#Can I have a favorite part of my own work?

[incorrectbatfam]

One thing I rarely see in injury and chronic pain fics is the grief that comes with missing out on stuff you love because you can no longer do them without hurting yourself. Writers who have been disabled their whole lives (or at least a long time) tend to forget that not all disabled people are used to being disabled. For able-bodied characters, especially athletic ones like vigilantes, a serious injury could mean a jarring change that includes giving up the things that mean the most to them.

I was physically fine until I was 18. Back then, my sense of self was entwined with interests that required a lot of movement and dexterity. I started doing MMA in middle school for self-defense. I loved parkour and even had a few hundred subscribers on my old YouTube channel. I learned to shoot and was gifted my first gun when I was 16. I took up multiple instruments. You get the idea.

My motorcycle accident fucked up the joints on my left side—my knee and shoulder especially, but also wrist to an extent. When it first happened, I thought I'd be on crutches for a bit but things would eventually get back to normal. The pain didn't go away even after I got rid of the crutches but I figured it was just residual and I should do what I'd been doing before. It's why I turned to substances—to block the pain and do what I love, but that's another topic. I didn't recognize my injury as a disabling thing until the end of the pandemic, when I put my parkour channel on an indefinite hiatus because it was seriously wearing my body down. It might sound silly to you but I was devastated. It's like if Spider-Man wasn't allowed to swing from buildings. It took me a long time to make peace with losing that part of me.

Another piece of that grief is even when you can do stuff, it's not the same because you have to exclude certain aspects of it for your own health. It's like the Robin that died and came back wrong. I can't use certain gym equipment and I have to tell my sparring partners what to avoid. I don't go to the shooting range much now because I can't extend my arm and hold a rifle for the amount of time it takes to aim without it starting to hurt. I'm a drummer, but I need breaks throughout the setlist and I can't do anything too fast or complex with the pedals, which means I can't play some of my favorite songs and my band is limited in what we write and perform. I can't take my motorcycle on road trips without frequent rest stops. Making accommodations helps physically, but emotionally, they're not always easy to accept because that means accepting the pain as a long-term disability rather than a temporary setback.

This got super long because I think it's unexplored in fics so some tips for creators:

First, learn how the body works and how stupidly fast and easy it is to get hurt. Mine was on a residential road because I didn't pay attention for 0.2 seconds

Learn the difference between internalized ableism and being upset over becoming disabled. I think a lot of writers skip over the feelings someone would naturally experience because it can be construed as ableism. Let them be in denial, sad, angry, etc. upon finding out because acceptance almost never happens right away. That's different from being a dick to themselves or others based on disability

Also, not everyone uses the same labels or has the same vocabulary to describe themselves. Different characters will have different ways of describing depending on their personality, level of knowledge, where they come from, and their relationship with their disability. I still don't really call myself disabled since I don't have it as bad as others so I tell people what happened instead (anyone who says "differently abled" will receive a different ability from me in the Denny's parking lot)

Think about how they cope with their new disability. Do they realize it's a disability right away? Do they talk to someone? Search desperately for a cure? Numb the pain? Turn to alternative methods? Do they worry about something else first, like money? Do they develop something else because of it, like a mental illness? Again, coping poorly is not ableism

What stays the same and what changes? I think about the difference between Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan after they were both wounded in battle

If they have a passion they can no longer pursue, it doesn't make much sense for them drop it so readily. Maybe they find a way to continue with accommodations (a good place to get creative!). Maybe they try and push through anyway. If they do ultimately resign, include the thought process and internal conflict behind it

[thydungeongal]

No one here is saying that something needs to be "confrontingly queer" to count as queer. For an example, one of my favorite queer RPGs, Monsterhearts, does its queerness largely through allegory (even though it is a textually and mechanically queer game, it also uses monsters to communicate the theme of queerness, so it is in part allegorical), so games that do queerness largely through subtext are valid!

D&D has no queer subtext! So that's also why it's not a queer game! :)

Also, really, we don't need to come up with this completely mythologized history of D&D to make it seem queer to us. To give D&D the pass that it counts as a queer game for vague vibes-based reasons does a complete disservice to actual queer games.

Also like "if something must appear overtly & confrontingly queer to (...) Count As Queer... nothing fucking counts" I know you probably mean this hyperbolically but this comes of as incredibly dismissive following a thread where multiple people have posted links to games (some their own games!) that are in fact very queer! Those games are not nothing!

And look: I enjoy D&D and have for more than twenty years now, and I am queer. I do not want us to count D&D as a queer game for doing basically nothing queer as a game because it serves to do nothing but to dismiss the actually textually queer work of actual queer people.

D&D is already the elephant in the room: people can enjoy it and it's whatever. But there's absolutely no need to somehow validate it by also putting a big Queer stamp on it.

D&D is the Taylor Swift of TTRPGs by which I mean it's something with broad mainstream appeal and name recognition and also there are people out there who pretend it's gay

[green-apple-juice]

I love Angbang for how important they were to each other—not just during some limited period, but for most, if not all, of their long existence.

Their roles in each other’s lives were unmatched and irreplaceable. Mairon wasn’t just one of Melkor’s many servants; he was "the greatest and most trusted", who "had a part in everything Melkor did". He remained loyal to Melkor for thousands of years, never rebelling or attempting to overthrow him to claim power for himself. Mairon never betrayed him, but instead "desired Melkor’s triumph while he still stood". Even after being left alone, Mairon carried Melkor’s legacy, both willingly and unwillingly, deeply affected by his master. He "rose like a shadow of Morgoth", built a literal fucking temple in Melkor’s name, and led an entire nation to ruin while invoking him. He became the next Great Enemy of Middle-earth, and in the end "walked behind his master on the same ruinous path down into the Void".

It’s impossible to discuss Mairon without constantly referencing Melkor. His character can’t be fully analyzed without acknowledging the profound influence Melkor had on him. Mairon had other masters in the beginning—Aulë, and of course Eru— but there’s no indication he ever "adored" them. He betrayed them both to follow Melkor and never wavered in that decision.

At the same time, their relationship isn’t just a simple "king x simp" dynamic. Tolkien gives us enough details to make their connection far more complex, nuanced, and fascinating. Mairon "was able to achieve things first conceived by Melkor, which his master did not or could not complete in the furious haste of his malice". Mairon "knew more of the Music than did Melkor" and "was wiser than him". Melkor embodies chaos, while Mairon values order and coordination.

Their relationship is already so compelling and vital to the plot as it is in canon, but adding romance to it—whether more fluffy, angsty, or something in between—works extremely well. It offers so much creative freedom to explore how their love might have been conceived and developed: knowing each other in the early days of Arda, Melkor convincing Mairon to turn his back on Eru and the Valar, their happy time together before the First War, Melkor’s imprisonment in Mandos and their 3,000-year separation, their reunion, ruling together until the War of Wrath, another separation, and Mairon being left alone but still remembering his love and carrying it with him. He continues moving forward, wanting both to become Melkor’s heir and to forge his own path, and maybe, deep down, hoping that his master will return for him, just as he once already did.

The specifics of how you interpret their relationship, even if you ship it, can vary—and that’s part of the charm. For me, they’re undeniably my favorite couple/duet in all of Tolkien’s works—THE ship.

[ctrlhope]

Lily pleaseeee share your favorite ot7 hybrid fics, i can’t find any 😭😭😭😭

OMGGGG BB YOUVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE OKIEEE I LOVE OT7 FICS REAL BAD

I’ve been reading hybrid fics p much since I started reading bts fanfics so… I can hook u up dastardly style 🤩 links under the cut <33

so before I start listing ima be so fr and say I like most of my hybrid fics verryy formulaic. i p much only ready hybrid bts x human reader and I really enjoy the whole plot of ‘y/n inherits bts and doesn’t know what to do!’ Or ‘y/n sees 7 hybrids at the shelter who need help and doesn’t know what to do!’. It feels sooo chicken noodle soup to me and it feels good for my soul <33 so I hope these fics feel like chicken noodle soup for u too and that you love them as much as I do <33

Series

Abundance ✰ @angelicyoongie

HYBRID CLASSIC FICCCC actually one of the first hybrid fics I think I ever read?? Def the first hybrid ot7 which is kinda crazy 😭 perfect chicken soup for the soul <33 probably the basis for the way I like hybrid fics I read formatted now!! you can really see how the authors writing grew with this fic. Was the fic that made me fall in love with hybrids, actually. I love all of her work so bad man [last updated: 10/4/24]

Trouvaille ✰ @spookyserenades

on my main recs list for a REASON!!! MODERN OT7 CLASSIC FIC!!! if you like the slowest of burns… you’ll enjoy this fic heavily. once again my favourite chicken-soup style so I can’t help but recommend it <33 I have… so many words id like to say about coyote jimin and hoseok… but I will remain silent for my own dignity 😔love all of her work terribly <33 [last updated: 8/17/24]

SeVen Uncaged ✰ @/missing_min_meowmeow (ao3) and @/polaritae (ao3)

two part series (first half completed, second half not) detailing the difficulties of adopting 7 hybrids reader was completely unprepared for 🙂‍↕️ YESSS MA’AM!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! I love how this fic goes into the details of how difficult mentally and physically this kind of change would be for the hybrids. I love the characterisation of each of the boys. I LOVE IT!!!! pls give this series a chance it is so definitely worth it even though it’s unfinished. A love it terribly, in its entirety. I LOVE FLAWED CHARACTERS!!! [last updated: 9/11/23]

Restitution ✰ @/cloudtea (ao3) @cloudteawrites (tumblr)

like I said I REALLY like fanfics where reader comes into a bunch of hybrids and has to deal with the consequences 😭 that being said, this has exactly everything I love in a hybrid fic, I absolutely love the concept, and the stories of where each of the guys came from before. THIS is exactly what I mean when I say a chicken soup fic— warm and comforting. Hopefully the author will come back to it someday <33 it’s so good even though it’s just the beginning [last updated: 4/19/21 — permanent hiatus]

Loving You Isn’t Hard to Learn ✰ @/arduouslove (ao3) @arduouslove (tumblr)

MANNN ITS SO WARM AND COMFORTING!!! like,, i know i keep saying chicken soup and IM SORRY BUT THATS WHAT THESE ARE FOR ME!!! I absolutely adore the concept of a motel for hybrids to go when they need help. And I really love the development we’ve seen so far between Hoseok and jimin. Another fic that was left at the beginning, but truly lovely. Another one I hope the author updates again someday <33 [last updated: 03/07/23]

Still Life ✰ @/king_myg (ao3)

OKAY NO YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THIS IS ACTUALLY LIKE,,, ONE OF MY FAVOURITE HYBRID FICS IVE READ!! The concept behind it is just so,, intriguing. It’s a yandere fic, so it has that edge to it but the way jungkook just *is* is so…. No you actually just have to read it to understand. I love this fic sooo bad actually. And Yoongi who pretends not to be a hybrid… and!! I really can’t express in words how exciting this was for me to read. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the guys relationships develop with the reader. [last updated: 5/22/24]

Home Calls the Heart ✰ @anonnie-in-wonderland

verryyy cute ot7 fic <33 the first chapter just feels very warm and soft. its adorable how tae wants to 'adopt' a human for his family even though he doesn't quite understand the repercussions of it [last updated: 12/17/22]

About love ✰ @mochiimac

One of my favourite tropes of reader coming into hybrids and them all hating each other right off the bat!! The writing style feels so safe too <33 [last updated: 04/24/3]

A Hundred Percent Human ✰ @/wrienne (ao3) @wrienne (tumblr)

Another CLASSIC ot7 hybrid fic!! I remember reading the first few chapters before I took a break from fanfics back in the day. Each of the characters (bts memebers) are so interesting and I love the personalities the author made around them as well as all the world building they did within the fic. The class system was so interesting to me and TAEHYUNG??? God, such a fun and dynamic story!! Highly recommend you check it out [last updated: 7/24/23]

Daddy’s Money Makes the World Go Round ✰ @/That_Author (ao3)

SOOO warm and comfortable. Guarddog Namjoon rlly just wants to keep the reader safe even though her parents are mean. Their relationship (as well as the rest of the guys that come into the home) is just SO sweet n gentle <3 [last updated: 10/28/22]

Oneshots

Secret Story of the Swan ✰ @purpleyoonn

one of the few yandere fics on the list and oh so sweet <33 the way they gently lure reader is so 🥺 and she gives in easily to their charms 🥺 v cute little oneshot <33 love her a lot

Beastly Gods ✰ @lemonjoonah

A CLASSICCCCCC one of the only (other) yandere fics on this list. mostly taehyung x reader w/ implied ot7 x reader ++ drabbles featuring ot7 x reader. I love this fic so much actually you don’t understand. It holds such a special place in my heart PLS READ IT!!

Tangled Hearts ✰ @writersrealmbts

Adorable look into readers life with 7 hybrids <33 truly love how this fic played out and the interactions the members had with eachother and the reader. ITS JUST REAL CUTE OKAY!!!! Makes me all soft nd gushy!! Very cute <33 i love it.

To Be Read / Currently Reading

Kindness ✰ @/angelaronin (ao3)

Stray Cat Strut ✰ @/typhloticharuspex (ao3)

Meritocracy ✰ @/saylilirose (ao3)

The Dog Days are Over ✰ @/mintedmango (ao3)

Redamancy ✰ @/dalgi_jungoo (ao3)

A Sweet Change ✰ @/kagsii (ao3)

Peculiar Pack ✰ @/dollremi (ao3)

If anyone has any reads I didn’t mention comment them or message me them!!

** I’ll update this as I read more / find more fics I’ve read in the past that I enjoyed!! By no means is it complete, these are just the fics I’ve read/reread recently nd enjoyed <33 Currently going through my tumblr likes to see if I’ve missed any <33 ✰ last updated: 01/19/25

Main Rec List | individual/poly hybrid rec list (coming soon)

[obscoros]

Humanformers time! I have all of their designs with the jumpsuits done (thought it’d be cute if they had a matching uniform, even though I headcanon that in this universe, Ratchet and Pharma do their best not to wear it whenever possible). Not the happiest with Pharma’s but I can always come back to it.

Design breakdowns & my thoughts for each character below the cut. 🫶

Ratchet

Ratchet doesn’t like to wear her combat medic uniform- she prefers her simple lab coat and slacks. The additional armored plating makes everything feel too real and she’d rather not confront the big emotions she has with the war and what that means as a doctor and CMO.

The armored chest plate is blue to mimic Ratchet’s windshield plating that some iterations of his root mode have, and there are some ECG motifs as a reference to TFP Ratchet. I like Ratchet being more red, but I kept her hair orange as a reference to TFP and IDW.

Here are her other looks!

First Aid

My favorite design of the 4. Unlike Ratchet, First Aid prefers to wear the jumpsuit because it’s comfortable and practical, and has her own unique jacket she often wears over top.

First Aid’s mask translates really well to a human healthcare worker, and instead of giving her a helmet that’s an exact replica of First Aid’s helm, I gave her a hat and had her hair in buns that mimic the way it frames her face.

This version of First Aid sort of reminds me of an EMT. She isn’t one, but I took inspiration from EMT and first responder uniforms with her in general, due to how quick on her feet she’d have to be working directly under Ratchet and the chaos that ensues in the medbay.

Ambulon

I’m not sure how well I achieved it, but I wanted her jumpsuit to look ill-fitting and slightly worn compared to the others which fit them more tightly. The cuffs of the pants are too wide and the scalloped collar flares more than it should. The jumpsuit wasn’t always hers, after all. There are elements of Ambulon’s paint scratches, from the scuffs on her boots to the purple turtleneck she wears underneath.

She has a chevron she wears as well, but I accidentally made her bangs way too cute and so I wanted to showcase both. Her hair isn’t naturally blonde- all part of her trying to fly under the radar and try not to be recognized for her former alliances.

Pharma

This design killed me. I might come back to it but I knew that my humanformer Pharma wouldn’t wear this jumpsuit if she could help it, just like Ratchet.

Gave her white hair and a red chevron in reverse of Pharma’s normal colors because it made her unique compared to the other medics.

Long coat covering the jumpsuit because she thinks it’s ugly.

She’s a very classy individual, and I wanted to have each unique element she added to the medic uniform represent that.

[cowboylikeyouu]

yes omg finally people who understand!! i always see people on tiktok talking about fake scenarios but they all insert themselves and i just.. don't. never have, never will. i've been doing this constantly since i was like 7, and for the past 5 years it's been mostly winterhawk scenarios, but it all started out so batshit crazy i just have to write it down here, i apologize in advance lmao

it all started with filly unicorns?? i collected all of them and had a bunch of CDs and i was always imagining stories about them. ashia was my absolute favorite, she was the first one i ever had, and she always featured as the main character in every scenario.

then i got to the 4th harry potter book and was SO obsessed with it that i was like "i need ashia to go to hogwarts & be a part of the tournament!!" so that's exactly what i did. i made her attend hogwarts multiple times in my mind, she was a part of the marauders, of the golden trio, once she became a teacher afterwards, once she was minister of magic, that girl has done it all.

then i read gregor the overlander by suzanne collins and was obsessed with it for quite some time, so obviously ashia got herself a nice bat to fly on, and bc i kinda got attached to my own personal harry potter univserse, it just all kept existing in that same universe lol.

then came the hunger games obsession, so ofc i threw ashia into the arena, alongside some harry potter & gregor characters, and i all slaughtered them in my head at the ripe age of 11 bc HEY, it all in my head i can just rewind and they're all alive again yay!!!

mind you, ashia is still a purple unicorn lmao and it's impossible to explain the logistics behind all of this. she obviously took the role of katniss when i threw her into hunger games & used a bow & everything, and i have no fucking clue how that worked with her being a unicorn and all. but hey. MAGIC!!!!

most of the characters were in a band together as well at some point and went on tour and everything, bc being a hogwarts student, hogwarts teacher, minister of magic, hunger games victor & mentor and a commander in a weird underground war with gigantic animals obviously wasn't enough for our favorite purple unicorn ashia!! the band stuff was a crucial step tho that's still very present in my fake scenarios today lol bc i never had the ability to listen to music normally, i always had to imagine someone either performing it live or in a music video. so every. single. song. i listened to back then went straight into my daydreaming databank where i tried to find a way to somehow relate it to one of the characters so that i could imagine that they were the one who wrote & performed it.

at some point between this era and the next i decided that ashia being a unicorn was too ridiculous for me now, so i spent an entire day customizing her human design in my mind until i was satisfied with it.

THEN came the skulduggery pleasant obsession (especially the dead men obsession) and it was such a major obsession that i deleted the entirety of the harry potter x hunger games x gregor universe from my head, got rid off all the characters except for a ashia, and made her a part of the dead men (pretty much the avengers of the SP universe) & made dexter vex (one of the dead men) fall in love with her (i was SO obsessed with that man back then). i was always imagining them on missions & in wars, and ashia or dexter always got horribly injured, bc man i was always starving for the hurt/comfort.

i kinda missed the whole band-thing tho bc again, it was the only way i could actually enjoy listening to music, and bc i hadn't really understood the concept of multiple universes back then, i always felt like i had to squeeze everything i wanted for those characters into one universe, so i made the dead men split up, and ashia & dex became a super successful music duo, and then i always jumped back & forth in time depending on if i wanted dead men content or music content.

it went on like this for quite some time, until i finally discovered winterhawk in 2019.

it took me exactly one avengers tower fanfiction to be like "okay bye dead men" and start daydreaming about the avengers instead. ashia was still my baby tho, and dexter was her baby, so i took them both to the mcu with me. at first, i was still mostly daydreaming about those two becoming a part of the avengers & stuff, until i was SO obsessed with clint & bucky that my entire attention focused on them, and that hasn't changed one single bit since then.

the same music problem occurred, so naturally, the avengers became a band as well as superheroes. at the same time. makes total sense. that was also the time where i was old enough to really be on tiktok & shit, and i wanted social media to be a part of my daydreaming as well, so i made all the avengers couples adopt some teenagers who then had tiktok accounts. in retrospect, that was the cringes era by far, but i was 13/14 alright, cut me some slack.

anyways, that was also the time where i REALLY started discovering ao3 and reading 250k words a day, and at some point between a high school & a coffee shop AU i FINALLY realized i could just... create multiple universes in my head.

and since then i've been throwing bucky & clint in a different universe every week, watching a whole fanfic series about it in my head, and then going to a new universe or revisiting an old one (ashia & dex still feature regularly, my mind just can't get rid of them)

my favs include but aren't limited to: at least 7 different actor AUs, 5 musician AUs, 3 AUs where bucky is an actor & clint a singer/songwriter, 1 avengers band AU, 6 different college AUs, 3 different high school AUs, 2 doctor AUs, multiple teacher AUs including some teacher x single!dad stuff, a hogwarts AU, a hunger games AU, a skulduggery pleasant AU (notice how we're going back to my roots?), a model AU, and multiple productions of various relativ tv shows with the avengers as the contestants.

i definitely enjoy the singer/songwriter AUs the most bc i can & will find a way to relate every single song to them in that AU, even if it takes an entirely new universe where they're in completely different situations. i have so many playlists that are basically just fictional albums for different AUs, it's my fav past time activity.

whoah okay that was a long one, but yeah that's where i'm at rn. i'm always imagining those stories while falling asleep, but i do it at almost all other times as well. long car/bus/train rides? i'm daydreaming. taking a walk? i'm daydreaming. boring lecture? i'm daydreaming. zoning out of a conversation to recharge? i'm daydreaming. watching a movie/show? 70% chance i'm daydreaming while watching it so i'm basically watching two things at the same time. it gets annoying sometimes when i gotta be productive but the story in my head just hits too hard to stop thinking about it, but most of the time it's a goddamn blessing bc i can literally never be bored. there's always something to watch in my mind 🤷🏼‍♀️

anyways, sorry op for yapping in ur reblogs😭

i can assure you, you're not the only one who's doing this to a concerning degree <3

Anyone else's only way of falling asleep is to make up fake scenarios of fictional characters in your head?

Like, I don't even insert myself, I'm just writing movies and shows in my head at this point.

Tonight's episode, Wade and Logan, tomorrow's? Who the fuck knows!

(Seriously. I just write fanfiction of Wade and logan in my head to fall asleep. It's concerning, I know.)

[weebsinstash]

Omg more Viktor and Jayce pls that was so good

I keep gravitating back towards the scene where they have their first huge disagreement, the whole "I'M from the Undercity" conversation, and I still feel like a disabled Reader who is from the Undercity is one of my favorite routes to go to pair Viktor up with

I keep feeling drawn to scenarios where Reader meets Viktor but not Jayce and you inadvertently, unintentionally, cause a big rift between the two of them because Jayce says or does something fucked up to you that stabs Viktor in the back in the same way as that conversation

Like could you even imagine if Viktor is already forming feelings for you and here's Jayce, talking about how he doesn't trust you, you aren't like the two of them, you're too anxious and twitchy like you're planning something, how Viktor needs to stop letting you hang around. Just envision in your mind Jayce just REALLY REALLY being riled up and saying something like, "I'm tired of having to worry about them stealing something while they're constantly just limping around--" and here's Viktor immediately coming to not just your defense but his own, "'Limping around'?LIMPING AROUND? Is that really what I heard tou say just now?!" like he's absolutely furious, because uh, what the FUCK is that supposed to mean, Jayce?

Jayce getting jealous when Viktor sidelines a project they're working on together because he wants to help you with a brace or he's inventing some sort of mobility aid for you, and Jayce being absolutely convinced you're taking advantage of Viktor and will stab him in the back. Jayce being jealous and feeling replaced when Viktor is constantly spending time with you to troubleshoot the aids he's built for you. Jayce really itching to work on this project but he can't find Viktor anywhere and he's running all over town and he catches you two... having lunch together. He's jealous. He's angry. He's feelin' a lil possessive for sure.

But also like. Reader feeling... insecure when Viktor heals his leg. I was just reading that this man is 5'10??? So you go from seeing him using his cane, kind of slouching at times, to having him stand at his full height before you, completely healed? It has you feeling... small in more ways than one to see that he's just... gotten better while YOU haven't, or maybe never will. Absolutely 100% you're happy for him but... you just wish you weren't dragging him down more than ever before now that you and him... are on even less equal footing than before

But then I also think of how Viktor's journey slowly corrupts him, or distorts his thoughts, and how a yandere obsession could... pile on top of that

He's healed his leg, he's feeling the rush and the high of running and having a fully functional body for the first time in his life. His chronic pain is gone. He keeps his cane but he's no longer REQUIRED to use it. He's high on life itself, like the entire world has opened up to him all over again. There are so many possibilities now. He feels like he can do anything he can put his mind to. And, of course, YOU are one of the first things he can think about. Now he can do so much more to help you! Protect you! Eliminate any dangers to you!

I couldn't decide if Viktor would want to heal the Reader's leg much like his own or if he would just keep you as you are. I mean, like if he could choose, make a distinction between helping that one singular part of yourself versus what he was doing to people like Salo. Maybe, through some sort of means, you were also touched by the Arcane, and you're able to keep your sanity while it heals your fragile body

(Mmm.... yandere Viktor who can remember you across timelines or gets glimpses of other realities... I love me a good timeline/multiverse "I'll keep going through this loop as many times as it takes to save you" oh wait shit you know what just happened, unlocked a new love for Ekko, we're gonna come back for him later)

Reader meeting Old Viktor or meeting him much in the same way young Jayce did because Viktor still loves you across timelines and he wants to keep every possible vestige of you safe, maybe with you even meeting a version of him who only learned the error of his ways after you had died. Old Viktor giving you something for protection from your current Viktor, maybe even giving you the rune or key to keeping your sanity to be safely healed by the arcane. It being Reader's destiny that meet Viktor and you both change each other's lives. But. Also. Old Viktor giving you something that actually helps young Viktor capture you or something though, too 👀 old Viktor needing to keep the loop going and being the first step on your long journey of becoming the apple of his own eye.

The absolute timeline fuckery potential of the catalyst to you meeting Viktor, being fucking Viktor. Old Viktor gives you some trinket and when you meet "your" version for the first time, the trinket is the first thing he notices, or something like, you drop The Thingy and it's while you're chasing that thing as it rolls or bounces or whatever, that's what causes you to collide with Viktor and meet him for the first time

Ngl.... the slightly mentally broken version of Jayce that's all scruffy and lugs that hammer around is kinda the only version of him I find like, HOT hot, and god 🥴 he has, juicier plot potential than the earlier versions of Jayce as well

To just spit it out, Viktor going through his whole Glorious Evolution and having his takeover but, deciding to keep Jayce and yourself as you are. Mentally broken newly born gods can have their beloved humans for forced companions/pets, as a treat. You and Jayce growing closer in your captivity. Jayce with everything he's lost developing new unhealthy attachments to one of the only things he has left: you. Viktor who may or may not be varying levels of indifferent or outright approving if Jayce were to be physically affectionate with you, developing to outright intimacy.

Who knows, maybe Jayce is sent through some Inception-style Homura-level timeline fuckery where he either learns the importance to the timeline and fate of the world that you're kept safe (which he might take to extreme degrees in effort of trying to do good) or he may just be driven mad with grief seeing so many outcomes where you die, and it's through these branching choices and timelines that he develops deeper feelings for you

But also!!! The version of Viktor who is going around healing people who has not gone full evil borderline cyborg yet also had his own dynamic to him! Live with your yandere lover on his peaceful hippie commune while everyone, like, grows crops for the needy and does borderline habitat for humanity level charity stuff but also there's this constant underlying unshakeable feeling everyone is a little off and cold, like physically cold? Like imagine you and Viktor having a touch-heavy love language because he's been your friend and helping you with your leg and a lot of that involved him needing to touch you, but also for you to trust him and lean on him and the other way around, and once Jayce revives him, the very first thing you notice when you hold his hand again for the first time is how much colder he is. And thus everyone else in the commune has that same sort of... 'something is off' hairs on the back of your neck 'this is the kind of shit dogs bark at' just all around unexplainable bad feeling (because somehow you can subconsciously sense thst everyone is. You know. Kind of. Kind of dead and it's not entirely clear if these are the original people or somehow copies of their consciousnesses)

Wait what's that? You say you don't feel comfortable being boxed in all the time not being able to leave the area and the vibes are honestly just creepy bad here and you're not exactly sure you agree with some of the stuff Viktor is talking about anymore? Did I say "peaceful hippie commune"? Sorry, I meant to say, "dedicated cult hivemind where the second Viktor even remotely suspects you of ANYTHING he has both the people keeping an eye open and he is watching you through their eyes and if you make it known to ANYONE that you're going to leave or escape or whatever the situation is, everyone will drop everything to stop you like it's the fucking Truman Show"

Some HEINOUS fuckshit like, you've got precious items to help you survive or escape hidden under your clothes and you're about to make your getaway and, oh a voice behind you! It's a little girl Viktor healed :) and she's oh so innocently and sweetly asking what you're doing and how nervous you are makes it immediately obvious that you're up to something. You laugh and try and make up a believable lie as soon as you can, "oh, i was feeling really bored so I wanted to jog around!" and she's just like "oh okay! But the jogging paths are the other way, though?" and she's being completely innocent about it. But. You take like. Just a little toooo long to respond, and suddenly she's just, POSTURE SUDDENLY JERKING UPRIGHT, the voice of a full grown man rising up from her throat,

"Please turn back, my love. I would hate to have to chase you"

[blacksea2109]

BATMAN BUY YOUR CHILD SUPPORT FOR YOUR POOR OVERWORKED WIFE 🦇👻

DPXDC

Doctor danny nightingale

The batfam jokingly adopt danny as their mom and make this Bruce problem . They go to him when they are angry or want to piss Batman off , poor danny nearly every night he found an injured vigilantes inside his apartment till he gives up and just fixed them and get them to sleep and eats , the funny part Alfred know and he helped them ( he secretly adopt danny 😉)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( Yes, this includes you tim no more coffee for you, mister). Yes, they in the end tell danny their identities, saying that now he can't get rid of them

Poor danny trying to relax after a very long long long tiring and traumatizing day at the hospital makes a huge cup of coffee mixed with chocolate and put a silly horror comedy sitting in his super comfy couch wearing an oversized hoodie and shorts, then suddenly there are a loud sound coming from his window , and someone swearing and yup here comes his unofficial kids to make his night more tiring, he just go and get his tools ready when he get back to the couch,

A bleeding nightwing with red hood waiting for him while red Robin so rudely drinking his coffee and Robin eating his vegan dinner,

Red hood : yoo, mom , can you fix big wing here ? This stupid birdie here he shot instead of RR

Danny, with a big tired mom, sings: I really am gonna make batman buy his overdue child support, and you RR stop drinking this and go sleep

Red Robin whined: but mooom i don't wanna

Danny with Alfred famous raised eyebrow : sleep now or i am telling Alfred, Robin sweetie there are also some vegan dessert and drinks for you , now let's fix you Wing and you are grounded till you get better

Nightwing: Not fair, mom . we all know that you have a favorite child 😢

Red hood : and that is not you big bro 😂 enjoy your time being grounded hahah

Danny: Hood, you too are grounded, don't you think I don't know about you trying to kill again!

Red hood : mom not fair and you aren't against killing like B then why 🥺

Danny : I don't care about those low lives. You can kill them, but you need to stop sometimes, honey, for your own good, ok ? And I don't need more stupid ghosts to annoy me 😒

After he fixed nightwing injury , and make sure ALl of them had ate something other than COFFEE Tim it is not FOOD YOUNG MAN , and get some Sleep Tim god help me of i didn't find you in the bed sleeping instead of working or you are so grounded,

( and danny had fight Tim and forced him to eat and sleep while jason laughed at them and get scold and this time Damian laughed in their faces while smirking because he knew that he is the favorite kid here fools mom will never grounded nor scolding him no matter what he do or not do 😎, because it will go like this)

He stabbed the suspects mom (dick)

Ma baby dami "gasped" lies he is just a baby (danny)

Wtf (Duke)

Just look to his innocent face , ma baby will never do this (danny)

I had it recorded ( jason)

I don't see anything wrong. Ma baby defended himself and saved the victim. I'm so proud of him while weeping a single tear (danny)

Mom gets mindcontroled(tim) because why else We get scolded and demon brat get a cookie 🍪 😒

Batkids: I don't have a favorite, my ass 😒

Damian 😏😎

After they finally FINALLY get to sleep, danny just finished what is left of his dinner and coffee while trying to relax with his kitten dami ( of course danny don'thave a favorite kid ), a black cat with green eyes ( was a gift from Damian) , batman get inside from the same window trying to intimidating danny but

Batman growled: Stop stealing my kids from me they are mine

Danny, with his eyebrow rising while stroking his kitten, is unimpressed, pointing at batman with the anti creep stick : well well see who finally showed his face , look here you furry , it is about time you get to buy me your overdue child support

Batman: my what now!!!

Danny : Your kids, plus your father ( bruce was so betrayed here how can they even you alfie ) adopted as their mama and I tried really hard to make this stop and what did they do just showed me their faces saying: now you can't get rid of us congrats your are a mom now and look they get me a nice apron saying: best mom in the universe and a little Robin also get my this beautiful kitty i named it dami say hi

Dami, the kitty with a glare that made Damian so proud: moew

And what makes this all funny is that it was recorded as a blackmail ( thanks, oracle). bruce won't get to live this down anytime soon 😂😂

So finally, bruce accepted defeat because how can he go against Alfred!! And he maybe maybe start to find this messy haird overworked pretty doctor just so gorgeous, opps the kids are planning to make this joke becomes a reality they start operation let's get doc mom and bat dad together 🦇👻, and Alfred already started the wedding preparation and pre ordered the rings 💍 ( let's get real here he is ALFRED " I will kill you on site if you dare hurting my family " pennyworth , )

Then behold gotham, Clark " cried " I'm so happy for you bruce,

The big news now read

Bruce wayne, the beloved prince of gotham, finally gets married from a lovely scary doctor who can get you fixed so he can kill you again and again!! You better fares for your life here comes danny wayne the gorgeous deadly princess of gotham .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hii my little spooks i hope you like this post,

I will add more to it later on, and for my other post

Red hood wife will get more parts, and i have so many different posts that only need to get edited first, sooo fell free to add or make you own piece but credit me and send me a link or tag me i will love to read your work , have a great night or day, and don't let the cute little blob ghosts bites you 🦇👻🦇👻🦇👻🦇👻🦇👻🦇👻

[omegastation]

Lore topics I enjoy thinking about for Mass Effect Trilogy Week:

Biotics: I remember countless conversations about biotics that made me look at the wiki to check my information, replay parts of the game and in general pay attention to how it all works out. I still think there are many things about them that I don't understand right now, and that's why I love it. It makes you think! Each species will deal with it in a different way too, they have their own history with their biotics and how they use them. For humans, L2 biotics like Kaidan are always a source of wonder to me. Sure, you can picture a badass biotic like Aria and 100% she showed extreme power during the Omega DLC so that's really fascinating to me as well, but to have those implants and to be able to master Reave?! I also think the lore is not... as solid as it could be regarding how each species treats their biotics. It sometimes feels like a bit of a X-Men situation (they're different, others fear them, possible medical issues...) but it's like the writers don't want to deal with the full implications. And I really wish we could have seen a bit more artistic/cultural displays of biotics. Btw, my biotic sports headcanons are here

Lifespan: I love that each species has a different lifespan and that it really shows in how they live their lives. An asari will not look at their youth like a salarian. Honestly, I'm mad at myself because someone wrote about this in the tag and made a good commentary on it and I can't find the post again. It was about how salarians process thoughts and feelings compared to other species. I hope I can find it soon, and if so I'll reblog it. It's always a fascinating topic!

Artificial intelligence: Geth, EDI and other AIs like SAM are what I mean here. I really do think the topic of designing your own platform should come out more in this universe. I've said it a billion times before but I really want EDI to design her own platform. And I really have no answer, but I have found that all the meta about Legion was always thought-provoking. Was does individuality mean? Does Legion need individuality? Does he need to say "I" or was he better as a collective, as something "other" that was just fine as it was, but we humans just find more meaning in him becoming an individual? Even the words I use here, I'm fully aware I use "he" all the time when refering to Legion, and sometimes I wonder if that's good or not. I don't know. 

Justice system: I've made one big post about it (9 years ago haha), but I really find the Spectres fascinating, as well as each species' version of judges/soldiers/spies/agents/workers etc. And prisons.

The trade language: EVERYWHERE in the game and we have so little information compared to the Quarian's language???

And my favorite lore: everything related to the krogan. I really think it ties to what Bakara says about being her Shaman's initiation being a brutal one "But an illuminating one. You learn to appreciate the light by living in the dark."  I love that their species not because they're perfect but because they're imperfect in a way that speaks to me. They understand despair, the deepest kind. They understand anger. And they're constantly underestimated. But I find a lot of beauty, joy and humor in them. I also love that they're rarely lying or playing games, they will tell you the honest truth and you either take it or leave it.

Will be happy to know your favorite parts of the lore!!!

[that-hippie-user]

*me trying to unravel my bizarre desires to achieve gender euphoria*

(aka dumb amusing autistic rant below for funsies to show how my thinking works. UwU)

okay so THIS Syzoth has the exact hair i would want with this fashion, which maks me realize that i dont think we EVER see canon Syzoth's hair beneath his hoodie.

Syzoth is a perfect gender envy for me fashion wize, his tattoos are cool, but i never considered whether his hair would be dysphoric for me because his hoodie IS basically part of his look and silhouette.

hoodies are instant euphoria for me because my fondest clothing memories are the teenage years i wore my favorite dysphoria hoodie, which i STILL OWN and wear to this day, so male Syzoth can continue to be an envy for me as long as i pretend he probably DOESNT have hair at all, because chances are if i saw dumb short hair id be thrown off.

now fem Syzoth ISNT a perfect replacement for me because she got booba, and while that fits for MK character design philosophy, all my favorite fem lizard gender envies have no booba because lizards also have no booba, nor do any reptiles for that matter.

BUT being pedantic if i wanted Syzoth to be the perfect gender envy for myself he wouldnt have a human form in the first place because humans are gross and that dumb girl i see in the mirror really pisses me off with her dumb stupid human face and she should leave me alone. >:(

but anyway, lizard Syzoth should then be my envy, but not all scalies are made equal, so if im being real i should absolutely specify which version of Reptile i envy most.

THEREFORE.

my ultimate gender envy Syzoth is his lizard form from Deadly Alliance, but wearing the MK1 outfit.

buuuuuut since i cant transition to lizard, i will instead set my sights on evoking the majesty that is fem Syzoth but without booba.

🤔 except that i took E already and HAVE booba now, so... i will simply maintain the envy like i do for twink proportions, which i know i will also never achieve.

anyway now i just need to learn to make costumes so i can make a cozy wearable cosplay to achieve gender perfection and-

:D OH HEY!!! Fem Syzoth gotta cute bow pin on her belt!

dats super cute!!! :3 love that, perfect design. easily a:

Flawless Victory

I can finally share with you my female version of Syzoth 💚 I had this idea since last year lol Its simple, if Syzoth is a sexy thicc man, his female design is a sexy thicc woman u3u

[letteredlettered]

Even though my favorite fic of yours is The Fall of the Veils, I just keep coming back to "Another Mask behind you"; I'm genuinely not sure how I interpret the characters in that fic, especially Harry in the end. Do you consider it an open ending? Because I keep going back and forth if I think Harry (can) ever fully forgive and love Draco. I also love that Im debating w myself if I think Draco will be a "second choice" to Harry when the first choice is also him

The ending is open in that not every thread is tied, and readers can come to their own conclusions about how Harry and Draco move forward.

I had originally intended to write a much longer fic. Draco would walk on eggshells, trying to make up for what he'd done and trying to be someone Harry would love just as much as Tristan. Harry's annoyed about it, because now that he knows who Draco is, he just wants Draco to be himself. But Harry eventually comes to see how truly difficult that is for Draco; Harry would see that he wasn't making things any easier. And then Harry would launch a campaign to demonstrate to Draco just how much Harry likes Draco as Draco, encouraging Draco to be comfortable and to be himself. And Draco finally does become comfortable enough to be himself...and finds out who he really is is Tristan in everything but the name and the face.

To me part of the point of the fic is that all the times when Draco is getting super cozy as Tristan, he's convinced he's not being himself at all. But what he's being is the version of himself he wishes he could have been, without the war, without his own specific history, without the laws after the war. But that's a version of himself Draco could still be if they both let go of the past, which neither of them is actually able to do.

But I do think Harry could do it; he already starts to do it by the end of the fic. He just needs more time. And while Draco is saying to Harry over and over again "I am Tristan," Draco himself doesn't believe it, which makes it harder for Harry to deal with because Draco is not acting Tristan, who was never trodden upon and hurt by war, would act. Tristan is basically Draco safe and comfortable and in love. And I think that Harry would see that before Draco and work on giving them both the reality they really want.

I just never got around to writing this. I probably won't, now that we're here ten years later, but who knows.

[strangerthingsfanworkrecs]

Artist Highlight: Jo-Harrington

This week, we're highlighting @jo-harrington! All recs this week will be for her work. @jo-harrington writes for the Stranger Things Fandom, with a special focus on xOC, and xReader fics. She's also a great beta-editor and design all the graphics for her fics! We're highlighting Jo for her incredible world building and strong OCs.

You should check out her Store Manager Verse fics for some great fluff and top-tier retail angst Jo answered some questions about her creative process and her work under the cut

Why Stranger Things?

I’ve been an avid ST Fan since the beginning. My old Store Manager and I watched the first episode in the backroom of our store while folding t-shirts and rest was history. Fic-wise, a certain Metalhead Dungeon Master brought me out of a fanfiction posting hiatus and I haven’t looked back since.

What's your favorite ship (platonic or romantic) to create for?

Platonic is always going to be the Hellfire Club boys. I love writing their adventures. Their friendship is epic and deserves to be explored and celebrated. Romantic…EddiexOC or EddiexReader. I mean, I’ve been an xOC girl since my first fandom. xReader is new for me but it’s almost an extension of xOC. I always joke that I’m allowed ONE epic borbo obsession love of my life per decade and I’ll give them one canon pairing but the rest are OCs.

What's your typical writing process like?

I have an idea, I write it down, I get sick of working on a chapter, I don’t edit, I post. (Which is funny because when I beta, I am a lot more detailed. But for my own work I just need it out of my head.) It might not be the best. It could probably read better or have less typos or mistakes. But it’s always from the heart.

How do you come up with your OCs?

I sit there for a long time and figure out how I can put a part of myself into a story. Oops was I not supposed to say that? Sometimes you think of a character that you just can’t help but want to write. But even if they aren’t a manifestation of your physical self or your personality, they almost always end up being an extension of you in some ways, or something you aspire to be. You also need to add some attributes you hate into them, so that they’re not too perfect and you can throttle them around and make them suffer and not feel too bad/let it become a self hatred thing.

What has been your favorite project so far? Why?

Store Manager Verse. (EMxReader) Retail is who I am and who I’ve always been. I had a mall romance irl that went south. So it was a way to rewrite my past with my comfort character…and also give said comfort character a happy ending as well.

What has been your hardest project so far? Why?

As Above, So Below. (EMxOC) It is a passion project, it is a beast, every chapter takes an emotional toll on me and it takes a month—if not more—to recover. But it has been the single most fulfilling project that I’ve worked on in the 20 years I’ve been writing fanfiction. I've been working on it for about 2 years now. 3 more chapters til the end…I’m gonna be very sad when it’s over.

Have you ever had a creative block? How did you get over it?

My brain is just a beehive that I shake every now and again to get the bees angry. Honestly, the bigger block I get into is self-doubt. I have no problem finding the words, it’s the courage to put them to paper I struggle with at times.

Is there a big source of inspiration for you? Books? Art? Games?

Yes all of the above. But in all seriousness, life experience is the best inspiration. There’s only so much research you can do. Truly for me, the canon characters are the source of inspiration. Then I take from things I’ve done, things I’ve read, places I’ve been in order to take an idea to a fully formed plot.

Is there an upcoming project you're particularly excited about?

Eddie Munson Big Bang. I know you’re gonna hear that a lot. I love creating really ambitious AUs and I think this one is really testing my abilities as a writer. It's a crossover fic, in a way, but with a lot of original plot folded in. I hope I do both fandoms/universes justice.

Is there anything we didn't ask that you'd like to add?

I’m from the Midwest, so thank you for listening to all of my long-winded answers. Haha.

[novelmonger]

I am now (finally) embarking on the last of the LotR audio commentaries I never listened to before: the Production/Post-Production one, with Barrie Osborne (producer), Mark Ordesky (executive producer), Andrew Lesnie (director of photography), John Gilbert (editor), Rick Porras (co-producer), Howard Shore (composer), and Jim Rygiel (visual effects supervisor). A lot more Americans in this group than the previous ones have been. I feel much more out of my depth with this one in terms of figuring out who's talking, but let's see what new stuff they have to say for FotR!

The sound from when Sauron explodes comes from a bunch of sounds they recorded both inside and outside ships in the harbor, as well as the sounds of WWII airplane propellers.

The scenes with Gollum in the prologue were actually some of the last shots they filmed for FotR.

The farmers around the area where they filmed Hobbiton would warn them when people would turn up who weren't supposed to be there, with cameras and whatnot, as well as warning them when planes or choppers would be overhead, so they could prevent (as much as possible) from footage leaking before the movie was released. That warms my heart :)

They used the analogy of a "shell game" when talking about all the different techniques they used to keep the proportions of characters correct with their different sizes. Because they would switch up the techniques between shots, it helped sell the overall effect, because you're not just always looking at a scale double or a bluescreen or what-have-you.

In the scene with Bilbo and Gandalf in the kitchen, they used forced perspective, with the table cut in half so that everything is small for Gandalf and the right size for Bilbo. When Bilbo pours the tea into the teapot, Gandalf handles a small lid on his side, putting it on a little rod that holds it in the right position so it looks like it's sitting on the teapot. Meanwhile, the actual teapot is on Bilbo's side so he can pour the water into it. Also, when Gandalf is first sitting down at the table and turning to get his legs underneath it, if you look closely you can see that when he bumps up against it, the half of the table closer to the camera jiggles a little, but the other half doesn't because it was actually some 5-10 feet away.

In the shot at the party that pans down from the fireworks and the tree, the actual party with all the dancing and everything was shot in a set, so they had to go back to the Hobbiton location (which had already been cleared of the set at that point, I think) and match up that shot to get the tree, and then they composited it together.

The direction for that shot of Minas Tirith when Gandalf goes to research the Ring was to make it look like "Constantinople in the morning." This may be my favorite part of this commentary :)

They needed to scan actors' faces so they could have their digital doubles to work with for certain shots. When they brought in Ian McKellen to scan his face, they said, "We just need to scan your face in a neutral position." He said, "Neutral for me or neutral for Gandalf?" And he demonstrated his own neutral expression, and when he switched to neutral Gandalf, he looked completely different, pursing his lips and furrowing his eyebrows and sucking his cheeks in more. Truly the sign of a gifted actor who knows how to ply his craft.

In the scene where Frodo and Sam are trying to sleep on the road for the first time, originally they were going to end with some sort of animal sniffing around them. First it was a deer, and they also tried a rabbit and maybe some other animals (possible fox appearance???). But that part didn't even make it into the Extended Edition.

Something I never thought about that they had to pay attention to was, because Orthanc is made of shiny material, they had to consider the color and quality of the light reflecting off it. So when they filmed the real location, they would take the camera and pan around the location, then print out stills and put them up around the miniature when they filmed that part of the shot, so they could get the right colors to match each shot they would composite over it, so it would look like both were in the same place. Now that's what I call attention to detail!

On the night they shot the little chase sequence with the Nazgul in the forest, it was actually raining off and on, even though you can't really see it in the movie. That made the ground very muddy, so the Hobbits actually had to be carried back to their first position for each new take so they wouldn't get too much mud on their feet and clothes.

To get the sounds of the trees' "voices" when the orcs in Isengard tear them down, they actually used several animal sounds like whales, moreso than sounds recorded from actual trees.

Bob Anderson, the swordmaster for the films, said they needed to have five copies of every sword for every actor every day they were going to be fighting with them, because that's how likely it is for them to be broken (since the swords actors use for hitting each other are lighter and not made like a real sword). But Richard Taylor wanted to find a way to make the swords more durable, because there are a lot of swords in these movies. So Weta developed a technique to help the stunt swords redistribute the shock from hitting them against each other. They took polyurethane, which Mark Ordesky notes is the same material as skateboard wheels, and they made a sort of sheath of that under the surface of the hilt. None of the swords they made like that ever broke.

The tree that gets thrown down into the chasm in Isengard had to be a miniature so they could get it high enough to drop it as far as they wanted to (and so they wouldn't have to cut down a huge tree). But they had to add little springs and things to make the branches bounce and jiggle properly, rather than just break off, as they would if you just made a little model tree. Little details like that really sell the scale.

In the Nazgul horseback chase scene, they cleared a path for the horses to safely run through the forest. But then they would also get branches and put them on the car or whatever vehicle had the camera, so it would look like they were pushing through more dense foliage, while still keeping the actors and horses safe.

The Council of Elrond was the final piece of the sound mix they had to finish for FotR, and it was down to a matter of hours. One of the things they mentioned having difficulty figuring out what to do with was the moment when Frodo sets the Ring down on the plinth. Originally, there was going to be a murmur of the crowd watching, but it didn't seem to have the gravitas and stunned awe necessary for that moment, so they had to play around with a lot of things before Peter Jackson was satisfied with it.

When Gimli smashes the Ring with his axe, John Rhys-Davies was actually only holding an empty handle, and the axe head was added digitally later so it could shatter.

Barrie Osborne (I think?) commented on something at least Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, especially Dom, started to do in order to make it more believable that the primary actors and the scale doubles are the same people. He noticed that their scale doubles tended to move and walk in a certain way (I assume partly because most of them were Little People, so their physique and proportions are a bit different), and so instead of leaving it up to them to mimic his movements, he started changing the way he moved to match them. That's just really cool.

Originally, they were going to do a bit of a flashback when Boromir asks Aragorn, "Have you ever seen the white tower..." etc. It would have been shot in the same place as the scene where Aragorn is visiting his mother's grave, and would feature Elrond talking to Aragorn about how he's the only one who can wield Anduril and how he needs to take his place as the king of Gondor.

For some of the close-up shots of Gimli in the scene where they first head into Moria, they actually had to use a double - not a scale double! an actual guy who was the same size as John Rhys-Davies! - because John had such a bad reaction to the facial prosthetics that he had to go a few days in between each time he put it on. But he'd had the prosthetics on the day before, and they didn't have time to wait until he could put them on again. So they had to find a double, put on the prosthetics and costume, and then John stood out of frame and spoke the lines, and the double mouthed the words along with him. I would never have guessed!

THANK YOU TO WHOEVER WAS TALKING AND I'M SORRY I COULDN'T RECOGNIZE YOUR VOICE FOR SURE, but someone was talking about "cinematic dark." In other words, how to light a scene so you can see everything that's happening even though you're in a place with hardly any light sources, like in Moria where the only light comes from the torch and Gandalf's staff most of the time. Instead of making it all really dark (*pointed stare at too many movies these days*), they shot it as if there is a source of light, but always very far away, like it's filtering through miles of rocky caverns or something. What that meant practically was that they would only light the characters in silhouette or from the side, never the front. So it would still give the impression that they're in darkness, but you don't have to strain at all to make out what's happening. They also desaturated the colors so everything looked muted, similar to how your vision kind of goes black-and-white in the dark.

One of the fundamental elements for the Moria goblin screeches was an opossum screech. There was some kind of opossum research facility in Wellington that they went to to record what became the foundation of the goblin sounds. Then they took them and re-recorded them in some WWII tunnels to get the right echoey reverb effect. And then for the sounds of them moving, they took sounds from insects like grasshoppers, as well as rattling seashells from the beach against the walls of the tunnels to get a scuttling sort of sound for when they come pouring out of holes in the ceiling.

You know that one shot where Legolas fires an arrow at a goblin archer and the camera follows the arrow all the way into his forehead? I always assumed that whole thing was all CG, but no! Even that had a practical element to it! They set up a camera on a sort of zip line with a bungee cord and sent it down as fast as it could go towards an actual stunt guy in costume! Now that's what I call above and beyond.

They shot a scene that didn't make it into even the Extended Edition of the Fellowship arguing about what they should do next after they leave Moria, with some members having misgivings about going to Lothlorien. I wish we could see that, even though I understand why they needed to keep things moving. They didn't mention if they actually shot this or if it was scrapped by the time they got that far, but there was also a mention of the entry to Lothlorien being much more frantic, as they're chased by orcs and then rescued by a sudden volley of Elven arrows.

There was also once a longer scene between Boromir and Frodo as they're waiting to see if Haldir will let them into Lothlorien. He tells Frodo a story of him getting over the death of one of his comrades. Um...I wanna see these extra scenes!!!

They wanted Lothlorien to feel ethereal and maybe almost slightly in a different universe, because of the Elves and especially Galadriel, who can see into hearts and minds. One of the ways they did that was by diffusing the light on the set so everything seems kind of dreamy. Another way they tweaked things was by bringing out the blues and edging them towards lavender. Yes, yes, Lothlorien is supposed to be golden, but after hearing the explanation about how lavender is actually one of the hardest colors to get to look right on film (the word used was "fragile") and to look good against skin tones, and therefore you don't see it very much in the movies, I can appreciate the subtle ways they tried to make Lothlorien feel distinct.

Originally, they were going to have a scene where the Fellowship goes through some rapids on the Anduin and get ambushed by orc archers. Ultimately, they decided they didn't need that as a story beat at that point, and it would have been very difficult to shoot anyway. Makes me wonder if that influenced the infamous barrel scene from the Hobbit movies, like they dug up some old plans for that....

Except for one wide shot where they used a scale double for Frodo, the entire confrontation between Boromir and Frodo was shot just with Sean Bean and Elijah Wood, no special effects, just strategic blocking and using the slope and different angles to their advantage to always make it look like Frodo is smaller than Boromir.

If I understood Howard Shore correctly, he was inspired to use a boy's choir for Boromir's death when he saw Boromir, after falling to his knees from the first arrow or two, looking up at Merry and Pippin. Boys singing at his death gives a sense of lost innocence, which is appropriate both to Boromir trying to take the Ring as well as to the lost innocence of losing the Hobbits. So it's not just a lament for Boromir, it's also his lament for (as he thinks in the moment, because he knows he's dying) failing the Hobbits.

The original mix for Boromir's death had all the sound effects at full volume, which made the moment even more brutal. Mark Ordesky was saying that he (and probably some others) was thinking it might be better if they pulled back on some of the sound and let the music be louder. Peter Jackson said, "Well, let's try it," and as soon as they turned down the volume, the entire room basically agreed immediately that's how they needed to do it. It's meant to sound and feel almost like you're sinking underwater as Boromir is dying, because that's how it would sound and feel for him.

Oh my goodness, further proof that studio execs shouldn't have a say in the story of a movie. New Line wanted the movie to end with Frodo and Sam paddling across the river, and then an Uruk bursts up from underwater and grabs Frodo, pulling him out of the boat. The Ring somehow comes off the chain, and the Uruk is so enamored with it that he ends up drowning while trying to grab it. Then Sam somehow gets Frodo (and the Ring) back into the boat. Thank goodness they came up with the much better ending we all know and love. Because the people actually involved with writing the movie and telling its story knew that the ending of FotR needs to be about the breaking of the Fellowship, about love and loyalty in the face of great evil. So that's why they went with the ending they did: Sam falls into the water and almost drowns, Frodo saves him, and that paves the way for the incredible emotional high of Frodo leaving the Fellowship, but Sam going with him. And just like Frodo is thinking about how Gandalf talked about how he was meant to find the Ring, Sam is thinking about how Gandalf told him not to leave Frodo. It all ties together so much better.

The last shot for the film was Boromir going over the waterfall. It was in the final cut of the movie just as a previs shot, and Barrie Osborne said he assumed it was going to be a CG effect or something. But finally, while Peter Jackson was in London working on scoring the film - so pretty late in the production - Barrie called him and asked when they were going to shoot that scene. Peter Jackson had forgotten about it! So Barrie had to shoot it, and since they didn't have the actors in New Zealand at that point, they had to get Weta to make a silicon dummy to shoot instead.

[ephie-om]

A Gentle Wrath (Part 2)

Part 1

Satan’s hand rests comfortably in yours as you walk slowly down the sidewalk. The late-night air has a slight chill to it, but he made sure to check the weather before walking you home and brought an extra jacket for you just in case. It was lucky enough that you were able to find a job safe for you in the Devildom; he wasn’t about to take any chances that you could get sick or hurt on the way back to the house. His thumb strokes your hand idly as you walk and he matches your pace effortlessly.

You talk about your day aimlessly, wandering from topic to topic and he listens happily. Truth be told, this is his favorite part of the day, finally reuniting with you at the end of it all. The conversation includes anything and everything that comes to mind. Your classes at RAD, the book he read today at lunch, how you need to get new work shoes, plans to sneak a taste of Lucifer’s newest demonus variety. 

He always prefers to listen more than talk during these walks. Back at home, you’re a little too indulgent of his brothers’ whims to walk all over you in a conversation. This is the only time guaranteed to him to hear your voice in the quiet. Every time you trip over your words or laugh at your own joke is another tally in his journal of reasons to love you. 

The front gates of the House of Lamentation come into view all too soon for his liking, but you heave a relieved sigh. “Your feet hurt?” he guesses. You nod and push open the door. The warm air hits both of you like a wall, and he can hear your stomach rumble as you catch the smell of meat from the kitchen. “How long for dinner?” he calls out. Levi’s voice answers him, echoing through the foyer. “Maybe thirty more minutes, if I don’t burn the damn noodles again.”

You chuckle and Satan looks over at you, mirroring your smile easily. “You have time for a quick shower, if you’d like.” 

“Definitely,” you answer quickly. “But he’d better have that done by the time I get back down here, or I might turn into Beel.” He laughs and watches you head upstairs, deciding he had better stay and make sure dinner gets done on time. 

You and Satan find yourselves sprawled across his couch with full stomachs and eyes fluttering shut. He’s propped himself up against the arm of the couch to hold you. The feeling of your head resting on his chest with his arms around you is second to none. He lets his eyes close, reveling in the moment, when you break the silence. 

“Satan?”

“Hm?”

“Do you remember the first time we ever did this?”

He laughs, his torso making your head shake. “Of course I remember. You fell asleep on me during the movie that you picked out and then apologized about a hundred times when you woke up.”

You smile into his chest. “I felt so bad. I really didn’t mean to fall asleep, but that was before I knew how comfortable you were.”

He grins. “Honestly, I was just happy you trusted me enough to sleep.”

You raise your head to look up at him, confused. “Why would I not trust you enough?”

“Well…” he trails off. “I didn’t know if you could. Not after everything I did.” He glances down to see you still frowning. “I mean, I threatened you into making a pact with me, spent most of my free time pissing you off, tried to kill you multiple times, then tried to play nice with you. I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to trust me.”

You huff in annoyance. “None of you liked me when I got here, remember? A lot’s changed since then.” He opens his mouth to agree with you before you cut him off. “Wait a minute. Is that why I saw that stack of books in your room about humans the night I fell asleep on you? You were trying to figure out how to get me to trust you?” Satan can feel the blush rise to his cheeks.

“You could say that,” he mutters.

“Well, what would you say?”

He takes a deep breath, trying to find the words. “I would say that every time you picked me up off the ground when I fell, every time you tended to my wounds before whatever I broke in my rage, every time you tried to cheer me up, there was this… tenderness behind it. It broke me more than being angry. Being angry is something I’m used to; it’s woven into my being. But being cared for is still new to me. And I was so scared that despite everything you did for me, I would never be able to give you the same care. My research on humans yielded almost nothing, which certainly didn’t help. But somehow you still fell in love with me. And more importantly, you let me love you.” He feels his throat tightening as he speaks, and he presses a kiss to your forehead to stifle his emotions. “I know I’m not the most experienced lover or the most romantic, but you’re still here, so I think I must be doing something right,” he says softly, almost to himself more than you. 

You brush your fingers idly over his arm. “I don’t know how I could ever not trust you. You think this isn’t gentle?” He bites the inside of his cheek. You were right. Of course you were. It was so gentle, so caring, the way you relaxed into his body and the way his arms rested on you. “I trust you,” you murmur. “I wish you knew how much I do. And I don’t ever want to hear you say you don’t deserve to be cared for, alright?”

He mutters a quiet “okay” into the top of your head, and you pretend not to feel his chest heave. His fingers run up and down your back, proving to himself again and again that you were here and you weren’t going to leave. 

You fall asleep in his arms again that night. And for the first time, he falls asleep too.

[thatonesonicfanfictionwriter]

I saw your insomnia post for Shadow and oh my god I loved it, especially since sleeping is one of my greatest issues so I thought I'd request something as well! Today I got one of my worst migraines I've ever had but after I recovered from it with some medicine and a long nap I thought it'd be an interesting idea to see what Shadow would do if the reader got a migraine? You're free to write this however you like, Im excited to see it!

“A Huge Pain (in the head)”

Pairing: Shadow the Hedgehog x Reader

Requested: Yes (by an anon).

Description: You didn’t have migraines often, but when you did, they were hell. Luckily you had your partner to help you out this time.

Notes: Oughh I love excuses to write fluff and excuses to write for Shadow, even if almost every request in my inbox right now is Shadow- But either way! I hope you enjoy!

(Reader will be gender-neutral.)

(Not proof-read/beta-read.)

(TW: Swearing.)

– – – – – – – – – – – –

Today was already shit.

You woke up cold, your partner, Shadow, had already left the bed, and worst of all?

You had a migraine.

“But [Name], it’s just a migraine!” some might say.

But your migraines were. The. Worst.

They could take days to disappear, and you were always more irritable. You always felt horrible about it, but when on a migraine, everything annoyed you.

Today was going to be garbage.

Grumbling while holding your head, you throw what little covers you have on off, rummaging through the closet and putting on the first decent outfit you have. Good thing you’re off work today. That would’ve made today even worse.

Opening the bedroom door, you get a whiff of something in the kitchen.

Something good.

Smells like french toast, one of your favorite breakfast foods.

You walk into the kitchen and Shadow notices you, him letting off a small smile.

“Morning, [Name],” Shadow says. “Sleep well?”

“Eh, kinda…” you mutter, sitting at the table, rubbing your temple. “I woke up with a killer migraine.”

“A migraine, hm?” Shadow asks. “Let me finish making breakfast and I’ll help you take care of it.”

“What, are you gonna massage the pain away or something?” you joke.

“That’s part of it, yes,” Shadow states.

You blink twice, your face tinting red.

You were not expecting that answer.

Not long after, Shadow sets your french toast down in front of you, along with a glass of water, which you quickly down before anything else. Water usually helps slightly with your migraines, after all.

The two of you enjoy your breakfast, and after having brushed your teeth, you and Shadow head over to the couch at Shadow’s request, and he has you lay your head on his lap before starting to massage your scalp. You smile softly from the sensation, sighing happily, your eyes shutting on their own.

“You’re too kind to me sometimes, Shadow,” you mutter. He lets out a chuckle.

“You’d do the same for me if I had a migraine,” he states.

“You’re not wrong,” you say. “Regardless, this feels nice.”

“I’m glad,” Shadow says. “If it still bothers you after this, we can go cuddle on the bed.”

You make a hum of affirmation, allowing yourself to melt into the massage.

You were glad to have a partner like him.

[rivetgoth]

hi do you have any music recs for somebody who's trapped in the industrial rock/metal (kmfdm, nin, etc) cycle and wants to explore more lesser known and weird industrial artists?

Yesssss of course! I’ll try to list some artists I think would directly interest you based on your liking industrial rock. Hopefully this isn’t too much, for each band I’ll link a song from an album I’d recommend starting with :) I’m also not sure how much you know BEYOND the two bands you listed so if these are really obvious and you already know them I’m sorry 😭🙏

My immediate biased answer right now is Foetus because I’ve been obsessed recently. If you like the rock elements of industrial rock I genuinely think Foetus is perfectly accessible but he’s also so deranged and theatrical. Raymond Watts of KMFDM would collaborate with him and honestly once you get into Foetus you realize how much of Raymond’s early stuff is just directly taking inspo lol. Check out the album Nail.

I don’t know from the list you gave if you listen to Skinny Puppy or not, if you don’t you definitely should though. Incredibly important to the formation of what would become industrial rock and also my favorite band of all time. Trent even directly sampled the Skuppy song “Dig It” for “Down In It.” I’d specifically recommend checking out The Process (the most industrial rock of their discography) or Rabies (the most metal—they collaborated with Al Jourgensen of Ministry for it!) to start in your case.

The cool thing with industrial is so many of the older bands are all connected once you go back a bit, so if you find yourself liking a certain artist you can start exploring who they’ve worked with and a whole world of music opens up to you. Two early Skinny Puppy collaborators are The Legendary Pink Dots and Severed Heads. Both of those are also all time favorites and they can really shift your sense of what industrial music is and means because they sound very different from what industrial would become over time. Both formed between 1979-1980. Two favorites from them (off albums that I think are the best starting points!):

Going back a bit further, for the early pioneers I think you’d enjoy Einstürzende Neubauten and Cabaret Voltaire. Both of them were involved from the very beginning of the development of the genre and everything that came after them is in part thanks to them (as well as the other pioneers, but I’m trying not to overwhelm and I think these guys are really good starting points). You can really hear their influence if you trace the progression of the genre from them to the bands they worked with. Start with Neubauten’s Haus Der Lüge since that’s their most well known, & I’d say Cabaret Voltaire’s Code is a good balance between their very experimental early stuff and their most synthpop later stuff.

Of course I do think it’s worth checking out Throbbing Gristle if you haven’t. They’re the OG OGs that actually named the genre and everything. They are significantly less accessible and might not as quickly be your thing but imo they are worth knowing about so you can really hear where it all comes from. Maybe this is just my own preference but I feel like going back through the history and watching the progression and evolution of all of this was a huge part of what made me fully fall in love with the industrial genre and all of its weirdness. It made it feel like such a full and lively subculture of so many different people taking direct inspiration from each other over the years. Coil and SPK as well.

(SPK has very little on Spotify so a Bandcamp link it’ll be, and I’d recommend starting with Coil’s Horse Rotorvator which is not on Spotify but IS on YouTube, though one of the songs IS on Spotify…. lol)

What I basically gave you is a very very quick descent from 90s industrial rock to the beginning of the genre, obviously give or take a couple hundred bands lmao. I guess to me the best thing to do when you’re looking into these genres is to get deeper into the history of ‘em. There’s nothing wrong with preferring bands like NIN or KMFDM to bands like SPK and Throbbing Gristle, but I think it can really deepen your relationship to the former to at least know about the latter and what they sounded like and were doing.

I’m out of song links I’m allowed for a single post but I’ll also share a handful of other bands you can check out:

Nocturnal Emissions (start with Viral Shedding)

Fad Gadget (start with Fireside Favorites; Tovey was influential for both industrial and goth!)

Babyland (I’ve just recently been listening to them more, check out You Suck Crap)

Lead Into Gold (the solo project of Ministry’s Paul Barker, extremely good both old and new material, check out The Sun Behind the Sun)

If you haven’t yet just in general check out Wax Trax! Records because NIN and KMFDM were directly working with all those guys and that label put out some of the greatest music of all time. Ministry I assume you know if you like industrial metal but you gotta listen through Ministry’s discography starting from Twitch to Filth Pig, Revolting Cocks’ first two albums, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Die Warzau, they’re not actually Wax Trax! but Electric Hellfire Club… etc. That’s obviously a lot of names and might be a bit more overwhelming but just starting with one and going thru who each band member has worked with will open up a MASSIVE world of music.

Umm or disregard all that and if you truly want weird music just listen to Caroliner.

^picture of their stageshow