Might Express (The Memory of These Broken Impressions) (Rated: E, Current Words: 76K) by dorian_burberrycanary / @burberrycanary

Summary: The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away. How’s that for some consolation on the road? A post-The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Stucky fix-it as part of the all-American road trip, detours included. ***Part of the series A Man Takes His Sadness Down to the River (The Consolation of Philosophy): The Same River, Twice (The Man Is Still Left with His Hands) (Rated: G, words: 4K), Still Left with the River (The Paradox of Motion) (Rated: G, Words: 14K), &  Not Language by a Map (The Grammar of Sensation) (Rated: E, Words: 20K)***

[sheikitoff]

ocarina of time as fearless

If you're not deeply versed in Swiftian Lore, you probably think this was her first album, and understandably so. It's the album that Love Story and You Belong With Me are on, the album she first one the aoty grammy for, the album that gave rise to That VMA Incident- in other words, although it's her sophmore album, it's the one that broke out of the country music charts and into the Pop Sphere. Even if you've never listened to the album, you know it, at least to some degree. (Sound familiar?)

Yes, I've been trying to avoid making these analyses about the meta status of these works in pop culture, and instead about the contents and themes of the works themselves, but it's hard to talk about Ocarina without acknowledging its colossal footprint on games as a medium. While Fearless wasn't quite as pioneering as, say, inventing lock-on targeting, it did have a massive impact on the music industry, not only from a commercial perspective (revitalizing the country music market from its death throes), but from an important artistic perspective: she was a teenage girl who wrote her own songs, and in the last few years we've been seeing how significant an impact that had in the number of young female songwriters who cite Swift and this album as what made them realize they, too, could pick up a guitar and write their own stories.

(Also, this album includes the lyric "I don't know how it gets better than this", which is exactly what everyone said when Ocarina first came out xD )

Okay, onto the real analysis!

Fearless is an album about growing up, and reconciling the idealized vision of adulthood (or late adolescence) you've dreamed of all your life - the pastiche made up of images from teen movies and tv and magazines - with the uncomfortable and often disappointing reality you find upon your arrival. it's about making a beeline for adulthood and then looking back and wishing you could tell your younger self to stop and breathe (literally - there's a lyric on the album that goes "count to ten, take it in / this is life before you know who you're gonna be"). OOT is also, obviously and devastatingly, about growing up, and specifically about wanting to grow up and then getting there and realizing it's nothing like you thought it would be, and it cost you something you can never get back.

Fearless starts out with the title track, an ode to the excitement at the beginning of a first relationship, the siren call of young love; the whole world is wide open before you, and even the most mundane of things ("there's something 'bout the way / the street looks when it's just rained / there's a glow off the pavement) can seem magical. you want to bask in the moment and to hightail it to happily ever after all at once. taylor describes this feeling as "fearless", and one of the examples she gives of this fearlessness is "with you i'd dance / in a storm, in my best dress / fearless". it's kind of a perfect encapsulation of the exact brand of fearlessness that comes with youth: you can be that fearless in large part because you don't yet know what there is to fear out there. there are much scarier things in adult life and relationships than ruining your clothes in a storm, and there are much scarier things in hyrule than the stalchildren in hyrule field at night; and by the end of their respective album and game, both taylor and link will have learned that, however much they might wish they could go back to a time they'd not yet had to learn those lessons.

one of the oft-discussed kind of metanarrative features of OOT is that kids spend the opening section desperate to reach Adult Link. You'll hear people (mostly younger people, and people who haven't played since they were much younger) talk about the jump to Adult Link as "where the game really starts", or something along those lines. It's kind of trite to even point out how well this maps onto being a kid who can't wait to grow up, who sees adulthood as "when life really starts", and how central the difference between a child and adult's perspective on childhood is to the game and its themes. everyone somersaults and sidesteps across hyrule field as they try to book it to hyrule castle, and yeah, part of that is because hyrule field is so damn big and empty, but it makes for a nice little microcosm of what OOT is saying about growing up, as you hightail towards a destination you might not like once you get there.

even amidst the lows of growing up, there are always highs, too; both fearless and OOT let you bask in moments of triumph. there's a reason "love story" and "you belong with me" are still hailed among the best of pop music (fittingly enough, the former sees Taylor "sneak out to the garden to see you", just like Link sneaks into the castle garden to meet with Zelda; yes, I've been giggling about that since it occured to me.) but you can't freeze time in one, perfect moment, and even the cutesiest love songs start to develop a bit of a sad undertone: "hey stephen, why are people always leaving? / i think you and i should stay the same." while link's big "coming of age" moment obviously happens when he blinks and finds himself seven years older, his actual coming of age story starts at the very beginning of the game, as the darkness of the larger world encroaches on the idyllic kokori forest, poisoning and killing the deku tree; and in his child link travels, he encounters more of this darkness, be it darunia's depression or princess ruta’s deceased mother. notably, the darkest dungeon (pun not intended) of the whole game can only be accessed by child link. it's also likely the last extended bit of time you'll spend as child link in this game; some things you can't come back from knowing.

fearless charts a number of losses that come with growing up. on “white horse”, taylor laments the loss of the fantasies that come with childhood naïveté (“now i know / that i’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairytale”). this bears some similarity to the transition between acts one and two of OOT, as link and zelda’s grand plan to save the kingdom crashes down around them and they discover they’ve been outwitted since the very start; they fail, something stories and prophecies never prepared them for, and the consequences are more horrifying than they could have imagined (hyrule castle town post-time jump, anyone?) another fearless track, “breathe”, mourns the end of a friendship - not because you moved away or changed schools and lost touch, as with countless childhood friendships, but because the people you’ve grown into are just too different. it’s one of the less common elements of coming of age narratives, but one of the most heartbreaking parts of growing up: “never a clean break, no one here to save me / you’re the only thing i know like the back of my hand”. while link doesn’t lose a friend quite in the same way, there’s a similar kind of heartache in his friendship with saria, both in the realization that she hasn’t grown up and never will, and the discovery that they both have destinies that lead them apart, and must say goodbye.

“tell me why” and “you’re not sorry” both document the loss of blind trust, from a place of anger and of sadness respectively; then “the way i loved you” and “forever & always” each grapple with memories, how they can hold you back and how they can betray you. the former sees taylor unable to emotionally invest in a new relationship because of the intensity of a former one, which she misses in spite of herself: “my heart's not breaking /

'cause I'm not feeling anything at all.” in the latter, taylor is dismayed and angry to find that promises she and her partner made to each other meant less to him than they did to her. what’s particularly interesting about the latter song with regards to OOT is how it frames an emotional imbalance in a relationship in terms of memory: “back up, baby, back up / did you forget everything?” one of the most horrifying implications of everything link goes through in OOT is that, at the end, no one remembers but him, and none of the people he forged friendships with have any recollection of it at all; even navi leaves him. so much of OOT maps onto real parts of growing up, albeit in a fantastical and exaggerated fashion, and this has always evoked to me the experience of learning that someone you cherish your memories of doesn’t feel the same way, or remember nearly as much of your time together in childhood.

as we can see, the second half of the album is pretty much all sad or angry, until the very last two songs, but even those have caveats. "the best day" is a heartwarming tribute to her mother, but with a bittersweet twinge, as her recollections go from her mother taking her to a pumpkin patch to her mother consoling her as she cries about school bullies, and while her mother manages to cheer her up, taylor still notes that she “don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay”; growing up means your problems aren’t as easily fixable, and your hurts last much longer. the final song, change, takes the inevitability of change, responsible for so much of the heartbreak throughout the album, and frames it as a source of hope, that if things can change, they will change again. it’s an anthem against giving up, but the song is premised on being stuck in a present that makes you want to give up (“you know it's all the same, another time and place / repeating history and you're getting sick of it”). in the final verse of the song, taylor goes from future tense (“these things will change”) to past tense (“it was the night things changed”). the music quiets down, and then the instruments kick back in more triumphant than ever (cue OOT end credits.) and yet the triumph here doesn’t hold a candle to the highs of “love story” and “you belong with me”. it’s the end of the album, and yet there’s less resolution here than there is on earlier tracks. real life doesn’t really have happily ever afters, not because happiness doesn’t exist but because life carries on where a movie would roll credits; all we can look forward to is the inexorable approach of change.

[h3artf3ltint3nt]

☮♦♣☀

Get to know the rper - RP related

-Send me a ☮ for me to describe an amazing rp experience: I don't think any rp experience can beat the one I discussed here

-Send me a ♦ for me to describe a plot that I’ve been wanting to do: oh jeez. There's so many. For Kexin specifically I do have two kind of specific ones. So the first has to do with A-Yao. So I couldn't decide if I wanted her to find out the truth or not before Huaisang revealed it at first but I finally decided that I didn't. Instead I figured it would be interesting for doubts to somewhat creep in but her desperately push those thoughts away because she didn't want to believe it and then everything coming to light and seeing that those doubts were valid. It's painful lol. The other is romance plot with JC (because she's a self insert and I love him lol). In my mind and the fanfic I'm writing they become close friends during the Gusu lectures and discuss the possibility of courting but then Sunshot happens and the rebuilding of Lotus Pier. Once things finally settle and the idea comes up again the stuff with WWX happens and she has a hard time accepting that everyone thinks it's best to get rid of him, which causes strife but eventually they come back around and finally get to lol. This one I know is very very specific xD

-Send me a ♣ for me to describe a favorite rp ship of someone else’s: Hmm. Well I don't focus a lot of other peoples' ships aside from "oh that's cute!" or huh interesting. But I am very invested in my friend's ship of her oc with Billy Hargrove from Stranger Things. Billy becomes a better person because of her and I really enjoy when that's a thing in ships. I also think that @adversitybloomed 's ship with Sizhui is super cute!

Send me a ☀ for me to talk about someone I’ve met through rp: Once again, SO MANY. The majority of my online friends are my friends because of role play. But it would be a disservice to not discuss my first ever online friend for this. In around 2009-2010 I got into the book series Vampire Academy. A year or so before that was when I started role-playing on the internet. My website of choice at the time was something called bebo that no longer exists. Well, one of my rl best friends and I loved Vampire Academy so much that we not only role played two main characters: Rose & Lissa but we also made ocs that were their children and shipped them together. We decided to make bebo accounts for them and one day I found an account that was a daughter of Rose, which would make her my oc's sibling. We started talking and decided to make them twins and my friend also became friends with her. We started talking more and more and eventually my irl friend and I video chatted with her. We had already become friends at the time and that just cemented it. We continued role playing together, coming up with new storylines for our original ocs, as well as role playing in different fandoms together such as Star Wars, Supernatural, Yu-Gi-Oh, Descendants, etc. And I'm talking almost a decade. At one point she and I got into a bit of a disagreement and stopped talking for a little while and I regret it a lot because shortly after we started talking again she unfortunately passed away, in 2019, before I got to meet her in person. I miss her a lot and haven't been able to write in the Vampire Academy verse since.

[undeadunalive]

v: a good doctor treats everyone the same ( the walking dead, the last of us, black summer, z-nation etc verse. )

Set during the Walking Dead or any other zombie based setting, Jonathan’s background is exactly the same, except he moved to the United States of America, as he needs to keep moving around every decade or so to keep people from noticing that he doesn’t age. It was while he was there that the dead began to walk, with him and everyone else plunged into the apocalypse.

Alone, Jonathan travels the US, both seeking to find a cure or create a vaccine to keep people from returning when they die, as well as wiping out as many walkers as he can along the way, in an attempt to keep remaining humans safe. He offers his medical skills to anyone who requires them, as he’s able to pass through entire hordes of walkers without being bothered by them, since they don’t recognise him as being alive, granting him ease to get around.

Also, due to the immense drop in human population, he is even more adamant not to take blood from humans, remaining much the same in the fact that he prefers to drink only from animals. Though this is another reason he has been traveling alone, because he is afraid of his hunger overcoming him and succumbing to it around survivors.

THIS MEANS:

He will offer his medical skills to survivors he comes across.

Drinks purely from whatever animals he can find. But remains perpetually starving, managing to go without human blood for years at a time.

Walkers don’t pay him attention due to him being undead.

He is actively seeking to create a cure or vaccine.

[mango-dolphin]

what are your headcanons about the heroes :0? Ive asked this question to the other shield hero blogs and now its Your turn ):) normally i would ask for each separately but why do that when i can ask for all at once XD!!

ADMITTEDLY this is a broad enough question as to where i could be making headcanons about Any Such Thing !! i don't have too many headcanons yet but i can make shit up as i go honestly. i like questions that ask me somethin a lil more specific bUT ALSO I LOVE HAVING FREE RANGE AND PERMISSION TO GO APESHIT SO LIKE. IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER

hm. hmm. hmmmmmmmmmm. i'll just write whatever comes to my head right now!

General Headcanons

i'd like to think that each cardinal hero had a piece of media in their original world that resembled at least one of the other cardinal hero's lives:

Naofumi had this sleeper hit visual novel he introduced to his little brother as a way to get him into the medium: it presented itself as this dating simulator game about this university student and his complicated love life. As the game progresses and depending on the routes, it's slowly revealed that there is something amiss regarding the protagonist's life and how he interacts with the company he keeps. The game progresses into a psychological horror/thriller in some aspects��not really like Doki Doki Literature Club but y'know there was something going on there. Naofumi offhandedly mentioned that the game had a secret true ending that was overwhelmingly gay and his little brother called his bluff. The secret gay ending is real.

Itsuki seems like the type to strongly prefer escapist media, but I'd like to think an acquaintance at his private school happened to suggest a short and sweet manga to him that she thought he might find interesting. He decided to read it on a whim one day and was disgruntled to learn it was a Normie-verse (media where no one has powers) slice-of-life thing, but he had nothing better to do (had to wait for something) so he tried to finish it anyways. It was about this middle school prep student breaking down under the pressure that his parents were placing on him to succeed, trying desperately to find an outlet. In the midst of it all, his "slacker" older brother, who wasn't doing so hot in college at the time, took it upon himself to try and reconnect with his little brother and the two eventually start bonding over otaku culture. It was an incredibly heart-warming read but also it made Itsuki cry a little bit because he was very jealous of the main character. He wants an older brother like that so bad. he refuses to admit he liked the manga no matter what the girl who lent it says

Ren... I don't really have an elaborate one for him, unfortunately. The Cardinal Hero whose media he got would be Itsuki's by process of elimination, however! It'd probably be (by his world's standards) an older video game or anime of some kind, probably kind of BNHA-esque with those strong Golden Age comics inspirations. Maaaaybe it could've been something ongoing but got canceled? So Ren never learned how it was supposed to end.

Motoyasu seems like the type who doesn't always keep up with most popular media, or at the very least would hear about it from osmosis. If not that, he's probably right on top of popular things. Probably a mix of both? Incredibly on the pulse for some things, incredibly clueless on others, and it's random what he'll know and what he won't. He'd probably mostly get onto some stuff through his friends—probably was binging anime w/one of his best guy friends one night and what was on was this movie about a futuristic Japan. In particular, it was a split story between a criminal down on their luck but sank deeper into the underworld, as well as a reclusive high school student trying to get by. It wasn't that extreme of a movie, but for whatever reason the bloodier parts with the high schooler saving his friend perturbed Motoyasu a lot, to the point of walking out for a bit. His female friends at the time made fun of him for getting so squicked out at the movie.

i kiiiinda like the idea of the younger two of the cardinal heroes paralleling/being foils to the older two. Ren and Naofumi seem to have kinda similar outlooks (at least, the roots of them) as well as appearances; same with Itsuki and Motoyasu. they both even have the same age gap by year (naofumi & motoyasu are 4 years older than ren & itsuki respectively). There are lessons Ren & Itsuki can take from their older counterparts—both things they should avoid (naofumi's wrath and unwillingness to speak up, motoyasu's naivete and ignorance to the point of delusion) as well as things they can take with them (naofumi's proactive nature, tendency towards learning skills & self-improvement, and keeping and listening to good people around him; motoyasu's warm & friendly nature as well as his loyalty + mindedness towards the people immediately around him, rather than focusing on how he himself looks—listen he's being manipulated that doesn't excuse his idiocy and terrible judgement. but he does care about people and their PERSONAL LIVES in his own way, rather than itsuki doing good things because they're "morally just")

the cardinal heroes probably met up a lot outside of Naofumi (because, y'know, he was made a pariah), so they probably talked a bit more about stuff and got to know each other a teensy bit better. I'd like to think—and these would be conversations that happen much later, like brink of or after the Spirit Tortoise arc—the three of them all realized they all died, though they probably would question if Naofumi had died at all (as he seemed the most insistent on getting home). Ren also toyed with the idea that perhaps Naofumi didn't remember his death, so he perhaps still believed he had somewhere to go back to.

Itsuki mentioned his death first and regretted it immediately (ren and motoyasu lost it at the idea that itsuki got isekai'd the old-fashioned way). In comparison, Ren was very reluctant to mention the details of his own death, so he more or less set the stage and left it to interpretation. (Itsuki got frustrated that Ren appeared to have gone out like a hero and Ren didn't want to say anything.) Motoyasu likely lied about the exact details of his death and talked about the last few days he remembered, leading the other two to extrapolate that he got killed because of his womanizing. He'd later go on to admit that he didn't actually remember how exactly he died, but what he does remember is something he'd rather not think about.

(i also headcanon that they have scars from their deaths lol. ren's got that big stab/slice scar; motoyasu has several cuts and perforations throughout his stomach and abdomen, as well as stray stab marks on his chest; itsuki likely has some faint but permanent bruising on his backside & head)

Naofumi hears that the other three died and he'd be like What? I was kidnapped by a book. What???

Ren

gay, open about it; i'd like to think his Japan had progressed just as much in societal matters as it has technological. Japan doesn't have transphobia & homophobia the same way America (my country) does, so I'm not entirely sure how things over there would change, but nowadays from what I understand Japan is a lot more casual about people being gay than Americans are. SO there'd hopefully be far less judgement and expectation on a gay high schooler in Ren's Japan, for instance? so he can just be open and it wouldn't be a big deal.

(i also sincerely hope that Ren's Japan would have figured SOMETHING out for its atrocious bullying problem, but sadly i do think that it's wholly possible that it's still an issue. maybe not as bad as it is right now, but frankly almost anything would be an improvement considering how fucked up bullying can get over there. i can see ren's behavior stemming from even mild bullying but it's possible that he's Just Like That™.)

his best friend, the one that he saved and the one i'm assuming he played video games with? i think it'd be interesting if they were actually dating :3 but also my hc of "ren being openly gay" and "ren dating his best friend" might not necessarily line up. being open isn't a one-and-done thing, however, so it could more be a thing that ren was open back in his world (because he didn't have to hide), but ren probably knew enough about the rest of the world/medieval media to be like "maybe i should wait and see how people react to this kind of stuff <:|"

so ren probably has just never brought up his sexuality to anyone in this world. if he got the signal that it was safe to talk about it, he probably forgot that being temporarily closeted was a problem and would probably go around assuming that people knew he was gay, because that's his default—

i'd like to think that ren & his [boy]friend always wanted to move somewhere more natural and grassy—just somewhere with a lot of natural beauty. i know i said in my last post or so that he'd have the least amount of knowledge of the natural world, but i don't think that'd mean he wouldn't be interested in knowing more about it. maybe he and his friend would stay up some nights after some grinding sessions and just. talk about the future. moving to somewhere in the japanese countryside, or maybe somewhere untouched in europe.

he probably thinks about that sometimes while traveling melromarc.

i think this guy likes white chocolate. iunno.

listen. i try not to focus too hard on sexuality/romanticism headcanons because i think it's important to like. characterize folks outside of their romantic/sexual relationships. ships are really fun but also i wanna know about the Character Themself.

but sometimes it's very much a case of "i think their sexuality would inform their behavior and vice versa," even if the character themself sees their sexuality as a footnote. imo, ren just happens to be gay, sees himself as someone that happens to be gay, but his relationships and the people he knows/loves very much inform who he is. especially because he doesn't seem like the type of person to go out of his way to establish relationships of any kind.

so like. if he has a boyfriend, that's a big thing. and having a boyfriend in practice isn't interchangeable with having a girlfriend—especially if you're the same gender as your partner(s). so me headcanoning him being gay is like. he cares about someone deeply, and that someone is a guy, and he would not love him as much if he were a girl. the relationship would fundamentally be different then. Gayboy.

Naofumi

i'd like to think he was still a chill older brother sort of guy before getting summoned. after breaking down his little brother's walls their relationship probably got real close again. i could see naofumi teasing him a lot and him being teased by his brother a lot

i've mentioned it before but i think naofumi would read a lot of doujinshi. i don't mean like the Explicit Stuff but like. i think he'd be our equivalent of scrolling through AO3 and reading literally whatever caught his eye, or even whatever popped up (because he's bored). he'd be the sort of person who'd read fanfic/doujinshi of media he hasn't even read before. i think he'd just be a voracious reader in general

this is ALSO scattered about my posts & tags but i think Naofumi is some flavor of asexual and some flavor of biromantic / greyromantic. i'm going to make this even funnier and say that he still reads explicit shit anyways. he's like "ok nice." doesn't even blink. it's a story what does he have to say except they're fucking.

FORGOT TO MENTION i don't think he'd use labels either. if someone asked his orientation i think he'd be like "eh. i don't really care"

i don't think he's really dated anyone, at least for very long. he does experience some aesthetic attraction but that's about it. and even then it's like "oh, they look nice. aight" and he forgets about it. apparently he describes how good motoyasu looks in the LN a lot though so maybe he's more into aesthetics than i thought. i can definitely see it

i'd like to think Naofumi started a little garden in Luroluna alongside all the fields that exist. there's probably a little section where he does some funky plant experiments (mostly trying to make more resilient and/or delicious food) and tries to branch (ha) his skill tree out, and there could be a larger part where he puts some of his more successful plants out and lets the public do what they wish with them. There's probably a tinier section where he made some fucked up little guys but since they weren't malignant plants and/or not difficult to manage, he kept them around. People are allowed to experiment with those fuck-ups as well as long as they're responsible.

i'd like to think he fell asleep in chicken coops several times. mostly as a kid but also probably once or twice in luroluna as well. filo probably tries to snuggle up with him in there also and it suffocates him--

(i think about him being an animal friend so often you guys)

admittedly i think Naofumi's always been kind of an introvert, even before getting summoned. he seems like the type of person who prefers to do his own thing, but very much appreciates company anyways. he does have some pretty good leadership skills (apparently he ran a guild in a video game back home) so i don't think he exceptionally dislikes people on average, and in fact can get along VERY very well with folks—he just values his personal space is all

Motoyasu (discussion of abuse below)

my friend. my dear friend motoyasu. i like him a lot (this is not a headcanon i just wanted to say that i like him)

i think this man has trauma. i think this man has illnesses. i think there's a lot going on with him and i'm kind of obsessed. i'm reluctant to go in depth with what i think is going on w/him because i fear how my headcanons/readings might be taken on this character, especially as he's the least popular of the cardinal heroes. (at least, from what i could observe on tumblr FJKNSEFJKENS maybe he's more well-liked elsewhere!) anywho, i tried explaining a teensy bit of what i felt anyways, so hopefully what i intended to explain came across properly?

however i don't think his naivete (particularly his gullibility towards women) is... natural? as in, i don't think it's just something he was born with or anything. i think it had to have come from somewhere, and it's likely that it's a behavior he learned from previous relationships. he doesn't have a hero complex to the extent itsuki does, but it's clear that he views himself as someone who has to take on the burden of saving the women around him. which is like, any dude can have that sort of savior complex i guess, and it can be Incredibly Annoying™ if not other things.

but i'm combining this w/the fact that he'll believe the closest woman to him no questions asked is like... that is dangerously self-destructive behavior. this dude can have a spine so the fact that he'd let someone take advantage of him that easily, to the point where he essentially slots into that role (he believed Myne's false testimony first word no questions no doubts and just let her pull him around every which way)... you can't convince me that motoyasu hasn't been abused by a partner (specifically a girlfriend) before, if not several. i'm sorry you just can't

combine that with what we apparently learn from his backstory in the spin-off series and it's like. Dear god. Dear god if he's had to deal with female friends like that (ones who'd rather him die than be with another girl, even if it's a "i want us to die together" kind of deal), entitled to his own emotions in that way? people don't just randomly decide to stab their crush, the girls crushing on him probably treated him in other ways of entitlement (even if they were incredibly subtle), though ofc we don't know the situation for sure. like yeah motoyasu should've been more assertive and tried to talk things out, but girls. shouldn't be pulling knives on people and murdering them idk what to say. even if motoyasu might have been dating several people at once (the wiki doesn't elaborate so idk the context), he shouldn't be like. murdered over it

i do think the savior schtick as well as the flirting in general may have at some point been a front he put on (the skirt-chasing & flirtiness before the heroic schtick anyways) that he kind of just subsumed into his identity. i can see his fondness for angels (and later his tangential obsession over filolials) coming from wanting to embody the heroism angels are meant to have. angels are meant to Save, and idk. maybe he wanted someone to save him. maybe he felt like he had to be a savior to the women in his life. shrugs. he doesn't seem like the type to think he'd be able to get trauma i think he'd ignore it like the rest of his problems

anyways your early 20s is a great time for more overt symptoms of schizoaffective disorders to pop up so like. i think after getting hit w/that Big Traumatic Betrayal by Myne (as well as anime logic) i can see the personality/reality shift he experiences post-Curse Shift to have finally rattled that sort of thing out of hiding from him. him starting to see most women as Literal Pigs is what put the nail in the coffin for this hc of mine. like. uhhh

the Curse Series may be a defense mechanism for psychological trauma, but a lot of mental illness is more or less the brain trying to comprehend the world around it in specific ways. so honestly the Curse Series (and working your way through it) could very much be seen as an allegory for coming face to face with your trauma—learning how to embrace it, but also learning how to accept it and to not let it overtake you. depression can rob a lot of sensation from you (i personally stopped feeling many emotions at all), so Naofumi losing his sense of taste after Myne's betrayal didn't surprise me one bit.

Motoyasu was already straight up accepting/leaning into delusions the longer he spent in this world, being fed lies and such by Myne and the king & likely other royals, so having to come to grips with all of that ALONGSIDE later being humiliated (being forced to see how shit of a job he did as a Hero) and betrayed AGAIN by Myne... yeah. i'm not surprised he broke, and broke that hard. i personally don't even think the Pig Thing was caused by the Curse Series; again, i think it was an underlying mental illness finally rearing its head, and the Curse Series fed into it.

from what i heard motoyasu likes to make his own clothes or something? idr the exact tidbit. but if it's not canon that's certainly my headcanon. Art Student Moment.

mentioned before in some tags that i think motoyasu could be hypersexual? at the very least after unlocking his Curse Series he might have started experiencing its symptoms more and more. tfw the trauma

also mentioned in those same tags that i think motoyasu could probably be pansexual or omnisexual. i still don't really know. both could fit him. but i could also see him just never deciding on a label, nor using one.

i think, in spite of how melromarc royals/the church might have felt about it, motoyasu would probably think demihumans were really cool. i think he'd really want to befriend some and even put a few on his party, but i could see Myne/other teammates refusing or even bullying them out of the party behind his back altogether. i genuinely don't see why motoyasu would want to discriminate against them (he'd see them as people who happen to have animal features, which is SO COOL!), even if others tried to manipulate him. they could tell him that therianthropes are disgusting and greedy and evil and he'd be like "aight!" and then he meets one and is like "yo this is my homie actually. i like her" and myne would have to remind him that she's a therianthrope and motoyasu would be like "But she's epic"

I THINK THIS IS MY FUNNIEST HEADCANON ACTUALLY. "i think motoyasu wouldn't be racist." THIS IS LIKE. SUCH AN UNNECESSARY HEADCANON TO HAVE.

i'm sorry i was just thinking about it. it's so funny that motoyasu has a really low tolerance for alcohol. he probably can't handle spicy food either, but would be the kind of person who'd try repeatedly to show off and eat incredibly spicy food anyways. he'd cry so much

(abuse mentions done btw)

Itsuki

he probably feels so cool about being the only Hero with natural powers i'm ngl. he's probably tried to show off to ren & motoyasu before and he felt SO COOL. ren thought it was impressive and very fitting as a bow hero. motoyasu was also impressed and asked itsuki a few technical questions (something that caught the both of them off guard), and as Itsuki answered more and more he started to get self-conscious again. eventually Motoyasu was like "wow, that's really cool, but it sounds like you don't use it for very many applications. That kind of sucks." it made itsuki really mad, especially after motoyasu (in his dense-headed glory) suggested a few ways to use his powers (and then ren started adding on and refining those suggestions). however after he stormed off he thought about it and was like "y'know what. that would be an interesting way to use my power. alright"

(in retrospect he's still kind of upset that Motoyasu was the one to start suggesting stuff, especially out of the blue, especially after how idiotic he began to act when the church stuff started to ramp up, but he's also... incredibly thankful. Ren offered more advice as well but he wasn't always easy to reach)

perhaps has always had an interest in art and artistic endeavors, but may have felt pressured by Hero Stuff™ and honing his powers to really pursue that kind of thing. may just be because of the trinket he used to get rishia off his team, but i think he'd be a huge fan of jewelrymaking, naofumi should give him some pointers

i'd like to think that even though he faced a lot of bullying in his prestigious school, there might have been a handful of people who cared about him and wanted to get to know him + see him succeed. in particular, crossing a bit into OC territory, but i think it would be neat if there was a girl in the top class who resembled Rishia somewhat (at least, physically at first). so like, this girl would be great at most everything, would be incredibly humble about it, would be the best damn hero Itsuki's ever met. and he'd be green with envy. but this girl would also think itsuki was pretty cool and try to reach out to him, a lot. (she'd be the girl who gave itsuki that manga i rambled about in the General Headcanons thing).

getting to know this girl would (he assumed) be a bit of an in to the strongest people in the school, but turns out that she tries to surround herself w/decent people, so a lot of the people she hangs out with would be people itsuki might consider losers? anyways, this is about itsuki so we're talking about him—i think he would've admired her a lot, but his anger at himself and his own inadequacy might have caused him to lash out at her. (maybe after she saved him from something.) itsuki didn't run out into the street and die Right There, but he definitely died a few days later. that girl probably would've been kinda fucked up hearing about his death, idk if she'd crush on him or anything but. yo. that was a classmate. they were getting so close, too

following that, rishia didn't remind itsuki of Her at first until he took a closer glance and realized they looked a bit similar. so he probably felt really proud to be able to save her for once... then when rishia started doing more heroic things, it ripped out all of itsuki's insecurities and complexes full-force. sorry king about your cringe

i think itsuki is an only child. fuck i didn't talk about this w/the other characters too did i? i think they're all only children except for naofumi, they all exhibit Only Child behavior. except maybe ren. i could see ren being a middle child as well actually

itsuki probably knew a lot about archery before getting summoned, as it'd be a straightforward way to exhibiting his powers. i wouldn't be surprised if he was a bit of a gunsman too—japan has incredibly strict gun laws, but his japan could be different (especially as people have powers there).

probably a cat person. i can see it with my own eyes.

EDIT i did it for the other heroes and i forgot to do it for itsuki & kizuna. mentioned it before, but I think Itsuki would think he's straight and would try not to put too much thought/stock into it. He'd probably actually be bi, but prefer women. he's young tho and wouldn't seem very decided about it so he probably thinks it's something that he shouldn't mess around with too much. he might think liking boys would be another thing he could be bullied about so it's an idea he'd prefer to avoid. Sorry about diagnosing him with internalized homophobia. (i don't think i even gave motoyasu internalized homophobia i think i just made him clueless)

Kizuna

i don't have very many headcanons for her but honorary mention!

queerplatonic partners with Glass. i think they're about the same age, Glass is probably 19 or something. Age aside, prove me wrong

i can see kizuna having pet birds. maybe a couple finches. when Kris popped out she probably got REAL excited (PENGY!!! PENGY!!!!!!!!!)

i bet this bitch loves boba too actually. has probably tried to recreate it a few times with mixed results

as i mentioned w/itsuki, i forgot to talk about a sexuality headcanon when i did it for everyone else. I see her as aroace, or at least on the asexual spectrum!

haha speaking of spectrum. (hits her with the autism ray) why not. special interest is fishing why the hell not. we can give her the autisms. she certainly gives me the vibes. tism to tism communication

[voiceless-terror]

my magnus finale and season five thoughts under the cut!

I’ll preface this by saying there were a lot of things I loved about this finale, and none of this is intended to start a debate or fight! It’s simply my feelings about what happened, and everyone’s entitled to their own (and entitled to love/hate what happened!). I totally respect how much others adored this and the wonderful art that’s coming of it. These are, again, just my own thoughts.

I really loved the first half of this. After Jon’s compliance in the last episode (that I found a bit troubling), I was really glad to see that he made the decision to confront Jonah himself and stuck by the idea of not dooming the other worlds. For one, I think it would have been narratively unsatisfying to have Martin be the one to kill Jonah- because let’s face it, while all the assistants have good reason to, this was really Jon’s confrontation to have. And I loved it! The conversation, Jonah begging not to die, and Jon saying - for Sasha, for Tim, hell, even for Gertrude. He never forgets Jonah’s victims or his own friends, and that’s such a core part of his character. 

And I loved the statement. I was hoping we’d get one last one, and this one knocked it out of the park for me. Pupil!Jon is top hot Jon moments, and no I will not be taking questions on this. The soundscaping in this entire episode was brilliant.

I’ll start off by saying I understand narratively why the second half happened. It does make sense to me - that Jon’s final wishes end up being undercut by his love for Martin, and the last moments for me are desperately romantic and sad and lovely and I’m glad that they happened- it leaves so much room for us as an audience to decide what we think happened, and how to go from there. It’s a real gift to creators and though I for one will probably not be able to touch the finale for awhile, writing-wise, I am already itching to write some of my other projects!

But it happened so quickly for me. The pacing and change of heart is so about-face, mostly because of the situation- everything’s crumbling, we don’t really have time for much, if any dialogue. But Jon’s abrupt switch in plans when he was so committed to not dooming the multi-verse, the quick conversation of ‘oh we didn’t trust you so we already started going ahead with it,’ the whole thing was a bit rushed for me, and I think the pacing of this last arc has left a lot to be desired, personally. Again, I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense in its own way, I just don’t think the pacing of this season was the best that it could’ve been. 

What also has been bothering me this season is Jon and Martin’s relationship (again, this is a personal take, it’s not something I expect everyone to agree with, at all). Martin’s not a character who was an initial fave for me at all, but I grew to love and appreciate him so that by the end of season four, I was really invested in Jon and Martin’s relationship and arc! It felt real and organic to me, and it was something to fight for. This stays mostly true for the first part of the season.

But then it gets a bit murky for me. We get the constant schtick of Martin going ‘a statement? Again?’ and this almost constant uncomfortable tension between him and Jon that never sat right with me. He wants Jon to not push any decisions on him, he doesn’t want to hear any statements, he wants his boundaries respected, but he doesn’t really do the same in regards to Jon. While I know the stress of the apocalypse is definitely a factor, it didn’t seem very ‘Martin’ to me, or at least the Martin that’s grown and changed since the first season. There’s a difference between going from being a wallflower to being assertive, and maybe because he’s never had a chance to really be confident and self assured, he doesn’t know how to do it in a way that isn’t a little hurtful. And while these can be normal and realistic parts of a relationship that are in some cases addressed, it’s realistic for me in a way that I don’t feel comfortable with. The way Martin is the one who pushes the ‘kill bill’ arc, especially in the Simon episode where he pretty much commands Jon to kill Simon, and his non-apology at the end of that episode (and the eventual fight where he accuses Jon of being the one to ‘enjoy it too much’). The time at Upton house that for me, is just uncomfortable knowing that Jon is actively dying and by the end, Martin doesn’t seem to realize it until he’s told (and then, when Jon says ‘was I wrong to hold off?’ Martin says no, that he enjoyed the time, and I just don’t think that Martin would ever condone that sort of self-sacrificial shit from Jon, as we see later on in the season!!). And then the fight, where Martin says some pretty awful and untrue things, and runs off with Annabelle- these are all things that could be forgiven, and are! But the apologies from Martin have all been lackluster with a tinge of ‘well I was right, wasn’t I?’ and the narrative doesn’t dispute that, and in fact seems to want us to side with some of his more (in my opinion) impulsive and not very great decisions. Jon very rarely fights back against him, and the times he has, its almost framed as if what he says/his transgressions are worse. I think if Jon acted in the way Martin did for some of this season, fandom would riot. But it's Martin, so he seems to get a free pass to act this way and have it be framed in a much better light. This is again, my own opinion about the text, I’m not saying anyone that disagrees with me is wrong. It’s just how it came off to me, and as someone who has been in relationships with similar sort of issues (on a very non apocalyptic scale, of course) it didn’t sit right with me.

So in the end, Jon goes off to confront Jonah on his own, which some are calling stupid or impulsive. But it’s not to me- this is Jon’s moral compass, and he’s sticking by it. For him to go along with the plan would be wildly out of character, and I’m glad he did this. The way it ended was ultimately satisfying to me, and leaves room for a lot of interpretation. But the way it got there wasn’t really what I wanted. And I say this as someone who really does enjoy jonmartin, and will continue to do so! I hope in a thousand fix it fics they get to talk and go to therapy and work on these issues on their own. But the way Jon and Martin’s relationship was presented over this season wasn’t comfortable for me, the trust issues and lack of communication was never resolved and I’m sort of disappointed with that overall. 

I’m glad we got the ending we did, and I’m going to continue to love these guys for a good while yet. This is, again, not intended to start a debate, I don’t want to fight or engage with anyone like that because I really do respect everyone’s opinions on this season and final arc, and these are just my own thoughts. You are well within your rights to disagree with me on these things! But I just thought I’d share my own feelings about this last season. I’ve loved these characters for a really long time, and I’ve been listening since the end of 2017 so I have a lot of thoughts to sit with right now. But I’ll still definitely be writing and in this fandom for the long haul...especially if I want to reconcile the things I didn’t particularly vibe with xD

Hnnn back to my regularly scheduled posting, sorry for the long rambling thoughts.

[yandere-sins]

Oh my goodness - no need to worry if part three lived up to the others, it did so and MORE in my opinion!! Watching reader’s mindset change with the introduction of sex to their circumstance is so sickeningly fascinating - the bargaining and denial, the attempts to claim agency or security, the heart-dropping realization and regret as they’re about to fuck osamu - and yet they press forward anyway because what else is there?? You portray the back and forth conflict of reader’s thoughts so well, it’s so easy to understand their reasoning and empathize with their horror (and other feelings... 👀) You make the deterioration of their will seem so reasonable, like the natural progression of things, and that’s almost as terrifying as the twins themselves here (by which I mean, your writing is so fucking good for making me think and feel this way holy shit)

God speaking of the twins, where to even start with osamu... I am a bit biased since he’s my favourite, but I love the way you’ve characterized him here. It’s such a natural extension of his personality into this unnatural scenario - the restraint applied to himself, the correction of his twin’s behaviour as a way to regulate his own, yet the undeniable fact that he’s just as hungry, that for all their dissimilarities they are no different when it comes to pursuing what they love. There’s just so much to examine in his behaviour and thought process - his distrust of reader coupled with how easily he ended up crumbling to them (and his own suppressed desires), how he hopes they’ll be the one to restrain him, how he recognizes the immorality of it all and tries to be responsible to mitigate the damage (and his guilt), yet refuses to truly fix any of it - he’s so contradictory and complicated and I love it. There’s something to be said for atsumu’s shameless embracing of sin, but I personally love seeing the struggle in osamu, how he’s also slowly breaking down like reader and giving in after being so careful for so long. His desperation and repressed feelings being released and shown so clearly was just... 🥺 too bad that’s exactly what reader doesn’t want LOL.

Oh but let’s not forget how incredibly hot the spicy bits were!! I don’t even know what to say, Osamu being contradictory again in prioritizing reader’s pleasure but ultimately just doing what he wants (actually, perhaps he wasn’t prioritizing them but just wanted to taste them?? Or a mix of both like how reader has so many competing motives-) the first stroke oh my god, the thickness and how he doesn’t wait... the fact that reader came two strokes in 🥵 the position change 🥵 the roughness 🥵 the fact that he ALSO CAME INSIDE SKDNSK- again, I’m satisfied cause he’s my favourite but I totally get why atsumu got all outraged LMAO. especially with Osamu being so smug about making reader come twice 😳

Okay but reader saying welcome home though 🥺 ugh the confliction... whether it was to deter more fights or just a post-orgasm fluke, I feel like these small signs of acceptance/affection are going to encourage and embolden the twins just as much as the sex. OH and I can’t believe I didn’t talk about this yet but OSAMU’S BLUSHES AND RESPONSE TO READER’S HUG WERE SO CUTE- the tickling and his smile when reader laughed!! And his smile again after they fucked 😭 if only you hadn’t kidnapped them samu, maybe this could have been a sweet romance. Alas, he did, and as cute as it is that he’s softened, it probably means his self-restraint is weakened too - all because of that small gesture of affection (and what followed ofc aha). what happens once the overseer is done with just watching, never acting...? Poor reader, please enjoy your peaceful nap while it lasts 💔

Gosh, this all feels like the tip of the wedge, like the three of them are on the edge about to spiral further down into each other - and honestly, I am enthralled by it!! You did such an amazing job with this fic and with this series overall. Ah, but rereading the author’s note- I’m sorry you weren’t in a good place before/while writing this :( I really hope things are better for you now, or that they will be soon. I truly appreciate all the work you’ve put into this, and the skill with which you did. Thank you so much, take care, and I hope you have an amazing day ❤️

Wow! You absolutely blew me away (also, someone please tell me how the fuck you guys are writing these long and formatted asks???????)!! Like honestly I woke up at night and saw someone sent an ask and I started reading and couldn’t go back to sleep because I was all giddy and happy, omg, you are really amazing! Thank you so much for your time and support to type this all out ♥

I am so relieved I was able to show the process of thinking and changing in the reader since that isn’t always easy for me to describe as a non-native speaker! In a way I know what I want to say but it comes out like toddler’s speech :’D I am really glad it was understandable and reasonable for you to read, that helps me a lot to estimate future projects ♥

Thank you for going so thoroughly into Osamu’s (and by continuation also Atsumu’s) character! I think personalization is a strong point I have and I just love thinking about how to take the traits (strong/weak points and fears and all of it) a character has and turn it into a yandere personality, so I try to really pull from their canon verse and use it for my stories for reasoning and actions they take!

And ooh, I see you read between the lines! Yes, the initial idea was that Osamu was just having a taste of them, since you know, he repressed his desires a lot and now he has the chance to get it all! However, writing from a reader’s pov is always connected with not being to clear on what is going on inside the character’s head! After all, reader isn’t a mindreader and thus wouldn’t exactly be able to know it. But I can hint and sprinkle some ideas in anyway, hoping you guys will pick up on them :D Good job! I will admit that having him creampie the reader is actually a plot mistake I made... I mean call it personal preference, I just like that kink, but I only realized I used it again when I reread the story in correction and was like “Oh shit, I forgot Atsumu was fetching the morning-after pill!!” but in the end I must say it works out well because, you know, Osamu was just taking the chance, since the reader is most likely taking the pill anyway so why not be bold? Lol! Pretty sure I can work on my smexy scenes a lot more, I often think they might be too unbalanced, but I am glad if you all can still enjoy them, even if there’s a lot of space for improvement! ^-^

I TOTALLY live for those two bickering with each other tho lol! I couldn’t resist Osamu being snarky there xD

But yeah, welcoming Atsumu back home is like a free ticket to hell. You can’t just give Atsumu a finger without him taking the whole hand if you know that idiom. He’ll totally cling to every little nice thing reader does to him and insist forever that he’s the favorite twin just because they did xyz. I do feel like with Yandere, it always could have been so wholesome, if not for the yan being a psychopath xD

But yessss, like I mentioned in the previous ask, even if there’s more content following around, these three are the foundations of the reader and the two twins in a relationship. And now that abrriers are broken it can only go down down down so to say xD Thank you so much for reading and your well-wishes! I am currently not in a good place mentally which is probably why I’ll take a small break from the Fox Wedding too because for the last two chapters I want to be ready and prepared. But I am glad this story could bring you joy, it really helped me too when I was feeling at my worst, and now your ask absolutely gave me a good push to not despair in my little depression! I really appreciate your support and the time you spent on reading & writing, thank you so much for being an awesome reader ♥ I aspire to provide much more content you’ll like in the future ^-^ Stay safe & well too, my friend ♥

[heartrip]

[ very hidden. much anon. wow. ] Two questions for the meme ask!

1. Is there a plot in general you've been wanting to try but haven't been able to yet? 2. Since you asked me the same when I did the voice questions >) Can you tell me your thoughts on Kano/Cassie, and is there a plot you'd like to try for them in the future? Okay I guess that's three questions. XD

For Munday, anonymously ask the mun something you want to know about them, their portrayal, or what they will/won’t write.

// so shy, so anon ldksnglkdsnkg

1 - I’d love to explore younger Kano a lot more and Kano in the gap between the earlier story / games and then the twenty-thirty year skip to 11. Like, what was he up to? Obviously we know he was fucking around as General weapons deal etc but also there’s lot of instances where Kano’s been captured and tortured and if we’re going with the PS2 era, even experimented on ! Like, I’d love to look at a few of these instances and how they might have affected him psychologically. I don’t think anybody - villain or no - can come out of torture unscathed mentally like, gimme dem dark psychological plots. Nom nom nom. 

Another thing I’m REAALLLY looking forward to / having fun with is our hacked verse, which will end up becoming a haunted verse (muhahaha). I feel for as funny and silly as Kano can be, he’s also really malicious and dark and writing that will be a lot of fun in this context (I’m already having fun with it!). 

Finally something I’d LOVE to explore is a younger Kano’s interaction with characters like Cassie / Jacqui etc. Like, something set in MK11 that has him meeting them alone and just his general interactions and attitudes. For some reason, I see younger Kano as more needy / desperate and kind of a loser compared to older Kano so it’d be interesting seeing him trying to be all tough around them whilst also being lowkey insecure. Idk, it’s something I’m curious to try. B) 

2 - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I LOVE this. Okay, so firstly - I felt like it was a guilty pleasure ship that I was WAY too shy to ask you about. I know some people are weird with age gaps but personally I think they can really work in certain circumstances and this is one of them. I think what I love about it is - so, Kano’s obsessed (or at least was) with Sonya. But Sonya, let’s be honest, is kind of a stick in the mud. She’s great, I love Sonya but she is so serious and stern and she’s very different to Cassie I think. It feels like with Kano he’s gone from sniffing around Sonya to noticing her daughter and it’s not just ‘noticing’ it’s a full blown ‘hold the fuck up, this is Sonya but...better???’ And I think that realisation kind of grasps him slowly of like - she ISN’T just Sonya’s daughter. She’s her own person and she’s fucking awesome and I think with Cassie having that darker, playful streak, it fits that Kano would fall for her harder than he fell for Sonya. Cassie reciprocates his flirting / cheekiness and it takes him off guard but he likes it. 

I love that the ship is this kind of darkly corrupted affair. He’s slowly twisting her in some ways but at the same time, Cassie is a grown ass woman and with all the structure surrounding her - the special forces, everybody she knows being the ‘for justice!’ types, to have this older guy show an interest not in her work but her and for him to kind of charm her and be the snake that coils itself around her I just - urgh, it’s darkly sexy. I love it. 

I kinda mentioned above, but I’d love to see Cassie interact with younger Kano and thing is when I think about it, I think about how younger Kano would be MUCH MORE open about his emotions and feelings toward her. She’d be used to older Kano and his cockiness / sexual energy / compliments but younger Kano would straight be like ‘no wonder I fall in love with you!’ Like, he’d slip up and say these dumb things out loud and it’d be amazing to see Cassie’s response to that. 

Another thing - 

Cassie turning Kano good / them working alongside each other to stop an evil force or something :D :D :D

[xgoldxnhour]

Ship meme for El and Sam (any verse)

ULTIMATE SHIP MEME!

Send in two (or more) names and I’ll fill all this out about the ship!

General: Modern/TWD - I couldn't choose

Rate the Ship -   Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - Well, both until their death obviously, but modern is a few decades (THANK GOD) and TWD is roughly 18-19 years.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - Modern - they've been smitten for awhile, if not the whole time, but we like to torture ourselves with that slow burn best friends to lovers 10K words fanfic. TWD - literally weeks and only knew by each other's voices. It literally breaks me.

How was their first kiss? - MAGICAL. 10/10. Desperation. Chef's Kiss.

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Sammy boy

Who is the best man/men? - Modern - hmmmm maybe one of his closest coworkers? His dad?

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? - I don't know if she'd have any. Her brother is definitely up there with her

Who did the most planning? - I think El did a lot of the organizing of things, but they did it all together

Who stressed the most? - El, but she just stresses in general. They stressed about different things maybe. I think she stressed most in the beginning and he did getting closer to the wedding.

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big. - TWD - But I mean. It might've been tiny, but the church was BEAUTIFUL. Modern - Big, barn-like wedding or maybe at the cabin for that woodsy feel. AH. Beautiful.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Uh....cannibals?

Sex:

Who is on top? - Both, but maybe more Sam xD

Who is the one to instigate things? - Both are guilty in all verses.

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head - I mean. RDR. That's all I gotta say.

How long do they normally last? - Depends on how much time they got haha. They're both sprinters and endurance runners hahahaha

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Yes, but I also don't think they're trying to think about it much.

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it. - Basically no in between lmao

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children: Modern

How many children will they have naturally? - One - their own personal Aurora Borealis

How many children will they adopt? - Well, they technically adopt a lot of fur babies in Modern haha

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - El, but she doesn't mind. Sam is so good about waking up at night though.

Who is the stricter parent? - I think they both have their moments, but maybe El?

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - Hm. HM. Depends on the stunt lol. But probably El. Sam is probably the instigator lol.

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - El writes her little notes and makes shapes out of her food. It's basically arts and crafts for lunch.

Who is the more loved parent? - Aurora is such a daddy's girl, but mommy gives the best cuddles.

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? I think during the day, it's maybe El since she works at the school or in the area. But, Sam will try if he can get the time off.

Who cried the most at graduation? - They both definitely wiped some tears, El probably wept on the car ride home though. Proud parents.

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - I mean. Her dad IS the law. So xD

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Depends. Sam is an incredible cook, and they love cooking together. But, if he's working late, she comes and brings him his favorite or whatever she was experimenting that day.

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - I think they're actually both pretty adventurous in their palette. Plus, they literally can't be picky in TWD lol.

Who does the grocery shopping? - Mainly El if it's during the week, but they go together on the weekend or she'll text him to pick up something specific after work.

How often do they bake desserts? - Constantly. Once a week if not more.

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Both. Maybe Sam's more of a meat eater, but El is definitely an omnivore.

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Equally.

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Hm. Depends. When do these two leave their house unless they need to haha. For milestone anniversaries and birthdays, they sometimes travel and road trip to the Redwoods or the beach.

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? - El, but both can get slightly distracted sometimes when they're cooking.

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - El. Blast some music and she'll go at it for hours.

Who is really against chores? - No one is against cleaning per say, but maybe they both would rather stay in bed all day instead.

Who cleans up after the pets? - Sam

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Both have their moments.

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - El. Everything has to be perfect or she'll go bezerk.

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - I don't know why, I feel like Sam would just be that lucky. But, El would be so excited like she's won the lottery about it.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? -El. Sam is the master of the quick shower, but not when El's around lol.

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - Sam did! But, when then they made it a habit to take Seamus on a walk together. Pumpkin obviously comes and goes on their own accord.

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - Every. Single. One. El goes overboard for holiday decorations and projects like that. Every season. All the decor. Probably has a HomeGoods credit card for those coupons.

What are their goals for the relationship? - Perseverance. Intimacy. Never go to bed angry. Communication. To love without effort and love even more when it needs effort.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - EL aka the night owl since she's so used to working late nights. Definitely not a morning person. Sam is fluent in her groans in the morning.

Who plays the most pranks? - Both do definitely in Modern. Maybe even more so when they have Aurora who likes to tag team.

@mettleborn

[galaxythreads]

oh hey hey! 9? for the fanfic ask? and 35!!! I'd love to hear you ramble. (esp if its something sciency, it's always so cool when you talk science stuff)

Thanks for the ask, Widow!! Sorry I took so long. Life is. Bleh. 

9: Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write?

This is actually going to sound weird, but...none of them? I mean, that first transition into writing a different cast of characters for a different fandom is utterly AWFUL, but once I get over that hill and start understanding the characters psyche better, I don’t really fight with them that much. I mean, ha, my first attempts to understand characters and write them is Terrible. You guys read my early SPN or MCU stories and you would all laugh. Or cringe. It’s literally pages and pages of second hand embarrassment. So. Summarize and stop the rambles: once I write characters more, the easier I find it is to write them. 

35:  Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

*promptly forgets every fanfic I have ever written* uh. Y’know when someone asks you your favorite song and you just...can’t remember any sound you’ve ever witnessed? Yup. 

Okay. Thinking, thinking. We’re going to ramble about The Blodig Skog, a marvel story for pre-Thor This story takes forever to get going. I have this one burst where I write an entire chapter in 1-2 days and then nothing for months. Because it sucks like that. But what I really want to talk about is the PTSD riddled within. 

A lot of the time in media, PTSD is treated like it is exactly the same for everyone, and...it’s not. I mean, sure, the symptoms can be the same, but y’know how depression is different for everyone? So is PTSD. So when I sat down and planned out the Blodig Skog, I came to the conclusion that I was going to vastly differentiate between how Loki and Thor deal with the trauma.

Thor is absolute avoidance. He’d rather do anything other than think about what’s bothering him. He doesn’t have nightmares about it. He doesn’t have flashbacks. But it lingers with him, all the time, like a ghost haunting over him. And because Thor wasn’t tortured endlessly for months, he’s frustrated with himself for feeling angsty about it. He is doing his best to ignore people, because his limp absolutely humiliates him. He is shrinking into himself, and when he does talk about it, he tries to make it funny. 

Loki, however, has nightmares. He has flashbacks. He feels like he never left. And because of this, he wants to return, simply because he doesn’t want his mind to be so divided anymore. He wants to talk about it, but is terrified of how he’ll be received. He is hyperaware of everyone and everything. Every intention feels like a threat, because Loki is at war with himself, so it only makes sense that he’s at war with everyone else, right? He picks fights with his parents, his peers, Thor, everyone. He wants to talk about what happened. He wants that so desperately, but there’s no one he trusts to listen without judgement. This isn’t funny, and he doesn’t want anyone to treat it like it is. The world has shifted around him with the Warriors and Sif treating him differently, so where is he supposed to fit? So Loki almost daydreams about returning to the Weeping Siren, because yeah, it sucked, but at least then he’s whole. 

And I mean, unreliable narrator kind of applies to both of them, because they’re not functioning. And sure, of course Odin and Frigga want to help them, but they can’t get them to talk. At least in this ‘verse, Loki and Thor mostly raised each other with some interference from nurse maids, and, so, Frigga and Odin suddenly taking interest in their lives is...mind boggling to them. They want it, but they don’t know how to receive it so they push it away because it’s easier. This is why Loki is snapping at them all the time, because their undivided attention feels like some sort of joke. It’s only there for this brief moment, then it’s going to go again, right?

And in the end, because of these conflicting opinions about how they reacted to the trauma, Loki and Thor don’t know how to be around each other. It’s not a conscious decision, but they pick fights, they shout, and yell, but, they don’t know what else to do. And on top of all this trauma from Vanaheim, they already have the crap that had been building up for centuries before, so their both like bottle of carbonation that’s been shook. Start talking and they’ll explode.

And, I just. Yup. I really, really don’t think people recognize how much effort I put into planning out these stories. XD You get like, 7 hours of entertainment, while I sell my soul and become obsessive. 

More fun facts about this ‘verse:

Vanaheim and Asgard almost went to war when Loki and Thor didn’t come back in the Weeping Siren, and have been on very tense relations since. 

The Blodig Skog means “Bloody Forest” 

Rydat (The Weeping Siren’s name) loosely means “sobbing” in Russian. 

One of the reasons Sif hates Loki because his relationship with Thor is much better than hers is with her own sister. She’s jealous that he’s connected to his family.

The Weeping Siren’s children were killed by something in that tunnel. Something that is going to be important for the Blodig Skog. ;D 

[lilolilyr]

Fics I Wanted To Write This Year But Didn't, Part 2: Star Trek AU

For @spookyvoidangelskeleton for this ask

Now I suppose these would have been several fics, but in a series or a collection as they're all about the same main storyline: The collapsing of a (or several) universe(s).

If you've known me for a while, you know that I am very into Multiverse Theory, both real life and fictional, and Star Trek with the Mirror Universe is of course one of the first fandoms that comes to mind for me to write my batshit ideas in xD

Basically, in my personal little (fictional, bc I know and understand 0 about real life physics or whatever would be relevant for this) multiverse theory, there are an infinite number of universes, evenly spread around the multiverse, and a new universe comes into existence when a timeline/universe (same thing) can go into 2 seperate ways naturally, or when there is timetravel involved to manually change a timeline: The original timeline won't be affected, you can't change what's already there, but a new changed timeline will be created.

Now, in some cases that works out well, with the timetraveller ending up in the new timeline and never knowing that their original universe is still out there- in other ways of time travelling, not so much. If the person trying to make a change manages to do just that but never notices, because they or a version of them is stuck in the orginal timeline, what do they do?

Try again, with the same result, many many times.

And that's where it gets problematic, because the multiverse gets unbalanced, and whether you see it as a sentient entity connected to the Qs in Star Trek or just as something that Works That Way automatically: the multiverse doesn't want to be out of balance, so the new universes start to collapse in on each other, creating a Splitter-verse and leaving its inhabitants to a fate arguably worse than death (in this fictional world): they completely stop to exist. This doesn't just affect the new universes but the surroundings ones, which would have split earlier and are already more different from each other, too, to make sure the one that was the cause for it all falls, too.

Now (of course, because I can't help myself) this would be part of @thelucyverse , with there being Central people trained in spotting such time anomalies before it is too late, but with there also being time-bombs (yeah hahah) created in inter-universal wars to create smaller, controlled splitter-verses (I say small and controlled here but like. We're still talking about entire universes), and with Central having back-up plans to get people out of the 'verses, in order as follows: anyone visibly IDing as Central (the organisation is still largely volunteer-based, shit's got to have some perks), then everyone whose energy indicates recent travel in-between universes, as these are also most likely to a) be Central and b) be okay in a new 'verse, after that, if there is still time and anyone willing to go back into the falling universe, children as they are also more likely to adapt in a new world. If there is enough warning, they also get out whoever people Central members want to have saved, but usually it just turns into whoever stands close enough to grab and get the hell out of there.

Whether taking people out of a universe against their will is a good thing or nah is ...debatable and still being debated amongst those who do it and those who think that taking someone away from the possibility of dying death in their own universe is vile (as amongst most religions, it is thought that you can only reach the same afterlife as those who died in the same umiverse- but again most also think that there probably won't even Be an afterlife in a splitter-verse).

Sometimes, people are also pushed out of the universe by the explosion itself, but they then tend to die upon impact as they seldomly end up exactly at the coordinates where they left, which leaves them either suffocating in hard matter or in space.

If you want to use these ideas for your own fanfic feel free, just give me credit and link this post as inspired by/ link to my ao3 or @ my tumblr!

Anyhow! To Star Trek... and I suppose this is now SPOILERS not rly for any Star Trek canon but for these fanfics, if I do end up writing them!

I tend to forget which characters are canon and which are complete OCs because I spend Way more hours on tumblr and ao3 + thinking about my own headcanons than I spend consuming the original media, but I am fairly certain a canon Joana McCoy, daughter of Leonard 'Bones' McCoy exists? If no and I stole the idea from sb else's fanfic I am sincerely sorry. Gotta look that up.

In one universe close to what would be the centre of the splitterverse, Joana- as a young child nicknamed 'Jojo', but now as a young teen trying to get rid of the childish nickname- has a younger part-vulcan girl as a friend, and this girl, nicknamed Aka, has, through having sticky fingers and connections to Central, a device that allows you to jump between universes. She's used it before and gotten into a lot of trouble for it, but to her it had always been great fun- until reality is starting to collapse around them while she is visiting Joana, and Joana is the only person she can reach in time and take with her to the next universe.

Distraught, the children are left in a new world, debating what to do, waiting for Central to contact them, hoping that they saved their families- but of course, Central has quite some different problems right now and won't contact them any time soon, and even if they did it wouldn't be with news of their parents: the adult families of non-Central members who only happened to have jumped between universes before themselves are really not the top priority, and the universe is collapsing too quickly to even get down the prio list to 'children',

Aka wants to leave the universe again and look for Central elsewhere, hoping that her moving around will attract their attention. Joana has enough from universe jumps for a lifetime. Thus, they part ways.

While Aka at some point does run into a group of Central troubeshooters who more or less adopt her as one of their own and teach her how to work their equipment and use magic and weapons and starships (not what a child her age should be learning. But then, none of the adults there ever signed up to be a parent, so who's to blame them), Joana goes looking for her family in this world.

Now I could write entire novels about Akas adventures and how it may or may not be healthy to not have a home at all and decide to not rely on anybody instead of either finding new versions of her original parents or letting someone new into her life properly (spoileralert: it isn't healthy at all), and how meeting a girl from one of the original splitter-verses (the not bombed ones) telling her not to make the same mistakes she made finally makes her think about her choices and and and, but this post is already going to be Long so I won't. That would all be a seperate fanfic anyways.

Joana finds a girl her age who looks just like her and acts almost exactly like her, too- the only difference seems to be that there's no Aka around, which made this version of her less used to adventure but also less wary of it.

The version of Joana from this universe- she decides to call herself Joan when they are alone, while the Joana we already know goes with 'Jojo'- her once loathed childhood nickname now a connection to her past- is thrilled to meet her and begs her to stay, I mean what is cooler than suddenly having a twin, and won't it be fun there is so much they can do! As their parents are seperated, they manage to spend their time mostly at one of their homes, either together when the parent is too busy to notice that there are two kids around, or one at each place, guessing correctly that if the parents were to talk about it, they wouldn't even think of the possibility of there being two children and instead just get mad at each other.

This goes on for a few months during the summer, with Jojo feeling vaguely guilty both to her original dead parents and these new ones who think that she is their real daughter, and the girls are just deciding about what to do when school starts again when-

Reality breaks apart around them.

Jojo clings to Joan in fear, and- as Jojo is now on the list of people who have travelled between universes in the past, she is saved by Central, and Joan with her. They are placed into a universe further away this time, a safe distance to the only slowly contained Splitters.

Meanwhile, in the same universe, two people were currently out on a space-walk: Michael Burnham and Philippa Georgiou.

They are thrown out of the universe in the explosion, and as they are wearing their suits, they survive as they end up somewhere in space again, but- they don't end up in the same universe. Michael ends up about 20-30 years earlier in a universe further away, and she doesn't even end up in what would've been federation space in her old 'verse. Philippa is only thrown one universe to the left and picked up by Central. As Central likes to name their acquaintances in some way that makes it easier to identify just which version of a person you are talking to without having to add the long universe number (even harder when the universe was destroyed and there isn't a known number), they ask Philippa to pick a new name. She is way too rattled and desperate to go looking for Michael as quickly as possible to care about what name she is supposed to have, so she goes with the first option given to those who don't have their own nickname ideas: lastname for firstname, making her Georgiana, short Gia.

Through Central, she finds out that the universal explosion left her and Michael connected- but it won't be much help in the search, basically just a way to say 'alright this verse is closer to it than that one', it's still trial and error... (I could also involve some body switching here, idk I already wrote a long fanfic with that trope in the Andromaquynh fandom, but I happen to Like that trope so yeah maybe I'll recycle some parts of In Your Stead if I ever do manage to write this Milippa story. Which, btw, if not already obvious, would again be a seperate fic from the Joana universal-sister story. On the other hand, Aka runs into Georgiana a lot, even calling her 'auntie Gia').

Meanwhile, Michael doesn't have to jump through universes but make her way through just the one universe to get to federarion space. Except what she find's isn't the federation at all... you guessed it, the 'verse she ended up in is more similar to a mirrorverse than to Prime. However, the Georgiou of this world isn't the emperor yet, she's young and Michael is able to influence her enough over the years so that she turns her back to the Empire.

Yes, it takes years for Michael and Gia to find their way back to each other, maybe decades... they also wouldn't have spent exactly the same amount of time apart as they aren't in the same 'verse. In fact, Cleo of Central carefully tells Gia that Michael might have died by now, but of course Georgiana doesn't want to hear this.

Michael and that universe's Georgiou also get quite close, though Michael doesn't want to cheat on her Philippa... of course, after years of this, she might think that she will never see Philippa again... (We are approaching ot3 territory here lol, and I don't even want to think about the potential of ot7 with the two canon mirror and prime versions adsfghjkl because if I finish this story here, I would 100% write a lil fix it where Central! Gia Mikay and Phil go fish Mirror! Michael and Georgiou out of a splitter-verse into the next prime verse in which Michael already knows that Georgiou... and ad they're already at it they also get half dead! Prime Philippa away from the Klingons... heheh sounds like the kind of poly chaos I would enjoy writing, but sadly I have to make it through all the Plot first)

Anyway! Back to Jojo and Joan: they decide that while they maybe should have told Joan's family about Jojo's existence soon if they had stayed in that 'verse, the initial idea of staying with one's universals wasn't so bad, so they go looking for this universe's Joana McCoy. The girl- (nicknamed Anna, which makes Joan decide to change hers from Joan to June because she doesn't want to be half Jojo and half Anna), is happy enough to meet them, but often feels left out from the other two as they act as if they've known each other forever even though of course it's only been a few months... In turn, Jojo and June aren't sure whether Anna really wants them around, whether she might think they're trying to steal her life and family from her...

Lots of potential for conflict! Yay! XD would of course come to a happy ending, with at least Bones accepting his three daughters, dunno yet whether they'd tell the mom... also Aka ends up in the same universe at some point, together with a version of her vulcan birthmother who she had never known the original version of but now gets along with alright... oh and if I do write aforementioned Milippa ot7 bullshitery, this would also be the Prime!verse for that, so all stories in the series or collection interconnect again!

this got... long... and I could obviously go on but I need to go back to writing my Bachelor thesis :(

@whoever read through all of this, do let me know whether you like these ideas and which you would like to read proper fanfic for! Might influence future writing decisions.

[twokinkybeans]

Kinktober Prompt Fill #26: Swimming Pool

Find our full Kinktober post right here!

Summary: Ti Amo-verse yayyy! Angsty sex in a swimming pool yayyyyyyyy!!!! Warnings: Nff, angsty smut, Tony has low self worth and Cupido (Peter) makes sure he gets over it (with a little bit of a mindfuck, maybe?), oh yeah it takes place in the swimming pool :P

This takes place in the Ti Amo-verse (Tempio Di Pietro, a spin-off to the Laurel Crown chapter from Jar of Dirt - sheesh this universe is extensive loool). Some things might not make sense unless you’ve read these!

I never meant for it to get angsty but this universe literally writes itself, I am just the vessel that types I guess- xD

Enjoy!

-Lien

Read on AO3!

“My Lord,” Tony moans into his God’s mouth. Cupido grins into another kiss and thrusts up again, eliciting a gasp from his servant. The water around them ripples and splashes with every movement as Peter holds Tony up. The older man’s legs are wrapped around his body, hole stuffed with Cupido’s cock. “You are too good for me-“ he chokes. “I do not deserve you.” Peter freezes and pulls back, looking Tony straight in the eye with a stern expression. “Do not say that again. Ever,” he says through gritted teeth. Tony winces and looks away. “Tony.” Peter gives the man a chance to respond, but he doesn’t. “Look at me.” Slowly, Tony turns back, head still ducked down. Peter leans in, pushing his boyfriend against the pool’s wall. The water whirls until it settles against their skin. “I decide whether or not you are worthy of me. Whether or not I give myself to you as you give yourself to me.” “I- I know, I just…” Tony finally fully looks up again and Peter can see the tears in the corners of his eyes. “Sometimes it feels like none of this is real. That, what we have here, is just in my head.” Tony sniffs deep and clenches his jaws. “It couldn’t be real, you are too perfect to be real.” He takes a shaky breath. “I thought that… Maybe if I tell myself I’m not good enough, my disappointment wouldn’t ache me once I wake up.” “Are you yellow?” Peter asks softly, checking up on his boyfriend. “Green,” Tony corrects and then he softly repeats it, looking away again. “Green…” Cupido suddenly and forcefully thrusts up into Tony again and the man whines at the unexpected stimulation against his prostate. “This is our island, Amore Mio. Our life here exists because we both want it to. I want you, Tony-” Cupido affirms, slowly starting a steady rhythm again. “-and nobody else, to worship at my feet. To take my cock, feed my pleasure.” “D-Dio-,” Tony clutches Cupido’s shoulders as he takes the relentless pounding. His cock rubs against the God’s tight abdomen and the sound of his moans gets washed away by the small waves their movement creates. It’s intense in every possible way, in the best possible way. “Ti amo, Tony, ti amo,” Cupido groans, holding his servant tight. “Do you want me how I want you?” “Yes, yes, My Lord, please-“ “Then say it,” Cupido is stern and stoic and strong and Tony nearly passes out at the force with which he’s fucked in combination with the water pressure pushing against his skin. “Wh- “Say you deserve me. Say you are good enough for me. I want you to say it, Tony,” Peter orders. “And I want you to believe it.” “C-Cupido-“ Tony gasps, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head against Cupido’s neck.. “I- I can’t.” “Yes, you can. Say it, my sweet. Say it.” Tony lets out a desperate sob. “I- I-“ His voice is strained. Cupido turns his head to press soft kisses on Tony’s hair, a stark contrast between the powerful roll of his hips into Tony’s ass. “Use.” Thrust. “Your.” Thrust. “Words.” Thrust. “I deserve you-“ Tony chokes out. “Good boy,” Cupido coos, hands massaging Tony’s tight muscles on his back. “Continue.” “I’m good enough for you.” “That’s it…” Peter kisses Tony again, his tongue now darting out to suckle on the wet skin. “Again.” “I deserve you.” The words come more easily now, though paired with heavy pants. “I’m good enough for you.” “Again.” Tony doesn’t know how long he’s been chanting- been reciting this newfound mantra, all he knows is that he feels so good. Cupido is giving him this. Cupido is granting him this pleasure. His God deems him worthy and allows him this mind numbing ecstasy. Cupido loves him. Peter loves him. And Tony loves Peter and his God, Cupido in return. That is all that’s important. The water envelopes their bodies as they “I- I deserve you,” Tony’s voice breaks more and more the closer he gets to the edge. He clenches around the throbbing cock and locks his jaw when suddenly, Cupido fills him with his nectar. The young God growls through his orgasm, nearly losing his footing in the water. “Yes, that’s it, that’s it-“ Cupido pants, still riding out his orgasm. “You deserve me, all of me, take it-“ He shivers and embraces Tony even tighter. “Believe it.” Tears glide down Tony’s cheeks and he smiles, finally believing the words he whispers before tipping over the edge himself. “I deserve you.”

[ragewerthers]

Curiosity And The Cat

Summary: Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back.

Apparently Ardyn though he understood this proverb perfectly.

He didn't.

And now his long suffering husband has to deal with the consequences of his actions.

A/n: Hello!  This is another fun prompt from my friend @bgn846​ for our F3S!

Her prompt was:

' "I don't think that's your size…" with either Cor or Noct’ and this was what popped into my head XD  It was ridiculous and fun to write all in one and I hope it reads as lightheartedly!

You can also read on AO3 at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27902737

Enjoy! :)

Word Count: 1900 ---------------------------------- “You… are a ridiculous, infuriating man and you absolutely deserve this,” Cor said, taking a sip of his coffee as he leaned against the doorframe leading into their bedroom.

“Would you believe me... if... I said... that this was.... absolutely unintentional?” Ardyn wheezed, looking up at the steel blue eyes of his husband from his collapsed position on their bed.

Now Ardyn had been through many things in his life.  He’d been used as a scourge sponge, a sacrificial lamb to the astrals and as a pin cushion for his little brother… but by far the scathing look his darling Marshal was leveling him with now was probably what had hurt his pride the deepest.

“Did no one ever teach you that curiosity killed the cat?” Cor asked with a deep sigh, stepping into the room and setting his mug on one of the nightstands as he folded his arms over his chest.

Ardyn offered up a weak smile, his legs and arms numb enough at this point that he couldn’t even bother to reach out to his darling husband.

“Did no one bother to... to teach you the rest of the verse?  Curiosity killed the cat… but satisfaction... brought him back,” he panted with a smug little smile.

Cor ran a hand over his face as he listened to this, shaking his head.  “So… what?  This is a result that you’re happy enough with to repeat it?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Clearing his throat a little, Ardyn looked away from the expression Cor was now giving him to stare at the rather interesting patterns of their ceiling.  “Perhaps… not the best outcome I’ll admit.  Should’ve… thought my words out more… carefully.  Bit hard when you… can’t breath..”

“And whose fault is that, hmm?” Cor asked as he finally stepped closer and truly got a good look at the idiot.

For as brilliant as Ardyn was, the man could also be amazingly inept.

Like the time he thought adding regular dish soap to the dishwasher would work just as well.  “Well we didn’t have dishwashers when I was growing up centuries ago!”

Or the time he decided to wash his red scarf with Cor’s white shirts.  “What?  If we didn’t have dishwashers do you honestly think we had washing machines?”

But this… this had to take the cake for the most idiotic thing he’d ever bore witness to.

Ardyn had taken it upon himself to try and fit into Cor’s old Crownsguard fatigues.  Whether it was because he thought it would be funny, sexy or simply because he thought he’d look good in them, Cor couldn’t even pretend to hazard a guess.  Now the man lay on their bed all but busting at the seams.  The trousers kept his legs sticking almost straight out and the jacket was hugging his chest so tightly a button was more than likely going to bust and put someone's eye out if he took a deep breath. Luckily his chest was so constricted that it didn’t seem to be a problem at the moment.

“Ya know… I really don’t think that’s your size, love,” Cor said, trying hard to fight back the amused smile attempting to take over his features.

Ardyn glared up at him and Cor’s smile finally won out.

“Such wit… such banter… remind me to seek your… your sharp tongue during the… next council meeting,” Ardyn gasped out, making an abortive attempt at moving his hands while he spoke.  The fact that he couldn’t making him scowl much to Cors amusement as he knew how expressive Ardyn liked to be.

Cor snorted at the ridiculous display and shook his head.  “Really?  You’re still gonna attempt to act all high brow when you’re like… this?” he asked, moving closer and sending a little poke to Ardyn's stomach, listening to the man grumble.

“Ooooh... just you wait until I’m... free of these earthly bonds,” Ardyn growled in his sonorous voice, eyes narrowed up at his smirking darling. “You will be... in so much trouble.”

“I think I can handle a man who got stuck in a pair of trousers three times too small for him,” Cor chuckled, walking around the bed and surveying the situation to try and figure out the best way to extricate his darling.

Ardyn huffed at the comment, his glare morphing into a look of resignation.  “Fair enough,” he acquiesced, watching the way Cor circled him like a bird of prey. “You know… you always look handsome with… your thinking face on,” Ardyn said with a charming smile quirking up the corners of his lips.

Cor rolled his eyes at that and moved to kneel on the bed, shuffling closer as he began to try and undo the buttons of his former Crownsguard jacket.  “This isn’t my thinking face.  This is my ‘my husband makes me question my sanity’ face,” he said as he began the careful process of trying to undo the tightly fastened buttons so that nothing would spring free and bean him in the forehead.  “How did you manage this?!  You can’t even move your arms!”  Cor growled in frustration after a few minutes, managing to undo at least one button before moving on to fumble with the next.

Ardyn’s smile grew and he wiggled his fingers.  “A miracle, my dear,” he said, looking so pleased with himself.

Cor paused, looking up at the man with the most bored expression he could muster..  “... a miracle?”

Ardyn nodded, puffing his chest out proudly… or rather trying to, though the stretch of fabric had Cor wincing in sympathy for his poor uniform. “Yes.  A miracle... that my arms didn’t lose feeling in them... until... I was able to do up the last button,” he said with a cheeky smile.

Cor hung his head, heaving a deep sigh.  “Ridiculous.”

“Resilient,” Ardyn shot back, the smirk on his lips looking far too good there.

Cor looked up, narrowing his eyes.  “Impossible.”

“Impressive.”

“Foolish.”

“Fetching,” Ardyn offered in reply, giving the saddest little shimmy of his hips and that’s when it happened.

The sound of ripping fabric… the pop of a thread breaking away from its mortal coil… and finally the resounding plink of a vengeful trouser button making contact with the forehead of the Immortal.

“SHIVA’S TITS!” Cor shouted, his hands flying up to cover his poor stinging head and blocking out the room as it fell into absolute silence following the mini chaos.

Everything seemed to come to a halt, like time itself was afraid to move forward for fear of Cor’s wrath.

And then, just as quickly, the silence was broken by a snort and quickly followed by deep, unrestrained laughter. Ardyn tried desperately to keep himself in check, but it was no use.

“Ahahastral’s above!” he laughed whole-heartedly, tears of mirth in his eyes as Cor peeked out from his hands, wishing he was more upset with the laughter then he was.

“Stop it!  You’re going to pop another button!” Cor growled as he watched the remaining buttons all but crying out for help. His hands lowered, hovering over his husband’s chest in the hopes his reflexes could save him from another battle scar. The comment mixed with the look of horror on Cor’s face only seemed to egg on his poor sweetheart.  Ardyn’s laughter had reached the wheezing stage and  was going into a higher pitch that always surprised Cor considering how deep his husband’s voice normally was.

“Ihihihit s-sounded so stuhuhuhpihihihid!” Ardyn tried to say, giggling ridiculously and making Cor smile despite the stinging on his forehead and in his pride.  “Plink!” Ardyn squeaked before laughing so hard he went silent, shoulders and chest still shaking with the force of it.  Sadly Cor couldn’t help finding himself joining in.

“Y-you are such a prihihick,” Cor chuckled, getting a whine from his husband who was trying and failing to get himself under control.

“Stahahap… my… my sihihides,” Ardyn wheezed before another fit of giggles escaped him.

Cor rolled his eyes fondly, shaking his head as his poor husband continued to try and fail to calm from the ridiculous accident.  “I hope this will teach you a lesson then.  Your actions have consequences,” Cor said with mock sternness, pointing to his forehead.

Ardyn’s bright gold eyes turned to his husband then, gaze flicking up to the small welt with four perfect little button holes now starting to rise on the man's forehead.

And any ground he’d gained in trying to calm himself was tossed out the window as his laughter picked up again.

Cor sighed at the reaction though a smile remained on his face.

Eventually, Ardyn was able to calm himself, though a few bubbling giggles would manage to work their way free as Cor once again began to try and free him.

“I… promise to think my actions through next time,” Ardyn said, finally taking in a proper lungful of breath as Cor managed to get the last button of his old coat undone on his husband's chest.

“Next time?” Cor asked, helping to maneuver Ardyn’s arms out of the sleeves.  “If you think I’m not putting this outfit under lock and key so you can’t get to it again, you’re wrong.”

Ardyn chuckled, giving a happy little sigh as his arms were finally free and wiggling his fingers to get some blood flowing back in them.  “I meant in general, Lion Heart.  Lest I manage to hurt you again,” Ardyn said, and though mirth remained in his eyes, Cor could hear the underlying regret.  Regret that something he had done had hurt someone he loved.

“Don’t even think about it,” Cor said, smiling a bit more at the slightly surprised expression he got from his husband.  He let his eyes move to meet Arydn’s ducking down to press a chaste kiss to his brow.  “You’re ridiculous, curious and absolutely perfect the way you are.  If you weren’t getting into trouble one way or another I’d think something was wrong,” he teased gently.

Arydn’s ears flushed slightly at the comments, the only tell he really had that the words had found their mark perfectly.  “Does… this mean that I’m not in trouble for the button to the forehead incident?” he asked, giving a little yelp as Cor flicked the center of his own forehead before sitting up.

“I think we’re even now.  And I think losing feeling to your limbs is punishment enough.  Now… lift your hips while I try to shuck these pants off you,” Cor said simply, getting up to stand at the end of the bed.

Ardyn threw an arm over his forehead dramatically, the other clutched over his chest. “You really know how to speak to a man, don’t you?  Who says romance is dead?  My heart beats madly!  My insides all a quiver!” he said, pretending to swoon.

“Ridiculous.”

“And you love it.”

Cor couldn’t stop from smiling at that, reaching down to grab the bottoms of his former trousers.  “I do… now… hang on tight.”

“Oooh~ I haven’t heard you talk like this since our honeymo-AH!!”

Sadly the yank may have had a bit too much force behind it... and Ardyn may or may not have completely disregarded the warning as he was all but pulled from the bed and the pair ended up in a pile on the floor.  

Laughter soon echoed around their bedroom once more.

[spockandawe]

For the writing meme, 3 + 18?

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

SO. This feels a little like cheating, because it’s not all necessarily my work, but first, The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System is prodding me in the au place real good, but then, feynite’s entire svsss everything got me so much worse, especially I Wish You Were My Husband and feynite’s aus and side stories for that verse. My biggest priorities have been 1) bingliushen, and 2) But Shen Jiu Tho, and @applechime and I cannot stop riffing on this silly setting. We have about four or five distinct aus of our own at this point, and it Just Keeps Happening. I’m working on writing two of these aus, but these things keep branching, especially since svsss has alternate universe crossover events written right into the original plot, and I’ll never be able to write everything

(i can cross over diet bingge with bingmei and bingge both, if i’m careful with my timing, but what about a timeline where our binghe is able to save bingge’s sha yuan and gege, and what if there’s a timeline where our binghe figures out that in bingmei’s universe, shizun was weird and nice because a-yuan was in shizun’s body, and oh god if i want to write babies happening at what point in the timeline does that go, and--) (it’s a logistical nightmare, but so FUN)

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Hoo boy. So. Another au. Would be svsss proper, a universe where the Liu siblings were flipped around. Instead of Bai Zhan Peak Lord Liu Qingge, we’ve got Bai Zhan Peak Lord Liu Mingyan. And I love Liu Qingge to pieces, but he did not put any skill points into social graces, and Shen Jiu is a touchy, brittle boy, and finds men lowkey triggering to begin with, and what if instead of becoming vicious enemies with Liu Qingge, he was able to become vague frenemies with Peak Lord Liu Mingyan instead. What if she was able to fill the [big sister figure] space in his life the way Qiu Haitang used to do.

And what I would really, really, really love to do. It would take so much time and work and development, and maybe some alcohol as well, because it’s not like Shen Jiu is very interested in opening himself up to anyone to begin with. But I’d love to get a scene that really captures the same energy as Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli after Jiang Cheng’s core gets destroyed, where he curls up in her lap and cries, but.... with Shen Jiu flavor, which makes it so much harder to execute.

It would be so, so hard wrangling things around to a point where him opening up in that way felt at all plausible, but just imagine!!! I desperately want Shen Jiu to find security and/or friendship, and outside of somehow fixing things with Yue Qingyuan (which is also good, but IWYWMH is a great example of how sour things can go if his only person is yue qingyuan), it’s kind of depressing to realize that this is probably the easiest shortcut from Shen Jiu to happiness, considering how much work it would still need XD Alternately, I would also be into a qi deviation a la Luo Binghe or Hua Cheng that left Shen Jiu child sized, but that flavor of vulnerability would also be hard and also wouldn’t be the same

(and again, with branching aus, two possible timelines: imagine a universe where non-transmigrator-sqq is able to save liu mingyan from qi deviation in lingxi cave, and doesn’t panic so badly he accidentally fucks it up and kills her. and then, imagine a universe where he does panic and fuck up... and kills his only friend, and imagine the nasty gossip afterwards about how shen qingqiu is such a deceitful scumbag, I mean, look at how often he visits brothels and look at how beautiful liu mingyan was, i bet he made an advance down her in the caves and she turned him down, and that’s why he killed her)

[hyper-fixate]

Thank you!!!! Very interesting snippet :D My other three options were "Gods - wic/div fusion" (am weak for crossovers and fusions), "Nile & Andy & Quynh" (friends or threesome and I'm not sure which one I'd like more) and "Sex shop AU" (I just want).

Hello again! I did see your message last night, but I had to go to sleep (the worst). I’m having a little coffee break from work and will work my way through your asks today! (I’ll do them separately when I get the chance!). 

So first up: wic/div fusion. I have... a lot of feels about this verse so I’m going to put it under a keep reading tag because it’s probably gonna get a little bit long. I would apologise, but I love it, so I’m not gonna XD.

 I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the wicked & the divine, an amazing graphic nobel by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (Who I’ve met and signed my books!) but basically the premise is gods are reincarnated into human bodies and then after 2 years ‘go away again.’ (I’m trying not to spoiler here, and it’s also been years since I read them, but you should defnitely read them. they’re very good). 

I was way too lazy to go research different gods, so in this AU, different members of TOG have been reincarnated as different elements of gods. 

Andy is the god of death

Quynh is a trickster goddess: in my head, she’s like loki and hermes combined. She loves to pull pranks and Joe is her willing accomplice

Booker is progress/technology: he is hephaestus in my head, a bit sad but generally happy with his little life 

Nile comes in at the very end as the new goddess, but I’ll not spoiler what she is

Joe is (of course) passion, kind of like a combo of Aphrodite & the muses. His domain is the arts and love. Nicky is devotion. Their powers are very closely linked (two halves of one coin kind of thing) and they both seemed to gain their powers at the same time, which is very rare. Unfortunately for Nicky, his divinity manifested he was training to be a priest so the Church sort of took him in and that caused a bit of a rift between him and the other gods. 

Fast track to 4 years later and Nicky has asked to leave the Church and live with the other gods, who are overseen by Copley and Andy and Joe and him get very close. There’s a lot of Joe gently caressing touch-starved Nicky.

Here’s a little snippet: 

Joe stumbles slightly, steadying himself on the wall. A giggle escapes his lips as he trails his fingertips along the bricks, dipping his fingers into the mortar. He feels giddy. He is giddy. Five hours of talking about art and writing and music and he's delirious with it. 

The entrance is dark, most of the light coming in from the large windows all along one wall. Joe leans against one, presses his forehead to the cool glass. The city spreads before him, all twinkling lights and dim shapes. He flattens a hand against the glass. It's so different here. So many people crushed into one place. Someone is always awake, someone is always painting or singing or dancing. Someone is always fucking.

Joe thrums with it, punch drunk on other's passion. He feels invincible.

He's not sure how long he stands there, breath fogging the glass, watching, feeling. He is so wrapped up in the beautiful ache of it, he doesn't hear his guest until someone is touching his shoulder, their voice in his ear. 

'Joe?' 

Joe turns slowly, blinking into the dimness of the living area. Nicky, Nicolò, looks ethereally pale in the flickering city lights. The dark circles under his eyes appear like bruises against his skin. Nicky is beautiful, all sharp angles and shy blushes. Those luminous eyes are unacceptably pale and washed out in the dark. His brow is furrowed, concerned. 

'Joe, it's the middle of the night. Are you okay?' Nicky asks and Joe's eyes zero in on those perfect lips. 

Everything is too slow, too much, and he has to… he has to... Joe reaches out and brushes his fingers against Nicky's cheek, desperate to feel him.

Nicky startles back like he's been shocked, eyes wide and mouth dropped open. Joe sobers instantly, the pleasant glow from his earlier worship dropping from him. 

'Nicky. Fuck, Nicky I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. Fuck. Are you okay?'

Nicky has stepped just out of reach, his eyes still wide, one gloved hand covering his cheek just where Joe touched him.

I just love this verse so much! Joe and Nicky being stupidly in love is my jam and getting to play with them as actual gods is gonna be so much fun! (And also, wic/div was one of the first graphic novels I got back into as an adult, so it’s got a very special place in my heart).

I will answer your other two asks! Just got a lot on IRL, so working my way through! <3 <3 <3