#“recent” as in sometime this year lol

[johnnylandslide]

For me, it was a line of easily-missable dialogue way back in ARR, when Tataru was still the receptionist at the Waking Sands! You talk to her at her chair, she does this cute little hop, and she says that she keeps a roster of all the members of the Scions, but you're her favorite, and she drew a little flower next to your name. Neither I nor Johnny would realize it until quite a bit later, but this was the specific inciting incident for both of us, LOL.

Aside from the cute factor (in which she is the champion unequaled in heaven and earth), I think Tataru and the WoL also just have a lot of really good chemistry together! She sometimes gets forgotten from lists of the Scions because she doesn't have any combat jobs, but she has basically the same amount of history with the WoL as Alphinaud, who is one of the closest characters in the game to the MC. She is the home the WoL can always come back to.

(Also, the scene on the docks in Sharlayan at the end of the Grand Endeavor quest line is like one line short of a marriage proposal. Some of the best wolship food in this game, and it's all for me lol)

That's just thoughts about her in general, though. I think she especially fits my OC well, too! The reason JohnnyTaru works so well as a ship to me is because the two of them are perfect representations to each other of their respective life goals. Let me explain.

Johnny initially became an adventurer in search of fame and recognition, but as he grew and matured, that grew into a more selfless desire to protect the peaceful aspects of the world. Tataru is both of those things; she's a cute girl who adores him for his heroics, but also being the Scions' representative of the crafting and gathering jobs, she is a microcosm of the non-militarized side of Eorzea. She represents everything Johnny is protecting when he picks up each expansion's level X0 quest and heads off into battle.

Tataru, on the other hand, has spent most of her life in pursuit of Things. Her family was wealthy for the first few years of her life, but they lost everything when she was still young, leaving her in the slums of Ul'dah, forced to work in the mines at a criminally young age. She eventually apprentices with a jeweler, meets Minfilia, and becomes the Scions' coinkeeper, but she's still not satisfied. Over the course of the game, she continues to grow in wealth and influence as she finds her passion and calling in weaving and turns that into a business that likely exceeds what her parents had run when she was a kid. I imagine she through a lot of that harbors fears that she might lose it again, or anxieties about "making it". To her, marrying the Warrior of Light is the final proof that she has "made it", and that she doesn't need to worry anymore.

Hopefully this didn't overshoot the intended word count of the assignment, LOL. I was thinking about this recently anyway, so thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about it!

fellow wol x npc shippers- If applicable, what was the "oh" moment for you and your oc falling for their love interest? Was yours seperate from your WoL's?

[nowhere-to-go-but-here]

Is Armand the first ever vampire of South Asian origin in popular culture? I've certainly never come across any before this and I've been a vampire obsessed desi for the better part of two decades. I did some some poking around on Google, and really couldn't find anything (beyond this mention of a Twilight-inspired Bollywood flick starring Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif that never materialised lol)

Which just makes me so glad Rolin and co made this choice... to reimagine Armand, one of the best characters in the Vampire Chronicles as South Asian and explicitly acknowledge that origin (with 'Arun' instead of 'Andrei').

It's something I'm not sure I ever imagined I'd see in a major production of this sort in my lifetime. And we really lucked out with the actor they chose as well... Assad just came out of nowhere and embodied this character in a way that I still can't get over sometimes.

Have there been any other desi vampires that I've missed in recent years? I'd love to hear about them if I have!

[scarefox]

current QLs I am enjoying~

Every You, Every me (Thailand) : alternative universes, drama, soulmates, boss x assistant, car mechanic x customer, guitar teacher x students brother, BL actors, falling in love in every universe, humor, struggles, fluff, death, loss, abusive ex partner (not between the mains) See Your Love (Taiwan) : crime, thriller, drama, rich brat x caretaker, mafia business, mute + deaf main, martial arts, hurt / comfort, attempted murder, rich brats assistant x mafia assassin, dysfunctional family, loving family, friendship

Caged Again (Thailand) : mystery, drama, humor, animal to human transformation, boarding school, bullying, shy x feisty, animal trafficing, spirits, swim tournament, school clubs, friend group, nerd x dorky Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart! (Thailand) : action, humor, debt collector x thief, poverty, (friends to) enemies to lovers, time jump, mafia, dysfunctional family, costuming & cross-dressing, from parents disowned children, heists, betrayal, secret relationships, wound patching, social injustice, martial arts, rich snob x poor thief, child adoption, rich to poor, violence, false friends

Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu / Our Youth (Japan) : high school, nerd x delinquent, abusive parent, secret friendship to lovers, hurt / comfort, opposites attract, wound patching Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru / Love is like a Poison (Japan) : investigation, humor, lawyer x conman, court battles, cohabitation, stern x playful, power couple, blackmail, trauma, abusive parent, talking with succulents (lol), street kids, underground gang, corruption

Petrichor (Thailand) : thriller, mystery, serial killer, forensic investigation, detective x forensic pathologist, crime investigation, enemies to lovers, autopsy, gore, incompetent police, feisty x cold, corruption, lovely siblings, coworker friend group Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring (Thailand) : thai prison setting, strangers to lovers, rough environment, prisoner x prisoner, homophobia, sexual harassment, based on a real story, hookups

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan) : Love in the Air remake, students, senior x junior, bike racing, auto mechanic, dominant x submissive, friendship, seduction, sexual abuse in the past Bad Guy My Boss (Thailand) : boss x assistant, mutual pining, power couple, possessiv, business life, multiple hookup partner, dubcon, attempted murder, shady business, jealousy, so many HR violations, blackmail, cheating, abusive side couples, spying, scheming, miscommunication, slightly dark romance

recent finished ones I rec to check out:

Affair (Thailand) : childhood friends, rich vs poor, family tragedy, time jump, friends to lovers, possessive, mutual obsession, stalking, rich to poor & poor to rich, abusive ex, divorce, secret relationship, suicide attempts, doctor x musician Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (S. Korea) : martial arts, strangers to friends, friends to lovers, bullying, unrequired love, abusive parent, time jump, stern x dorky, poor vs rich, hurt / comfort, misunderstandings The On1y One (Taiwan) : enemies to friends, mutual pining, cohabitation, nerd x nerd, power couple, dorm life, exam phases, not blood related soon to be step-siblings, forbidden love, secret love, coming of age, yearning, teacher x teacher side couple, hurt / comfort, unrequired love

4 Minutes (Thailand) : crime investigation, mystery, alternative realities, time jumping, patient x doctor, mafia, shady business, murder, hookups, drug use, corruption, death, violence, criminal x cop, hallucinations, cheating, blackmail, abusive lover (not mains), abusive parent, fixing mistakes Battle of the Writers (Thailand) : romcom, childhood friends, writer x writer, fictional parallel universe, secret relationship, friends to lovers, editor x writer, writer collaboration, BL writing, social commentary, childhood trauma, strangers to lovers Eccentric Romance (S. Korea + Thailand) : mystery, crime, romcom, childhood friends, friends to lovers, mutual pining, murder, bilingual, language students, working out, school club, friend group, investigation

Meet You at the Blossom (China + Thailand + Taiwan) : historical, fantasy, humor, dark romance, magic, rich noble families, playboy, crossdressing, noble son x assassine, fake identity, intrigues, fuck or die, royalty, doctor x servant, betrayal, childhood friends, misunderstandings, hurt / comfort at times, abduction, obsession, jealousy, abuse, imprisonment, torture, illness, implied unrequired cousin crush, abusive parent, dubcon My Damn Business (S. Korea) : office romance, short series, humor, boss x subordinate, misunderstandings, fluff, jealousy, teasing, drinking buddies, BL comic, talk about exes The Hidden Moon (Thailand) : historical & present, ghosts, mystery, horror, unrequired love, death, murder, accident, different era time jumps, ghost x human, time loop, friend group, enemies to lovers, forbidden love, f/f m/m m/f side couples, violence

[joshuamj]

Hero.

[haunted-xander]

Redraw of a VERY old Strelitzia piece. Crazy what... four whole years...... of drawing can do.

+ the old one(s)

[wigglebox]

Some style exploration sketches for Dean and Cas

[lunarharp]

played dragon age 2...just simple scribbles

[silently-standingstill]

Draw Blocky/Book, please, I need them :]

[bishonenspit]

Maraich, for Cherish Gallery - Mineo Maya Art Exhibition Official Visual Book

[piningpercussionist]

Pine Face Jumpscare

Still got no idea where my fabric paints are, but here I am as (slightly scuffed) Kim! (Second shot mostly there to show off the belt.)

And below the cut here I'll have some other shots that kinda show the hair color a little more accurately

Second shot here had my hair combed a little differently to make it more poofy- meant to do that before taking these, but like... y'all will probably see me do this again. I originally wanted to do outdoor shots, so- next time!

Also bonus jacket I got the other day- kind of a good modern au stand-in for the normal Dia de Los Muertos party fit, right?

[icewindandboringhorror]

................ he 

[salad-storm]

This turned from me trying to do something serious to just having fun with it and I think that's great

[actuallyitsstar]

headcanon asks for Bradley: 1 and 19?

✨ send me a number + a character for headcanons! ✨

1: holiday headcanon

christmas was always one of bradley's favorite holidays, all throughout his childhood. every adult in young bradley's life, all with varying backgrounds and types of childhoods of their own, could come together to agree on one thing: bradley's christmases should be magical. carole, trying to keep the magic of those first three christmases with everyone all together alive; mav, trying to give bradley the kind of happy memories he never had; ice and slider, woven into the family by carole's steady hand, determined to give this little makeshift family what it needs. bradley remembers holiday baking with mom, learning about the traditions of ice's family, so different from theirs; neatly-wrapped gifts from santa, much lumpier gifts that were also "from santa", supposedly, but he knew those ones were from uncle mav- it would be fair to say bradley was a little spoiled when it came to the holiday season.

after carole is gone, and it's just he and mav, those years are empty and feel meaningless, but they try. they try for carole's memory, for each other, and for ice and the others. bradley's eventual disillusionment with the holiday doesn't start there- no, it starts after.

once he and mav have their falling out, it's like someone has flipped the light switch. the last few chrismases were quiet ones, lonely without mom, sure- but he and mav got thru them together. after losing mav, too, though, it's radio silence. bradley goes from loving and enjoying the christmas season to hating it, overnight. the first christmas after is bleak. a long december and a somehow even longer december 25th. the only accompaniment that he has for the next four years of college are the cards and the letters he doesn't open. he spends it in the dorms alone while everyone else goes back to their families.

once he meets phoenix in flight school, things start to look up, just a little. she has a lively, bustling family full of extended relatives and family friends, and they're happy to fold in one more. it still doesn't feel right. it doesn't make him feel at home. for all their effort and kindness, phoenix's mom is nothing like carole and phoenix's dad is is nothing like goose- and as much as he hates himself for thinking it, more importantly, is nothing like mav- and the traditions and energy are all so different that it just feels unfamiliar. though it tugs painfully on his emotional aches and pains, he is grateful to have somewhere to go and happy to be included, even if it only exemplifies to him how alone he really is, and how he really doesn't seem to belong anywhere.

post-mission, post-reconciliation, bradley isn't sure what to expect. he imagines that mav would have built a life without him in it by now and is dismayed to learn this is not the case. he isn't sure if mav will want him around for the holidays after everything he's done and said. phoenix pushes him, telling him that of course he's welcome at the trace family table again this year, but you really ought to stick around and sort this shit out. through much hesitation, bradley does.

the post-reconciliation christmas is not lively or bright or boisterous like the christmases of old. it'll never be the same, without mom, without uncle ice, when the other flyboys have families of their own to worry about now. but mav welcomes him, wants him to be there, and it's more at home than bradley has felt in fifteen long years. it's not about the food or the gifts or the decorations. it's about the people- person, actually. it's about being invited into mav's life and heart even when he knows he can never deserve to be in those places again. at the end of the day, the old christmases were always about family and love and connection, and even though they're quite different on the surface, the new christmas is about all those things, too.

19. favorite photograph headcanon

photos were and are such an important part of the bradshaw-mitchell family. bradley knows it- and it's a part of why, when he leaves, he doesn't take the photos of himself and mav. he knows that to mav, that will say something, loud and clear, and he wants to be hurtful- he wants his emotions to be heard and understood. instead, he takes with him only the photos of his mom and dad, and a couple with the flyboys that mav took, and subsequently was not in; but bradley tells himself that he doesn't need the pieces of a relationship that there's no point in trying to salvage, so he leaves all of those pieces behind.

except for one.

it's a somewhat dilapidated polaroid, taken with his dad's old camera, snapped by carole as she'd stood on the back porch of the little bungalow house that bradley grew up in. in it, a six-year-old bradley sits in mav's arms, held up at eye-level in one strong arm as mav points up with the other. bradley has one hand fisted into mav's shirt, and his gaze and rapt attention are locked overhead. mav always used to tell little bradley to look up at the stars if he missed him, because it's the same stars- they always have that between them, at least. in the photo, mav points out the constellations they share even when apart, and bradley listens intently, trying to commit the names to memory. when he became old enough to have one, bradley used to keep it in his wallet.

eventually, when it's all fallen apart and those connections between them have been severed, bradley gives a new photo the place of honor in his wallet, a photo of he and mom- but he can't just throw out the old picture, no matter how angry he feels when he looks at it, no matter how badly he wants to. it goes into the box with everything else, with letters and cards and artifacts that mav sends him or that he can't bring himself to throw away. sometimes on a quiet, lonely night aboard a carrier or on leave, floating adrift in the world with no anchors to speak of, he thinks about it. he looks at the stars and he sees that image in his mind's eye and he remembers being six years old and thinking mav would always be there, and he wonders sometimes in the most empty moments if the old man still remembers all that shit about the stars. if he ever still looks at them, still thinks of it, of bradley, if he ever wonders anything about bradley the way bradley wonders about him. deep down inside, he knows that he mustn't. deep down inside, he tells himself that there's no chance in hell mav does. because, if he does, it means bradley threw away something that was still alive. it's a fate he cannot bring himself to accept.

when they've reconciled, bradley will find that old beat-up picture in the box. he'll show it to mav. i never forgot, he'll quietly admit. i always thought about it. i- i guess i thought that you probably didn't even care to look at them anymore. i just- i thought it was over. mav will take the photo, tattered and much-handled, from bradley's outstretched hand, studying it with a reverence that bowls bradley right over. i looked at 'em every night, baby goose, he'll admit. always hoped you might be looking, too.

tysm for this ask !!! and for your infinite patience in my disastrous ability to reply 😭😭but i loved answering this ask sm !!! and i definitely did not answer it in longhand at my job and i also definitely did not accidentally write so much about the christmas thing that i had to chop it way down for this ask because it accidentally kind of became a chapter of something lol. i am a disaster. but thank u so much and i hope u enjoy and are well!! <3<3<3

[rollercoasterwords]

You have probably answered this before, but have you ever considered becoming a published author ? Your writing style is soo good

sure lol i’ve considered it but the older i’ve gotten & the more i’ve learned abt how the publishing industry actually works the less it’s become a priority… “author” was like my dream job as a kid but it takes a lot of time & money & connections that i simply don’t have rn 2 write & publish novels so! maybe one day i’ll give it a go but 4 now i’m more focused on writing & publishing nonfiction articles/research as part of my work…of course that is not something i will make money from lol but it’s what i’ve gotta do if i want a shot at building a career in my desired field so. current priority lies there…

anyway appreciate the compliment glad u enjoy my writing <3 let’s all hold hands & enjoy it 4 free…

[merverelli]

"im a magician, i just dont bang on about it"

missing marvin the magnificent hours </3

[cq-studios]

Do you have any Skuld headcanons/story ideas you’d like to share?

Ooh okay, rapid fire Skuld headcannons

She’s in the same Union as Player (Anguis) and a different one from Ephemer (Unicornis) as per novels

She’s originally from the world that becomes Arendelle

She was 15 at the end of KHUX, was 13 when the Keyblade War occurred, and was 11 when she became a Keyblade Weilder

Lesbian Skuld for the win

She strikes me as someone who would like Strawberry flavoured candy. Why? I dunno

She and Ephemer has similar jackets because they bought them to match when they were in their party together

She and Ephemer (and and the rest of her party really) are also both banned from the Moogle Shop because, when they went on missions together, they would have competitions on who could find the most ingredients, then sell them all to the Moogle afterwards without buying anything. It did not like that, and they were banned for life lol

I think she and Ephemer also had a half joke competition going on about who would end up being the tallest (they were basically the same height when they started this), technically Brain would’ve won because they ended up dragging him into it (when he was also around the same height as them… he ends up significantly taller than both relatively soon after in my mind lol), but if it had just stayed between the two of them Skuld would’ve claimed victory by about 2 or 3 inches

If I were to choose one of the three medal classes for her to be most proficient in it would be strength. I think after strength she would prioritize magic, leaving speed in last place. Overall though, I think she’s decently balanced

Alright, I’m sure there’s more but that’s what I got off the top of my head lol

As for story ideas I have at least four fic WIPs I’ve been working on on and off. Those being:

Unlikely Friend - A multi chapter fic where Subject X (Skuld) tries to befriend Ienzo that I should probably work on (lol). It has two chapters already up on AO3 if you’re interested.

Ghosts of the Past - A fic where Subject X (Skuld) ends up in Zootopia followed by a certain red scarfed ghost who claims to be her long lost friend. I made a post a while ago talking about this one if you’d like to learn more.

Meanwhile in the Realm of Darkness - A fic (that might end up being multi chapter depending on how motivated I am) where Subject X (Skuld) ends up in the realm of darkness and Aqua finds her. They end up bonding and her and Aqua try to put together pieces of her past as they travel through the fallen worlds (most notably the three from Fragmentary Passage, since Skuld is likely to recognize those from missions).

Party Days - A multi chapter fic from Skuld’s perspective about when Skuld and Ephemer were in a party together. Just a lot of the two of them being goofy and going on missions and stuff. Yay friendship! lol

And I have one that is just ideas I haven’t really expanded on since I wrote it down. Which is the Boiling Isles AU, where Subject X (Skuld) ends up in the Owl House world sometime around the beginning of season 2. It’s not super developed and I wrote my notes for it right after finishing season 2. I don’t really feel the need to write it out anymore but what I had was fun lol

(Luz was so hyped to have another human who could do magic around and I’m also pretty sure I made this AU purely because I thought it’d be funny if they tried to do the memory thing where they pull pictures out of their ears but because Skuld is from a different world they just end up pulling out broken chains lol)