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dukeofankh · 10 months ago

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Trying to find progressive masculine community is so exhausting.

I've flipped through local men's groups, trying to find places to explore masculinity in a chill, progressive setting. First of all, they mostly seem to be modelled after AA, and like, my gender isn't a debilitating addiction, it's part of my identity actually, but also, the invite and description of the event have maybe a short paragraph tops actually waving vaguely in the direction of what the purpose of the group is, and then ten to twenty paragraphs breaking down the rules. One spent longer talking about the hand signals he would use to direct conversation than he did describing what the conversation would be about. Another had a full paragraph explaining that if the group thought you were evading what they thought your "real" problem was, they'd probably "call you to take accountability". Like...I don't even know who these people are yet and they're already letting me know that they view it as their right, no, their duty, to bully me into seeing things their way. Like, this is in the invite.

...and this warning is there instead of any sort of breakdown of like, I dunno. Whether you should be a feminist to show up. Whether it was a safe space for queer men. What the hell they wanted to talk about. Joining a men's space is on some level inherently submitting yourself to the authority of the leaders of that group, and you don't usually get a particularly clear breakdown of what the values and goals of those leaders are, because on some level the answer is always going to be "whatever I want"

And like, unfortunately you do need to filter men to build a men's space. You do need to remove or chastise men who act in ways that are toxic or disruptive or misogynistic. If you don't things turn into an MRA chapter pretty quick. But the sort of emergency powers that leadership takes on as a result of that...just kind of naturally end up reproducing masculine heirarchies.

MensLib, the only online community of progressive dudes talking about masculinity that I'm aware of, is...on Reddit. So there is a moderator system. In theory, a moderator is there to...moderate. This is a space where people are going to be talking, and mods are there to make sure things don't get too toxic or off topic.

The issue is that, on some level, that is technically a leadership position. In a sub trying to rehabilitate masculinity. So you've got a bunch of folks who view themselves as the leaders of this bastion of goodness standing against the depredations of the misogynistic internet, guiding the hapless smooth-brain neophytes towards The True Way.

In practice, this looks like 95 percent of the posts submitted for the subreddit being rejected. That isn't hyperbole. On average, the sub has about one new post per day. Almost all posts directly relating a personal experience are deleted immediately, in favour of articles written about masculinity in traditional media publications, which are considered more trustworthy than the sus lived experiences of the guys in the sub. The post I wrote here about the effect of purity culture on male sexual shame that's sitting at about 15K notes was based on a 10K word post I wrote for Reddit that was deleted because "I didn't cite any sources to prove that there is a link between purity culture and male sexual shame, or that my experience was anything more than anecdotal". I get comments deleted on a regular basis, and after paragraphs of protesting in modmail that my comments are both fully in line with feminism and not against the rules, the mods have just finally told me that the rules don't actually drive their actions as a team. They delete anything they feel leads the conversation in a direction they personally feel is unproductive. The rule cited at the time of deletion is really just the broad category of why they decided to hit the button that says nobody is allowed to read what I wrote.

The issue is kind of twofold. First of all, progressive men do not trust other men. A good dude knows that he, individually, is a good person, but literally any other man external to him is on thin ice. Do you really want to tie your wagon to that guy? Do you trust him, really? How do you tell the difference between a guy criticizing an article because it's factually incorrect and criticising it because a woman wrote it? Probably best to play it safe and delete it. Weight of the odds, he's probably a misogynist, right? This is the internet.

And thats the other half of it. If you view yourself as part of the leadership of The Good Guys, and you're getting hatemail from incels and facists all day, you get to the point where most of the time people challenge your authority it's because they're a terrible person. It is very, very easy to get to the point where someone challenging you is seen as evidence that they are a bad person. And now someone is challenging you (and therefore bad), in an environment where you are in charge, and you have a "make your opponent disappear" button.

I know. A Reddit mod was rude to me and now I'm butthurt. It's petty and stupid. I'm just feeling like there's nowhere else to really go, and I'm pretty despondent that literally every space I've seen that even looks like it might be for progressive men has the same deeply hierarchical structure and constant status-oriented squabbling as patriarchal spaces.

#me writing stuff #positive masculinity #menslib

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thetravelingmaster · 1 year ago

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Reasons Why you Should Check Out ROM

(readonlymind.com)

I've done a similar posts before for this site when I first joined up ROM as an author, but I feel like it deserves a little boost and some visibility out here as one of the many sites where one can enjoy erotic mind control literature. And also, because I'm a little selfish! I figure that if more people know about it, there's going to be more erotic stories to read.

Back when I joined, thanks to @arihi 's post on the matter during the 2018 tumblrapocalypse, I believe that there were barely 150 authors that published on the site, but as of today, that number has risen to 446. The list keeps growing and so does the variety of stories available.

Much like mcstories.com, the site is very easy to navigate and search through, even if you aren't 'logged in' as an author or reader. It offers us simple ways to search out and find the stories or authors we most want to read about. They've done an awesome job with the tag system so that regardless of which story you are reading, you can click on a tag to see what other stories that have the same theme.

It's a lot like a porn site actually, but for mind control themes.

And speaking of the tags...

The search function is rather advanced. Not only can you click a specific tag to see which stories have them, but you can also use the 'advanced search' to combine them and refine your search. You can add as many as you want to really find out if a specific theme is available. In fact you can also exclude tags to make sure you only get the stories you truly want.

Of course, when you do find a story you like, the author name will be a link to their page, which will list their stories as well as an introduction about themselves if they chose to add one. Since the site is all about open discussion, they accept self promotion so you can expect to find contact information on authors you like or even a link to other sites they post on.

Another very useful thing you'll find on their page, which I haven't seen on any other MC site before, is the 'story suggestion' link. There, you'll find all the stories the author recommends.

I've found that it's a great way to discover other authors because if you enjoy someone's writing, there's also a good chance you'll enjoy reading the stories they've enjoyed and recommended. Plus, if the author is so inclined, they can do more than just list off a bunch of stories, but also add a comment as to why they enjoyed it. I personally try to always add a little something to entice those that end up on my list.

Another feature I truly enjoy as an author is the fact that you can always go back an edit your stories because you always have full control of what is posted. Honestly, if I had discovered this before I opened up my own website, there would have been no need for me to do it. Although, I might have been a little disappointed about the fact I couldn't add the lovely images that inspire me so much... hehehe

But regardless, as an author that has many stories with many chapters, I've quickly discovered how easy it is to organize my stories because I can add a new chapter to an existing story, which is great because the reader doesn't have to look for previous chapters. Plus, you can add titles and even small descriptions to each, which will show up in the story index. In addition, you always get a word count for each chapter (or full story in the story list) so you know how long it should take you to get through it.

Speaking of readers, the site offers a little more than just a well organized and searchable site.

Well... If you register that is!

You don't have to post anything though, so registering is simply like creating an account. What you get for registering are a few fun bonuses like the ability to 'snap' a story you liked. Which is basically the equivalent of a 'like' here on tumblr. As an author, it's always a great inspiration to add chapters when I notice that one of my stories becomes popular and I know readers want more. It's also a great indicator for readers, as you well know!

Another bonus you get by registering is being able to comment on each chapter. I love the comments section because it not only gives me the ability to get feedback, but it also allows registered people to tag each other and reply to comments. As an added bonus, once you register, you get access to a notification page and if someone's replied or tagged you, you'll be notified there.

Speaking of notifications...

As an author, I get a bunch of notifications every time a user 'snaps' one of my stories, leaves a comment or recommends it to others. But as a reader, I can also 'follow' specific authors and be notified when ever they publish a new story or add a chapter to an existing one. But hey, that could be bothersome too so you ALSO have the option of just following ONE specific story so you are sure to know when the latest chapter drops. I'll admit, I use this option a lot!

Another option you may notice in the above image is the 'Read Later' option. I've used that as both a place to list off stories I like to read multiple times, as well as the obvious happenstance where I find a good one I want to read, but don't have the time.

As you ALSO may have notice, there are well known authors publishing their stories there too. @scifiscribbler, @jukeboxemcsa, @darthkyra, @ellaenchanting, @hypnoticharlequin and @skaetlett, to name a few you might know from tumblr.

If you can't get enough of reading MC stories, then this site will definitely help to feed your cravings. It's still relatively new and small when compared to others, but so far, it's proven its potential for growth.

The more the merrier

#news #ROM

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offtorivendell · 1 month ago

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I just recently finished the actors series and I was reading up on the mating bonds and I came across your post about Lucien and Elain’s mating bond from a few years ago and how it potentially could be wrong from the cauldron and I find it super interesting and have seen multiple theories on it! I do think that Azriel might be right and the cauldron made a mistake but that leads me to think about Nesta/Cassian so I was hoping you could help me understand their mating bond! Could this not be considered the same for them? Is their bond not considered made by the Cauldron when Nesta was thrown in as well or how does their bond differ from Elain/Luciens? I could be overlooking but the info on the bonds is also hard for me to wrap my head around 😂

Hi and thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my nonsense!

I assume you are talking about this post from May 2021 - "What if the Cauldron was wrong?" - in which, to briefly sum up, I suggested that Elain and Azriel were actually meant to be mates, and that Lucien was chosen by the Cauldron as Elain's mate because Azriel was currently "dead" to its senses thanks to taking a poisoned ash arrow in his chest, and Lucien's true mate, Jesminda, had already died.

I know you sent this last week, I'm sorry about the wait - which, sadly, is not nearly the worst wait time for the asks I've been procrastinating on over the last couple of years lol, sorry to anyone who sent something I've flaked on - but funnily enough, there has been some renewed discourse this week.

In addition to this ask, I'd recommend checking out the following (bearing in mind that some may contain spoilers for the entire Maasverse):

The OP and my recent reblog of this post.

This similar ask I recently answered.

This thread and this thread by @silverlinedeyes.

This thread by @elriell.

This post by @icedflames.

This thread by @psychologynerd.

This thread by @wingedblooms.

This thread by @violetasteracademic.

These two posts, here (ACOTAR only) and here (with evidence from the Maasverse suggesting something might've happened to the Cauldron).

It's difficult to explain the entire (hypothesised) lore behind SJM's mating bonds without delving into the worlds of TOG and CC, so I'll attempt a very basic discussion about the Archeron sisters and bat boys (please note that all of these theories are due to a shared effort within the Elriel fandom, not limited to the accounts I tagged above); the following will be based on the theory that there are two types of bonds in Prythian: the original, mutual soul bonds, and offspring bonds for breeding purposes that may be a Cauldron-Made imitation of the original bonds.

In short, I believe Nesta and Cassian's bonus chapter from ACOMAF, and his behaviour towards her while everything was going wrong at Hybern, strongly suggested they already shared a mating bond that would have obviously predated Nesta being Made by the Cauldron at the end of the book; this would have been similar to Feyre and Rhys, who we know shared a bond that predated Feyre being Made by the High Lords. And not to make this Elriel, but for the sake of being complete, the first "family" dinner shared by all six brothers and sisters in the human lands appeared to show Azriel acting differently (in his own unique way) around Elain, just as Cassian was so obviously drawn to Nesta.

Lucien, on the other hand, didn't act in such a way that demonstrated, without any doubt, that he felt anything for Elain in particular before she went into the Cauldron at Hybern (which I discussed in my first mating bond meta that I linked above). Azriel, though? It's definitely murky, but imo his responses at Hybern, while downed with a poisoned arrow, could plausibly suggest he felt something for Elain, assuming SJM wants to go the "true bond" way. As Nesta, who could see through glamours as a human, said to Lucien right after he'd claimed Elain: "She is no such thing!"

Remember this passage between Feyre and Rhys, in the original trilogy?

“A mating bond can be rejected,” Rhys said mildly, eyes flickering in the mirror as he drank in every inch of bare skin I had on display. “There is choice. And sometimes, yes—the bond picks poorly. Sometimes, the bond is nothing more than some … preordained guesswork at who will provide the strongest offspring. At its basest level, it’s perhaps only that. Some natural function, not an indication of true, paired souls.” A smile at me—at the rareness, perhaps, of what we had. - ACOWAR, chapter 24

Rhys said that sometimes, the bond is nothing more than "preordained guesswork," which suggests that sometimes it is more than that. I (and many others, but definitely not everyone in the fandom) think that Feysand and Nessian have the "rarer" type of bond, between "true, paired souls," while Elucien does not. I guess there's always the possibility that Feysand and Nessian also share offspring bonds, but given what happened in ACOSF that would appear to be... unwise on the Cauldron's behalf. But who knows.

Anyway anon, I hope this response helps to clear the theory up for you. If you have read the rest of the Maasverse then the posts I linked above are a really good grounding in the theories behind why mating bonds may not all be created equal.

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actualbird · 6 months ago

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Statistical Report of Marius/Luke Ao3 Literature (2024)

(aka, a pet project i've been working on behind the scenes for a while. if you'd rather read it as a PDF, you can check it out here, but i've copy pasted its entirety into this text post, beginning in 3...2...1...)

Introduction

Ahhh, Marius von Hagen and Luke Pearce…such wonderful characters from hit mobile otome game “未定事件簿 | Tears of Themis.” As love interests to Miss MC Rosa Qiangwei, they each are incredibly compelling characters with incredibly nuanced backstories, personalities, and dynamics with MC.

Also, there’s a small but dedicated community of shippers that want them to kiss and make out and be in love with each other. Hell yeah!

Welcome to the Statistical Report of Marius/Luke Ao3 Literature (2024), a report that aims to capture this community’s literary contribution to the MariLuke ship by crunching the data available to the public on Ao3!

Before going into the data, there are some notes and caveats to this census that the author would like to make clear.

This report’s data was taken from the “未定事件簿 | Tears of Themis (Video Game)” fandom tag on Archive of Our Own. This means that all works outside of this tag or outside of this website (ex. Twitter thread fics or Tumblr drabbles not crossposted to Ao3, fanfiction only on other sites like FanFiction.net, Wattpad, Weibo, etc.) have not been included.

This report’s data is as of May 31, 2024 as a cutoff date. This was so that I wouldn’t have to endlessly update the data and go insane.

Works that did exist but have since been deleted as of May 31, 2024 are not included, as the author does not have an encyclopedic memory of fanfics that no longer exist on the site :(

Now with all that said, let’s dive in.

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Number Of Fics Posted and Surge Periods

Now, let’s begin with the number of fics posted. As of May 31, 2024, there are 166 fics in the “Lu Jinghe | Marius von Hagen/Xia Yan | Luke Pearce” tag on Ao3. This number (and subsequently, this report) counts fics as they are listed in AO3 as unique fics, meaning that if it takes up its own little box in the AO3 feed, that’s one fic in itself. This does unfortunately mean that fics that act as a collection (i.e. each chapter is a different story) are only counted as one fic. This number also excludes podfics, because that’s basically the same fic in a different format.

That being said, this number is still nothing to scoff at. And things get even more delightful when we track down the frequency of fics posted month by month in a timeline.

The earliest MariLuke fic posted on Ao3 was “You are King” by itshaku on August 8, 2021, a mere 10 days after ToT’s official global release. The folks who posted the very first few fics in August 2021 laid down the foundation and bedrock of the Ao3 tag, and as ToT’s existence to the global audience continued, more and more fic started to populate our hallowed halls.

However, while that’s the earliest MariLuke fic as is recorded by Ao3 now, I happen to know that there was a fic that was posted even earlier. A fic called “Don’t Let Me Go” by sakurei. Both the fic and the author’s account has since been delated, but I knew this fic existed because I originally started this report in 2022. When I had first put together the preliminary data, I noted “Don’t Let Me Go” as the first ever fic, and then was disheartened to learn that it was deleted. Like, no…the sacred texts… All hope seemed lost until my dear friend Z Lukevonhagen suggested I search the link on the Wayback Machine, and lo and behold, a copy of the True First Ever MariLuke Fanfic On Ao3 had been unearthed. Thanks, Z!

In the month of October 2021, the Marius/Luke tag experienced its first fic surge. For the purposes of this report, any month with 8 or more fics posted during their duration is counted as a surge. Why is 8 or more the qualifier? That number was picked solely off of vibes.

A total of 9 new fics were posted in October 2021, though the I can’t find any discernible reason for this fic. After some digging, I found no relevant fan events that occurred in October 2021 that linked to any of the MariLuke fics. In terms of in-game happenings, the only thing of note here is that this is when the Symphony Of The Night event was running, but it’s not like Marius and Luke made out on screen during that event’s storyline (oh, how I wished though…)

Our next surge happened in August 2022, with a whole 12 fics posted, when the tag suddenly and beautifully got a sizeable influx of CN fics. CN fics take up 6 of the 12 fics posted during this time period, which is half of the month’s total fic yield. Thank you for your service, CN MariLukers !

Our next surge period lasted for a whopping 3 consecutive months, ushering a Golden Age for MariLuke fics, so to speak. Month by month, what happened was:

In October 2022, another surge occurred with a total of 11 fics. During this month, Twitter account Thirst of Themis had run a ToT Kinktober fan event, and a number of new Marius/Luke fics were created and posted in accordance with the Kinktober prompts.

In November 2022, a total of 9 fics were posted, and this was mostly because of two specific singular authors’ hard work, as they published several fics all on their own in rapid succession and contributed to the surge. Ao3 author Litchire posted a whopping 4 fics during this period, along with Ao3 author ynfzymokaihewo who posted 3 fics.

In December 2022, a total of 9 fics were posted, though this is the month where I couldn’t find any discernible reason once again. Maybe the holiday season just made us all fic-happy? Who knows.

After that, it’s smooth sailing for a while with average MariLuke fic yields for a couple of months.

Then, the Recession came. Followed by a Revival. Followed by another Recession.

In April, 2023, only one (1) MariLuke fic was posted. Authors recovered in the following month of May 2023, but right after in June 2023, we all died once again with a staggering zero (0) new MariLuke fics posted. I assume we all went into hibernation or something. But that’s fine, because the next month in July 2023, the crops started flowering once more and the MariLuke harvest began anew.

Our next surge happened a couple months later, in November 2023, with 8 new fics posted. The culprit here is Thirst of Themis once again, for they had run a November prompts event, and 7 out of 8 MariLuke fics posted this month were in fulfillment of the event.

Now, we arrive at our latest surge and also our biggest one. In may 2024, the MariLuke Ao3 tag saw a whopping 28 new fics posted. This is undoubtedly the result of the fan event MariLuke Week (May 2024) for 27 out of the 28 fics were posted in fulfillment of the event’s prompts. The following authors participated in MariLuke Week, with their fic counts for this event placed next to their name:

xXILoveMyFridgeXx (10 fics contributed)

wtfhoney (7 fics contributed)

quarterweeb / theobscenfraction (4 fics contributed)

reptilianraven (3 fics contributed)

lukevonhagen (2 fics contributed)

Litchire (1 fic contributed)

Congratulations and thank you to the writers who participated in the event! You all contributed to the biggest surge in MariLuke stocks THUS FAR, and you should all give yourselves a pat on the back.

That concludes the timeline of MariLuke works up til May 31, 2024! Hit the showers, everybody!

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Full List of AO3 Users Who Have Written Marius/Luke Fanfiction

The Marius/Luke writer population is a small but mighty one, with a total of 45 unique authors who have posted a fic Marius/Luke fic on Ao3 as of May 31, 2024. Before going into the full list of authors, here are some important caveats to the list:

ON ANONYMOUS AUTHORS: As this report deals with how Ao3 lists data, all authors who have opted to post anonymously will be counted as one entity. I personally know that some anonymous authors are different users, but verifying this without making any fuckups would make my tiny pea brain cry. For this reason, anonymous authors are counted as one unique author, so if you’re one of these anonymous authors, congrats on being a part of a Marius/Luke hivemind!

ON AUTHORS WITH PSEUDS: An Ao3 user who has different posted fics within the Marius/Luke tag under different pseuds will be counted as one unique author. Despite saying in the last paragraph that the my personal knowledge will not be enacted to tweak how Ao3 lists data, I’m making one exception here because it literally only pertains to three Ao3 users in the ship tag, so this won’t make my tiny brain cry at all.

So without further ado and in alphabetical order, here our are heroes:

Authors listed under the Anonymous Label

ajing_1124

artistic_gemini

asukryo

autumnsparrxw

BlazingSunflowers

CandorArchives

chechevitsa

darkbreak

doridoripawaa

dxpiarchaive / keeyamii

Eden_of_Amour / suffering_meguca

EnnTea

floweringlight

friedchickenlord

Goryo_Wataru

i_o_u_e_a

itshaku

kombat_exe

ladyhaspran

layla_wp

Litchire

lukevonhagen

m3i_day

marcipancake

monocuri

osamurice

pvsiytemhaver

quarterweeb / theobscenefraction

reptilianraven

RikuMorimachisGirl

Rxzaliya

samandspam

snocchiato

Solaste

sondepoch

strayris

Szim

Tinowenn

ThirdLibraryOfYumenosaki

turnscote

wtfhoney

xeriacat

xXILoveMyFridgeXx

ynfzymokaihewo

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A Brief Glimpse Into Ratings and Tags

Before I looked at the ratings, I had a hypothesis that Explicit fics would take the lead because in majority of the MariLuke fics I’ve read myself, Marius and Luke are written to have incredibly active libidos. Lo and behold, when I did chart down the fics by rating, is is revealed that…

…statistically, we are horny.

Not by a whole lot though! Fics that are rated Teen and Up comes in 2nd place by just a very small margin, so that’s a lot of fics that are accessible to those who don’t want to read Marius and Luke getting nasty.

In terms of Additional Tags, I checked out the Top 5 most frequented Additional Tags and charted them below.

The Top 5 most used Additional Tags are actually Fluff, Light Angst, Comedy, Humor, and Anal Sex. However, I reasoned that Comedy and Humor are the exact same thing, so I counted them as synonyms and added in the 6th most used Additional Tag: Established Relationship.

Anyhoo, I think it’s really sweet to see that Fluff reigns supreme! And by a large margin, too. We love to write our boys having a wholesome lovely time. Of course, we also like just a smidge of narrative spice, which is where Light Angst comes in in 2nd place. That being said, I think it’s insanely funny that Anal Sex is in this chart. It is very out of place among the rest, LMAO.

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A Brief Segue Into The Popularity of Marius/Luke In Relation to Other ToT BL Pairings

As of May 31, 2024, Marius/Luke is the 1st most popular M/M ship in the Ao3 tag, overall clocking in with a total of 166 works.

In addition to that, I think it’s interesting to note that the 2nd most popular BL ship is Marius/Artem, with 130 fics, while the 3rd most popular BL ship is Marius/Vyn, with 66 fics. Tied for 4th place is Artem/Male or Gender Neutral Reader, and Vyn/Artem, both at 46 fics respectively.

The reason why I think the top 5 BL ships are interesting to look at is due to Marius’ participation in 3 out of the 5 most popular M/M ships in the ToT tag. Given this, we can veritably congratulate him for statistically beating the heterosexual allegations. Marius really gave off vibes that made many different shippers go “oh there’s no way in hell he’s completely straight.”

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Accolades

Longest Fic

As of May 31, 2024, the Longest Fic in the tag is [drumroll]...Losing Sight by pvsiytemhaver! This fic is actually primarily as ArtemRosa fic with MariLuke as an additional ship, and it currently clocks in at 90,109 words, taking the 1st spot as the longest MariLuke fic and the 18th longest fic overall in the general “未定事件簿 | Tears of Themis (Video Game)” fandom tag. Let’s take a look at the runner ups!

Here’s the list of the longest fics in the MariLuke tag:

Losing Sight by pvsiytemhaver (90,109 words)

the lips i used to call home (it was maroon) by xXILoveMyFridgeXx (58,185 words)

Five Points of a Star by xXILoveMyFridgeXx (25,494 words)

Risk of Pain by Solaste (25,157 words)

end of a decade (start of an age) by xXILoveMyFridgeXx (20,671 words)

Special shoutout to user xXILoveMyFridgeXx who consistently pumps out fics with gargantuan word counts.

Fic With Most Kudos

Next on the list is the Fic With The Most Kudos, and this title goes to [drumroll]... “standard operating procedure (x4 speedrun) by reptilianraven” which…oh, that’s me.

This fic is not solely a MariLuke work, but an NXX Polycule work that has MariLuke within it. Weighing in with 827 kudos, it takes the spot as the 1st most kudos’d MariLuke work, while also weighing in as the 9th most kudos’d fic overall in the general “未定事件簿 | Tears of Themis (Video Game)” fandom tag. Let’s take a look at the runner ups!

Here’s the list of the Top 5 Fics With Most Kudos:

standard operating procedure (x4 speedrun) by reptilianraven (827 kudos)

every breath you take, every move you make, peanut will be watching you by reptilianraven (735 kudos)

how Puppy Pierce© conquered the world by reptilianraven (705 kudos)

the existence of a top student implies the existence of a bottom student by reptilianraven (575 kudos)

making out with your bro for fun and for profit by reptilianraven (567 kudos)

(Thank you for the kudos ;^;)

Author With Most MariLuke Works Written

And now, for our last accolade… the award for the author who currently has a large chunk of the MariLuke Ao3 tag coming from their own fics wrought by their own mind.

This title goes to [drumroll]... oh goddamn it, it’s me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being insane about them. I don’t remember writing this much for them, I swear to god. Let’s look at the runner ups!

Here’s the list of authors with the most MariLuke works written:

reptilianraven (24 works)

quarterweeb / theobscenefraction (quarterweeb) (23 works)

Litchire (15 works) and ynfzymokaihewo (15 works) tied for 3rd place

xXILoveMyFridgeXx (13 works)

wtfhoney (11 works)

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Conclusion

I love this ship. I love this ship so goddamn much, but if there’s one thing I love more, it’s the community of shippers who write for this ship. This pet project was started as a little love letter from me to the MariLuke writing community. So, thank you, MariLuke writers!! Thank you for putting your heart and soul into the works you create, thus fashioning a beautifully wide array of fics to enjoy and read, and thank you for showing your love for this rarepair!

Alright, this report is too damn long. I’m gonna go reread MariLuke fics now. Bye! Hope you enjoyed!

#tears of themis #mariluke #marius von hagen #luke pearce #tot luke #tot marius #lu jinghe #xia yan

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perfectlysanexd · 3 months ago

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So, what have I been up to...? Since I was in Tumblr's spam-bot prison for more than 5 months, I thought I would create a little ICYMI post. (That's "In-Case-You-Missed-It" for the old folks like myself that have to look up all these new acronyms.) Basically, I'm gonna highlight/link to some of the posts I made this year, and you can check them out if you like. :) I didn't want to necessarily do a bunch of reblogs of my own content and clog up the system or something...

I finished posting up my 100's of edited screenshots from Advent Children Complete! You can view the archive of 53 different posts, separated by character, here. It also includes a fun side post about the Mysterious Case of Sephiroth's Missing Straps. :3

I confess, I haven't made too many wallpapers this year. But it's September now, and I have a thought rolling around in my head. We'll see. The archive of wallpapers is here.

Speaking of, so many cool wallpapers came out for Ever Crisis, and I've posted them all! Find them here, at the bottom of this archive post. I swear I'll eventually beat TFS season 1, but...they sure made it difficult for people who don't purchase their packs.

Did you know that Tumblr is feeding your posts(including reblogs) to theird party AI? Well, they are, and you can set it to be prevented in your settings. I talked about it here.

Rebirth coming out was the biggest thing this year, and I made my first manipulation for it back in March! You can see the post here, as well as a simple tutorial for it using GIMP(GNU Image Manipulation Program, free at gimp.org) here.

I also made a second manipulation for Rebirth! If you want to see the additional dialogue that goes with it, that's here.

When I played the demo for Rebirth, I noticed that they had changed Sephiroth's eyes, and it reminded me of something...

Did you know that in Advent Children, Sephiroth's gloves are not as tight as in Remake and you can see his wrists? 😏Check it out! What? Of course this is important!

I took a look at Sephiroth and all his forms over the years. Then I did the same for Cloud.

My AO3 sefikura work In Death was finished on April 26th, and came with a special manipulation. That was also the first story where I was accused of writing non-con, when it obviously wasn't, so that was fun. If you need to hydrate, you can go drink that tea in the comments of, I think, chapter 16 and after. Several people have asked about a sequel, and I do have eventual plans. Hang in there.

I made my first(of many) Rebirth memes, which also came with a blank template.

A peek under Sephiroth's jacket, courtesy of Rebirth. 😏Yes, this is important, obviously.

Another Rebirth meme, featuring Sephiroth being badass.

I put my design for Lucrecia's locket onto my edited EC Sephiroth artwork! This one actually got a lot of notes thanks to reblogging. 💕I also put the locket on Sephiroth's EC in-game model.

I wrote a long one-shot as a thank you for 400+ followers! It's based on my most popular sefikura manipulation of all time—a very indulgent work, and my first time writing for Rebirth. Thanks, guys!

Another meme, haha...oops, and another one. Damn, another one? AND a Sephiroth/Cloud arms-crossed companion meme set?

I did another Rebirth manipulation, this time of the famous sefikura hug scene. I added a second part to it here. AND a third part to it here! This set has quickly become one of my favorites. I also gave it some Japanese dialogue+translation here.

I did a little PSA because I've seen a lot of awfully suspicious digital paintings lately...

I made an account on Twitter/X, just in case they never fixed my blog, so if you're over there, follow me @ perfectlysane77 and say hi. :)

The FF7 crew have super hearing, confirmed??

Do you play Ever Crisis and want to join a sefikura guild? Check here. All skill levels are welcome, and you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to.

My first ever edited Rebirth video: "Fill your hollow heart...with me-ow."

And now I've been released from Tumblr spam-bot prison, so I'm sure you've seen even more silly memes from me. So what now? I hope to release the rewrite of Stranger Inside very soon, maybe by the end of the month if possible? The sequel will follow, for real this time. At that point, we'll be back to voting, so you guys will be able to choose what comes after that. I'm really focused on writing now, which is probably why I'm mostly making memes and silly things. Still, if it makes you laugh, I'm happy. 🥰

If you read this to the end, you're amazing.💕

#sefikura #sephiroth #cloud strife #final fantasy vii

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a-little-bit-of-ravioli · 11 months ago

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20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @the-real-azalea-scroggs! Had to wait until I was of my phone because doing these is a nightmare on mobile lmao

1. How many works do you have on A03?

18 as of a few days ago!

2. What's your total A03 word count?

157,937! Which is. Only a fraction of the word count in my Docs folder. Be prepared.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write for The Legend of Zelda; specifically Linked Universe! In fact, that's all that's posted on my Ao3 currently, since my fall into that fandom began with me uploading there! Pre-Ao3 I wrote for Black Cat (Anime/Manga), Megaman NT Warrior, various Pokémon things, Assassin's Creed, Yugioh, Final Fantasy XIV and Octopath Traveler! Some of these I still write privately, but I haven't gotten around to re-posting any.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Whistling on Deaf Ears - My longest fic on Ao3, focusing on Wild and Twilight's friendship and how good intentions can lead to disaster.

Iconoclasm - Warriors deals with the room full of portraits in Cia's palace. The Chain also deals with it, but with a bit more fire.

Deserving - Twilight finally tells Rusl that he was the wolf in the village during TP, but that also means dealing with some heavier topics. Colin half overhears them and forms his own conclusions.

Something Greater - The start of the "Hyrule can see magical auras" series! In this one we deal with Legend and his many rings.

Ocean Magic - Mermaid Legend and Zora Time have a race and then fight one of the Big Octos from WW! Fun times.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Every single one!! I love comments, they give me an excuse to ramble about my fic more!! I am always down to ramble about every single insignificant detail of any line and/or section. If you ever want more background info about one of my fics, look to the comments!

So please, I adore comments, I treat them like treasures, not responding to them would be a CRIME.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

There's no contest; Inevitable, my (so far) only MCD fic.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmmm, that's hard to quantify. I usually try to end fics on a hopeful note regardless. I'd say possibly either Deserving, where Twilight reconnects with his family, or Shimmering Blue, Striking White, where Time meets the Fierce Deity settled down on Satori Mountain and they both get closure.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully, no! I've been blessed with mostly amazing and patient readers, even when my upload schedule isn't the best.

9. Do you write smut?

No, not really. I've attempted it, but I'm too asexual for it lol

10. Do you write crossovers?

Very, very rarely. Mostly privately, and only very specific ones. Only a single one has had an actual plot, so far (more on that one in question 15!).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also a nope! I tend to write for smaller fandoms, where these things don't tend to happen a lot!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! But it's been a while. Over a decade, in fact! I tried to find the fic to link it here, but it was on the German fanfic website fanfiktion.de, and my friend who posted it back then must have deactivated her account, because it's nowhere to be seen (I still have the Word file though!). It was a Multi-Crossover that started as an RP in a forum, and we took turns turning the RP into prose one chapter each. "If a Hero Turns to Dark" was its title. We were edgy teenagers.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Hissssss. Bad question. Shoo. They are all equally important!!

But it's probably TenRose from Doctor Who.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

One of the very few crossovers I've ever worked on; a crossover fic between Assassin's Creed and Doctor Who, that I have mapped out in both chronological and timeline order, and yes, those are different. I only ever wrote about a quarter of it, since my primary audience of it disappeared when we graduated. I doubt I'll ever pick it back up properly, and if I do it'll probably go through heavy rewrites first since it's so old. Finishing it is a nice thought, but realistically, after 9 years it'll never be high priority enough for it to actually happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, especially arguments, and emotional impact. I've been told I do really well making characters feel alive and believable! Also I like to believe I'm decent at setting a scene and giving it the vibe I want it to have!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle with dialogue tags when nothing much is happening besides the talking. I always feel it's too bland, and fall back on the same phrases. My scene transitions could use some work too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done this with Japanese phrases, because I was a massive weeb. Usually I followed them up with their own translations, though; I'm not the biggest fan of footnote translations, unless they are properly linked to. Simple dialogue tags are my favourite way of indicating a language switch.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Black Cat the Manga/Anime! It's a series about an assassin turned bounty hunter trying to live a life separate from his murdery past, but getting dragged back into things by still wanting to avenge his best friend's death. The series has a special place in my heart and my bookshelf, it left an imprint on 13-year-old me that will never leave.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Probably Jailbreak, uncharacteristically enough! It's one of the only fics I never got stuck in once. Writing it was a great feeling from start to finish. I love writing all of my fics, but that was a special few days.

Tagging @ahrva @nowhere-to-go-but-down @silvercaptain24 and @aeghina! And anyone who wants to do it, really, go wild

#rav rambles #rav writes #ask game #linked universe #thank you Aza I rambled a lot lmao #rambling is cathartic sometimes #I had a good time!

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apteryxparvus · 1 year ago

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L ♡ V E R ⇌ L ⦻ S E R — chapter 4

Chapter four — In our exes to enemies to lovers era

Pairing — Scaramouche / Female Reader

Content warning — swearing • mentions of bullying

Summary: In a twist of unfortunate events, you find out that being exposed as the target of Kunikuzushi middle school bullying escapades was just the beginning of your troubles. To your dismay, you’re thrown even deeper into the glamorous but artificial world of celebrities. Oh, and the cherry on top? You’re forced to pretend to be in a long-term romantic relationship with none other than said ex-bully. All because of a careless misclick by his social media manager.

prev • masterlist • next

Scaramouche glares at the damn Zoom Meeting link his PR manager sent, his frustration overwhelming his thoughts. He lets out an exasperated sigh, trudging over to his computer setup. Slipping on his headphones, he counts to five, attempting to quell his irritation before joining the meeting. Clicking on the link, his camera pops up, revealing his irritated expression staring back at him.

He waits for Hiratsuka to let him in the meeting, silently praying that it will be over quickly, and hoping his simmering anger won't spill over. But of course, everything takes a nosedive when he hears Satomi's high-pitched, shrill apology piercing through his headset.

"Scaramouche, please, I beg you, please, forgive me. I swear I didn't mean for this to happen," she wails, clasping her hands together. Through her pixelated image, he can almost make out the tears in her eyes. "I genuinely thought I was browsing the tags on my personal account!"

"So you're telling me you spend your time liking and retweeting mindless gossip about me and my personal relationships?" Scaramouche grinds his teeth, his voice strained.

"Oh no, no! It's not like that, I swear!"

"Then pray tell, why the fuck did you go ahead and like a damn post about my personal relationship? You should be fired and blacklisted from ever handling anyone else's social media," he snaps.

Satomi's face turns a bright shade of red.

"Scaramouche, please, hold your tongue. Let's not dwell on the past. Our purpose here is to discuss damage control. Satomi will have a private conversation with me and the department head, not with you. Appropriate measures will be taken regarding her actions," Hiratsuka interjects, her voice maintaining its professional tone.

"A few news outlets have already published articles mentioning this slip-up. I will be contacting them to arrange potential interviews," Hiratsuka continues, her gaze locked on Scaramouche, daring him to object.

Scaramouche offers no verbal response, just a grunt. His PR manager shoots him a stern look.

"As for the individual mentioned, we will also make efforts to contact her. Her profile has been set to private, so we are exploring alternative methods of communication," Hiratsuka explains.

"Neither you nor Satomi will be contacting her," Scaramouche interrupts angrily. "I've had enough of all this shit. I'll speak to her myself."

Hiratsuka stays silent for a few moments. "Then I must insist that you maintain a professional tone when conversing with her. Once I have the necessary information, I will provide you with the means to contact her."

"Sure, whatever. I’ll be taking my leave then."

With those words, he abruptly leaves the call, dismissing his manager's protests. Removing his headset, Scaramouche heads to the kitchen, grabbing a cold beer from the fridge. Settling back onto his couch in his living room, he cracks open the can and opens his Twitter account, seeking out your profile.

To his surprise, it's not set to private as his manager claimed.

Without a second thought, he seizes the opportunity to message you, wanting to put an end to this whole mess. He navigates to the private messaging section and feels his eyes twitch with annoyance. He skims through the flurry of messages you sent just minutes ago — they all initially appear like a jumble of nonsensical words.

He snorts when his gaze lands on your final message.

Author's note: hiii besties, here i am (drunk af after a shiiiiit weekend at work) enjoy this chapter i totally did not proof read <3

Taglist — @scaramoo @bananasquash @yukiipc @theblueblub @feiherp @scarletttcroww @farelady-fate @skyoverkill1 @reversearrowhead @magica-ren

#smau #scaramouche x reader #scaramouche x you #scaramouche x y/n #scaramouche smau #genshin impact smau #genshin smau #genshin x you #genshin x reader #genshin x y/n #scaramouche #wanderer #wanderer x you #wanderer x y/n #wanderer x reader #lover = loser smau

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abcwordsurge · 1 month ago

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heyyy so while prepping for my ohio / michigan "the Game" fic, I've made a playlist that I might as well share, to get you all hyped. not gonna link the playlist, because my account is connected to my last name, but I'll tell you what's on it!

"I'm Ready," AJR

good playlist starter, right? shockingly, this is the only AJR song here, even though I love them to bits

lyric of note: "I won't forget you, but I may forget your name" (because ohio doesn't say michigan's name? eh? eh?)

"she likes sports," almost monday

mostly in this for the beat and, y'know, sports

"Saturday," Twenty Øne Piløts

there are quite a few TØP songs on here (which is great ofc). personally I think ohio's a fan of TØP, because tyler joseph and josh dun are both from columbus, and I like TØP and I'm projecting

also of note: the Game is always on a saturday

"Benny Goodman," Saint Motel

there's also a not insignificant number of saint motel songs here, because I find myself incapable of listening to a saint motel songs without thinking of michigan. no rationale for that association, just the vibes

"Choke," IDKHBTFM

because I have to have a few songs on the enemies side of enemies to lovers (and also this is a banger)

"Kill the Director," The Wombats

I'm going for a romcom with this story, so "if this is a romcom, kill the director" really does something for me. puts me in the mood to write I suppose

"True Love," P1NK

it's so cliche to put this on an enemies to lovers playlist, but I couldn't help myself

"We Don't Believe What's On TV," Twenty Øne Piløts

not 100% relevant to my story, but the lyric "I used to say I wanna die before I'm old, but because of you I might think twice" lives in my mind rent free

"Van Horn," Saint Motel

this is the song that inspired me to write this story. not gonna give away too much, but you'll see once I start posting

"Inarticulation," Rio Romeo

oooh I love Rio Romeo. the lyrics to this song are so fun. also I feel like the "I don't know what the words are but something in me cares about you" theme fits this pairing quite well

"From the Start," Good Kid

this was actually written by Laufey, but the good kid version of it fits the vibe better

"To My Enemies," Saint Motel

the ultimate ohiogan song in my opinion. I think of them every time. I've already written a fic with a title from this song, and I am endlessly tempted to write another. love this song

"Tear in My Heart," Twenty Øne Piløts

I can't believe how long it's taken me to realize that this is, like THE ohiogan song. it's so them you guys. also, imo, an incredible playlist closer.

now starts the countdown- 14 days till chapter 1!

(also, @xechoecho88x, what with your music-inspired ohio / michigan series, you might find this of interest)

#wttt #wttt headcanons #wttt ohio #wttt michigan #wttt ohiogan #welcome to the table

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musicalmoritz · 3 months ago

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Uhh kinda stupid question from someone who's technically new to the fandom despite following the manga for a while, where do ya'll find the official au's and their art? Like the Monster nursery one, I've seen them a lot but where does one find the originals?

There are many places to find the AUs!! Fair warning, some of them like Monster Nursery and Ghost Hotel have multiple parts but they’re still easy to find

The easiest place to find them is through the wiki page. Just google the name of the au + “wiki” like I did in the image above, and the first link should take you to a page with the full au.

There’s dialogue and images that will take you through a Choose Your Own Adventure type story, only the options have already been chosen for you. This is probably my favorite place to read them just because it’s all very easy to follow

The next place to check is the @dbs-scans account here on Tumblr! They post all the official art and aus, and I think they might even post the chapters. To find the au you want you could simply Google the name of it and their account should pop up, or you could search their account directly through Tumblr by clicking on their archive or using the search bar feature on their blog

They include all the images from the au with the text that correlates with them translated below. I believe they usually do the aus in full, which is very helpful if you’re trying to find an au like Ghost Hotel with multiple parts. If they don’t have all the parts tho, you can always refer back to the wiki or go to the next source I’m about to show you

Our next resource is the hanakokun.officialarts account on TikTok. Beware, I don’t think they have all the aus, but I know they’ve posted some of them. They get their translations from the aforementioned dbs-scans account which kind of brings this response full circle lol, it’s a small fandom. They’ll post the images with the dialogue in the captions, and you should be able to find them in order all grouped together. You might have to scroll a bit to find some of the older aus. This is one of my favorite resources for keeping up with official TBHK content tho bcuz they post the new chapters in full and it’s an easy way to find official art

You might also be able to read the aus on Twitter if they’re still up but I don’t have Twitter so I couldn’t tell you for sure. At one point I was trying to find the last part of Ghost Hotel and I deadass had to refer to Google Images, sometimes you gotta scrounge around for yourself. But that shouldn’t happen too often because the resources I gave are very reliable!!

Thank you for this ask, and it’s not stupid at all!! I had to ask my TikTok followers where to find the HKOTO au a few months ago when I got a fic request for it. It took me a minute to figure out where to find all the content, which is standard for joining any fandom that has as wide a range for content as TBHK does. I’ve seen BSD fans have similar issues. And by asking that you probably saved a lot of people’s asses who were too embarrassed to ask the same question

#ask #ask me anything #tbhk #toilet bound hanako kun #jshk #jibaku shounen hanako kun #information #ghost hotel #ghost hotel au #hanako kun of the opera #hanako kun of magic #monster nursery au

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1moreff-creator · 11 days ago

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Taking a "Shot" at the DR:OS Prediction Game!

In case you're not aware, a post on the av-multifangan account explained an interesting prediction game: after reading the prologue, you give your predictions on killers, victims, death chapter, survivors and mastermind. I am, to be clear, really bad at this, but I decided to give it a "shot" (heh) anyways! Here are my predictions, with explanations under the cut!

(I put chapter number too because this format is not colorblind friendly otherwise lol)

CW: Murder, death, insane predictions. Spoilers for DR THH, DR2, DRV3, and DROS Prologue

[Also, in case you're curious, I didn't check accirax's guesses, nor the guesses of this Jonas fellow mentioned in the original post, before making this post. I only checked their mm guesses 'cuz I was curious :v I'll check them out after to see how different they are :)]

Survivors and MM

We're starting with survivors because sometimes it's easier to start at the end and workshop a way to get there.

First is the only freebie on the list: Ellis. As stated in the linked post, because of DROS' format, the protagonist must be a survivor. Which means I'll only get 15/16 wrong, nice.

After that... I have no idea :v

Mark is here because of... pattern recognition, really. In canon DR, out of three Ultimate ???s, two were survivors (Kirigiri and Hinata) and one died in CH1 (Amami. No I don't know why I'm listing them by last name). However, Amami knew he was the Ultimate Survivor (more or less? Been a while since I've seen anything DRV3 related) so he actually doesn't count. I think you can see my reasoning here lmao.

However, there's a reason Ultimate ???s have a tendency to survive. Simply put, if the mastermind (MM) chooses to erase this person's memories particularly, they're presumably somewhat important. Maybe connected to the nature of the killing game, even. And so, they're usually around for the CH6 reveal of what their missing memories might mean for the larger plot.

It's not perfect, obviously. There's many ways to kill Mark before CH6. Talent reveal can happen posthumously, which was the case with Amami for example. They can also happen earlier in the killing game, allowing Mark to react to it without surviving to CH6. And more! However, I have very little to go off of, and Mark's "talent" gives me something to argue for their survival, at least. That's more than basically everyone else in the cast bar Ellis, so they're going here :v

So, now that we're officially out of okay-ish guesses, let's dive into the insanity! Starting with my hail mary, absolutely most-probably-wrong MM guess, Grace!

Now, this cast has a few "suspicious" characters. Robert has the whole "plain" thing going on that Tsumugi had, Aidan's half and half color scheme could be a nod to mm leanings, Ultimate ???s like Mark are always decent guesses, and the setting being a casino makes Antonia a prime target for MM accusations. Of course, these might be too obvious for an MM, but that's not extremely disqualifying. There's also the argument that the attempt on the mm's part to replicate Hope's Peak throws suspicion on the Impressionist, Taylor; and that Paris' talent being related to secrets and stuff could be considered mm-ish. Plus, Paris is the 13th student by Countdown Order (which I can't help but notice is the order of this list when read left to right and up to down), and 13 is an unlucky number, compared to Ellis' lucky number seven. Thee two might be a bit better. Finally, since she's even less obvious, I also vibe with accirax's guess of Cass, but I can't think of many arguments beyond Vibes for them (which is valid, tbf).

But if we're going to take Countdown Numbers into account, 4 is also an unlucky number (related to death even!), which gets us to Grace. There are a few reasons I believe they could be the MM.

First and foremost; given some of my previous posts, I just find it really funny for me to call the Clockmaker of all people the MM. If you've ever touched a clock, it's on sight with me, apparently xD

Now that we've established that, I do actually think there's a good argument for Grace!MM... by the standards of any MM theory pre-CH1, at least. Beyond the previously mentioned Countdown Number thing, they're the person in the prologue found next to the Movie Theater room, which was locked and didn't really have anything interesting to look at. Could it be they didn't feel the need to explore, because they already knew everything about the building? They also mentioned they liked the directness of the message on the cork board outside the Movie Theater room, when that's the exact thing Vanessa complained about Monoquin earlier. These are, to be extremely clear, really silly points. But they're there! And compared to people like Jeff, who have somewhat disqualifying introductions on the mm front, it's not a horrible start.

Another point is that, so far, Grace is the only person to have definitively shot down Ellis' flirting, by talking about their boyfriend. If Ellis is Lucky, then maybe it makes sense for the universe to stop him from flirting with the mm... maybe. This point is even sillier than the others, especially considering Grace isn't even the only character Ellis has no opportunity to swoon, as for example Vivi is aro/ace.

The next point is funny. See, I joke about the talent, but Grace being a Clockmaker could be twisted into suspiciousness if you're mentally unwell like me.

Usually one of the tools I consider best for MM predictions is thematic analysis (in other words, what kind of mm would best fit the themes of a work), but I can't exactly do that in the Prologue when there's very little set up in terms of themes and such.

Unless. Unless we go insane.

The fangan... is called One Shot. So a theme of the fangan (bear with me here) could be irreversibility. That you only get "one shot" to do certain things or something. Which fits decently well with the idea of time, this unstoppable march forward that can never be turned back. Right? You get the idea? And, and, because the DROS killing game is the sixth in-universe killing game ran by the mastermind(s), another theme could be repetition. As in, the killing games happen "like clockwork."

...

Me rn

Yeah this is maybe the stupidest set of "evidence points" I've ever used for any theory ever. Like, that's an insane soul read on what the themes of DROS could actually be, I'm fully expecting to be completely wrong on that lol. I actually find Grace!MM pretty unlikely, but I currently feel like all MM theories are almost equally unlikely, so if I have to pick one... I'm gonna pick the funniest one and continue my "beef" with Clockmakers lmao

Anyways, so remember those themes I'm pulling right out my ass and struggling to even pretend there's the slightest chance I'm actually right about them? How about we draw more probably wrong conclusions from them? Because if irreversibility is a main theme, then Vivi, who is interested in "conquering death", could fit well as a survivor. After all, you only get "one shot" at living, and she has to accept that, right...?

God I'm so bad at these.

Finally, Taylor.

I have no idea why Taylor's here.

It's sort of process of elimination, more than anything. I'm not confident about the rest of the kill order, but I feel I can't fill the fifth survivor spot (or fourth if you count the MM as separate) with any sort of actual reasoning, so... uh, I just picked my current favorite out of the characters I feel are most plausible as survivors. And that's Taylor, apparently.

Of course, the counterargument is that if they're already taking charge somewhat by proposing the breakfast meetup in the prologue, then that might not bode well for their survival and they might die soon. It's definitely decent reasoning, but... I mean, the story can go literally in any direction atp, so it's not impossible Taylor survives regardless. Just let me have the silly impressionist okay they're cool :p

Btw, funny thing about survivor predictions in this fangan. Usually a good way to build survivor predictions is by trying to balance the genders of the surviving cast, as generally there's a more or less equal split of girls and boys in the final trial, and thus remaining at the end. However, there are very few girls and boys in this killing game. In fact, no one in the surviving cast I predicted uses exclusively he/him or she/her pronouns. This isn't even the only configuration where this happens! Not even close! I find that amusing xD

Now that I've already probably gained no less than 25 points with these guesses alone, let's move on to the even harder part; death order!

Chapter 1: Vanessa - Robert

I chose Vanessa as the first victim because she is (I believe? more or less) the only character to have had, count them, three whole positive interactions with other characters on screen! Her chat with Ellis, giving Mark their name, and helping Taylor speak up at the end of the chapter. She's too nice, so she's dying. Immediately. Because she's one of the only people whose death could have a legitimate impact on the cast even this early, at least from what we've seen. Obviously I could be wrong but that's a given by now.

As for Robert, well look. I'm perfectly ready to be proven horrendously wrong about this, but I kinda struggle to see how his shtick of being perfectly normal could continue to be all that interesting post-CH1. It feels more like a gimmick you use for one chapter, then make Robert the killer to make the point that "if the most normal person here murdered someone, anyone could murder :O" and get paranoia going on the rest of the cast. Again, I'm probably completely wrong about that, but it's an angle I find plausible, so I'm picking it.

Robert's also like one of my top four picks for fifth survivor. Just so we're clear on how unsure about my guesses I am :v

Chapter 2: Harper - Cass

Harper and Noah met before the killing game. Even if they don't know much about each other's lives, they seem to be on pretty good terms. That means the pair probably isn't making it past CH2 lol.

Out of the two, I find Harper slightly more likely to be the CH2 victim. Vibes only on that one. I guess it makes sense in my mind that the Philanthropist is more likely to become more well-liked quicker than the Frat Boy, and as we've established, a character making friends is a good indication they might die, because their death might impact the cast more. Obviously with only the prologue, it's impossible to properly guess about any character dynamics beyond maybe CH1, but I try to pick my guesses with some amount of reasoning so.

As for Cass...

Listen I have no idea what to think of Cass. For some reason my mind comes up entirely blank when I think about predictions for them, or even when I try to think about anything about her character in general.

Why am I putting them here, then? Simply put, I could see them being an interesting foil to Harper, and it's not uncommon for character foils to kill each other in these killing games. Think Mondo - Chihiro, Ryoma - Kirumi, Kaito - Kokichi (now I'm listing them by first name because I hate consistency /j), just for some easy-to-see canon examples.

The foil here could potentially be that Cass might be (and just so we're clear on this, this is an immense extrapolation from like two lines of dialogue and could be horribly wrong) a more money-oriented person, based on these lines:

Cass [Prologue]: Lucky Student, huh? That’s an all-around useful talent. Still though, it’s weird… Why is no one here talented at making things, or having something to sell…? Ellis: Hey, who says I’m not talented at “making” something? Cass: I should clarify, I’m referring to making something physical. Something that one might, say, need someone to critique and/or help them market to higher ups

Cass [about the Customer Service Desk]: That can’t be a sound business practice…

While Harper is a Philanthropist whose likes include charities. So... boom. Foils.

Make no mistake. I doubt I'm cooking. I've probably overshot the kitchen and jumped directly into hell. Two or three lines are far from enough to properly guess what a character's deal is, especially when it's something so specific. This is not so much a genuine prediction and more so me grasping at straws to put Cass... somewhere and not have it be just up to the roll of the die. Unlike...

Chapter 3: Davis & Paris - Jeff

My CH3 guesses are nothing but Vibes Only hail maries. The reasoning here is that I don't know where else to put these people, so they're going here. I mean, putting them around the middle reduces the amounts of chapter points I can get from them under this scoring system, right? (<- Not actually the reasoning I used but y'know).

Davis, at least, has some form of... conflict? Thing? Going on from the very prologue, with him being clearly uncomfortable with Ellis' flirting and stuff. That could set up some form of early game character exploration, and that can imply an early-ish death after he gets explored. That or he survives. Uh... So he's going in CH3.

Jeff being a killer makes sense with him being the Ultimate Absentee, and thus wanting to leave. You could argue that might be too predictable, which- maybe, but that doesn't mean bad. The setup's there for him to not make it to the end... but still survive to see the pool open, since they were interested in it. So CH3.

Paris is here because I needed a second victim :v

Chapter 4: Noah - Aidan

It's not uncommon to guess that if one half of a pair dies, the other will survive, so you might think Noah as a survivor makes sense. And it does! But that reasoning didn't save Taka, so...

Again with these two, I am very unsure as to what exactly will happen with them. This, too, is a very Vibes only hail mary guess. I could see them going at practically any point past maybe CH1, but Aidan's probably gonna last for the sake of Conflict and... I don't know what to do about Noah so he's here :v

I can't even be sure about their roles! I could definitely see both of them as victims and killers, though I should note I think Noah being a killer is more likely if he dies before Harper, which is why I put Aidan as the killer for this prediction set.

Of course, this assumes Aidan can overcome his Contrarian urges to throw all weapons out the window when given the opportunity, but I believe in him! (/Slay the Princess ref).

Chapter 5: Kennedy - Antonia

You might think my confidence in guesses would go down as the chapters go up (barring Ellis and maybe Mark of course), as it's harder to predict things further down the road because of all the stuff that can happen in between the Prologue and the later chapters. And while that's generally true, Kennedy is actually one of the guesses I think is most defensible. Not necessarily more likely to be right, just easier to argue for.

I struggle to see her reaching CH6, since you'd probably want the protagonist to take center stage in uncovering all the mysteries behind the killing game, and having the Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist around could complicate that. However, if he reaches CH5, he can at least start uncovering the mysteries as a way to set up for CH6, and I can even see the angle of the MM specifically making a motive against them to get rid of them. That could even be the inciting incident for CH6, a la "Junko wrongfully 'executing' Naegi" (now I'm using both first and last names because I'm Evil) from THH.

However, a lot of that is probably the kind of bs Kennedy herself would say, and it's never a good sign when you start sounding like the Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist, so I'll leave it alone now.

Finally, Antonia...

Look, in my heart of hearts, I want her to be a survivor. I think it could work, especially with how intertwined her talent is with the setting and the protag's own talent. And in fact, those very reasons are the logical explanation of why she's this far in, all the way as the CH5 killer.

(The emotional explanation being that I just want her to last a while :v)

But... come on.

Ellis: … So, is there some kinda prize for winning? Other than our escape, I mean. Antonia: There must be. If it’s a “game,” there has to be an incentive to win.

It's the damn prologue and she's already considering prizes for murder honestly CH5 might be a little too optimistic T_T

---

Anyways, I hope this doesn't sound as completely unhinged as it reads in my mind lmao. And I also hope you enjoyed the objectively buckwild and most-likely wrong predictions, even if I'm probably going to end up with a ridiculous amounts of points at the end! See you!

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ofduskanddreams · 1 year ago

Text

How I download fics and give them covers before sending them to my Kindle.

Hi all, I've been considering making a post about this for a while and now seems as good a time as any. I'm not an expert, and there is more than one way you can do this; I'm just going to show you my process using "Call It What You Want To" by @separatist-apologist as an example. [This will only work on computers FYI.]

Part One — Getting Started

Download Calibre (it's free.) Calibre for PC. Calibre for Mac. They also have it for Linux but idk if that's still relevant.

Follow the program's setup instructions, and then those for wirelessly connecting Calibre with your Kindle account. Alternatively, you can connect your Kindle/e-reader to your computer with a cable and transfer files manually or download the file to your hard drive and share it another way. I highly recommend taking a few extra minutes to set up the wireless sharing as I think it's far more convenient.

Create a folder in which to store fanfiction downloads so that you can be an organized human.

Part Two — The Fanfiction

Find the fic you want to download on ao3 and click it so that you're on the fic's first page.

Above the box of metadata (ratings, warning, tags, etc.) on the far right click the "download" option. When prompted to select a file type, choose "MOBI."

Note: Though ao3 has an "EPUB" option I've noticed a bug that removes the chapter navigation from the fic when downloading the EPUB directly from ao3. If you enjoy the "x minutes left in this chapter/book" feature on your e-reader, you will want to download "MOBI" and we will be converting it later in Calibre.

Save the file to the folder you created.

Launch Calibre if it isn't already running.

In Calibre, click "add books" on the toolbar at the top of the screen.

Navigate to the folder you saved the fic in, select the fic, then click "open." Calibre will import the MOBI file to your library.

Now as you can see, "Call It What You Want To" already has a cover when we imported it to the library. That is because the cover image is embedded in the fic on the archive. Some fics will already have covers embedded such as this one.

Calibre is not a genius. If there are multiple images in the fic it will usually take the first one and default it to the cover. In the next section, I will go over how to add/change the cover of a fic in Calibre and how I like to create them.

Note: Even if the fic doesn't have embedded images, covers may have been made by readers and linked to the fic either in the notes or related works sections so it's worth checking if a cover already exists. If a fic is popular enough, a Google search of the fic's title + "cover" or "cover art" will show you if there have been covers already created for it.

Part Three — Making The Cover (I use Canva)

On the Canva homepage click "create a design" then select the "custom size" option. Canva does have a book cover template but I've found that it's awkwardly tall compared to the default size for Kindle books so I make my own.

I set the dimensions of the design to be 1024 pixels wide, and 1600 pixels tall, then click "create new design."

This is where you can get creative, make whatever you want. These basic steps are shown in a gif at the bottom of the section:

One: Choose a background image (you'll want to make sure it's a high enough quality that it won't be pixelated.) I used an image I had already uploaded into Canva, but you can use whatever you would like.

Two: On the sidebar, select "elements" and then "rectangle."

Three: Make sure the rectangle covers the whole design, then change the color. I like using the colors from the photo that Canva suggests and then making them a darker shade. Once you have the color that you want, reduce the transparency of the rectangle to anywhere between 40-50%. (This step ensures that the text we put on top of the image is easily legible, play around with it a bit.)

Four: On the sidebar, select "text" and then "add a text box." Then type in the author's username and change the font, the color, and the size until you like it. Repeat the same steps for the fic's title. I like to center the title on the page and put the author toward the bottom but that's just my preference.

Once your cover looks the way you want it to, click "share" at the top right and follow the steps to download the file as a PNG. I usually just save the image to my desktop so I can grab it easily once I'm in Calibre.

Part Four — Adding the Cover in Calibre

In your Calibre library, hover over the fic and right-click. Then hover over "edit metadata" and click "edit metadata individually."

On the "edit metadata" screen, find the section that says "change cover" and click "browse."

When the file upload dialog box appears, navigate to the PNG you just saved from Canva, select it, and click "open." This will add your cover to the fic. You can use these same steps to add any cover image that you've saved to your computer.

Make sure to click "ok" at the bottom of the screen to save your new cover and navigate back to the library page.

Part Five — Converting to EPUB

In your Calibre library, select the fic and then click "convert books" on the toolbar. At the top right of the converting screen, set the "output format" to "EPUB."

Now, the following steps are unnecessary little things I do to make my reading experience more seamless.

Click "Look & Feel" on the left sidebar. Under the "fonts" tab, I embed the "Georgia" font family. I do this because I prefer reading in Georgia which is not a default option on my PaperWhite*. I have my Calibre conversion settings in place to do this automatically. You can embed any font that you have on your computer.

*It might just be me, but when opening a downloaded fic (following the methods in this post) for the first time on my Kindle the font is always weird. The trick to fix it is to go and change the font from whatever is selected (Baskerville in my case) to "publisher's font" and then I've found that switching it back to "Baskerville" on the font selection screen activates the embedded Georgia... even though it will say that it's Baskerville? Idk why this is, I just wanted to let you know how I fix it.

Calibre defaults to a justified text alignment unless you change the default settings. This appears as "original" in the alignment options. The random too-large spaces between words of a justified alignment give me the ick so to make everything left aligned, I stay on the "look & feel" page but move to the "text" tab where I can change the alignment.

Staying on "look & feel," move to the "layout" tab. To ensure even paragraph spacing regardless of how it appeared on the archive, I select both the "remove spaces between paragraphs" and "insert blank line between paragraphs" options.

On this page, you can also change the indent size of the first line of every paragraph (highlighted pink,) and the size of the blank lines Calibre will insert between paragraphs upon conversion (highlighted green.) I set the indent to 0.0 and leave the line size 0.5 which is the default.

The last thing I do is go to "EPUB output" on the left sidebar and check the box labeled "insert inline table of contents." This just means that Calibre will add a table of contents to the beginning of the EPUB. (By default it puts the TOC at the end which I don't like.)

When everything is set as you'd like it, click "ok" on the bottom right and Calibre will convert the MOBI file you downloaded from ao3 to an EPUB containing the settings we just changed. Both file types will appear in your library when you click on the fic and scroll within the right-side window. I usually delete the MOBI format after I have the EPUB because I don't need it any longer.

And you've done it! Now all you have to do is either right-click and share it to your Kindle, or you can "save to disk" and download the EPUB file to transfer to your e-reader by a method of your choosing.

I hope someone finds this marginally helpful. In truth, I was just bored so I made this post but in light of the recent DDoS attacks against ao3, I think everyone should look into downloading their favorites so that you're never left out in the cold again.

Happy fanfic downloading <3

#fanfiction #acotar fanfiction #ao3 #archive of our own #download fanfiction #downloading fanfic #calibre #fanfic #fanfiction cover #how to guides #fanfiction on ao3 #fanfiction on kindle #read fanfiction #fandom things

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zepskies · 8 months ago

Note

Hey, Zep! Quick question-

How did you manage to build your Tumblr following?

Ahh, great question, lovely anon!

A few key things I've done to build my following:

1. Posting my stories consistently. ✍🏽

When I started getting active on Tumblr last year, the lovely feedback I was getting spurred me on to keep writing, so I did! I wrote more last year than I probably ever have. But I also try to do so consistently.

I give people a heads up on when things are going to post (Marketing 101: If you want people to get excited, make sure they know when things are coming their way). And I did my best to stick to those deadlines.

Life can sometimes get in the way (shit happens, amirite?), but on the whole, I try to stay consistent. When people know they can rely on you, they're more likely to tune in every time you post.

I also give sneak previews of chapters and upcoming stories for that same reason. (I write chapters ahead of posting partly for this reason.) It can be a powerful hook when I'm writing a series in particular, to keep people invested by giving them a preview of what's coming in the next chapter. 💗

2. I try to make it easy for people to find me. 🧐

Use the right # tags. If it's an OC character in a pairing, don't use the reader tag (and vice versa). But do use the most popular pairing tags relevant to your story, fandom, character tags, genre, etc.

Tumblr currently allows you up to 30 tags that can be optimized/indexed by the site.

Anything after that is just to organize your blog and make things easier to find. I've seen a lot of brilliant writers/content creators miss out on getting eyes on their post because they're not using the more popular search tags.

(Tumblr helps you find some of them when you start typing in the tags section of a post.)

I also reorganized my masterlist so that the characters I write for are as easy as possible to find, what pairings I write for, and how people can keep reading if it contains multiple parts (including a link in the previous part, clearly labelling, including links to my other relevant masterlists within the fandom).

I include links everywhere: for my fic library side blog, for my masterlists, for sequels, other stories within the same storyverse, for my Ao3 account, for my Patreon, etc. I’ve worked in content marketing and editorial, so I've learned that navigation is key for the reader/user experience.

**Special Note on tag lists: Tumblr recently changed the rules (again). It seems that you can have up to 50 tagged users on a post, but they must be broken up into groups of 5 for the site to properly tag those users.

Example:

3. Engaging with people and replying to comments, reblogs, and asks. 💞

#1, this is just good fun. I LOVE engaging with people who read my work, and often I've become friends with people on here just by reaching out to one another to express our mutual love of fandom and/or each other's work.

At the ends of one-shots, drabbles, and series chapters, I try to engage with my readers by asking them specific questions about what they thought about the story. If they feel inclined, that may provoke them to answer in the comments or in the form of a reblog.

And when I reply to reblogs in particular, there's a reason I label them "reader appreciation." Because I genuinely do appreciate them! (And you. 😉)

Writers thrive on feedback, and I'm no exception. But also, it's just awesome to have that connection with my lovely readers. Many of them are now my friends. 🥰

Thank you for this question! I hope this helps.~

#ask me stuff #building a following #tumblr stuff #fandom stuff #tumblr tips #tumblr things #spn #supernatural #big sky #the boys #10 inch hero #smallville #dawsons creek #tracker #tumblr tagging #writers on tumblr #zepskies answers

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hisui555 · 30 days ago

Text

Okay. I've had it.

Folks, I think I need a bit of help here.

It appears I have been shadowbanned by Tumblr since now 3 days, reported it to Tumblr 2 days ago and they sent me a ticket in the following hours.

I've already sent a formula detailing the problem but I can repeat it here - it affects my two blogs entirely, as they don't show up in any tags at all no matter what I write as tags (and all those tags are SFW content).

My main one is hisui555 (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hisui555), which I use for posting my art (#hisuionyx art), reposting things I deem interesting, and reblogging kickstarters and donation fundraisers for people in need (currently Palestine, it was Ukraine before), under the appropriate tags (#donations #fundraiser #help gaza #help palestine #free palestine, etc).

My secondary one is TPOH-VF (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tpoh-vf) which I use for posting the French translation of a British webcomic called The Property of Hate, with full consent of the author, and among the classic popular tags (#the property of hate, #tpoh) it has unique tags (#la nature de la haine #lndh #lndh rgb #lndh héros #lndh sokett # lndh clic #lndh mélodie #lndh julienne, etc) that usually show up in wide-pages posts when researched, yet for some reasons don't exist anymore when I go visit them by clicking on said tags (while up to Wednesday 23/10 they worked just fine) and whatever post I make under the popular tags cited previously doesn't show up in the tag search pages at all, recent or not.

Both blogs have been running since at least July 2024 (TPOH-VF, the other is more than 10 years old), so not recent, their visibility settings toggled on the right way, and no post has been set to private either. All filters are correct and in order.

Both blogs being currently invisible to outside people diminishes visibility for the ones I reblog fundraisers for, being in dire need of it and the author I wish to support by expanding their fandom through translating their work. (Also I would like people to give feedback on my art and get that beautiful interactions and fun comments serotonin, dangit ><)

What could have gone wrong :

The algorithm might have taken me for a spam-bot, as I reblogged a lot of fundraisers in a short amount of time, and usually I post 19 pages of translated content on the sideblog (1 chapter a week) all at once, modifying them to include links as I go.

I just also got the recent surprise of finding out one of my drawings was classified as "explicit sexual content" when actually it was an 8 years-old fanart depicting a fight (Alex Mercer from Prototype VS a Deathclaw from Fallout New Vegas, if you're curious). That one got solved in two hours as I made my case and obtained clearance, the pic is now unblocked. This might have wrongly tipped the algorithm into thinking my content counts as risky, when it's not.

(Like, THIS is the pic.)

(Wonder how weird you have to be to think a fully clothed man fighting a beast are getting it on. It's mild gore at best, and the black&white tones it down. Plus anyone knowing about Fallout and Prototype knows both game have worse content, like, say, a man literally absorbing people in a gory mess to replenish fleshmass, and as for Fallout (New Vegas) I just need to say the words "Sierra Madre" and "Beyond the Beef" - anyone finding this too disturbing for them shouldn't have been interacting with those games in the first place.)

Or, simply enough, it's a glitch.

Tumblr's guidelines have been, er, meh at best for help, so if you have any advice, shoot, because right now this is driving me up the wall.

It's not just a specific tag problem, it's affecting my whole account : the sole 2 blogs I have became invisible for people that aren't mutuals, any new post I make doesn't appear in the research no matter what I tag (I reblogged and posted as tests) since Thursday 24/10, and while I can interact through asks and messages with not-mutuals, it docks visibility from those I reblog, and those that would like to know my content.

Thanks for your help in advance

-HisuiOnyx

#hisuionyx #help #shadowban problem #unwaranted shadowban #tumblr shadowban #advice needed #support already contacted #ticket obtained

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salchat · 2 months ago

Note

Do you have an Ao3 account? I love your art, and you mentioned you were working on a fic in one of your posts and I would love to read some!!

Yes, I do! I'm easy to find because I'm Salchat there too! But here's a link...

The fic I'm working on at the moment is based (roughly) on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and my gosh, I'm having so much fun with it! It's my first venture into the omegaverse because I really wanted that dynamic and I'm loving it!

It's also the first time I've rough-drafted and written scenes out of order - I usually hone and refine as I go. But this is sprawling in all directions. There's a lot written - maybe 70,000 words? - but still a lot to write. I can’t post any yet because details keep changing. Although, I could give you a snippet, couldn’t I?

Here's part of chapter 1. I've hijacked Mrs Butters and had to make her rather unpleasant. Dean is her hired omega companion (not in a sexy way) and they're staying at a hotel vaguely in the South of France.

A gust of warm, savoury air and a swell of noise at his back announced the opening of the kitchen door. Dean hunched forward so he didn’t get a tray dumped on his head. But the waiter was one of the more agile. He swerved around Dean, hung a right and brought the tray down in a sweeping arc, perfectly timed to present its load to the occupant of the next table - who looked up at his meal and smiled.

And okay, yeah, it was a nice-looking hamburger. Normally it would have had Dean transfixed, salivating with envy. But it wasn’t the juicy patties and shiny, domed bun that brought Dean’s mind, his heart, his every-fucking-thing to a juddering halt.

Dean hadn’t seen the ocean until he was fifteen. Before that it had been one dusty town after another, Dad dragging him and Sammy around like unwanted baggage. But when a job had finally taken them to the coast, it’d been like all the heat and grime was washed away by that fresh, salty air. And the colours in that huge ocean had taken his breath away.

It was the same now. The drab, grey despair that made up Dean’s life was suddenly gone, and his world was full of ocean blue depths in the eyes of this strange alpha – strange but gorgeous, from his eyes to the soft bow of his lips to the commanding strength of his nose.

Dean was heartily glad of his over-powdered cheeks. Fuck, what was he thinking, blushing over some rich alpha who wouldn’t look at Dean once, let alone twice? He really needed to get a hold of himself.

But the way that guy was looking at the burger was like he hadn’t eaten in years. The shadows beneath his cheek bones looked sharper than they should, and beneath his eyes too - little round ridges of dark cast by the bright chandeliers above them. This alpha needed burgers and plenty of them. Dean’s skin itched with the need to cook and cosset and caress, and Jesus fucking Christ, he was really losing it here, wasn’t he? Really giving into his inner lapdog who just needed an alpha to boss him around to be happy.

The waiter flickered across Dean’s vision again and Mr Novak was left alone to enjoy his hamburger. He picked up his knife and fork and raised them. Which was a thing you did, Dean supposed, in a high-class dining room. You ate a burger with a knife and fork. But then the alpha's forehead crinkled into the suggestion of a frown. He shook his head. His rounded lips flattened into a tiny smile. He put down his silverware. And he picked up the burger in both hands.

“Close your mouth, Dean.” Mrs B’s spoon scraped her bowl, chink, chink, chink, even though there was hardly any of the creamy sauce left.

Dean closed his mouth. Then his eyes returned to the table over her shoulder. Mr Novak hadn’t taken a bite. He was still holding his hamburger in two hands, staring at it like he’d found the Holy Grail.

Then his eyes flicked up and fastened onto Dean’s. Dean should look down. He should drop his eyes like the shitty little omega-nothing that he was. Instead he stared into the ocean.

And Mr Castiel Novak smiled at him. Just a little smile. Barely there before it was gone, and then he was chowing down on his meal, all his attention on his food, his eyes closing as he chewed his first mouthful, then opening again to get a load of the burger cross-section he’d created. Did it have pickle, Dean wondered? Mayo, cheese, the works? Would he bite down through the whole lot, getting all the flavours in at once, in between those perfect pink lips? And was Dean salivating over the man or the burger?

He was looking at Dean again. Looking and smiling and nodding as if they were having an actual conversation about how great hamburgers were in general and this one in particular.

“Dean!”

A sharp pain on his knuckles brought Dean’s attention snapping back to his employer.

“Dean! Bridge! The Spanish drawing room!”

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am.” Bridge. Of course it was time for bridge. His world closed in with an almost audible snap. Bridge was played at eight o’clock sharp every night and Dean and Mrs B were there, every single night; she to play and gossip and drink sherry, he to sit in a corner and try not to exist too loudly until he was needed.

He pushed his chair back, clumsily, and was sworn at by a passing waiter.

“Dean!”

Jeez. He wasn’t the one who’d sworn, was he?

“Yes, ma’am.” He rounded the table and pulled out his employer’s chair and collected up her purse and her wrap. And he didn’t even glance over his shoulder to the most perfect alpha he’d ever seen, as he followed her to another evening of excruciating dullness in his excruciatingly dull life.

#supernatural #fic #destiel #omegaverse

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