#I forgot about this post in my drafts for forever but i remembered it now

[bellpeppersand-beef]

cowboy bebop x text posts

whoa 🧍‍♂️

[airborneice]

can we talk about how @the-hilda-librarians-wife is just out here writing poetry in the tags like it’s no big deal

@sketchbookweek Day 3 - Sun & Moon / Family

you know I had to bring up my sketchbook kid Mattie for this one. in my mind this is like…impromptu midnight storytime bc someone woke up the entire household and now she’s almost settled no one wants to get up or go back to bed

(Kaisa has become a little more comfortable with openly doing magic by this point, partly because of reconnecting with Tildy in season 2 and partly because no matter how shoddy her spells come out, they never fail to entertain her kids, especially her youngest. Kaisa does the best stories in this house. no child can resist magic floating pictures)

[lianadelune]

golden bars, fragile hearts

pairing: caracalla x reader

author's note: i have been working on this fic for a while but lately everything i write i kind of hate, i'm editing this so much i'm getting insane (also college doesn't help) so i decided to finally post it or this fic would stay on my drafts forever 😭

this is part 1!

the sun blazed down on the colosseum, the bloodstained sand reflecting its golden light making

the day feel more heated than anticipated, you remembered hearing on your way to the amphitheater that this was one of the hottest days of the year, that statement felt quite right as you walked the busy streets, sweat dripping from your nose wishing you had drank a glass of water before leaving your house, but your thoughts were elsewhere completely when you stepped outside. you would think that the heat would be a hindrance for the festivities that the people of rome looked forward to, but somehow that didn’t mattered, it didn't mattered for the bloodthirsty emperors, caracalla and geta, the infamous twins, that loved violence and brutality more than the people they should rule and it also didn't mattered for the crowd, the thought of seeing a gladiator fight was worth passing out from heat stroke, apparently.

you could hear their roar, a mix of jeers and cheers that echoed off the stone walls, from your seat you stood frozen hearing their excitement, your heart pounding against your ribs waiting for the moment your father would step into the arena.

you had promised yourself you wouldn’t go, your father made you promise when the praetorian guards came at your door saying the emperors demanded that the man that had won his freedom many years ago would fight again one last time to prove his worth.

when they utter those words you were the one that wanted to fight, fight the guards, fight the emperors and protect the only family you had left, but before you could deliver any profanity, your father lowered his head and expressed how honorable he was to entertain the people of rome once again.

he looked back at you with teary eyes, taking in the simple yet comforting house he was living in even before you were born, the one he worked so hard to build after he bought his freedom killing others just like him, spoils of war, it was poetic really, he thought, his life began as a gladiator and would end as a gladiator, a little chuckle left his lips, the gods really did worked in mysterious ways.

while you tried to come to terms with his decision, your father kissed your forehead lovingly and made you promise you wouldn’t watch before being taken by the praetorian guards.

and you agreed.

but now you were going against your dad’s dying wish.

your jaw tightened as you stood among the roaring crowd, people chanting and cheering for the gladiators, cheers that were as empty as the promises of rome’s twin emperors.

caracalla and geta ruled not through love or respect, but through terror and empty entertainment. the streets of rome were restless, simmering with rebellion that never seemed to fade completely. just weeks ago, riots had broken out in the forum, citizens torching statues of the emperors while shouting for justice. but now, here they were, packed into the colosseum, their rage momentarily silenced by the lure for bloodshed.

‘panem et circenses’ you thought bitterly, watching how easily the crowd forgot their oppression, the chants growing louder as a gladiator fell to his knees ‘bread and circuses are all it takes to dull their anger for a few hours’

but when the games ended and the blood was washed from the sand, the discontent would return. the people would rebel again - you were sure of it - because no amount of free grain or violent spectacles could suppress the desperation in their hearts.

you hoped the emperors were afraid for their heads because sooner or later the act of depredating their statues won’t be enough.

rome was a city on the edge, and your father was about to become its next distraction.

that was the first thought that crossed your mind while you saw your father walk towards the middle of the coliseum.

his gait was uneven, his shoulders hunched - not from cowardice but from the toll of age. the once-celebrated gladiator, who had won his freedom fairly, was now back at being paraded as nothing more than a relic for the crowd’s amusement.

he held his sword steady while raising it to salute the emperor’s box, but you could see the way his hand trembled. your father’s movements were slower than they once had been, but his pride remained unbroken.

your heart clenched. this wasn’t a fight - it was a death sentence.

the announcer’s voice boomed across the arena “behold! a veteran of rome’s might, returning for one last dance with death! will he rise as a lion, or fall as prey?”

the gates on the opposite side of the arena open, and a younger, stronger gladiator stepped forward, his muscles gleaming with sweat, his expression cold and unyielding.

you couldn’t let this happen.

you ran from your seating, hearing people behind you screaming to take your place closer to the bloodshed, pushing past every guard that standed if front of you especially the guards who blocked the lower level of the arena, you ignored their shouts and protests, they couldn’t catch you, too surprised to see someone run towards the arena of the colosseum, instead of run from it. every step felt heavier than the last as your decision bore down on you.

but you didn’t stop.

the sand was hot under your feet and your clothes were sticking on your skin as you stumbled onto the arena floor, drawing the collective gasp of the audience.

your father dropped his sword as his head snapped toward you, his eyes wide with panic.

“get out of here!” he shouted.

but you didn’t listen. you ran to him, your heart hammering in your chest, and threw yourself in front of him, spreading your arms wide as a shield.

the younger gladiator paused mid-step, his brow furrowing in confusion.

the crowd erupted in chaos, excited with something they had never seen before, someone willing to protect a gladiator from their deathbed.

high above, the emperor’s box stirred. you felt their gazes on you, your breath quickening showing your nervousness for having the attention of the infamous rulers of rome on you, but you didn’t back down and stared right back at them in defiance.

caracalla, one of the twin emperors, rose from his seat, the ornate red fabric of his toga trailing behind him as he stepped to the edge of the balcony.

“what is the meaning of this?” he demanded, his voice sharp enough to cut through the noise.

you almost didn’t listen to his words because of your own heart pounding heavily on your rib cage making you nauseous, for a moment you were sure you would pass out.

you ignored the nausea building up and the tremors in your limbs, looking up to the emperors with a steady voice, despite the fear you were feeling, you managed to say “i’m here… to take his place!”

a murmur rippled through the crowd. your father grabbed your arm, his grip strong despite his weakened state. “what are you doing?” he hissed.

without turning to him, you said loud enough for everyone in the colosseum to hear. “i won’t let them kill you!”

caracalla’s piercing gaze locked onto yours seeing determination on them, his expression went from furious to amused in a matter of seconds. “this is… unexpected,” he said, his tone laced with mockery “tell me then, what makes you think you’re in a position to bargain with me?”

“i’m not here to bargain,” you said, raising your chin, your voice cracking a little when you heard your father behind you, pleading with the other gladiator to get you out of there “i’m here… to offer myself. you want a spectacle, don’t you? my father is an old man - he’s no longer fit to fight. there’s no honor in his death. but me?” you gestured to yourself, your voice rising. “i’m young, untrained and foolish enough to face whatever fate you decide, i’m sure that’s far more entertaining than this.”

emperor geta, seated beside caracalla, chuckled “they have a point, brother, he doesn’t look like the legend we heard so much about” his fingers tapped the rim of his wine cup. “besides… they have spirit. i’ll give them that”

caracalla’s eyes narrowed as he studied you, his expression unreadable. the silence stretched, the weight of his decision hanging over the arena, like a storm cloud.

“bring them to me,” he commanded.

the guards dragged you up the steps to the emperor’s box, their grip firm on your arms to the point of bruising. you stumbled to your knees before caracalla, his imposing frame over you as he stepped closer.

you had heard so much about both emperors, how cruel and unhinged they were, how their reign would be marked in history by decadence, cruelty and chaos, a spectacle of blood and tyranny.

geta was the one everyone thought about when the matter was diplomacy, for he had a talent for weaving words as deftly as a spider spins its web. his voice, always calm and measured, could diffuse tensions or spark them, depending on what suited his ambitions.

geta could be terrible, but to you caracalla was far worse.

a man consumed by his appetites - for control, for blood, for the fleeting thrill of domination. his wrath was as unpredictable as it was unrelenting, unlike his brother, caracalla acted impulsively, driven by bursts of rage, if he felt insulted in the slightest- the emperor would order a village razed.

or several.

you considered him a monster.

a beast.

and nothing could change that.

“you would trade your life for his?” caracalla asked, his voice low and dangerous.

“yes,” you said without hesitation, lifting your gaze to meet his. “my father has served rome for long enough, let him go and take me instead”

“and what makes you think your life is worth more than his?”

“it isn’t” you answered honestly “but i’m still young enough to be at your service, i’ll do anything if you leave him alone”

“anything, you say?” caracalla’s lips curled into a faint smirk “even entertaining me?”

you shivered with the implied meaning of his question, but remained silent.

geta leaned forward, his interest piqued.

“perhaps we should keep them, they're a bold one, brother”

caracalla regarded you for a moment longer, his cold calculating eyes searching yours. then with a sharp nod, he gestured to the guards.

“release the old man, you are going to stay”

your father’s protests echoed beneath you as he was dragged from the arena, but you didn’t look back.

“welcome to your new life,” caracalla said, his voice dripping with mockery. “let’s see if your spirit lasts as long as your courage.”

the emperor barely had finished his sentence when you felt the guard’s ironclad hands gripping your arms once again with a force that left no room for argument, you could feel caracalla’s cold eyes following your every move as you were dragged from the arena, his lips curving into a smirk as though he has claimed a prize rather than a person.

please leave a like or a comment about what you guys are thinking about this fic! i'm kind of insecure with this one :(

[chryseis-lxve]

🍸 NEW YEAR GREETINGS

💬 if i'm being honest, this year has been a wild fucking ride, lol but all of you little pies have been a huge help by simply popping up now and then and being a little ray of sunshine, or by having stuck around for a long time. i genuinely appreciate all of you, and wish you all a lovely year ahead! also, please note that the order of names doesn't matter here XD

@floraldresvi i sincerely appreciate you a lot. when you mentioned that you were grateful i stumbled upon that writing blog of yours, i wanted to mention that such was the play of fate but ig it's too obvious to be worthy of mention. i still hope you write sometimes on that blog, but i can understand why you don't. you always tag me in the loveliest stuff and ask me the most intriguing questions, but sometimes my responses get so long that i forget about it after saving them in my drafts so i hope you know that's not me ignoring you! 😭 i wish to express that both your words and actions are extremely touching and i'm always grateful you entered my life. you're like a ray of soft sunshine, yk? the kind that comforts you and heals you, and i'm always so happy to be around you. your presence itself is a harbinger of joy. after a long and tumultuous year, i just want to remind you that you're also worthy of love and care and affection. please don't forget that.

@rightfate-posts shiro, my lovely!! your words are srsly the most impactful ones. i still remember that day i was feeling depressed as hell, but the words you sent me where like an angel showing light to me who had forgot what it felt like. it was like being reintroduced to love and appreciation, yk? and it isn't just about that specific time either, it's always. your words always have an impact on me, and i often think about you, your health, your likes and dislikes, what you'd appreciate, what you'd love. it's like a spiraling loop, but i'm glad to be stuck. your boundless optimism is contagious, and the way you express yourself and look out for others is heart warming. in a way, you're like a worried friend whose always smothering others with care in spite of their own struggles. i just want you to look after yourself this year, and i wish utmost happiness and joy to you!

@meimeimeirin mei!! our fellow granny 🤝😂 no, but i have stated this many times, and i will state it once again- your sense of responsibility, your optimism, your upright nature and your mindset are all genuinely inspiring. sometimes when i'm sulking i just scroll through your blog for the positivity XD the way you interact with others is proof of your radiance. i just think you deserve the whole world. you're the first friend i made here, and even though we don't interact as much anymore, our convos and laughs remain fresh in my mind. you're of those people you can't get enough of, yk? the best part is that you're a good influence XD i just hope we remain together as friends for a long time!!

@beloved-brynn what should i say about you, you little meme lord. words fail me with the kind of joy i feel when it comes to you. i just don't know what exactly it is about you that makes you so attractive but i've genuinely always thought of you as this shiny little pokémon who didn't know how to perceive itself because it didn't have other shiny little things around itself. i know you're not the best with sappy stuff, but let me be rn, i'm getting emotional 😭😂 on the lighter side, you're a little bundle of joy wrapped up in jokes yk? literally my favourite combo. when you describe the things you like i want to sit down and listen to you forever, because your passions seem to all stem from genuine love and interest. you're one of those people who don't pull too much sarcasm, so you can just be honest and open with them. i trust you a lot, and i srsly love you. like love love you. the reason i emphasize it is because we don't really talk too much emotion, but i just want to let you know because i have the chance to yap rn. i love you a lot, and your works are awesome.

@circeappxteer rhea!! it's always so lovely to speak with you, i can't even describe it. your words are always so laced with care and empathy that i can feel it even when they are just words on a screen yk? i really appreciate you reaching out to me, speaking with me and stuff because ngl i'm not very good with checking up on people and going out of my way to speak with them so i genuinely appreciate you a lot 😭❤ you're a very kind person! unfortunately, we haven't had many opportunities to interact this year, but hopefully the coming year will be kinder to us in terms of free time and opportunities! here's to an year of happiness and lasting memories 🥂

@naraven ven, you're like. CRAZY TALENTED, i hope you know that!! your works, compositions they are all so awesome i just don't even know in what words describe my adoration. i used to learn music when i was younger, a sitar and i always loved it. unfortunately, i couldn't connect with it the way i connected with art but it continued to fascinate me, regardless. in a way, the lack of connection was actually a lack of ability to express myself in notes, strings, tunes and melodies but you can, and i'll never have anything less than pure admiration for you. aside from that, you're an AWESOME person literally 10/10 you're so cute i just want to squish your cheeks XD we didn't have many personal interactions or deeper convos, but i look forward to new moments spent together! let's hope the next year will bring more with itself :D

@cherieiu you cutie pie xue XD if there's any complaint i have against you, then it's that you're always busy so we can rarely interact D: BUT!! i appreciate and respect your sense of discipline a lot! be focused on your studies, it is greatly rewarding! you always get back to me though so i love that XD and you're SO polite and well mannered it's so cute!! regardless, i wish utmost success to you for this coming year! do well in your studies, and go far in life ✨

@pranabefall anya, to me you're like the mutual XD i always think we just get each other, yk? maybe it's because we have very similar backgrounds, but regardless of that i appreciate the connection we have! i always feel like i could say the craziest stuff and you would still get me XD but you also remain dignified, so i appreciate that very much, too! you're a very hard working person, so it's always lovely to see you having fun and letting loose. we haven't interacted a lot, but let's hope it's better in the following year! do take care, though! this year wasn't the most stable, so please look after yourself <3

@euniveve eun, i got to know you only this year, but to say that you're the most intriguing person regardless would be an understatement for the kind of curiosity i hold for you. the way you manage to hold on in spite of all difficulties, the way you outshine struggles, the way you make even the harder things appear simple is simply awe-inspiring to me. your sense of responsibility and the way you carry yourself is genuinely amazing. you're srsly like an elder sister figure to me, and i admire you a lot. above everything else, i relate to you on a lot of aspects and in our thoughts towards various things as well. i really enjoyed the convo we had about ghosts and stuff, so i hope we get more chances like that one! regardless, i hope the next year brings relief from so many responsibilities, or at least gives you the strength to bear them. my best wishes are always with you!

@mochinon-yah YOU!

jokes aside, you're a cutie pie!! literally my baby istg, i read your message on my christmas tree and i wanted to hug you so hard!! i appreciate you in ways i can't describe, mochi. when i said i see you as a younger sister, i was being SO fr i can't even describe it. really. i just want you to be happy and flourish like you deserve! if you ever need advices, any help, any info, know that i'm out there, ready and willing to help to the best of my abilities! and ofc, over everything else, you have my best wishes <3 i hope success, joy and love become your closest companions!

@shinchansbitch you're such a boundless bundle of energy i don't even know how to describe it XD when you express deeper feelings, which is again pretty rare but always welcomed, i always wanna listen to you, understand what you mean and express my own ideas as well. we haven't had a lot of chances to interact previous year, but i hope it gets better in this one. you're literally one of the funniest people i've ever seen! your ability to be authentic, and the small windows of genuinity and vulnerability are cherished memories in my heart. i've been busy so i couldn't interact much with you, but i always end up laughing whenever you pop up on my dash with another of your out of pocket posts. srsly, love you sweetie pie <3

@teabutmakeitazure // @haven-avalon // @harmonysanreads // @stickyspeckledlight all of you are literally amazing people! we don't really talk much on tumblr, but you guys' interactions on the server never fail to make me laugh or catch my attention. hopefully, we have more chances at closer interactions this year! but really, all of you are genuinely nice and kind people, too.

@kazuinvocation os, although we met at a very busy time, and for a very work-kind of purpose, i still appreciate you a lot. i srsly loved your message on my christmas tree. yk, i'm just glad to make others happy so i just felt really happy when you said that. i'm glad to have you in the team, especially because you're also particularly responsible. thank you os, for all the things you do behind the curtain. they're all noticed, and lovingly appreciated!

@pneumosia welcome back yona! we didn't interact at all the last time we were mutuals lol so i don't have much to say, except, let's hope we have more chances this year to come together and interact. i hope you've been doing well, and that the coming year will bring joy and success to you in your endeavours! don;t get too distracted, and focus on your studies. you're running various servers so it makes me concerned sometimes, make sure to study properly. i wish you success!

to all of you: a very happy new year! regardless of how much we have interacted, let's hope the next year brings joy, success and lovely memories for all of us. may the wheel of time bestow joy upon all of us! let's remain together and have many more moments of happiness together!

[touloser-lautrec]

Happy Storyteller Saturday 💜

This is your invitation to share a snippet of your writing that you love, and talk about why you love it.

Thank you so much for sending this ask! It took me forever to excavate it from my inbox purgatory (sorry!) but I am happy to be catching up :)

Here is a snippet of writing from a draft of Sunset Vol 3 (slightly edited for spoilers). Dana is a character that doesn't really show up until late in the game, but I kind of love him. I am a real sucker for a tough-character-is-good-with-little-kids moment, so I was happy to get a chance to bring it into Sunset. Dana used to be a high ranking Neptune retrieval agent, until he lost his knack and got desked in the Academy. Now he teaches combat and home ec classes across all grades. He hasn't forgotten his Neptune training and he definitely misses having his knack, but he's ultimately glad it happened because he loves his students pretty fiercely. And since it'll be a while til we get there in our posting schedule, I'm taking this opportunity to share about him! (And credit where it's due, this is a scene that I drafted but has been passed back and forth between my co-writer @sunset-a-story and I a few times. This section definitely was about 90% me, but their hand is in it too!)

Snippet below the cut:

One of Dana’s students, a five year old telekinetic named Jamie, made her way over to him and clung to his leg, fingers curling around the denim of his jeans, fear in her eyes. He put a hand on her head, gently ruffling her hair. He looked down at her, dropping to crouch at her level, willing his pounding heart to settle. 

“Are we trapped in here?” she whispered, voice on the edge of tears. 

“No, no,” he told her. “It’s gonna be fine.”

The lockdown siren screamed in their ears, splitting through the din of the crowd. He felt the blood drain from his face. If they wanted them all to stay put, at least a lockdown would prevent anyone else from testing the door and starting a panic.

Jamie leaned into him for a hug and he picked her up, standing again and holding her to his chest as she buried her face in his hair. Looking over her head, he scanned the crowd for anyone else who had noticed that they were, in fact, trapped inside this room. 

No one. 

“Listen, Jamie,” he said above the siren, “I know it’s a little scary, but remember how good you did in that pool noodle war we had in class the other day? You were really nervous but you ended up in the top three.”

She nodded into his hair, small arms squeezing him. His heart broke a little and he swallowed. 

“Do you still have the sticker you won?”

She nodded again. “It’s in my room.”

“Good! I’m glad it’s safe and sound in there.” He leaned back a little and shifted her weight to be able to meet her eyes. “Did you know that one was a bravery medal? I think I forgot to tell you. I only give it to the bravest students.”

“Really?” she said, voice tentative.

“Really. And I promise to protect you, but I need a brave sidekick to do it. Do you think you have it in you?” he asked, eyes drifting to the back of the room and the door.

“What do you need me to do?” she asked. His eyes snapped back to her and he let out a silent breath of relief that she was rallying and he lowered her to the ground, giving her one last squeeze.

“See that group of older kids over there?” he gestured to a gaggle of teens already stepping in to help calm the younger ones as they reacted to the loud siren. One of his more advanced advisees was there, and he trusted them to handle whatever could possibly be coming, as much as that could apply in whatever this was. “I need you to go help them keep your classmates calm. Not all of them might be as brave as you. But I’ll bet you can help them find their bravery, right?”

She nodded, and he gently nudged her in that direction. His gut was churning. “You’ve got this. What’s a siren to someone with a bravery medal? Not a thing!” he said. He watched as she ran over. “Not a thing,” he muttered to himself under his breath. He nodded to the teens, catching their eyes. They nodded back, as though it was no big deal. He made a mental note to thank them later.

On his own again, Dana began to push forward. Hell or high water, Dana was going to protect his students but he needed to find out what he could possibly be up against. 

He wouldn't get the chance to ask.

[little-annie]

Another WIP Weekend is ahead of us!

Have I worked on different WIPs every weekend 😝 yes, yes I have. Am I going to start working on the same ones from now on? TBD

🏔 Eddie Bang- I can't reveal anything about this WIP until art claims have been completed, but still, I need to desperately work on it. MAKE ME WORK ON IT.

💼 Businessman Steve- This guy has been sitting in my drafts for too long. It's a 5 & 1 of times concierge Eddie has encountered Steve Harrington, the son of business mogul Richard Harrington. At first Eddie isn't sure of the young businessman who seems to have a sex and drug problem, but as he gets to know Steve through these few encounters, Eddie comes to find Steve is living a life he truly despises. Through these few encounters they become friends and eventually by the end fall in love.

🤘🏻 Role Reversal Steddie AU- @tinytalkingtina and I have been expanding our world of Trackstar!Eddie and Metalhead!Steve and can't wait to share with you all that we've created.

⛺️ Steddie Set Up- Steve and Eddie meet on a camping trip organised by the kids. Clueless to the fact that they've been set up they become fast friends and soon a couple.

You know the drill. In an ask send me the emojis of the fic(s) you'd like me to work on and post updates.

What exists of 💼 as of now, below the cut.

There's a commotion at the double doors of the hotel lobby, multiple men spilling in all at once. Tailored suits, expensive watches, and the numbers of their mistresses hardly hidden in their phones.

Every one of them looks like an asshole.

From where Eddie sits behind the reception desk doodling in his notebook, he inwardly sighs before standing and tugging at his stiff uniform to at least appear professional. Black slacks and a white button down that he's had to treat for Ketchup stains more times then he cares to count. It's the least personalised thing he owns and with the added fact of not being allowed to wear jewellery or have his hair down, he just feels like another cog in the machine.

God he hates his job.

"Good morning, Sir," Eddie says with feigned composure as one of the suit and tied assholes of this month's conference approaches the front desk. The guys sporting a full head of salt and peppered hair, thick and perfectly coiffed on the top of his head. Eyes haunting, smile sinister in a way that's much too menacing for Eddie's taste. Shark like in the way it makes Eddie feel pinned down like a hopeless piece of prey.

"Harrington, Richard Harrington," the man says with a thundering voice instead of a greeting, slapping his credit card and ID onto the marble countertop between them and turning his back to say something snappy to the man at his rear.

Harrington, Eddie thinks with distaste, remembering the name from his first day on shift. Richard, the pompous prick, was yelling at the poor woman training Eddie because she forgot to make sure his room came stocked with higher end liquor than their Luxury Suites usually did. Really, it was something so small it could have been handled with just a phone call down to the front desk. It's a rather vivid memory and Eddie's sure that at the time if that would have been suggested the man would've dropped dead of a heart attack.

Though really, would that have been so awful?

He's seen the man far too many times since. Monthly business conferences and meetings at the hotel keep the entirety of Harrington and Associates forever coming through the lobby doors.

Much to Eddie's dismay.

He sighs at the thought of the many more encounters to come, watching as the vein bulges from the side of Richard's head and he turns a rather grotesque shade of red. Eddie feels bad for the man Richard's snapping at. It's obvious not much has changed other than the jerk sporting a few more wrinkles and grey hairs.

With a hardly contained eye roll, Eddie types 'Harrington' into the system, the keyboard clicking under his fingertips before two separate bookings pop up on the screen. One for Richard and another for a Stephen.

Eddie hums in thought, as familiar as this gaggle of assholes are, he doesn't remember a Stephen from the past bookings.

Must be new. And related. Poor bastard, Eddie thinks absent-mindedly. He can't imagine working for this guy, let alone being his son, though, maybe this Stephen's no different.

He grimaces at the thought and hopes he doesn't have to meet the man if he is.

Quietly, as not to disrupt the hissing match happening in front of him, Eddie finishes checking Mr. Dick Harrington into the hotel. Sliding the room key, credit card and ID in the man's direction, Eddie watches as Richard does nothing but continue to berate the man before him. Something about scheduling or mergers or what the fuck ever that Eddie really doesn't have the time or energy to give even a single shit about.

From the edge of the crowd of assholes a young man steps in to grab the cards and quite frankly Eddie couldn't give two shits if this guy's helping or stealing from the rich bastard. Though by the near matching formal attire and the way no one bats an eye, he supposes he at least works for the guy.

Or…

“Steve Harrington,” the young, startlingly beautiful man says as he picks up his apparent father's ID and replaces it with his own on the marble countertop.

There's a cute twist to his lip when he talks and Eddie already hates himself for staring, but how can he not?

This is Richard's son?

No

No

Mr. Tall Tan and Beautiful cannot have come from that.

But the matching square of their jaws, tilt to their cheeks and hazel of their eyes begs to differ.

Fucking hell.

He's probably just as much of a prick.

The pretty ones always are.

The straight ones too.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, willing his apparent blush to go down Eddie nods once and selects the only obvious choice of name in the booking system.

Stephen Harrington.

He can feel the man's eyes boring into him as he's typing, searing almost in their stare, so much so Eddie wonders if he has something on his face or if the guy just has zero social skills.

Chancing a glance up his suspicions are proven right and Steve doesn't so much as move, his eyes not meeting Eddie's but staring a little lower.

Eddie swallows, the judgement feeling heavy as he pulls the collar of his shirt higher, making sure there's no evidence of ink or any other bad decisions peeking out from the white buttoned around his neck.

It wouldn't be the first time some business asshole had something to say about his tattoos or the occasional hickey concealer failed to hide.

“605,” Eddie says almost mechanically after placing Steve's room key between them, his voice finally drawing the man's eye away from his throat.

Steve coughs into his fist, nods and grabs his and his fathers remaining cards and room keys but he doesn't leave. Navy blue suit and eyes Eddie thinks will take him weeks to forget, Steve remains standing before him, chewing on his bottom lip until he… he does a quick once over of Eddie. Top to bottom. Head to tail. Hazel eyes scanning, judging, making Eddie's skin feel like it's on fire for completely other reasons.

Then without a second's notice he looks from side to side rather hastily and leans into Eddie's space across the marble countertop, the sound of his elbow meeting the surface between them, a dull thud.

He smells like the pine of a forest floor and the musk of a man who's been nothing but busy and exhausted for weeks.

But God it's doing something to Eddie and he hates it.

Steve works his jaw in an odd way, rubbing at the muscle before he asks in a hushed tone, “There uh, there any clubs around here, for the, you know,” he lifts his hand to drop his wrist limply, fluttering his lashes as he continues, “variety?”

He's asking Eddie if there's any gay clubs around.

He's asking Eddie if there's any gay clubs around?

What the fuck?

Eddie bristles, already feeling his brows pull into a glare. He's making fun of him. These businessmen always do.

It's not like he's wearing a pride flag anywhere or skipping through the fucking halls, but somehow these pricks always seem to pick up on his preferences.

It's been years and only once has anyone been genuine in their inquiry.

So genuine in fact that Eddie found himself with his dick in the guy's mouth not more than thirty minutes later when he went out for his smoke break.

But a Harrington? Richard's son?

He thinks Hell will sooner freeze over.

Really if anything Eddie wants to tell the guy to fuck off, but he can't because professionalism.

So he does the next best thing.

If the guy's gonna be a judgy dick, well…

In a matter of seconds Eddie prints off a map of the city that has each and every gay bar starred and hands it to Steve with a very fake and falsely enthusiastic, “Enjoy you stay in the city Mr. Harrington, I hope you find what you're looking for.”

And then before he even has a chance to catch the guy's reaction, he's waving towards the crowd, calling out “next please” and moving to the other computer to check in the next asshole.

[jesterboystrick]

Tagged by @ghost-maya to answer 20 questions for fic writers.

I was honestly tagged in this way too long ago, started answering a few questions, then forgot about it in my drafts forever until Maya just tagged me in ANOTHER fic tag game. So, now I have to post this one so THAT one can waste away in my drafts for a while instead, obviously.

Y'all get ready, I'm about to ramble more than necessary on some of these because I love to talk. May not seem like it from how little I post here, but oh boy I'm a talker.

how many works do you have on ao3?

41, which is too fucking many considering I only started in august 😂

what's your total ao3 word count?

113,710

what are your top five fics by kudos?

1. With Hearts in His Eyes (in progress ZoSan multi-chap) 2. Dressed Down (ZoSan) 3. What Happens in the Timeskip, Stays in the Timeskip (ZoSan) 4. A Different Sensation (ZoSanZo) 5. Incentive (SanZo) What's really interesting to me is that my top by hits look the same, except A Different Sensation is replaced with Melt. Melt being in my top 5 hits has baffled me since it made it up there a while ago. I mean, I love that, but I'm shocked that a rarer pair beat out 14 zsz fics for the 4th spot. Shouts out to the CrocSan enjoyers I guess! Glad y'all enjoy it.

what fandoms do you write for?

One Piece. I write whatever I get ideas for, so I technically have some wips for other things, but I don't intend to post any of those and haven't worked on anything non-One Piece since I started posting... except a oneshot I just started recently... you might see that one day if I finish it, but maybe not. Don't worry about it.

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

Yup! No real "why." Sometimes a handful of them build up in my inbox before I get around to answering them, but I just like saying at least a thank you for every comment.

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Was the All Blue Ever Real? probably. I feel like a lot of my other dark or angsty fics have something that brings the angst up a little by the end, like All That's Left and Scum, since they end with a bit of comfort, and ones like Raw Deal DO end decidedly bad for at least one involved party, but I think of those as way more whump than angst, if that distinction matters here. You Stifle Me, I Suffocate might be up there, but it doesn't quite have a real ending. Since all of it is just Sanji remembering something from his childhood, the ending is just "and then One Piece happens". More... sour tasting ending than clear cut angst. So, all that said, quantifying the angstiEST fic ending is a bit weird, but I'll go with Was the All Blue Ever Real? since it's just kinda bleak all the way around, haha. It's also a more... mundane angst, if that makes sense? No one's getting devil fruit tortured or anything, shit just sucks. Is Scum angstier though, despite the bit of comfort at the end? 🤷‍♂️ Idk, you tell me.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

😂😂😂 I don't really set out to write happy endings, at least not intentionally. Sometimes they do happen to me, but my plot based stuff usually isn't overwhelmingly happy, so the happiest ending so far is probably by default just something that's more smut focused. I guess... What Happens in the Timeskip, Stays in the Timeskip.

do you get hate on fics?

Not yet! The worst I've gotten is one or two comments that were just... a little hard to decipher. They could be, or could not be, lol 🤷‍♂️. There's one in particular that comes to mind that I genuinely can't tell if it was meant to be positive or negative, so in my mind, it's just neutral. 🤣

do you write smut?

Hahaha. Yeah.

do you write crossovers?

Nope. I'll never say never to just about anything, because who knows what I'll feel like writing in the future, but crossovers have never appealed to me much as a reader or writer. Technically, there's been a few times I've started just a little bit of one, but not seriously, more as just a fun little exercise to entertain myself for a single quick writing session, then immediately forget about.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, and I sure hope not.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Not yet, but I'm not opposed to it! Never done any cowritting, so I don't know how well I do in that sort of situation, but there's a few fic writer friends I could picture myself trying it out with some day if we ever felt drawn to the right idea for it together.

what's your all time favorite ship?

I really don't know. There is no one favorite ship for me. I could tell you what ships I think about the most at any given time, but that changes so frequently that the answer would be different if you asked me again in a week. Easy cop-out way to answer this: If I check my fic reading spreadsheet that I started at the beginning of January, DofCora is the ship I've read the most of so far this year. Make of that what you will 🤣

what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Considering I have probably around 300 things in my One Piece wip folder (not an exaggeration, I don't have an exact count rn, but it's for sure around there at this point in time), there's plenty of answers to this, but to pick something specific, any of my super long aus. I have several au ideas/wips that are basically "rewriting all of One Piece" type aus, and realistically I'm never posting ANY OF THEM. I know that. I only even let myself delusionally pretend i might ever get around to finishing ONE. A few of my faves are a strawhat role swap au, an au that changes all the strawhat's backstories pretty drastically, and the pro wrestling au. I wish all three of those could be epic length masterworks that retell all of One Piece, because that's how I initially envisioned them, but it's just never going to happen. There's a few of those big fic ideas that I might cut up into the more manageable or best parts and post isolated scenes of some day, but I know none of them will ever get written in their entirety and that's a bummer. The pro wrestling au is the one out of the aus I mentioned that I most want to make work, somehow, some way, some day, but we'll see if it ever shakes out.

what are your writing strengths?

Starting things. I have ideas constantly and I start new wips multiple times a week, sometimes multiple times a day.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing things. I have ideas constantly and I'm always starting new wips. I can't finish them all.

I know these last two questions probably mean more the writing itself, not the process of writing, but I honestly don't really know. It feels a bit lame and too broad to say that I feel like I'm good a dialogue and not as good at anything that comes between, but I don't even know if that's true of my writing on it's own, or just an indication of where my priorities lie and what I'm most focused on and interested in when doing the writing. I've gotten a few comments on how I write characters, saying that they feel in character or very "human," and that certain scenarios or the way characters react to them (particularly on darker fics) are very real or realistic, and I think about those comments a lot. I really appreciate and treasure them. So if you believe those comments, I suppose that might be my strength, which isn't at odds with my feeling that dialogue is something that comes more naturally to me. I imagine they're probably connected.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I wouldn't do it. I'm not opposed to the idea of it, but I wouldn't do it myself because I'm only fluent in English and have no way of ensuring that I'd be writing something accurately or comprehensibly on my own. If I ever felt a fic absolutely needed it for some reason, I would ask someone fluent in that language to help or I just wouldn't do it at all.

first fandom you wrote for?

Something related to DC Comics, for sure.

favorite fic you've ever written?

Similarly to my answer on favorite ships, I really don't have just one favorite fic. It changes too often to say, and I tend to have a recency bias for newly posted fics or ones I've reread recently. I'd say that since the start of this year, my fave posted fic of mine has cycled most often between Every Time You Kiss Me, I Could Cry, Scum, and Raw Deal, but a good 1/2 to 2/3rds of my posted fics have been my favorite at one point or another, if only for a few days in some cases.

tagging

As always, I don't really know who to tag, so if you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged.

[yosanoakikofanboy]

Hi!!! Im Reese, the runner of this blog! I go by he/him pronouns, im pretty new 2 tumblr but I've been fascinated by this site forever!(I only now made an account bc I was too scared to actually talk 2 people TwT..)

{Interest}

I ADORE Bsd(manga, lightnovels, wan, stageplays), I love Blackjack(manga,anime,21,OVA, i havent watched young yet tho), Im a casual Disgaea fan(I've played 5, just started 1, but own 4 and a brighter darkness as well as cursed memories), I LOVE CASTLE CRASHERS!! I also enjoy Marble Hornets and Another!

◇DNI◇

I don't rlly have a big dni list, just no transphobes, racist, homophobes etc etc

{More about my interest!}

Where 2 start? I've been a bsd fan for 2 years!

My favorite bsd characters aaareeee

Yosano Akiko, Tachihara Shunzen, Tachihara Michizou, T. J. Eckleburg, Kyouka Izumi, Yosano Akiko, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Fukuchi Ōchi, Tsujimura Mizuki, Francis Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Atsushi Nakajima, Yosano Akiko, Ace, Kouyou Ozaki, Yosano Akiko, GIDE, H. G. Wells, Gab, Gabriel Jules Verne, Nemo, Vergo, Murakami Tokio, Aoki, Murakoso, Taneda, Ango, Natsume, Mori Ougai, Yosano Akiko, and Nathaniel Hawthorne(This is in no particular order btw)

I luv theatrical characters(which is why Murakami is there lol) and total LOSERS

I think i've been a blackjack fan for a year.. i wasnt counting T_T..

My favorites are

Blackjack, Kiriko, Yuri, Kei Kisaragi, Pinoko, and Largo!(ik she only lived in the anime let me pretend..)

I've been a disgaea fan for as long as I can remember! My favorites are

Laharl, Etna, Floenne, Adell, Axel, and basically the whole main cast of Disgaea5 lol

I've also been a castle crashers fan for years! My mains are

The Blacksmith, Grey Knight and Thief

{More on me}

I almost forgot to actually talk abt myself! Im not gnna give away too much since online safety yknow but!

I live in the texas area, Im black, My birthday is Feb13th, my favorite color is orange and I like to draw aswell as write.

|Music Taste|

Mostly goth I will admit lol

Bands/Artisr I listen to though r

Fearcult

Tears for the dying

Alien Sex Friend

Paralysed Age

Virgin in Veil

Scary Bitches

Lebanon Hangover

Ghosting

Diva Destruction

KMFDM

Weird Al

Tom Lehrer💜

Mitski

Queen

BLOODHOUND GANG

And sometimes Oingo Boingo!

♤Where to find me♤

I mostly use tumblr to post art or funny things so i might not respond to stuff on here. You can always Talk 2 me on my discord!

《reeseinthecorner_33215》

My Ao3 is:

《Gides_ONLY_fan》

I dont post often but I have a LOT of drafts I plan on posting I swear!!!

My main writing on there is Bungo Settled Cats though!!

I'll probably add to this if I remember anything else abt me.. so yea! Bye till next time!

Bonus yosano photo because I love her :3

[barbiebraganca]

HSHQTASK059: FAREWELL !

when did you join ? what made you join ? what do you remember from the plotlines that were current at the time ? where were you in life when you joined and where are you now ?

right at the beginning of 2016, around feb or march. i had just finished high school and took an off year to prepare for uni admission exams. i needed something to take my mind off studying for it and my friend julia suggested i joined her on tumblr rping. i had no idea what that was but she helped me through it and we joined another group together. at the time i also developed a bit of a thing for royals and made my character in that group an undercover norwegian royal, on some princess diaries bullshit. but looking up things for that group i decided to search norwegian royalty on tumblr and found the blog for a character in vik. olav if i'm not mistaken. i started stalking the group and got really interested in it and mentioned it to julia who told me she'd been here before and would join with me if i chose to so we brought barbie and biel. then the group closed and i completely gave up rping until one random day many months later i logged into tumblr again god knows why and there was a message from martha, she told me the group came back to life and i decided to rejoin. and here i am, haven't left since.

which characters have you written over the years ?

ffs, let me see if i can remember all of them: ayo, bruce, barbie, toni, leon, sergi, silje, ilija, zoey (silje's draft), pedro, noémïe (poor thing lasted 3 seconds), ionie. i feel like there's more, i just can't remember.

what is your favourite plotline that you've been part of ?

the zulu & the southern africa conflicts. even all of us applying together that day was such a moment, i loved every bit of it. i had so so much fun writing ayo even if he was one of those characters it is impossible to write filler threads with, i still felt so much joy when i got a notif that someone replied to him, even if the entire reply was someone hating on him hard.

what about other people's plotlines ?

it's impossible to pick one when you've been here from the start and have seen countless amazing ones but the english plot was truly a wonder, even the murder mystery event was fucking incredible. anything involving russia and the romanovs as well was so well thought and made so much sense when you put the pieces together you just can't help but love every bit.

who is your favourite character from the ones you've played ? why ? what made you love them ? what made them so fun to write ?

favourite to write i'd say ayo, for the same reasons i mentioned on the plotline question but if i had to choose only one to keep playing forever it would either be silje or ilija. i feel like those are versatile ones that i could go in different directions with if i'd wanted to. the one i had the most fun writing though was pedro for sure.

if you could relive a plotline, which would it be ?

the invasion in greece and i think everyone who was here for that would say the same thing. that was our most iconic event and for a reason, everyone put 150% into it and it worked out so so so so well we didn't even imagine the outcome it would have, we just wanted to traumatise everyone a bit but received the best event in hshq in return.

is there a plotline that you'd edit now if you could ?

i don't think there is, especially because i don't think i remember even half of them but even then everything was fun and a joy to write about so i probably wouldn't change anything.

what's a plotline you wish you would have been able to finish before closing or just write more of ?

the ones that never happened. e mentioned some of the things we planned and didn't happen on the timeline post but i assure you that's not even the beginning. at times we'd plan an entire year of events in advance and come up with a full story, reasoning, plot drops for it but when the time to have them came we forgot all about it and change everything to something we'd put together in 20 mins instead of the plans we spent days working on. even the cruise ship they were supposed to be stuck in was an idea we had so much fun coming up with and it didn't get to see the light of day.

what is your favourite ooc memory ?

every honesty hour chaos was such a fun time to be on the dash, or whenever something big would happen ic and there would be 100 ooc posts reacting to it on the dash and the jokes were the peak of comedy. but i'll always have a soft spot for the soletsky silent thread bc icb we actually had 40+ notes on that, it was priceless. the word lunch is stuck with me forever. AND that one time i got kicked out on this exact date a couple years back.

where can others find you if they want to get in touch ?

i won't delete the tumblr app from my phone just yet so if you want to send me a mssg, i'll be checking it every now and again. same with discord, i'm there under barbielandwired and we're not deleting the hshq server so we can still have that in case anybody wants to pop into the chat and catch up. i'll give you my socials too if anybody wants that, we're all friends here. i've known u lot for 8 years.

what else would you like to say ?

here.

[todayisafridaynight]

OH I WAS JUST REMINDED CAUSE the angle on Jo in the last panel is similar to how I remember some shots of Takita + The General Premise Of Being Sick ☠️☠️And also that I was gonna tack it onto my ask about Day with the Sun but I didn't think it was relevant enough... but yeah... We Can Only Hope...

I can't say much about the show mainly because I was in a rut and couldn't engage with any media I tried to watch at all for a while [and with a stream, I couldn't pause to process things]; that said, it was insanely successful for a reason, and if nothing else it'd probably be fun to watch before you play Judgment and see how it influenced the games! I also really love Amamiya [the female lead] and Hiroshi Abe never disappoints :]

DO NOT BE ASHAMED TO ADMIT YOU ALREADY KNEW... I didn't know that's what Krillin's name was derived from... very fun trivia :] But yeah I love Nakai's dogs and his blog posts Dearly... it's actually kinda funny too because I spent ages the other day trying to find any other characters of his who wear unbuttoned shirts for reference [during which I also kept running into media that had no subs or wasn't uploaded at all so ☠️ I'm glad you found A Ghost of a Chance!], and I completely forgot about these pics until now...

Anyway here is a bonus Tsutsumi with his dog :] he got it in 2018 for his daughters...

LASTLY I think you should give Arakawa his stubble back so I can scritch him under the chin As God Intended and I think you should write a sequel to Sons of Bosses so I can line up with a bowl :]

OH fair fair fair 😩 if its anything, since watching more jdramas and movies ive borrowed how camera angles are done in those SO it is vaguely intentional for it to be reminiscent of dramas :]

once i strongarm time from Life i'll surely give it a watch (❁´◡`❁) im forever grateful a lot of jdramas are only 10-12 episodes long, it makes binging shit HELLA easy and gives me motivation to watch and finish things ♪(´▽｀)

it's actually so unfortunate a lot of nakai's movies and shows are practically exclusive to japan (if not myself just constantly being reminded i should be better dedicated to studying japanese..) (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) still, it's what makes finding anythin he's in all the more enjoyable and has me all the more grateful （*＾-＾*）

BUT OH MY GOD TINY BABY PUPPY HIIIIIIII handsome feller.... what a cute coat... what a silly face pattern ive never seen a dog like that..... epic .........

arakawa-with-stubble has been cooking in the back of my brain for a LONG while (i've Mentally drafted a few comics that take place during a time where he'd reasonably be growing some), im just a lazy bastard who never draws any of those ideas (╯▽╰ ;;) sequel to Sons of Bosses may be a thing... depends on if i can force this goofy brain of mine to work and write three fics in one week..

[kimaamaya]

I ALMOST FORGOT I NEEDED TO POST WAH HI GUYS HELLO I REMEMBERED FINALLY

So you know that whole thing I said about like having a plan and not coloring backgrounds after characters and stuff and don’t just wing it the entire time well yeah I did that with this too and I think that’s where the lesson really set in for me because I think this would look so much better if I listened to myself instead of ignoring all of that advice and my Anhane week stuff will probably look so much better

Oh also I had no idea what to make Ena say and I feel like I made the text box small enough that it didn’t matter so I hope you like my infamously atrocious keyboard smashes

One fateful night while I was drawing this I was working on this I had the Absolute Experience Of A Lifetime That Will Change Me Forever. I was watching a movie with my mom and it was so compelling that not ONLY did it bring me to TEARS more than once but I got so focused on it that I completely set my iPad down, and that movie my friends…was Birdemic: Shock and Terror.

Let me tell you about this movie because not only does it have a 1.7 on IMDB but literally almost all of the birds in this movie are terrible awful bottom-of-the-barrel CGI and any real birds were not actually supposed to be there. It had a budget of $10,000 and it’s from 2010 but it looks like it was filmed on the first phone camera ever made and I think somehow the guy who made it was trying to make it serious???? And like I was actually laughing so hard I started crying and I think my mom hates me forever now for letting her witness it

…Aaaand then I started telling her about more movies I find like it and I think I’m banned from ever picking anything ever again

So uhh uhhhh about the drawing hmm you see I actually don’t have much to say! I didn’t originally have any ideas other than the first day but then like the draft of this just sprung up on my canvas one day and I was like “Oh sure buddy” and spent like 2 weeks on and off on it and it LITERALLY like REALLY LITERALLY has 63 layers and I took like 20+ hours on it apparently. Also for some reason Rui’s face reminds me of a gen 4 My Little Pony

So anyway yeah I think I had more to say but I don’t remember ANY of it so see you guys probably in a month for Nene’s birthday then Anhane Week then An’s birthday and then I’m done being busy until Emu’s birthday alllllll they way in September and I’m waiting patiently because I STILL have ideas I’m rotating in my head like a rotisserie chicken and I’ll actually NOT be on a time crunch so I can take my time and make them to my liking <3

[thegoddesswater]

1, 13, and 21!

Thanks, Lano!

Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time?

He technically isn’t the first EVER because I have been making up stories since forever, but the oldest OC I can think of has to be Karn. Made him up in 2006 and worked with him until about 2008. Then he got benched. Which seems odd now because I revisited his character starting in 2022 and holy hells. I forgot how much I loved him. (I distinctly remember a class in high school where we did a guided meditation and he freaking appeared to me in it, complete with actual physical sensation of him hanging onto me -- threw me wildly off balance, like holy shit he was real in that moment. I was legitimately upset to have to leave him behind at the end of that. ANYWAY)

I feel like Karn hasn't really evolved over the years, so much as I just got better at writing him; I was not good at writing a ten-year-old kid when I was fourteen. That said, I've learned more about Karn since coming back for him, and he's no longer just the annoying child character. He's developed clearer hopes and fears and just an overall clearer sense of self (inasmuch as anyone has a solid sense of self as a kid). His role in the story kind of abruptly dropped off in the last few chapters of the old first draft he was in and I'm excited to find ways to fix that in the rewrite; he's not stealing the spotlight from the actual MC, but Karn's so present in the first bit that it's weird that I started just hand-waving him out of the story. He's thematically appropriate to keep around, dangit!

I've posted this picture before but look at my little guy. I love him so much (one day I might even finish colouring him)

13. Which story has the most lore?

Hands down, Talentless has the most lore. I used to keep track of it in a 30+ page document to keep track of the magic system alone.

I haven't fully developed the history of the world, but there's enough there that I could probably have a similarly sized document for historical events, or notes about the different countries.

One of my proudest moments of creating lore for Talentless was at 6:10 one morning when I just whipped up an entire fable from the Faerie cultures and typed it into Skype for my co-author. I believe the response was something like "Did you deadass just wake up and write an entire goddamn fairy tale in 20 minutes?"

21. When did you start considering yourself a writer/artist?

Heck if I know. I feel like I've stopped considering myself an "artist" in regards to drawings since I got hit with that artblock at the end of university. Now I feel like I'm just a writer who occasionally produces sketches - which is probably not fair to myself.

I feel like I still get a bit of imposter syndrome when I call myself a writer, because sometimes I feel like a fraud, but I know I am a writer. And I don't really know when I started thinking of myself as one. (Currently, though, one of my MCs is giving the cold shoulder and I need him to talk to me, so I think I'm feeling more down on my abilities than usual)

[authortobenamedlater]

After combing through the show (again) for fanfic purposes, I just need to throw this out there.

Halo has SO MANY LOOSE ENDS to tie up in S2.

I know we all know this but let me put an itemized list here for my own benefit if nothing else.

First, and biggest: They have to separate Cortana and John. Seeing as John can't access the keystones in his current state, the show is kind of stalled until this happens. So it has to happen quickly enough not to take up the entire season but slowly enough to not make it too easy.

Second, and most obvious: They have to find the Halo. If you take clues from this photo, we won't have to wait too long. If nothing else we can rest easy that all our Spartans are back together. I'm going to wager this also means John and Cortana are back to themselves.

Third, about which few people care but is still important: Kwan and Madrigal. We didn't like Kwan, but now that she's here, we need to know why, you know? The show can't just drop her, but they also can't let her eat up airtime like she did for much of S1.

As I recall, it looks like Madrigal is a portal or something to get to the Halo along with some Forerunner term I can't remember (@mrtobenamedlater can comment more here since he's the one who told me), so I'll bet that's where they are going with this.

Fourth: Where's Halsey and what's she up to? And how many flash clones does she have?

Fifth, can't believe I forgot this and have to edit it in: Is there any kind of reckoning for the SII program architects? JAG is clearly sniffing around, and even Halsey can't hold them off forever. Keyes is so pissed off at himself and everything by the last episode I wouldn't be surprised if he went nuclear on the whole thing.

Other second-tier loose ends...

This isn't exactly critical to the story, but The Reach for Life project is fishier than Mr's waders when he comes home after a day on the water. What is up with that? Halsey knew John's parents somehow. What's the connection? Did his parents die in the plague or what? That plague was absolutely engineered to wipe out the planet, so who did it (spoiler: Halsey)? What about John finding the artifact took his family from happy and fairly normal to clearly not happy? Show of hands, who thinks Halsey was in on that?

John tells Kai "I'm working on it" when she says her parents could still be out there. Are we going to meet them? What about Riz and Vannak's parents? I'm also going to take this moment to say once again that I don't understand why they did a whole new team for Chief when Blue Team was already there AND the show used so many other characters that barely appear in the games at all (I know they have major roles in novels etc.).

Assuming we get another nine-episode season, everything in this post alone would be enough to fill it. I saw a report of a couple of new characters coming in, so there are obviously going to be some new threads there. Are we going to have enough time for all of it? I wouldn't complain if we got more episodes, or if each episode was over an hour long a la Rings of Power.

I simultaneously want Halo S2 immediately because I'm impatient, and want it to take as long as possible because I'm afraid it will take all the worst parts of S1 and magnify them. Also I have tons of fanfic to write and don't need canon getting in the way.

I really need to go into my drafts and find my rant about how short seasons are ruining TV because that's the root of my gripe here.

Anyway. If you read this far, did I miss anything?

[lavishedinjimin]

hello, beautiful people

tw// depression

. .

First, I want to apologize to all the people who has been patiently (or not patiently) waiting for me to post something. I'm so sorry for making you guys wait for anything to happen with my blog. It has been literal YEARS since I have posted but now that I'm looking through my notifications, your guys' love for me and my works hasn't died, so I really appreciate the support all throughout my absence.

This blog has been my safe place for many many years, and it still is. And you, my dearest readers, has been my family within the army community. Many of you may or may not know that I was not in a good state of mind; I experienced hell and I thought that I was not getting any better, and this blog was the only thing that kept me from sinking into a black hole. Some of you may remember my constant disappearances (lol) and how I was always frequent in taking breaks. Experiencing writer's block and personal matters was not a good combination for someone like me. Therefore, I had to take a step back from writing. I will not disclose more as to why I had to take like a fucking 2+ year hiatus, but I'm really really sorry.

Though kid you not, there was never a moment where I forgot about you all. I would always think about my readers and how they were doing. I would think about this blog and the memories I've created, cherishing them forever. This blog and you guys have a special place in my heart. And I'm so sorry for disappearing without notice. You guys don't deserve that at all. There's a part of me that regret stopping, but the other part tells me that it's okay, since I was doing this for the sake of myself. I would hope that you, my dearest, would understand that.

But great news!! I'm getting help! Something I should've done a long, long time ago. As I write this post, I feel like I am in a better state, my mental health better than before. I miss writing and I miss talking to you guys. I've come to a conclusion that writing and actually interacting with you all made my days a bit better. Yall made me happy, and I hope to feel those moments again, to be able to have a relationship with you lot again.

I missed you. And I missed writing (and because of my lack of practice, I feel like I absolutely suck now). During my break, I was in an insanely slow process of writing something very requested. I won't promise any due date, but I plan to continue that draft.

I also saw the immense love and support for my drabbles! Thank you guys for letting it receive 13k plus notes. Kinky hours were so fun, I can't wait to do them again <3

I'm not that great expressing my feelings that much, but I hope I get this message across. See you guys in a bit.

I'm home. I love you guys. <3

July.

.

.

edit: I'm officially announcing that I will be uploading a new fic this January or early Feb (hopefully!!). It was highly requested and I hope you guys will look forward to it! An official fic update/teaser will be released soon. <33

[yukidragon]

Sunny Day Jack - Sunshine in Hell

Welp. Guess I’m writing fics for There’s Something Wrong With Sunny Day Jack now. I blame you @channydraws​.

These are gonna be short fics though. No full blown novel-sized works like I’m doing for Our Life: Beginnings & Always or the Digimon series @neonmouko and I are working on for @dragonandtiger​. These are just gonna be bursts of creativity from plot bunnies as they come from this unfinished game full of lore yet to be revealed. If I ever decide to polish anything past the rough draft form I might post it on AO3, but at least I’ll share these little bursts of creativity here with my mutuals who are in this Sunny Day Jack fandom pit with me.

Just as a heads up for people who are interested in my writing but are unfamiliar with the Sunny Day Jack game, it’s an 18+ erotic horror game involving very mature themes and is absolutely not for minors. Not everything I write for it will be that rating, obviously, but you’ve been warned.

Anyway, enough rambling. Let’s get into this little story about Jack experiencing a little sunshine in hell.

...

Hell. Sunny Day Jack was in hell.

It wasn’t the hell that scriptures told, a hell filled with fire, brimstone, demons, and ironic tortures. That version of hell was almost childish, a mercy compared to the real thing.

The real hell was cold and empty. It was the loss of all senses until everything was a maddening static that erased everything.

Everything but him.

There was nothing to mark the passage of time in this place, no day and no night. How long had he been there? Weeks? Years? Centuries? It was impossible to tell.

It was all Jack could do to cling to what little sanity had remained, to burn the memories he had left so deeply into his mind that he wouldn’t forget.

He was Sunny Day Jack. He and the rest of the SunnyTime Crew taught important life lessons to the kids of CloudyTown in his school house, as well as countless other kids who watched him and his friends on television at home.

There were no kids here, no CloudyTown, no SunnyTime Crew, no one. He was all alone. He had been alone in this place for so long.

Where were they? Why was he here alone? What sin had he committed to be condemned to this cold, lonely hell?

Had they forgotten about him?

Jack couldn’t remember. He remembered the lessons he had to teach that day. He remembered every face, every line, every gesture. He kept remembering it on loop like replaying from tape. He knew it from start to fini… to…

How did it end again? Jack struggled to find those memories, but as he reached for that forgotten ending, only impressions of dark emotions came.

Fear. Anger. Pain. Fear. Anger. Betrayal. Pain. Fear. Anger. Pain. Fear. Anger. Pain. Confusion. Fear. Anger. Pain. Fear. Anger. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pai-

Jack barely managed to pull himself out of the darkness that had overtaken him, but he couldn’t escape the cold that froze him completely through. He had to remember. He was Sunny Day Jack. He couldn’t forget. If he forgot then there would be nothing left of him but his suffering in this cold, dark hell.

Did the world forget him? Was that why he was here?

I’m here! Jack screamed into the void without a voice. Don’t forget me!

He begged for someone, anyone to save him, to remember him. He was there, right there. Why couldn’t they see that? Why couldn’t they hear him?

Why wouldn’t anybody save him?

.

Then something changed. From the infinite void Jack felt a whisper of warmth. It was like a single ray of sunlight piercing through inky black clouds, a miracle. It was so faint, fading almost as quickly as it appeared, but he did everything he could to cling to that tiny mote of hope.

I’m here! I’m here! Please, please, please! Don’t forget me!

For a second or maybe years Jack reached out for that light with everything that was left to him. He almost despaired that it was gone forever, when it returned, the faint flickering of warmth like a lover’s caress.

Jack begged for that light, his precious sunshine, to never leave him again. He let out a litany of silent, desperate pleas to his sunshine for salvation. He needed them. He needed them more than life, more than sanity, and even more than even his precious memories.

And they needed him too. It was just the faintest sense, but Jack could feel it, his sunshine. The longer he held onto it, the more of them bled through, all warm and vibrant and everything pure and good and wonderful and precious and alive. They found him because they needed him. They didn’t forget him. They were going to save him from this cold, endless hell.

Hurry, please. Please, please, please, my sunshine.

No words came in answer to his pleas, but instead a faint hiss like television static. Then came the SunnyTime theme song, reminding Sunny Day Jack who he was and what he was supposed to be doing. It was time for the show to start. It was time for him to teach the kids important life lessons in CloudyTown with the SunnyTime Crew.

Jack might have lost himself in the episode’s script if he didn’t cling so desperately to his sunshine’s warmth. They needed him. His sunshine needed him, far more than the kids needed their usual lesson, the same one he had run through his mind countless times until it was burned into his brain until he could never forget, never, never, never…

It took Jack everything in him to reach out to the source of his sunlight, his sunshine who needed him with them.

There. Right there.

Jack knew what to do now. The script was clear what he should say to greet a new friend, to be friendly and welcoming without scaring them away. He couldn’t scare his sunshine away, never, never, never.

This time when he spoke, his voice finally reached.

“Names are great. Everybody has a name. What’s yours?”

Past the static, drawing him closer by the moment and away from his cold and lonely hell, a soft and oh so lovely voice answered him.

…

It was a kids show. Alice wasn’t surprised that was what had been recorded on a tape labeled with the colorful title of SunnyTime Crew. The tape played back with some static, but nothing overly so, and the cheerful theme song came through loud and clear. She lounged on the sofa comfortably, hugging one of the cushions to her chest as she settled in for the show. It wasn’t a cartoon but some live action performance with colorful backdrops and even more colorful actors painted to look like friendly clowns.

Despite deciding to watch an old children’s TV show, Alice wasn’t exactly big on being nostalgic for her childhood. After all, it wasn’t as though she watched this particular show as a kid.

Or did she? There was something that drew Alice into the world of the SunnyTime Crew as she watched the theme song play that left her eyes riveted to the screen. A feeling of anticipation bubbled up in her chest, and she hugged the cushion closer to her body as she waited on baited breath for… something.

A man, a clown with blue hair and red markings on his cheeks, chin, and nose appeared front and center on the screen. His dark eyes were bright and shining almost as much as his warm and friendly smile. It was the host… Sunny Day Jack the intro credits said, didn’t they?

Jack asked her - the audience, the kids who would have been watching the episode, their name. His voice was welcoming and warm, like that of a friend she had been dying to make for a long, long time.

It was a childish impulse, but Alice couldn’t help but play along even though she knew he would never hear her.

“Alice.”

[dorizardthewizard]

Ninjago Crystalized E22 - E30 thoughts

forgot this was in my drafts

EP 22

ronin is a legend. he got done so dirty like... he had such a good arc in s5 only for the writers to revert him to a generic thief. and the ninja were just chill with getting him locked up in ninjago’s prison for the worst criminals?? what the hell guys. add onto this how corrupt/ incompetent the leadership and justice systems in ninjago seem and... phew, that’s some bootlicking from our favourite little legos /hj

nya knowing stuff about plants is so cute. let them have more interests outside of ninja-ing!

the production value on these fights really is good

oh wow master wu could really use an elemental dragon right about now!

"i fished out the last one" LOL

doing it again in the same canal LMAO thats an L having to give wu mouth to mouth. also not sure that’s what you should do with someone who still has water in their lungs

EP 23

aww cute jaya moments

nya has her powers back! wow i sure enjoyed her well developed arc that was so worth them bringing her back!! /s

aww i love these kids having their own little counterattack. kiddos aren’t your families looking for you?

love how antonia went from wanting to quit to being adamant they should fight back

"i am not about to lead a bunch of children against the embodiment of evil and darkness!" soooo like every other season? "that never stopped you before!" TOOK THE WORDS RIGHT OUTTA MY MOUTH LOL DRAG HIM

kind of surprising just how many times wu wants to quit and others have to remind him that ninja never quit, my brother in fsm you taught them that

btw this should have been the s10 ending just oni instead of the overlord. still mad about how rushed that season was.

EP 24

honestly idc about lloyd’s whole angst with his dad, they act like sensei garmadon never existed. evil garmadon hasn’t even been around long enough for lloyd to be super disappointed in him on a personal level like that. why can’t he instead be angry at this garm because he’s not the father he remembers and only serves as a walking reminder that he’ll never see sensei garmadon again.

dragon form let’s goooo

side note i miss lloyd saying dregon

omg the ice emperor are we actually talking about this

oh we're just gonna brush over it and make it a joke. got it.

RONIN MVPPP

borg tower yet againnnn also this guy was so focused on his projects he didn’t realise the apocalypse was happening? i love him

pixal: ronin why are you helping us?

WOW WE REALLY JUST IGNORED SEASON 5 HUH JUSTICE FOR RONIN

EP 25

few notes here bc i was too busy staring at the lava

the way he softly calls coles name when he wakes up ToT

kai fighting by himself to protect cole dsfgsd lowkey wish that fight had been extended for the wump but also so skylor can come just in the nick of time

i like the implication that skylor doesnt keep those powers forever, she has to touch an elemental master again to “recharge” so to speak. makes her much less op so that’s cool.

wu broadcasting on all frequencies but wouldn’t the bad guys hear him too?

that transition from the ninja running over the manhole to lloyd and garmadon being in the sewers is super cool. i love cinema.

lloyd's argument with garmadon gives the implication he's mad at him for never being a good father but THATS A MOVIE PLOT NOT THE SERIES ARRRRGHH

what could’ve been cool if instead they made lloyd not want to embrace his oni side bc he's scared of the anger and resentment building up in him over all these years of being the green ninja. y’know like the fandom keeps harping on about but is never actually portrayed in the show.

one thing i like about these new seasons is the clear motifs and musical character themes. paper delivery professionals for the win.

the paper kids wearing home made outfits with pots on their heads gives me such codename kids next d00r vibes

actually i like these post apocalyptic vibes, with everyone trying to look for each other and hiding but rallying secretly.

aww that happy moment with the family then kai and skylor hhhhngngng if only they delved more into skylor and her childhood crying

EP 26

omg kai finally having his speech skills back!!!

weeeeell kinda. actually it's effective lol he's so cute with kids.

had to pause this skylor and kai moment bc im dying from cringe. also lmao all these seasons and they weren't really together? oh he hasn't even spoken to her all this time?? skylor was at nya's funeral i swear ToT

here's an F for the lava fans. it was a pleasure shipping with you o7

zane is broken yet agaaaaim

if jay and the others could figure out the hint about the newspapers then surely the bad guys could

RACER 7 I MISSED YOUUUUUUUU

also she's basically antonia lmao could they not have thought of a different design

"that paycheck of yours? kiss it goodbye"

I LOVE HER

stop fakeout deathing me with zane lmao we've done this 50 times already. wow she gave up pretty quickly huh.

oh for god's sake they'll reverse the fakeout death THAT quickly? i give up. and he lives just because of an emotional speech? please

can't believe tommy made a big deal about this and made everyone think they would split up somehow. oh wait he does that all the time and the fandom runs away with it every time. if you wanted emotional moments for zane and pixal you had a story about suppressing grief and trauma right there! why was pixal ok with him completely turning off his emotions earlier anyway?

oh well pixal's squeal of delight was adorable though

EP 27

lloyd: relying on others isn’t weak!

cheers i’ll drink to that. again this could have been really impactful after an arc about trusting too much to mistrusting too much to finally hitting that balance.

cuta jaya moment but nya's arc this season is basically generic “believe in yourself” and like. we've done that before. they literally just brought her back to return to the status quo for the “last” season.

racer 7: speed. i am speed.

ok i know i complain about ignoring the old seasons but at least they tried to tie in the other new seasons like calling vania and benthomar and all that. it's basically a replacement for when previous seasons would bring back the other EMs and such and i guess it makes sense since this is a different era of ninjago. all of that falls apart when they insist on bringing back characters like garmadon though...

oh finally they didn’t fall into the canal for once!

oh no if they make cole and vania get together i’m gonna...read the entire hs epilogues and hs2. worst thing i could think of.

the others are either gonna find another way to find out what happened and come to help them in the nick of time, or this was just a way of explaining why no one else came to help.

EP 28

oops i watched the final eps drunk after a party and I still haven’t gone back to rewatch them ^^; umm fun moments, dragon form was ???? out of nowhere and should have had a whole season centred around achieving this form, Nya’s character regressed, rushed ending considering how much history they had to tie up, llorumi bad and i miss those little legos already