#ALSO !!! this is inspired by the hermits hollow au

[iicarussea]

reunited, at last.

This is the Emperor's Hamlet au !!

The gist of it is that Fwhip and Gem haven't seen eachother in ~10 years, and the only person Fwhip had left was Gem, so he moved to Emperor's Hamlet. A lot of things have changed about both of them in the time they were apart (mainly Fwhip, because he's trans in the au !!).

Fwhip learns a lot about this town—more of a village, really; a hamlet. No wonder it's named that. But it's a really weird place. There's something in the woods, a man who won't leave his home, and a fisherman who likes cod a lot, apparently.

———

Maybe it can be home, though.

part 1 /

(feel free to send me asks about this au btw !! i need to ramble about this so much lol)

[sarcasticcryingobsidian]

BBQ and Games at Hermit Hollow!

Heal your inner child with a hermitcraft pixie hollow au! I created this oil painting for the MCYTBLR AU Fest! @mcytblraufest

I have closeups and bonus sketches/art on AO3. I also have... an additional art here :D

I have got two lovely writers for this event. Thank you to @these-godforsaken-halls for the main piece, "a rare talent indeed", and thank you to @corrundumcat for the treat, "BBQ and Games at Hermit Hollow"!

I was inspired by the aesthetics of childhood fairy nostalgia. When I was a kid, all I'd draw were fairies. It was fun and refreshing to revisit them.

As a challenge, see how many hermits you can spot! All the season 10 hermits are there. You can find where they are all located in the image description.

[majickth]

i love your hermit hollow au! as someone who both grew up in a superstitious, midwest mountain area and has a love of folk/cryptid horror, it's super cool to see the genre getting love.

do you have any ren (and/or martyn, if he makes an appearance!) lore crumbs to share?

also also, was gem's role inspired at all by the "Im a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service" anecdotes? it made me grin like an idiot when i realized, but i'm curious if it was on purpose?

I’m glad, thank you!! And yes, the staircases in the woods are a big inspiration lmao

As for Ren and Martyn crumbs:

The first time Martyn meets Ren, he’s lying face-down on Martyn’s porch, butt-naked and unconscious. Which is— so it’s not the most concerning thing that’s happened to Martyn, which in of itself is worrying, but it’s pretty up there. What’s more concerning is when he decides to drag the man into his home, throw him onto the couch, and toss a blanket over him. He thinks, for a moment, about calling someone to handle…whatever the hell he’s gotten himself into, but it disappears when the stranger begins to wake up.

His name is Ren. It’s the second he says to Martyn, right after, “Oh my god, dude, I am so sorry, oh my god. You didn’t see anything, did you? Yeah? Oh, oh no, I’m, like, so sorry.”

Turns out he’s a local, which is more than what can be said for Martyn, whose trips to the Hollow always seem to land in the winter. It’s not the first time Ren’s found himself on someone’s property, naked and afraid — a fact that baffles but does not surprise Martyn — but it’s the first time he’s really been caught.

“I don’t mean to, swear it, but I just…I’m not myself around this time of month, y’know, dude? And I do have a guy that keeps an eye on me, but sometimes he keeps the leash a bit too tight and I told that I’d snap it and—y’know what, man, thanks. Just, thanks.”

Martyn just nods numbly to Ren’s rambling, because he in fact does not know, but the guy seems nice enough so whatever, might as well hear him out. He gives Ren some spare clothes and waves him off once he’s recovered, with promises of never mentioning or repeating the incident ever again.

It’s kept for about a month. Because the next time Martyn and Ren meet, it’s Martyn staring into the glowing eyes of a giant hulking hairy thing wearing the clothes he’d once leant to Ren.

[jemtokall]

Hi! Can I ask about Eph/Rep I'm super curious if you wanna ramble lol

HELLO!!

Reph is a ship that me and my boyfriend came across while rping post kh3. I'll try to keep my rambling coherent :)

There's a lot of conflict and comfort to find with these two. For example-

Memories— Ephemera was against the Dandelions losing their memories of before the war, but after seeing the pain that Player was in, he decided that it was best to erase their memories. Not all memories need to be kept. This contrasts with how I hc Repliku. Rep believes that all memories are important (even his fake ones Namine gave him), and doesn't believe that there's any reason to forget a thing. So this is a fun conversation for them to have since they're both passionate about their stance and give each other new perspective. (In me n my boyfriends au Ephemera had amnesia for a time, but Repliku argues that it's not the same as having your memories tampered with)

Dark vs Light— Repliku leans on the side of darkness, while Eph leans towards the light. And after what happened to Player in khux, Eph's distaste for darkness is stronger than ever. So when Repliku fights with darkness or encourages it, Eph is fairly unsettled (Player flashbacks.) It's another fun conversation for them :)

Explorer vs Hermit— Ephemera is a curios spirit and now that he lives in the present time, he loves exploring all the worlds! He's always out there, a new adventure a day. And the way I play Repliku is that he's not used to leaving the castle, so he stays at Hollow Bastion and rarely goes into town. A bit of agoraphobia (fear of going outside). So Ephemera will come home at the end of each day to tell Repliku a stories about the day, which eventually inspires Repliku to leave the world and see it all for himself.

World simulations— Repliku was born in Castle Oblivion, world simulation galore. He never experienced a real world until kh3, so the majority of his world experience is simulations. The same could be said for Ephemera! In Daybreak Town the worlds they visit are all simulated projections from the Book of Prophecies.

Broken Heart— Ephemera had a painful goodbye with Player, someone he was very close to. And he had to say goodbye to them forever while thinking that their feelings were never genuine. We like to hc that Eph had romantic feelings for Player. And with Repliku, his heart was literally broken by Namine when she told him to stop fighting Sora. So while canon could be totally different for Namine, we like to hc that she avoids Repliku out of guilt for her actions and thinks his feelings for her are not genuine because she planted those memories in him that made him care for her. So Repliku and Ephemera can relate to the feelings of a broken heart.

-It's not how they met in our rp, but I like to imagine that they met in the Keyblade Graveyard since they were the only two ghosts there. I wrote the first chapter on ao3

-Repliku has ptsd from white walls in C.O, so when Eph tries to introduce him to Scala it usually leads to hurt/comfort

-Speaking of, their fun mutual friend Lauriam/Marluxia :) also leads to fun conversations

-Eph and Blaine are like brothers in this au, so Blaine always acts as the protective older brother to Eph and antagonizes Repliku which is a fun side dynamic.

Ok I've rambled enough LMAO thank you for taking an interest <33 it was fun to write this all down!

[real-life-sucks-ass]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation

*All answers should be about works published in 2017.

I’ve been tagged by @inrainbowz! Thanks for giving me an occasion to blab about my writing to the world :D

1. List of works published this year:

So, according to AO3 I wrote 224132 words in 2017. But tbh I’ve not been very productive, I only wrote a few chapters for two WIP (still unfinished) and a single one-shot. The rest is the exact same stuff, but translated into english. Take a look:

One Video Man (One Vidéo Man in french): This is a Youtube!AU fic for the One Punch Man fandom. I had this stupid idea about a AU where everyone is human, in our world, and every character runs a Youtube channel. That’s all. I just describe videos so the reader feels like they’re watching this on Youtube. I have no plan, no scenario, no nothing. But the thing is, I encourage my readers to post fake Youtube comments for the characters to answer, and to give me some ideas about what should happen next and what kind of video I should write. So yeah, it’s kind of a fun experience, and I like trying new stuff and interact with my readers (I did something a bit like this for a spn fic a few years ago). But I’m so slow at updating, my readers are dying with frustration lol.

Albion’s last bulwark (Le dernier rempart d’Albion in french): This is a BBC Merlin fic, and actually it is a sequel for my fic Le dernier souffle de Kilgharrah I have yet to translate into english. It can be read separately, though. It is a resurrection fic in Arthur’s point of view. He comes back to life in our world today and realize he’s lost his kingdom, his wife, everything, and Merlin looks like an old man and is obviously not so happy about his return. I wanted them to struggle to get their relation back. I wanted Arthur to feel lost and alone. This fic is filled with angst and is merthur. I still have about 5 chapters to write & translate to complete it.

A cheap spell (Un sort au rabais in french): I wrote this short Merthur OS just for funsies and I also made a drawing here. Basically Arthur went missing and everyone is worried sick (especially Merlin) and looking for him everywhere... but Arthur is right there under their noses, only turned into a toad and frustrated because no one recognizes him. Well it’s not much, but it was fun to write.

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Definitely Albion’s last bulwark (Le dernier rempart d’Albion in french). You have no idea. This fic is my precious, my everything. I’m pouring my whole soul in it. I could talk about it all day. This is the fic that made me want to get better in english just so I could translate it at some point.

Why? Because CloudFactory and I have been thinking about it for years before I even started writing it. I do all the writing, but we made out the story together, we thought every little detail through, and she’s my betareader both in french and in english. Because we worked hard to get the characterization right. Because I had been dying to read a resurrection fic in which Merlin has been deeply changed by centuries of living in a changing world, so I decided to write it myself. I wanted a Merlin who went through some rough stuff that had nothing to do with Arthur at all. I wanted a Merlin living like an hermit, but not because he’s waiting for Arthur to return, but for a totally different reason. Because I wanted Arthur to grieve for Camelot, for Gwen, for his past life. Because I wanted Arthur to return for a very serious reason, because Albion truly is in danger. Also, because dragons. In this fic, Merlin has a bunch of dragons, including a baby one, I love writing them.

So yeah, I’m so fucking proud of this fic and I will cry tears of pure joy once I complete it.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

Well I’m kinda proud of everything I wrote in 2017, but if I really have to pick one, I’d say A cheap spell (Un sort au rabais in french) because, well, I wrote it quickly and I felt the merthur was bit rushed and OOC. But that’s because I’m the kind of author who usually needs at least 10 chapters to bring some romance, so... Also, writing crack is fun, but I’m way better at writing angst.

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing: Okay so I’ll follow @inrainbowz‘s example and show one in french first, then one in english. But only for my fic Albion’s last bulwark (Le dernier rempart d’Albion in french), because yup, I’m really really proud of it.

Voilà un petit extrait en français, du dernier chapitre en date pour Le dernier rempart d’Albion :

- Et nous nous sommes rencontrés ?

Freya esquissa un pâle sourire qu’Arthur n’aurait su qualifier d’amusé ou triste.

 - Oui. Tu es celui qui m’as tuée.

Arthur eut une inspiration de surprise et ses yeux s���écarquillèrent.

- Quoi ?

 - Laisse-moi te rafraîchir la mémoire…

Lorsqu’une main creva la surface du lac, suivie d’un poignet gracile et d’un bras nu, Arthur se recula vivement et tomba assis, le souffle coupé. Le reflet de Freya soulevait la nappe d’eau et sa tête émergea à son tour, ses cheveux ruisselant sur son visage, ses épaules et sa poitrine à peine couvertes d’une robe en lambeaux. Le cœur battant à tout rompre, Arthur déglutit et s’efforça de rester calme et de ne pas dégainer Excalibur face à ce spectacle aussi terrifiant qu’époustouflant. Car ce corps qui avait surgi jusqu’à la taille et se penchait à présent sur lui la main tendue, il était translucide, uniquement composé d’eau.

And now another one, in english this time:

Merlin steadied his stance and turned a dark and hateful glare at Arthur. His cheeks seemed hollower and his cheekbones sharper now that he had turned back to his young self. The look on his face was frightening, full of rage.

"Merlin, pull yourself back together!" Arthur ordered, striding right to him. "Don't make me knock you out!"

There was a heavy aura surrounding Merlin when he raised an open hand toward Arthur.

Everything happened very fast. The shock wave that hit him threw him back with a staggering blow, tearing his feet away from the ground. He crashed into the glass doors, smashing them to pieces, and pain flared in his back. He might have lost consciousness for a few seconds. When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on the concrete strewn with sharp glass fragments and the wounds on his back had reopened, soaking his t-shirt with blood.

He cut his palms on the shards trying to get up, but he clenched his teeth and ignored the pain. There would be plenty of time to worry later about how dizzy he felt and his vision starting to blur. For now, the urgency was Merlin.

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received:

Okay so I had never once received a comment on AO3 for my fic Le dernier rempart d’Albion because well, french readers are pretty rare on this website and most of them prefer to read in english anyway. And when I started translating it into english, I got a very enthusiastic comment of someone who loved it. And she wanted to know what happened next so bad, she couldn’t wait for me to translate, so she went and read the next chapters in french, even though her french was rusty and she couldn’t understand everything. I had never been so happy reading a comment. That someone enjoyed the story so much they made the effort to read it in french... Yeah, this made my whole year :D And she still reads both the french version and english translation, waiting for each new chapter. Best reader ever. I love her. <3

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

From august to december, biggest writing block ever. I had no motivation, no inspiration, no energy and I think it had to do with work and real life being crazy, but also because CloudFactory was very busy, so I had no cheerleader to force me to write lol.

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

Probably ever character in One Video Man? I control nothing in this fic, I just get carried away by my readers’ ideas and the inspiration of the moment.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

I think I started to understand that I should not be so hard on myself. I’m a perfectionist, so sometimes it blocks my writing when I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself to get it perfect on the first draft. I think I made a lot of progress in descriptions too.

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I hope I’ll be able to write faster and to stop procrastinating. I need to use less adjectives too.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

CloudFactory ( @less-life-and-more-dream ) and Jackallh ( @geek-trough-time-and-space ) are the best. I just have to chat with them about my fics, and yay! Ideas! Inspiration! Motivation! Also tumblr and the Merlin fandom inspire me every day new ideas :p

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

When Merlin brings Arthur in London, I used some real life experience, since I’ve been in London for my 30 years birthday with @less-life-and-more-dream, @geek-trough-time-and-space and @dupond-and-dupont. The fish n’ chips I described in the fic, also Hyde’s park and its geese, all came from my happy memories :D

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

Don’t thrive for perfection. Just do your best, and even if you hate it, you can still edit later. You WILL get better by writing, it’s a slow process, but for this to happen you have to write.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

First, I have to complete Albion’s last bulwark and One Video Man, both in french and english. Also in a few months I’ll post my translation in english for Albion’s last bulwark’s prequel: Le dernier souffle de Kilgharrah. Then, I plan to write a prequel to Le dernier souffle de Kilgharrah, about the days, months and years just after Arthur died. The whole story will be a trilogy in the end! :D

I consider taking back one of my old abandoned WIP too (I have a Supernatural fic and a Whitechapel ITV fic uncompleted), but I’m not sure I’ll have the time for it. I have AT LEAST three other Merlin fanfics I really reaaaaaally want to write.

14. Tag five writers/artists whose answers you’d like to read.

@creepywonderland-pony @dupond-and-dupont @andersandrew @istadris @always-keep-writing and whoever wants to do this!