#I have like what 4 art?? So surprised for the shoutout | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kings-highway · 2 months ago

Text

Fanfic Writer Review

Thanks you the wonderful @mania-sama for tagging me for this and letting me inflict my thoughts upon all of you <3 love you asshole :)

Many, many words below the cut!

“How many works do you have on Ao3?”

Sitting pretty at 47! I have deleted a few fics in the past but I have never orphaned any or posted anonymously, so the count is accurate.

“Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes?”

In the Woods of Japan - 1,969 kudos

Should surprise nobody to find this one is my most beloved! Ironically this is also the second story I ever posted to Ao3 - writing it was like a fever dream, posting a chapter almost every day or every second day for a bit. I truly, truly think that writing this fic was one of the best decisions I ever made, if you all and the haikyuu community hadn’t shown me so much support, I have no idea what I’d be doing now - it broke me out of a 3-4 year dry spell where I hadn’t written anything at all, and has directly led to me not only writing regularly now but finishing original stories as well and truly even if it’s not my favourite piece in my library, I will never regret deciding to attack Daichi with a bear. Also shoutout to the only story I ever let Daichi be bisexual in. Finished writing this story and then stole his labels forever. Bitch never figured out his identity again.

All for the Love of an Energetic Redhead - 1,185 kudos

The success of this story is so funny to me. Sometimes I have an idea on whether or not a story will be well received, and other times the story is Energetic Redhead and you post it and are immediately flabbergasted by how many other people wanted Kags and Ushi to get blackout drunk and fly around the world. Ironically, the only reason this got written is because I don’t have the art skills/patience needed to make a comic I wanted to, based on the only two red-haired characters, but wanted to push my “two autistics vs. two energetic but VERY different redheads” agenda. It would have gone something like “several panels of Ushijima and Hinata standing side by side, Ushijima is distracted by something while Hinata motor-talks about all things volleyball. Ushijima suddenly interrupts him, realizing who he is and saying: You are not my usual redhead-” and the panel is interrupted, cutting to Kageyama trapped in a dark room with Tendou.”

Competitive Fake Dating - 1,061 kudos

Sometimes as a fanfiction writer, you have to remind yourself that you are a fanfiction writer. It’s all fun and games writing massive, sprawling stories with deep themes and complex character relations. But this is fanfiction, bitch, sometimes you have to make your blorbos kiss for points.

Imperfect Facial Symmetry - 916 kudos

Oh, what can I say. This one truly is special to me. 100% one of my favourite fics of all time, there are only very few things I would change about it, but most of those being wishing I could go back and add more, drag it out. I don’t like stories or headcanons that make Tendou out to be attractive or even “attractive in a weird way” I think his character is far more interesting if you allow him to be conventionally unattractive, and I think pairing it with a version of Ushijima obsessed with the limitations of his own self expression, to rewire the definition of “attractive” into “lively” and “expressive” is such a good representation of why I love this ship specifically. There are a lot of headcanons present in this story that I since used in pretty much every other. God I could talk about it / them / this story for fucking ever.

American Summer - 882 kudos

Sequel to #1, In the Woods. What can I say, you go for a bear, you escalate to an American named Adam. I did NOT want this story to be the way this story ended up. Earlier drafts of the story included stargazing on the top of a rented motorhome, losing your virginity in the back of a car, getting into a fight with a couple of 22 year olds outside of a bar, visiting national parks, overcoming jealousy for your boyfriends’ trauma-bonded found family, and slowly beginning to let go of that trauma. INSTEAD after writing a couple chapters I remembered you can’t legally rent a car at 18/19 in California and I had to rapidly adjust, and apparently instead of a coming-of-age vacation my only other idea was serial killer so. Uh.

“Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?”

So-so. I WANT to reply to every comment, but I have a really severe kind of social anxiety, so I don’t reply most of the time. I’m too afraid of looking really conceited and egotistical, if I reply to a comment about the things they like about the fic with the things I liked about the fic or just agreeing with them, I’m just hyping myself up as if I wasn’t the author and keeping all the attention on me, if I just thank them and nothing else, I feel like I’m not appreciating it enough and they’ll be offended by my shorter response, if I make a joke or be funny, 90% of the time I don’t get a reply back, and then I sit there with a stomach ache of anxiety wondering if they were annoyed by me trying to be silly. So. I really, really, try my best to reply to comments, especially at the last chapter of a longer fic, or if there’s a direct question I’ll always answer those, but otherwise I get nervous and can’t bring myself to hit enter on the responses. But I love all the comments I receive so much and I really am trying to get better at engaging with people.

“What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?”

Has to be Astrophilia. I don’t enjoy angsty endings most of the time, I don’t think the world needs more stories about people failing to be happy, or suffering needlessly with no reprise. Astrophilia was originally going to be a hardcore angst ending with them definitively dying in space/losing the ability to communicate with Earth, but as per the previous reason given, I just didn’t see any value in that story, and wanted to give it more of my usual spin. (No hate to people who do like angst, I just don’t.) Most of my angst is found in the middle of my fics, where it belongs :P (the catharsis of recovery is important to me!)

“What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?”

All of them? I think ignoring the one-shots that exist only to be fluffy, and thinking about what really qualifies a happy ending, I would have to go with Soulmake Adventures. Sure, there’s no fairytale happy ending to it (which is the point of that story) but in that I think that’s the happiest ending. Each character is explicitly given long, healthy lives filled with new experiences and growth and change, and are not bound to static one-note love stories. Their happy endings are not defined by the satisfaction of the romance story that was contained in Soulmake Adventures, but each of them achieving a level of self-actualization that allows them to take control of the choices they make and live for themselves first.

“Do you write crossovers?”

In theory? Yes. I just don’t have a reason to :)

I would LOVE to do a SK8 + Haikyuu crossover though. I think Langa and Kageyama need to be locked in a room together.

“Have you ever received hate on a fic?”

Not really. One comment comes to mind but I also don’t feel like giving enough description that would allow someone to track it down, feels mean to put a spotlight on someone, especially because I've never received hate, with such a strong word. Just… disappointment or confusion.

Oh, except for this one time this crazy person told me I’d stolen the plot of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. smh.

“Do you write smut? If so, what kind?”

Yes? No? I think sex and physical intimacy is one of the most interesting ways to explore relationship dynamics and emotions, so I tend to use sex a lot in my stories, but as most would know I rarely, rarely write graphic sex. “Smut” I think has the connotation of sex that’s meant to be hot, which I’ve never done. If you see characters fucking in my stories, there’s a purpose to it. BUT that being said never say never. Sex is just sex, if I think of a good story idea that uses it, then it will be.

“Have you ever had a fic stolen?”

I think? I had a ton of my stories being hosted on one of those data scam sites or whatever. I truly just. Whatever.

“Have you ever had a fic translated?”

I think so! I’ve had many people approach and ask me permission to, but I can’t say for certain if they ever got completed. I think so.

“Have you ever co-written a fic before?”

No! I do love the idea of collaborating on a fic, but I hate the idea of co-writing. There would have to be a premise that lets us write our own halves (dual perspective, maybe?) that’s relatively separate. Otherwise, the actual process of two “writers” on a fic sounds absolutely terrible. What, gonna share a google doc and take turns writing lines? I would go crazy with control-freak energy. BUT the idea of collaborating on a story in other ways and sharing credit for ideas and working together to make it good would be awesome.

“What’s your all-time favourite ship?”

*glances at my Haikyuu themed fanfiction blog and Ao3 account*

S… Sculder… (Mulder/Scully - X-Files)

It’s really really hard to decide, “all-time favourite” comes with a huge weight to it. Amy/Rory from Doctor Who is also really fucking high on that list, as is Ten/Rose to be fair. But then I think about where I am currently, and in terms of energy/thought put into a ship, that shit has to be DaiSuga, right? In terms of favourite, clearly… but… if we’re going with Haikyuu, a relatively recent love of mine, I think UshiTen is more compelling…

BUT if we’re talking about ships that take up my brainpower, ships that live rent-free forever in my head, it’s going to be my original characters, always. I have a handful of personal characters from original stories that never leave my thoughts. The real answer would probably be two of my OCs. If you know you know.

But that’s a stupid answer so I’m gonna go with Sculder because they are perfect.

“What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?”

There are SO many WIPS that’ll never get finished, but I think the answer that serves this question the best is a WIP in my scrap folder called “The London Reconnection,” which follows Suga about 5 years post leaving Japan to study English Lit in London, and is working towards his masters. He had effectively lost a lot of his cultural roots and really enjoys the lifestyle of London, especially the teas, and although he had always planned on eventually going back to Japan after getting his masters, as he gets closer to that, he’s started considering staying in London and staying forever. Which, at the time, doesn’t hurt so bad - he hasn’t spoken to anyone back home in three years, and the last time he went for Christmas, he didn’t even bother checking in with his friends… though a wrench gets thrown into his confidence for what he wants and his plans for the future when, literally out of nowhere, Daichi shows up in the library he works at with his little sister, having come to support her while she receives an experimental treatment for a rare disorder, and they’re expecting to stay, possibly indefinitely. Suga hadn’t spoken to Daichi in quite a few years, but had always considered him “the one that got away” (though they had never officially dated.) So suddenly, his perfectly curated London lifestyle is tipped on its side due to the dropped-in presence of an old, familiar face and one that can barely speak a lick of English, let alone blend into the London culture. Cue English lessons, lots of metaphors about teas, identity, and falling in love with someone you used to know intimately, but don’t really know at all anymore. I think about it like 3 times a week but more than likely will never write more than the 4k or so I put down for the first chapter…

“What are your writing strengths?”

Fuck if I know, my man. I think dialogue? I get a lot of compliments regarding how natural my characters feel, how much they seem like real people, so I think that has to be one of the strongest points of my writing. I also think I’m very funny. Humour is 100% subjective so this doesn’t really count, but I love some of my own jokes in my writing. Write to make yourself laugh, friends, that’s the key.

“What are your writing weaknesses?”

The fact that if a scene bores me I’ll just straight skip it. I tend to rush scenes that would be realistic simply because I don’t care about them, certain characters or plot lines getting abandoned because writing the necessary scenes for them to really work just sounds boring. Even if I think the scenes or characters are good and important and very interesting, if it bores me I just… can’t force myself to do it. I also really struggle with combat and action sequences, anything that requires “choreography” of any kind, I think I tend to under-explain each scene in an effort to avoid over-explaining an action sequence, which results in muddied and confusing character motions with little context.

“What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?”

I don’t think I have any thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’m sure this is related to some kind of fan-debate about this, but… I’m not sure what the camps are. If I write Dialogue in another language in a fic, and the perspective character doesn’t speak that language, I italicize it but otherwise write it like normal dialogue. If the character does speak that language, I italicize it but write it in English and make a note in the dialogue tag that it was in whichever language. I think, though don’t hold me to this, spoken dialogue should always be written in a way that the reader can “hear” which would unfortunately have to include the phonetic anglicization of languages that don’t use the latin alphabet IF you’re writing in English (or converting it to whatever language you’re writing in.) This is due to the enjoyment of the reader being able to “hear” the story or keep the immersion. If I’m reading a story, and it presents to me, in dialogue, a string of sanskrit, just skipping over that without hesitation. No idea. Character may as well not have spoken, can’t hear it. BUT if it’s in the text of the book, describing the writing they’re reading, signage, or anything else, then it should stay in its original written form, perhaps translated elsewhere in the story if needed. I don’t think authors are required to translate spoken dialogue if the perspective character can’t understand it. HOWEVER that is also my opinion for, like, original fiction stories. Because fanfiction is supposed to be for sharing, I can understand wanting/expecting a translation of whatever cute or funny quip the characters are making in the language. I, personally, have never provided translations for any of the languages I use in my fics. Sorry.

“What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?”

I have no interest in writing fanfiction for other fandoms. As mentioned above, if I had to pick one I might go with SK8, but I’m not really a “fanfiction writer” in the sense that when I read/watch media I get overwhelmed with the urge to write stories for them. I don’t even really read fanfiction. Haikyuu is special in that, these little fucks satisfy my creative urges and that’s all they have to do, it’s not really about any hyperfixation on the media or interest in writing fanfiction as a whole, y’know. Besides, if I started writing for other fandoms, that would give Daichi a break from me and I can’t allow that.

That being said, ships I haven’t ever written for… I have a SemiShira WIP in progress that hopefully will be finished Kogagoshi as well I’m a fan of, if you can believe that. FukaTora, too. Honestly I have a dozen AsaNoya WIPS, and considering they’re one of my favourites the fact that they’ve never been more than a background ship/side pairing is a SHAME. Same with AranKita.

“What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?”

Time Enough to Risk it All has to be my favourite, just because it’s, well… it’s what it is. I think it’s tight and well contained, it doesn’t suffer from my usual rambling, missed plotlines or dropped ideas that I scrapped after I started posting. It feels cohesive and tightly knit and it ends the same way. Not too many things going on. However, I will say, Imperfect Facial Symmetry is really high up there as well, as is The Stoplight Demon even though it was not everyone else’s favourite. I do think if I can finish “This is Not the End” the way I want to, and have it be what I hope it’ll be, it will become my favourite. But I still have time to ruin it, so we’ll see if Time Enough keeps its title :)

Tagging: victims!

@harumin24 @vvalllerie @reviiely

#haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fanfic writer #fanfiction writer #fanfic writer review tag

24 notes · View notes

doshiart · 4 months ago

Text

ART TAG

thank you @deathclassic @suzy-queued @kiennilove for tagging me!! <33 it's hard to be social, but it sounds so cool and interesting, so here i am!

Have you always been interested in creating art?

i guess so, but sometimes it's really a struggle thing. i've always liked it, i've always tried to draw, but after any failure i dropped it. i started drawing more consciously in 2020 and i got a tablet. now i'm proud of my skill development, even though i'm not good enough and i know nothing, but i think that's everyone's trouble

What's your favorite medium to use? If digital, what programs do you like?

digital, clip studio paint, i love textured brushes

Do you create outside of fandom?

yes, i draw for myself. i have oc's in two different universes, somethimes i draw YCH's and adopts for sale

Share something you haven't finished and/or never got around to posting.

1 - it was jan 24. i wanted to draw gallavich on a bike, but it didn't work, so i just dropped it

2 - recent practice sketches

3 - feb 2. it was a masquerade of gallavich fic, and i volunteered for prizes, so i had a sketch for snowballs and sneaking out by @gallawitchxx 🖤 i thought it was very raw, so i never showed it,,,

Favorite piece you've made?

1 - my oc's from the fantasy universe // june 3, 2024

2 - hitoshi shinso from bnha // feb 25, 2023

and i have a new fav drawing with my oc's that i drew recently and i'll show it bellow

Draw your icon in a minute or less

An underrated piece you've made in your opinion

i don't know, maybe this. i like the lighting here and this scene. illustration for camp bullfrog by @sickness-health-all-that-shit and @heymacy

Do you do art in a professional setting?

no and i don't think i'm capable of being in professional settings. i've only worked on personal commission with other people's oc's

A piece you don't like but did really well on social media.

i wasn't really happy about it, but when i read 7 minutes in heaven by @crossmydna based on this art, i was very happy

Post an old piece and compare it to your most recent, what are the similarities?

omg exactly three years ago. what are the similarities? pretty guys with cigarettes. i guess eyes and noses, but better now, love for backgrounds

oct 4, 2021 // neil josten from aftg

oct 4, 2024 // my oc's dave and cas

Have you ever collaborated with another artist/s?

yes! one and other one

What piece has the most notes? Are you surprised?

this art got the most reach and i don't know what i feel about this, not that i really don't like it, but i don't know… there's something wrong

Who/What is your favorite subject matter?

i love to draw characters and showing their existence

Show us something not from fandom you've made

commission for mental health supporter Rho on twi

Where do you like to create?

sitting at my computer desk, and preferably with the door closed because it helps me focus

Do you have a tag that you use to group your creations? Tell us so people can follow it.

all my art // gallavich fanart

Give yourself a shoutout, where can we commission/buy/follow you for more pieces?

commission info // bsky // twi // inst (don't like this app)

for commission me you can just use dm here or discord (doshiart)

tagging @konaiiro @heymrspatel @spookygingerr @lingy910y @michellemisfit 🖤

#tag game #about me #gallavich fanart #my art

15 notes · View notes

elsannej · 1 month ago

Text

TF2 comic updated???? We have the final issue???? It's real???

Live blogging on main 'cause this is a historical day for tf2 fans:

Hooboy 7 years.

Goddammit. First i was like: who????? But ahhh: Subversion of expectations, of course~

And of course Merasmus remembers his ex(-roommate)'s ramblings.

Speak of the devil (sweetiepie*) and he appears - it's my boyyyyy! <3

WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT ROOMMANTES, HUH!!!!!?

Also, *MARRIED*. <333333 (Zhanna's new hand - by Engie perhaps?)

!!!!!!!! child!!!!??????

Awwwwwwwww. We've got a canonical kid!

There's two???? HUHH????? Theirs? Whose??? (the eyepatch is giving at least close-family-friend Demoman. I'm squinting at you Valve)

Poor Merasmus, can't have shit in the year of our lord 1979 (damn, they're livin' in that year by now that's crazy)

The naming convention hcs are real. I love the kids sm already.

Family toilet time... <3

Never stop making Merasmus's life difficult Jane~

Kid (General? Patton?) making an explosive :)

Peak overlayed by peak writing. they're not listening to Pauling's speech

Respecting her autonomy, that's my man:

*The* hetero ship of all time. :D "married into defending the cave" (lined with gold)

It's not gold D:

Wait fucking Australium??????

Pauling, girl...

Still not over Scout looking like a little girl to Australians. Sniper had it rough growing up </3.

Their plane....

Go Spy, go! with a broken leg for that matter too!

Engie!!!

Their weirdo unofficial ahh team is not on the list. Spy's the only nonplussed one, he's probably seen this place before.

Pyro's happy to see Engie, ahhh!!!

Flo? as in F. Pauling??? Florence???? Name reveal nonetheless!

Engie with both hands?? Art mistake or a prostethic or what?

Scout locking the f in???

OH???????? Damn Jeremy, moving ON??? (the other mercs dgaf)

Pauling should give herself some credit, but also, potentially wlw Pauling?????? I'm counting this as a win for the LGTV community.

Oh snap. Administrator's backstory finally?

(She's so pretty and for what?

The F. Mann bitch is alive??

I support her rights and wrongs~

She was Obsessed obsessed - i see. (looking at the coverart, i can only assume that z. Mann probably got her folks killed or something and this was her lifelong revenge plot and it didn't feel like enough?)

Oh she was going to-

A queen through and through (also, ohhh, that's where she got the gray streak from. Didn't know Jason Todd fans were writing this)

Live Tf2 reaction

Pauling's choice was probably for the best.

died a queen the final time too.

Soldier, demo & Pyro were the 1st to leave, followed by Sniper. THen Heavy & Medic, then Scout consoling Pauling, followed by Spy.

Is Heavy stopping Medic from tryina run in and try to revive/meddle with them dying? Also, 🏳️‍🌈?

Engie being the devil's advocate but also givin' good advice. they're long time friends/allies your honour!

Saxton's beard >> (i know that one Bidwell x Saxton artist is gonna be elated to see their little twink on page: shoutout to them)

Heavy! (the gray in his beard~)

Wait, black*??? Black beard???? Sheesh~

"...you and Tom Jones can both live in my pants" wdym Soldier? wdym???

Jeremy Willis! More name reveals, ahhh!!! (that'd be his ma's name, right?)

I AM VERY NORMAL (insane). Jeremy's stupid late 70s cut, 4(?) kids, Spy actually being involved in his life, like what???? I'm actually emotional looking at this page only D:

(ok, not too involved since he's surprised by the amount of kids, but?)

HE'S A SINGLE FATHER??? MULTIPLE DEADBEAT MOM's OMG that's what the crossed out names on the mailbox were!!!

The Scout torture was worth it at the end <3

"father's friend from work" ....girl........ :'( but also :')

He's sweet with the kids i cant---- (also canon unmasking, oh lordy)

This feels like fanfic ...

DeGroots lookin' healthy ^^

Canon found family..... save me canon found family

Is one of Heavy's sisters possibly with Sniper???

Archimedes & the baboon :)

Who? Engie??? Didn't see him? Pauling? (but she sent turkey?)

Ohhhh- It's us. The reader, the tf2 fan. Aww shucks~

Everyone's alive and healthy! (shoutout to the guys who didn't really get to do anything in this issue like Demoman & Pyro. Medic also lowkey. Sniper at least did something.) Where is Pyro they in the final pic actually, i don't see them. D::: Maybe Pyro was us this entire time...)

Tavish's mom is sweet with aforementioned eyepatch kid, i knew it!

Medic is glued to Misha's side, with all of the family in one spot. All is good in the world. :)

Tf2 gaming. :thumbsup:

#tf2 comics #tf2 comic #//goddamn #// 7 long ass years #// from middle school to university #merry Smissmas y'all

15 notes · View notes

telomeke · 10 months ago

Text

Get to Know Me Tag :)

I was tagged by @lamonnaie at this post here. Thanks for tagging me! 😍 It was such fun to read your responses; now here are mine. 🥰

do you make your bed?

Never ever. I'm pretty messy, and if I don't watch my hoarding tendencies I will morph into the worst pack rat. But I like a bit of clutter around me; I think it helps my creative side since my output (whether at work, or writing on Tumblr) is always tidy and tidied up to a fault, which can stifle creativity (at least that's what I tell myself! 🤣).

what's your favourite number?

Don't have one. However (even though I like to think I'm not superstitious) if I can I'll try to avoid the number 13 and anything with 4 in it...

what is your job?

Not gonna get too specific, but my work involves design, project management and construction.

if you could go back to school, would you?

I was too stressed out at school to want to repeat the experience. But I wouldn't mind a bit of time travel back to advise my younger self not to take things so seriously! 🤣

can you parallel park?

Yes. Not well, but the car will be fully in the lot eventually. 👍

a job you had that would surprise people?

Some minor modeling jobs when I was younger. Hush! I don't like to talk about it. 🤫 You wouldn't think it to look at me now (me 🤝 Ricky Gervais 😂).

do you think aliens are real?

There are too many planets out there for our little blue marble to be the only habitable one, so yes I do think there are aliens out there. I just don't think we've been visited by them yet though! (Aylin doesn't count. 🤩)

can you drive a manual car?

Yes. Mom taught me how to drive in one... until the day I jammed on the accelerator when she said "Step on it" and I almost up-ended us into a ditch. Then I was sent to driving school instead. 🤣

what's your guilty pleasure?

Ooh. It's this bad boy here:

Sadly I've been over-indulging, so chocolate is now banned from the house for the foreseeable future. I'm still lusting after it though. Other guilty pleasures: I do like a good nightcap, so any (gluten grain-free) alcohol makes me light up – cognac, cabernet, sherry, sake, port... (But I don't always know my limits, so this is now banned too.) And a steamin', stonkin', trashy BL every now and then (bonus if there's a nice muscley actor for me to get all googly-eyed over – shoutout Gap Jakarin!). 😁🥰

tattoos?

I like art and have fanboyed over beautiful tattoos before – but I'm put off by the permanence of them, so I have none myself. Don't like the idea of not being able to change them much once they're inked in, because I will always be wanting to change things up if I were to get one. And no, even for looking at I prefer an uninked bod over an inked one. It takes a lot of work to get a body in shape, and I can't understand someone wanting to cover up the results of their hard work at the gym. 🤷‍♂️

favorite color?

A deep, rich blue most of the time. But when the mood hits, I like a bright, bold red too.

favorite type of music?

My tastes are a bit eclectic, leaning lighter and not challenging. Anything with a strong melodic line will get me hooked. Bonus points if the lyrics can come together with the melody to tell a story, and elevate it even more. So – pop mostly, but I also like R&B, soul, light jazz and the odd heartfelt country ballad or foot-stomper (go Queen Bey! 😍). Also like things with a nostalgic bent (I melt at Karen Carpenter, Seals & Croft, and England Dan & John Ford Coley). And then throw in a couple of show tunes in there for good measure! My YouTube playlist is all over the place – Sheila Majid, New Country, Renaissance, Nunew, Miley Cyrus, Streisand, Li'l Nas X, Ayumu Imazu, The Carpenters, Clean Bandit, so many others, all side-by-side.

do you like puzzles?

I love them, especially word and logic puzzles. I'm always shouting over Pat and Vanna. 🤣

any phobias?

Oddly, not the usual suspects, but I'm a bit phobic about birds. They're just creepy up close, even though I find them fascinating and beautiful with a bit of distance. While the bog-standard creepy-crawlies don't bother me one bit – I'm the one always getting called in to whack the roaches and chase away rodents. I dream of getting a cobalt blue tarantula as a pet (but that's not going to happen for various reasons, alas).

favorite childhood sport?

I wasn't that sporty growing up (classic bookworm) but I did enjoy a bit of soccer when I got to play. But I guess my favorite was probably swimming, though I didn't compete.

do you talk to yourself?

All the time. There's a nonstop monologue going on in my head and I've been known to startle people by accidentally voicing that conversation out loud. So I've learnt not to do it around others. 🤣 And no I'm not hearing disembodied voices; it's just me keeping myself company (plus I find it helps me focus my thoughts).

what movies do you adore?

My all-time favorite: Cinema Paradiso; it really pulls unabashedly at the heartstrings, but then again I'm a sentimental fool and love it all the more for that. That's also why I like Love Actually, especially the scene where the repressed Jamie (Colin Firth) travels to Portugal in order to confess his feelings to Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz), having realized he loves her despite the language barrier, and doggedly learnt Portuguese just to make his declaration – and then he finds out that she, lovelorn and bereft, learnt English just in case ("just in cases") he came back. 💖 And my second favorite is from the other end of the spectrum, actually quite a bit before my time as well: Hello Dolly! 😆 Don't judge... A couple of songs in there are really amazing – Love is Only Love and Just Leave Everything to Me especially (which are not in the stage version) are mindblowingly good. The former is almost pithy in its bare-boned purity, all about looking at love without sentimentality while reprising themes heard earlier on in the musical; the latter has the among the cleverest lyrics set to music I've ever heard:

youtube

Streisand is in fine fettle portraying a campier, more youthful incarnation of Dolly. Such a shame it was not better received. The costumes are spectacular too.

coffee or tea?

Coffee (or rather the caffeine it contains) is my drug of choice, and I drink buckets of it. But I like a good cuppa when I'm feeling nostalgic and/or sentimental, because tea is what I drank a lot of growing up – at my gran's there would be a perpetually-replenished, giant kettle of dark, bitterish Oolong on the sideboard for whenever you felt like some (which was often), while at home there was always a big pot of tea on the table in the morning, that would then be set to chill in the refrigerator after breakfast. I would always have an ice-cold milk tea with the papers when I got home from school, and it was my favorite daily ritual.

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

A paleontologist – like a lot of kids I loved dinosaurs, and I can still rattle off the names of the more well-known ones (including every one in Jurassic Park 👀). But that got pushed aside for more practical considerations later. Still wish I'd explored my second childhood ambition more though, which was to be a writer/journalist. Maybe that's why I like posting so much on Tumblr! 😍

Onward tagging (too many people as usual, but no pressure to play if you don't want to or can't 🥰): @hughungrybear, @relativelydimensional, @neuroticbookworm, @wen-kexing-apologist, @waitmyturtles, @airenyah, @twig-tea, @solitaryandwandering, @recentadultburnout, @lurkingshan, @grapejuicegay,@bengiyo, @urikawa-miyuki, @pickletrip, @suni-san, @kattahj, @dimplesandfierceeyes, @7nessasaryevils, @imminentinertia, @befuddledcinnamonroll, @pandasmagorica, @nihilisticcondensedmilk,@shortpplfedup, @rokklagio, @thegalwhorants, @brazilian-whalien52, @callipigio, @respectthepetty, @corettaroosa, @colourme-feral, @virtualtadpole, @aroceu, @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas, @delesaria-blog, @dribs-and-drabbles, @inventedfangirling, @jiirotu, @visualtaehyun @happypotato48,@akawrites000, @kleopatras-cat, @dc-alves, @toschistation, @lovelyghostv

I've been tagged by others in various tag games over the past few weeks but have been too busy with work to be able to play. 😭 Not gonna post half-assed replies if I can help it, but then I'm always beset by dread thinking people might assume I'm ignoring them for whatever silly reason. But I just haven't had the time until now.

If you've tagged me and I've not responded, please know that I really wanted to but I just kept getting sidetracked by urgent deadlines. (In fact, my drafts folder is full of half-written tag game responses that are too far beyond their use-by date to ever see the light of day. 😮) So to any and all who see this, please accept my apology for not replying to your tags and invites, and if you'd like to play along with this one even if I haven't tagged you directly (and you have the time for it) – please do so! I'd love to read your responses! 😍

#tag game #get to know me tag

29 notes · View notes

blackbatcass · 1 month ago

Text

2024 WRITING REVIEW

tagged: @malinaa LYS HI LYS THANK YOU FOR THE TAG MY LOVE

tagging: desperately trying to remember which of my mutuals are fic writers.. uhmmm @bluegarners @starsapphire @roseworth @lieu42 if you all haven’t done this yet and feel like it! if you haven’t written fic this year my bad my memory is terrible

number of stories posted to ao3: a whole 4 fics lol! i am pretty new to the fic writing game so that was good for me idk🤷‍♀️

word count posted for last year: 64,475 (thank you to tbba for being long af)

fandoms I wrote for: detective comics babeyyyy😎😎

pairings: dickroy<3

stories with the most kudos, bookmarks & comment threads:

NOT THE STATS LOL.. i write for my mutuals and my mutuals alone ok😭 there’s a hole where your heart lies had the most all around with 158 kudos, 60 bookmarks and 21 comment threads. the people love dickroy 🤷‍♀️ it’s ok one day niche comics canon bart allen character study fics will have 5k kudos trust me

work i’m most proud of (and why): to be buried alive is im pretty sure the longest thing ive written to date, excluding maybe one or two pieces of bad original fiction (<- girl who has terrible writing stamina). so i was very proud that it got done at all. also was just very proud of the arcs and emotional moments from that piece! cassie cain amiright<3333

work i’m least proud of (and why): i mean at the beep was pretty dumb lol, it was just a goofy gimmick fic. it brought me joy tho

share or describe a favorite review you received:

i have a lot of comments i keep close to my heart that talk abt themes & analysis i was going for but i want to thank this person for giving me the ego boost of all time

a time when writing was really, really hard: SECOND HALF OF THIS SEMESTER. ugghhhh. double major in humanities will mean you write a lot for class, shocker. so when i do get free time i usually do not feel like spending it writing even more🫣 curse you academia

a scene or character you wrote that surprised you: i wrote you are my sunshine in a feverish haze over the course of a week or so hence a lot of it surprising me.. the ending especially! i did not plan on iris making an appearance in the fic but when i actually sat down to write the ending.. there was no other way it could end🥺

a favorite excerpt of your writing: Damian was a small thing. Cass imagined him wrapping his little hand into a fist, watching blood leak between his fingers.

makes more sense in context but probably my fav lines from tbba<333 that good old gut punch of 8yo cass imagery

how did you grow as a writer last year: improved stamina.. writing 40k is still insane to think about

how do you hope to grow this year: i really just want to write more consistently and frequently. i go through weird phases of activity usually so i just need to get into the habit of writing every day<3

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): this is mostly for original fiction but my partner<3 sent them a draft of my final portfolio for a cw course and they texted back lots of very sweet reactions and also said: ‘okay so what if we made [x story] into a short film?’ so now we’re making one of my pieces into a short film. pro tip get into a relationship with someone who loves ur art. also sway was def my biggest cheerleader for tbba shoutout sway🫶🫶🫶

anything from your real life show up in your writing last year: no one ask about my relationship to my father.

any new wisdom you can share with other writers: get weirddddd with it ignore the rules

any projects you’re looking to starting (or finishing) this year: hehehe there is a donna fic in the works😈 also vague notions of a longish wally west versus parenting & unresolved childhood trauma fic but we’ll see what happens with that

#this was so fun thank u lys #i like yapping sry..

18 notes · View notes

wondermacaroni · 10 months ago

Text

Happy 4/13!! Since I’ve been posting group doodles lately, it was obligatory that we draw something to celebrate. Mine is in green (except for the shading, lol). Some thoughts on my history with Homestuck and my reread of the comic with friends are under the cut.

I’ll say preemptively, forgive me if the paragraph spacing is wonky. I don’t post a lot of big text posts, if any at all, so I have no idea if this will show up in a bearable to read format or not. Anyways.

I first read Homestuck on an early morning in April, soon before that year’s 4/13 and a little ways out from my 14th birthday in late May. I hadn’t slept at all that night, and my normal internet circles had slowed to a crawl as the sun began to rise. Bored out of my mind and too energized to sleep, I decided it was finally time to check out that one webcomic that I had seen some people post cool art for.

To keep it simple, I had a pretty big scare in the family that same day I started reading. Everything ended up and has been just fine regarding that, but I think it cemented Homestuck in my mind as a way to process things somehow. Now that I’m about to graduate college, I’ve returned to needing to process things, and of course, my way to process it.

So, one night a month or two ago, I’m looking into some Homestuck browser game (shoutouts to Wigglersim) when my friend asks what it’s about. I get a little clammy, but I do mention the game, Homestuck and all. Imagine my surprise when they ask for a link to check it out as well.

I could hear the interest egging me on like the Green Goblin mask at that point.

Over the next few days, we went from the browser game, to the doll maker, to installing the collection, to almost-nightly streams of our read-along with the comic. It has been a BLAST so far. Sure, we probably could have blazed through on our own much faster. But having someone there to break things down and engage with, especially for a work like Homestuck, has made the whole ordeal even more enjoyable overall.

To be honest with you, I could never really get myself to reread Homestuck before then. I had the collection installed on my laptop but I could never get past some feeling of shame that came with opening it, or even looking at it for too long. Even when I had finally forced myself to get comfortable with Homestuck Posting or die trying, the thought of fully reengaging and not dwelling in the bliss of memories was a little too much.

Having a friend there, one who has been willing to engage despite it all, has made the reread much less daunting. Despite all of my warnings of the future like a frenzied oracle, I’ve been able to expose that long-hidden soft spot after all these years. It’s like unclenching your jaw, in a way.

The time we’ve spent taking it all in has REALLY spurred us to put something out lately as well. Every turn of the New Year, my friends and I boot up a group canvas and collaborate on one big slab of doodles. Lately though, I’ve been wanting to do that a lot more, and so have my friends. With the reread, I finally decided to rip off the bandage and do something I hadn’t really done as a teen first reading through Homestuck— I decided to make some fanart.

It felt like uncorking champagne. Though it was probably more akin to uncorking sparkling grape juice. Whatever. I hadn’t done it, I did it, and it felt GOOD to do it. You get it. If nothing else, waiting to draw that fanart for eight some odd years meant that I didn’t have any old drawings to painfully reflect on, for better or for worse.

I don’t like doing much other than lurking. However, with all of the drawings we had made, it’d be a shame not to share them beyond like ten people. My friend started posting some, to some really surprising amounts of engagement, at least for us. I followed in suit for support, and I’ve seen much of the same myself. It’s intimidating to be perceived, but it has been nice to shake hands with the community from the other side of my normal lurking perspective. Thank you meowrails fans for your support, maybe I’ll cook again soon, who knows?

We’ve now gotten to the point in the comic where this reread just becomes a read, and right before 4/13. I never finished the comic past the second Alterniabound flash, though I’ve picked up on little spoiler things here and there. I’m excited, I’m nervous, I can’t wait to see what horrible ick I’ll get next.

With streaming this to my friend, I have accidentally convinced more friends to look into Homestuck as well. The network slowly grows, and with it, another ticket is reserved for a group movie night of Con Air. I can’t wait to see how it goes.

Anyways, that’s all for my yapping. Have a happy 4/13, consider a reread with friends, and thank you for your interest in my lecture if you’re reading or skimming through this.

#homestuck #413 #john egbert #man I’m sorry I just have a lot to say #homestuck posting in the house tonight

24 notes · View notes

tiredguyswag · 1 year ago

Text

Carmen week day 4 vilesona/oc ahhh!

okay to preface I can’t do digital artwork until the 21st so I’m gonna be doing traditional now lmao

infodump under cut and all but first I would like to shoutout this art of Heera by @nglwhatarecats I love it saur much

also my oc sideblog is @cs-oc-posting

also that last one is my vilesona/intern from @vileacademyofficial lmao. I don’t have a vilesona so thats what we’re gonna do

first off, surprising no one who knows me, Heera! Specifically her S1-S3 design (the iconic purple hair comes S4 onwards lol). She first appears in the Chasing Paper caper in the museum after the Magna Carta’s disappearance, so I drew a scene from that! For those who don’t know her, she’s an absolutely deranged, eerily competent, nuisance of a detective and she’s my baby gril

next up, Deepa and Kei (Codename: Shadow)! So these are older OCs but I decided to reboot their designs! Gave Deepa new clothes and made Kei more fat… more masc… etc etc. your honour I haven’t forgotten about them I still love them saur much. Also Deepa is a team red OC, she’s also a mechanic along with Ivy!

then there’s Damien (Codename: Midnight). God I love this traumatised little piece of shit soooo much. He’s also baby gril look at his current design he’s got a cape

aand finally we have Intern from @vileacademyofficial. That’s me boys!!!!

#carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego 2019 #carmen sandiego netflix #*slaps roof of Heera* this bad boy can fit so much trauma inside of it #Carmen week #carmenweek #heera akkineni #Deepa anand #keiko aikawa #Damien Adams #Intern cs #intern VILE #intern vileacademyofficial

35 notes · View notes

bluekat12345 · 10 months ago

Text

He's my son, not yours! Part 2

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

I promised drama would come, and here's where it'll truly start! Enjoy reading! Another shoutout to @gelu-the-babosa-multiversal

Sorry for taking so long with this, things have been busy in real life.

The next day...

Steve Rogers was taking a ride around Griffin Rock that afternoon. He was starting to feel a little cooped up at their base, so he figured he could use some fresh air. After dressing in civilian clothes to try to not draw unwanted attention to himself, he got on his motorcycle and went for a ride.

Eventually his ride took him towards a school building, and from what he could recall, that was most likely where Cody went to school. And remembering the time, he knew Cody was probably done with his classes for the day, and his father, Chief Burns, would be picking him up along with his partner robot.

"Maybe it wouldn't hurt to say hello to them." He thought. Driving towards the school, he was able to see Cody sitting on a bench outside by himself.

"Afternoon, son." Steve greeted as he approached the boy.

Cody smiled in surprise. "Hey, Captain. What are you doing here?"

"I was riding around Griffin and I'd come say hello to your and your father." Captain America explained. "Speaking of which, where is he? I assumed he and his partner would be here to pick you up. Chase, right?"

Cody nodded. "Yep. They had a quick emergency to take care of. So, I figured I'd wait for them. They shouldn't take long, Mrs. Neederlander needs help with her cat."

"Ah." The Captain responded. Then he sat on the bench beside him. "Well, you shouldn't be here alone. How about I keep you company while we wait for your father?"

"Are you sure?" Cody asked. "I don't want to waste your time."

"Nonsense, it's no trouble at all." Steve assured.

Cody smiled at the older man. "Well, if you really don't mind, then thanks." Then he started going through his backpack. "While we wait, can I show you some stuff from class today?"

Steve nodded with a grin. "Sure. What have you got, son?"

"We had a guest speaker come to our school today. She said she was part of an art museum in the mainland" Cody explained. "She was a bit of snob, but we got to make plates out of clay. And they even glazed them, so they're waterproof and food safe."

"That's impressive." Steve commented.

"And check this out." Cody added as he took a dark-blue plate from his bag. In the center of it, was a silver drawing of a police badge. Specifically, the same badge Chief Burns wears. "I made this one for Dad. You think he'll like it?"

Captain America smiled. "He'll love it.

Cody put the plate back in bag. "I also made a few more. Let me show you."

"Thanks for coming with me to pick up Cody, Dani." Chief Burns said to his daughter as they drove to Cody's school.

"No problem, Dad." Dani assured him.

"Chief, if I may ask, why is Dani here with us?" Chase asked. "While I do enjoy her company, I admit I do not understand why she is here when she usually doesn't accompany us when we pick up Cody."

"Appearances." Chief explained. "I need to go back to the Avengers' base for another meeting, so I need Dani to be in the driver's seat to make it look like she dropped me off and took Cody to home. We can't have the world seeing you drive without a driver yet."

"Ah. That makes sense." Chase commented.

Then they arrived at the school entrance. Charlie and Dani got out of Chase's vehicle form and walked up to the entrance. They didn't see Cody, but they did see a well-dressed woman in front of the school, texting on her phone.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Chief Burns announced as he approaches the woman. "Have you seen a blond boy? He was supposed to be waiting here for someone to pick him up."

"Huh?" The woman looked up from her phone for a moment to glance at Charlie and Dani before going back to her phone. "Oh, yeah. He and his father were sitting on one of the benches."

"His father?" Dani asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Over there." The woman then pointed. They say Cody sitting on a bench, and with him was Captain America. The man was dressed in casual clothes; he sat next to Cody, nodding as Cody rambled on about whatever they were talking about.

"Is something wrong?" The woman asked. "Are you the boy's grandfather?"

You could practically here a record scratch.

"G-Grandfather?" Charlie stammered, insulted and embarrassed. "I'm, he's, uh, I-"

"He's the boys actual father." Dani explained to save her father from more embarrassment. "That man is a family friend."

"Really?" The woman looked back and forth between Steve and Charlie a few times before shrugging and walking off, still texting on her phone. "Never would've guessed."

"Excuse me?" Dani demanded.

"Let's just go." Chief declared, wanting to keep the situation from getting worse. He gently dragged his daughter away.

"Rude." Dani grumbled. Then she calmed herself before getting Cody and Captain America's attentions. "Hey guys."

"Oh, hey Dani." Cody greeted. "Hey, Dad. How's Mr. Pettypaws?"

"What?" Chief asked. Then he remembered the 'emergency' he had to deal with earlier. "Oh, same old." Then he turned to Steve. "What brings you here, Captain?"

"I was going for a ride around Griffin Rock, then I noticed I was driving by Cody's school." Captain Rogers explained. "I figured I'd come here to say hi to you both, but saw Cody was by himself, so I figured I'd keep him company so he wouldn't be lonely."

"I wasn't that late picking him up." Charlie commented, not liking how that sounded.

Steve frowned. "I wasn't suggesting anything, Sir. Cody told me you were taking care of something."

Charlie frowned, more at himself than at Steve. "I know. I'm sorry, its just...been a long day."

"Are you okay, Dad?" Cody asked, concerned.

"Oh, hey, Cody, how was school?" Dani asked, hoping to change the mood. She figured she knew what had their Dad in a bad mood, and she hoped to distract him from that.

"Yeah, Cody, why don't you show your father what you showed me?" Steve added, probably understanding what Dani was trying to do. At least Dani hoped so.

Cody then held up a plate. It looked liked Captain America's shield. "We had a guest speaker come into class today and we got make plates. I made this one like Captain America's Shield."

"You've got a creative genius here, Chief." Steve complimented. Then he ruffled Cody's hair, getting a small laugh from the boy as he put the plate in his backpack.

Usually, seeing Captain Rogers ruffle his son's hair like that didn't bother Charlie, but now, something about it made his stomach sick. It felt wrong now, like Steve no longer had a right to do that. Like he shouldn't be doing that at all.

"No wonder that woman thought he was Cody's dad." Chief Burns thought, rather bitterly. "Why does he always have to act like that to Cody? I'm his father, not him."

"Oh, and I also made others" Cody went on, unaware of his father's inner turmoil. "I made-"

"We need to go, Cody." Chief quickly declared.

Cody frowned. "What's wrong, Dad?"

Charlie forced a smile. "Nothing, son. We just need to get home. You have homework to do and I'm pretty sure Captain Rogers needs to get back to base soon." He hoped he didn't sound annoyed as he addressed Steve.

Fortunately, the veteran didn't seem to notice. "He's right, I should probably get back before the others wonder why I'm gone for too long." Then he smiled at the Burns. "A pleasure seeing you all again. Hope to see you at the base soon." Then he nodded at Cody. "Maybe we can work on the motorcycle. Tony said he was working on upgrade and he thought he would appreciate it."

"Noble." Cody exclaimed. "I can't wait."

"If we have time, we'll see." Chief interrupted. "Have a safe trip back to your base. Let's go, Cody."

"Bye Captain!" Cody said as he followed his father and sister.

"Welcome back, everyone." Chase greeted as everyone got in their seats. "How did it go?"

"Fine." Chief Burns grumbled.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Cody asked. "You've been acting a bit off."

"I'm fine." Charlie assured, quickly and rather weakly.

Cody looked like he wanted to say more, but Dani shook her head at the boy. Cody didn't speak up. They just sat in a rather tense silence as they drove back to the Firehouse.

I think I might be a bit obsessed with this crossover/AU. Please forgive me. And forgive me if this seemed a bit weak to what you guys wanted, I guarantee it will really pick up in the next part.

#He's my son not yours #TFRB x AEMH #my writing #Transformers #Avengers #Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes #Rescue Bots #Transformers Rescue Bots #AEMH #TFRB #crossover #Transformers AU #Rescue Bots AU #TFRB AU

19 notes · View notes

orion-lake · 1 year ago

Text

Happy 2024! I hope you all have been celeb rating or at least enjoying the holiday season.

I wanted to shoutout my favourite posts from 2023 - that just means I reblogged them during 2023 and I like them.... ALOT!

You may have seen the posts I do monthly, I am going to continue to do so and I released the December one yesterday, you can find it here.

I scrolled through all my posts (archive...shhh!) to find my absolute favourites from this year. I am sorry if I missed you....I reblog a lot of content and I have about 400+ in my current queue. I can't wait to see what next year has in store because I am sure I won't remember a lot of what I have queued up for us all.

If you would like to draw my attention to any posts your create. feel free to tag me #usernae.

I want to say thank you to my fellow content creators that make this site such a joy to be on, and be in awe of. You are all crazy talented and I am always surprised by the style, concepts, and skill so many of you display.

But mostly, thank you for all the time you put into making these creations - I want to acknowledge the effort and resources put into this kind of fan art and content creation.

To get the show on the way...

(P.S. some of these posts have reblogs/likes so low it is criminal - have a look through these posts and show them some love.)

Please find all of my favourite posts from 2023 below the cut.

wednesday addams in green by @yenvengerberg

@lgbtqcreators creator challenge | shapes by @matlillard

1 year celebration: shuffle challenge day 3: color manipulation | typography | potc by @lady-arryn

TED LASSO APPRECIATION WEEK ☆ day 5: fave episode ↳ SEASON 2 EP 8 MAN CITY by @simoneashley

@pscentral event 12: take two AMANDA SEYFRIED as KAREN SMITH by @matlillard

Halliwell Sisters by @witchhalliwell

Tyler Posey as SCOTT MCCALL in Teen Wolf: The Movie (2023) by @tracystewart

TED LASSO APPRECIATION WEEK ☆ day 4: underrated character(s) you love [inspo.] ↳ THE PUB REGULARS + CHARACTER TROPES by @simoneashley

@userphotoshop event 9 | characters of color » Kathani Sharma by @anthonybrxdgerton

PARIS by Taylor Swift ⭐by @sadbeautifutragic

KUWTK SECRET SANTA + ELIO’S 2.5K PARTY for @sith-maul ♡ happy holidays, soupmate! by @edwards-teach

MORGANA PENDRAGON in Merlin | 3.05 “The Crystal Cave” by @mazykeen

Here endeth the lesson. I just wonder if you’ll like it as much as she did. by @payidaresque

EVANESCENCE, BREATHE NO MORE by @hauntedwhispers

#favs post #favourites post

11 notes · View notes

saltyyetbland · 6 months ago

Text

I have just posted my fic that I wrote for the Petals of a Rose fanzine on AO3. You can find it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57670000

I have a lot of thoughts about this fic, the zine and the qsmp in general so I'm just going to write it all under the Keep Reading line cause this ramble might be as long as my fic lmao.

When I saw that applications were open for this zine, I initially didn't even consider joining. I liked hideduo but I was definitely out of the fandom by then. I haven't even written anything hideduo specific (I only had like 2 QSMP related fics on AO3 and they were more trauma than romance lmao) so in my head I thought that even if I applied, I wouldn't get selected.

And I guess that mentality ironically is what made me decide to impulse apply during my Marketing class at like 8pm.

And somehow I got accepted.

You can imagine my surprise when I get an email with a discord link saying that I got accepted to be apart of this zine. I joined and then I see a bunch of cool artists and writers that I recognize and my brain immediately goes "oh shit, i should not be here wtf" but thankfully I decided to not be impulsive this time and actually stick with this zine.

And then prompt creation starts and then artists and writer match-ups and then it fully dawned on me that art is going to be created out of my fic. And that was such a complex thought to swallow as I struggled with imposter syndrome yet again (it is what it is lol) and just me trying to grapple with the concept of fan creation as a product of inspiration while being a source of inspiration as well (the fan studies/media nerd in me is jumping out).

And then the sketches and conversations from Kye and Bio started and I was just in awe by their skill and effort that it motivated me to try and write better too.

And then after months of me struggling to write the fic, it was done. I had multiple people look over it including my irl writing group as well as a beta reader (shoutout to skelepen) and I then submitted it to the final submission google form.

There is a clear memory I have in which I am simply working and I just check over at the discord and I see a photo in general chat. It is a snippet of my fic and it is Aynee saying that "damn... this fic got hands" and like 4 other comments from other members of the discord basically saying the same thing. When I tell you that this has almost made me cry at work, I'm not joking cause this was the moment when I truly felt like I contributed enough to the zine.

And now the zine is published and it is 500 pages of pure effort and I feel satisfied with myself but I also feel the looming sense of closure that I know stems from the knowledge that this is the end of my qsmp era.

I've been aware of the qsmp since its inception but I only really got into it during the ice prison event where creators like tubbo, mouse and tina joined. And though i only really lurked in this fandom and occasionally posted, i can still see its effects on me today. I have discovered my ever-growing interest of community building in media and cross-cultural communications and translations. I am currently on a 300+ day streak on Duolingo for Portuguese. I was able to revitalize some of my previous knowledge of French and Korean and actually find joy in learning languages, something that I seriously struggled with when I was younger.

And for that, even though my relationship with the QSMP is now a bit more complicated, I am grateful for it opening my eyes and for allowing me to be a part of it, even in my small amount.

All in all, I am proud that this fic has been created. I am proud of this community that I have been apart of. And even though I am closing this era, it won't be on a bittersweet note like my previous fandoms.

So, thank you.

Thanks to Kye and Bio for creating amazing pieces for my fic, skelepen for beta reading my work, Aynee for creating the zine itself, the POAR discord for being such a cool and fun place and to the larger QSMP community as a whole for being a part of my life.

#qsmp #poar zine #petals of a rose fanzine #petals of a rose zine #poar fanzine #qsmp fanfiction #qsmp fic #hideduo fic #hideduo fanfiction

5 notes · View notes

impostorsshow · 8 months ago

Note

Okay so you’re my Legend of Zelda person

How are you feeling about the Echoes of Wisdom announcement? Surprised? Excited? Eh? Did you like what you saw of the game? The art style? The Echo mechanic?

(Personally, I’m really looking forward to the game, and it’s looking like the twink will finally have to be saved this time.)

I haven't seen much of the trailer and don't know what the echo mechanic is, I only get game info through my partner that stays up until 3-4 am their time to watch the Nintendo directs and I prefer to find out about zelda games far after the community has discussed it or play it blind myself with trusty non spoiler guide site zeldadungeon.com, but I love that we're getting another game in the chibi links awakening style!! It's my favorite, and my old comfort object that I lost was an amiibo figure of links awakening link, so I really hope they make a figure of Zelda I can buy - my family pirated every amiibo for Zelda that was released up to botw and they're about the size of the first index of my thumb but having a full figure of a Zelda character would be nice again.

I am also really surprised about it, and having Zelda as a playable character is amazing again. I only know of 4 Zelda games that have had the goddess reincarnation herself be the protagonist, 3 of the games were most likely released in the OG Zelda/adventure of link titles era or around the oracle games based on the cartridge? Art I saw idk it might also be related to the PC quest games that came out around the same time which for reference is the uh. "eXCUSSEEE ME PRINCESS" one I think that's the thing it's well known for that is a whole different convo with a different blog i know nothing of the older titles except the basics. Anyway anyway I own the 4th game I know about that no one else mentions because it's technically not canon and is worse off than Hyrule warriors is but it's called cadence of Hyrule I think just search up "Crypt of the Necromancer Zelda" you'll find it and I did play through most characters campaign including Zelda's in that one, and think it's definitely worth mentioning due to how different Zeldas gameplay is to links. Uh anyway based on that game alone I have very high hopes for the gameplay of Zelda, as well as the thinks the higher ups at Nintendo said about sticking with botw/totks direction and play style.

Lastly I'll be honest with you im sleep deprived as shit cause emergency irl shit happened last night and I havent been sleeping well in general so I forgot my big thing i wanted to talk about in this segment but uh. Salvaged bits are yada yada Zelda mechanics parallels to other games more characterization more well written fanfics that aren't JUST skyward sword and botw for her etc etc based on how they handled princess peach showtimes characterization [which like. Honest to God really hard character to write in 2024 due to her roots being damsel in distress 101 and people tending to mostly correctly point at any pinky extra feminine girl and shout misogynistic] I really don't think Nintendo can fuck this up, and I am fully confident they won't fuck it up :].

ALSO CAPE CAPE ZELDA CAPE SHE HAS A CAPE ITS A CAPE ZELDAS CAPE ITS SO CUTE GOOD CHARACTER DESIGN SHE HAS A CAPE ITS SO CUTE OH MY GOD CAPE CAPE CAPE SHE HAS A CAPE

Oh yeah actually I did like the little bit of the trailer I did see that link shot her free at the last second, showing he is still in character and they didn't shoehorn in an idea to have a female protagonist like other series would do, but that every side of the triforce is equally powerful. I expect this game to be like if links awakenings dungeon puzzles were used on the overworld, and based on another Tumblr post I saw there might be some diplomatic puzzles. Or at least dual sided quest lines

Uh is there anything else I was gonna say. Oh I'm definitely going to be live posting about when I play the game since my birthday [shoutout to sans undertale] is in September so im definitely planning to ask for it or get it myself, even though I know it comes out past my birthday

#talk talks #asks #zelda ranch dip

2 notes · View notes

smallblueandloud · 1 year ago

Text

2023 fic roundup

2023 was the year of the comeback. in 2021, i wrote about 25k; in 2022, i didn't even keep track. meanwhile, my total wordcount last year was 119,226 words. while that doesn't come close to my 200k from 2020, i am arguably prouder of last year and what it represented. my writing isn't dead! my abilities haven't vanished! i can have fun making art again :D

as always, the summer was the most productive for me. you can see that i wrote more in the spring than the fall -- this roughly corresponds to how i was doing during those times, lol. i had a Much Better spring semester than the fall. september was very rough, i had a very bad time, and it meant my mental health suffered for the rest of the year. but hey, at least i was writing essays :')

some more scattered thoughts:

i was arguably pretty consistent this year? may/june/july all had about the same wordcount (roughly) and i think that's cool. my goal isn't to be doing NaNos, it's to be writing consistently, so i'm very happy with this

ao3 says i published 67k in 2023. minus the first chapter of something out of a dream, which was published in 2020, i believe that's 65k or so total. i wrote 72k of fanfic last year, meaning that there's about 8k from last year still sitting in my google drive (a rough eyeball at my WIPs folder confirms this). these numbers don't QUITE make sense to me, since i used a fair bit of old material in what i published last year, but i'm not going to think about it too hard

i published fic for a whopping fifteen fandoms in 2023. nine of those were fandoms i'd never published anything for before! i am so, so proud of this stat. i remain multifandom as all hell and seeing that represented in my work makes me really :D

two fics -- be amazed by the sky and i got your back (and you got mine) -- were crossovers! i'd only ever written one crossover before (stay all day in the sun, which i still love dearly) and it was fun to play in these playgrounds (mostly by sticking the librarians into other universes, xD)

i published 25 fics last year! and five of those fics were less than 1k, which i also really love. this year i really tried to let go of my idea that my fics Had to be more than 4k (and super polished) before they could see the light of day. i think my writing has been more fun and less stressful because of that.

i polished off 4 multi-year WIPs last year: but the verse is sweet, something out of a dream, don't wanna see you go (but it's not forever), and all we can do today. it felt so, so good to finally get those out there. the only one i have left from The Great Hiatus of 2021-2022 is éponine de bergerac. i will finish that someday, but i'm letting her take her time, because she deserves it. (i DID make good progress on that fic, which is something at least!)

most popular fic of the year was sit there in your heartache, which. is a spirk fic written right after a relevant episode, so not a surprise lol. the fic that surprised me most is actually the sisterhood of the travelling main character plotpoints -- i kinda expected that one to vanish quietly, but the hatchetfield fandom is WAY more active than i expected! which is very cool :D

the fic with the fewest hits was sidenote, which doesn't surprise me, since the librarians isn't a very active fandom and it's a rareship within the fandom anyway. the people who DID read it were very sweet, so i am very grateful for them. (i'm doing fic with the fewest hits because i feel like it's better to focus on that than What Didn't Get Kudos)

i started 2024 with 5 WIPs. i actually already finished one (and then immediately started its sequel, whoops) (shoutout to the ds9 modern au, i'll make a real post about that sometime). none of these fics are particularly progressed, but i'll keep working on them and try to find the Finishing A Project Dopamine from ficlets if i need it.

i didn't really have any Writing Goals for 2023 aside from doing any writing at all, lol. i think for 2024 i want to try to get more consistent with my writing -- instead of doing x number of words per month (which usually happen over 3-4 Big Writing Days), i'd rather try to write for 5 days out of every week, or something like that. we'll see what i can get done.

in the meantime: thank you guys for listening. i'm proud of what i did last year, and i'm excited to see what happens next year :D

#fic roundup #2023 #sb and l rambles #sb and l is writing #let's see what 2024 holds :eyes:

4 notes · View notes

ghoulish-art-tendencies · 4 months ago

Text

Thank u SO MUCH. for the tag mate, i love ur art so much <333

Have you always been interested in creating art? Yes! since i was a kid ive been drawing and creating art

What's your favourite medium to use? If digital, what programs do you like? I love traditional, but i mainly do digital right now and use procreate

Do you create outside of fandom? sometimes but not often

Share something you haven't finished and/or never got around to posting! this piece i kinda lost motivation for (and likr 4 other pieces), ive been struggling a lot with finishing pieces recently </3

Favourite piece you’ve made? definitely my most recent, its so pretty !!!

Draw your icon in a minute or less

An underrated piece you've made in your opinion? this piece took me like 14 hours but it got maybe 50 notes? i didnt expect much though since it is kind of niche (dnp x voltron)

Do you do art in a professional setting? no, but i want to eventually

A piece you don't like but did really well on social media: literally my first ever piece of phanart i had posted on tumblr and it got nearly 800 notes i actually hate it so much please stop reblogging😭

Post an old piece and compare it to your most recent, what are the similarities? i still do fairly soft lineart..?

Have you ever collaborated with another artist/s? yes! i articipated in creating a dan and phil tarot deck with so many other phanartists

What piece has the most notes? Are you surprised? quite a bit, it got popular enough to make it into a dnp video and it was really surprising to me since it was just supposed to be a silly sketch of a meme

Who/What is your favourite subject matter? Definitely dan and phil, but i also doodle my friend @frnkeatsmarbels in the margins of my paper quite a bit

Show us something not from fandom you've made: Reddie my love, i wish i had more people to talk about them with

Where do you like to create? my bed usually

Do you have a tag that you use to group your creations? Tell us so people can follow it: #ghoulish art

Give yourself a shoutout, where can we commission/buy/follow you for more pieces? no commissions but i do have an instagram (i dont post much though)

Insta: ghoulish.art.tendencies

tagging (no pressure) : @teddybassist @stardustedastronaut @ingydar-phan @verianal and any other of my art mutuals bc im too scared to tag u😭

ART TAG

I just want to see more art and creatives

Have you always been interested in creating art? Yes! I've been drawing for as long as I can remember

What's your favourite medium to use? If digital, what programs do you like? I really enjoy drawing traditionally, a lot of the time i sketch and then take a photo to finish it digitally on photoshop (that i pirated)

Do you create outside of fandom? Yes, I draw for myself a lot but I don't really share them

Share something you haven't finished and/or never got around to posting mickey eating vegemite toast which i sent to nosho and never posted here haha

Favourite piece you've made?

ive always liked my beer bottle and carton design

Draw your icon in a minute or less

An underrated piece you've made in your opinion

any of my stranger things fanart bc i dont have any stranger things mutuals <3

Do you do art in a professional setting? kinda? im a qualified graphic designer and im working on a logo for a boxing trainer now

A piece you don't like but did really well on social media

100% this one, dan posted it on his ig story and tagged me in it and used it as his header on twitter for a while too

Post an old piece and compare it to your most recent, what are the similarites?

still doing outfit challenges, still adding a splash of colour in the bg, colour, details and adding waves to hair! also the shading is similar on the stomachs

Have you ever collaborated with another artist/s? yes!! ive done a dan and phil poster with other phan artists, a calendar that @pseudophan organised years ago (i still have it) and some cool one on one stuff with other artists in various fandoms <3

What piece has the most notes? Are you surprised?

this series, very surprised tbh currently at 12k+ notes

Who/What is your favourite subject matter?

People/characters i love, i just love drawing people i enjoy watching ya know

Show us something not from fandom you've made

a modernised take on shakespeares 'Taming of the Shrew', the badge is currently on my battle vest

Where do you like to create? in my bedroom at my desk, i feel inspired in my art corner

Do you have a tag that you use to group your creations? Tell us so people can follow it

'm does art' is my art tag!

Give yourself a shoutout, where can we commission/buy/follow you for more pieces?

commissions - unavailable but will open in a month or so instagram redbubble

tagging: @doshiart @gallapiech @spookygingerr @konaiiro

@michellemisfit @heymrspatel @vintagelacerosette @ghoulish-art-tendencies

@sgtmickeyslaughter @creepkinginc @kiennilove @burninface

@darlingian @suzy-queued

#love this #tag game #tag games #art #ghoulish art

33 notes · View notes

whirlybirbs · 3 years ago

Note

Birbs I ate that Silco shit up like it was my last meal on earth. Licked the plate clean and waiting for seconds mmmmmmmmm DELICIOUS

4/4 | HOBBYISTS & FINER THINGS. ; SILCO / READER

summary: dinner is planned, then cancelled. you’re angry with silco, but business is business. as it turns out, distance does makes the heart grow fonder.

rating: 18+ / this chapter includes a mention of physical violence against a sex worker and features canon typical violence when rectifying said instance. this work contains smut.

word count: 9k teehee

pairing: silco / f!reader

a/n: with permission, the header from this chapter is art done by the lovely @/harlot_of_zaun over on twitter! i really encourage you to head on over and show them some love. their silco art is stunning. this piece made me go WOOOO. a special shoutout to them for being kind enough to lend me their art as a chapter header!

but, here we are! end of the road. there may always be more, but for now, i hope you enjoy a nice little ending to this small story — the reception was really wonderful and thank you so much to everyone who’s read, commented, liked, breathed in its direction... you know how it goes. i love you all!

< previous chapter | read me on ao3

You’ve been trying to ignore the buzz of anxiety in your chest for the last three days.

On the fourth day, you’d finally let the electric storm get the better of you. It’s late, nearly two in the morning, and Lizbeth is with you in your office; she’s crouched by the hearth, feeding in pieces of useless requisition receipts Yeleni left behind. The paper makes good kindling, and the stack beside her is tall.

The work has slowed for the night. Only three rooms are open; they see a slow trickle. By three, most of Zaun will be asleep. Four in the morning herald’s the end of the day for the workers of the Lilac Lounge.

Lizbeth finished her shift an hour ago. She’s fresh from the bath, with rose oil still clinging to her skin.

You’ve known Lizbeth for the better part of your life — she’s a handful of years younger with warm, dark skin. You catch her scoff at a piece of receipt paper (a laundry list, complete with Yeleni’s fur at the top of the order) before tossing it into the fire with a flourished shake of her head.

You’re chewing your lip when she tosses you a look over her shoulder. She does a double-take.

“...You look like you’re about two seconds away from flinging yourself into the fire. What’s wrong?”

“I feel like it,” you rush out, eyes stuck on the dancing flame as you stand there with your hands on your hips; unprompted, you let the secret loose.

“I’m having dinner with Silco tomorrow evening.”

Lizbeth’s attention snaps back around.

There’s silence then — the crushing sort.

Finally, you pull your eyes from the hearth and offer a sheepish look. Her brown eyes are pulled wide in shock.

Lizbeth is... well, hell above. Sure, she’s surprised, but everyone knew something was going on between the Madam of the Lilac Lounge and Silco. Be it his boys who gaurd the door every night, Sevika — lovely, lovely Sevika, or anyone on the street. Of course the courtesans knew, but they knew better than to ask. After all, it was your personal business... Reliable protection and expensive paintings be damned.

“Dinner?” Lizebth asks, albeit in a rushed whisper.

Your face is flooded with anxiety as you nod, parroting her. “Dinner.”

“Oh — oh?” she’s standing now, pulling her robe closer as she serves you an incredulous look and rushes forward, “Like... Like a proper dinner—?” “Like a romantic, proper dinner,” as you ramble, your exasperation catches up to you, “So we can discuss our ‘endearments’,” you quote.

Lizbeth’s whole face goes wide with a surprised look. She pushes a thick loc behind her ear and leans forward as her jaw falls open. Once more, she’s nodding, parroting your words as if to try and parse them. “Endearments.”

Less of a question. More like she’s trying to understand, and you nod. Up and down and up and down — and then pinch the bridge of your nose.

“Fuck.”

“What?” Lizbeth asks, brows knotted up, “You don’t want to go?”

“No — I do,” you whine as you drop your shoulders and rub the curve of your temple, “Perhaps a bit too much.”

“Ah.”

“Exactly,” you offer up, moving to lean against your desk. You fiddle with the wine-colored cuff of your sleeve and tug the shoulder up and back into place. The loose blouse billows as you throw your hands in the air, “Who am I? Some lovesick little girl—?”

“Calm down,” Lizbeth says, tilting her head and leaning to pop a hip, “You’re being dramatic. It’s alright to be excited — I mean, when’s the last time you went out to dinner with a nice man?”

Your glare is flat. You narrow your lashes. “Paid or unpaid.”

Lizbeth matches your look, however, is significantly less amused. “Be nice.”

“I’m serious,” you say as you push off the desk and move to toss a few more papers into the fire; you’re desperate to burn away this feeling. You mutter, “Also I think, catagorically, Silco would take offense at being considered a ‘nice man’—”

“But he is nice — to us, to you,” Lizbeth supplants kindly.

...It’s a good point.

Your shoulders sag as you squat before the fire. Your fingers trace the edge of a grocery list — complete with Yeleni’s own scrawled notes on a handful of worker’s favorite meals. Some of them no longer work at the Lounge. You decide, last minute, to spare this little note a firey death.

“Why don’t you get some rest, huh?” Lizbeth says as she bows her head to the side and moves to place a delicate hand on your shoulder, “It will be nice — to get out of here, if only for a night...”

She has a point.

When morning comes, you find as though you feel as if you’ve barely slept at all — and the warmth of your bed anchors you to a half-there, half-here state. Morning is more of a subjective term for the hour you and the rest of the Lounge usually rise... It’s nearly noon now, and the heavy curtains in your bedroom do little to keep out the glaring gray of the day.

However, it isn’t the sunlight that rouses you, today. Nor is it a cramped neck or an arm fast asleep or a hot huff when the comforter becomes too smothering. No, it’s a rapid knock on your door — seven, eight, nine, ten times.

“Madam!” comes a rushed voice, “There’s a call! For you!”

What...?

Your eyes are still half-closed when you tumble from bed; the thin chemise clinging to your shoulders hangs low as you yank the door open and blink blearily. It’s Gwen, the young receptionist. She’s flanked by nearly a dozen expectant faces.

It’s clear the trill BRING-RING-RING-A-BRING of the mounted landline in the front lobby had roused nearly half the house.

You’re fast to rub your eyes, sniffling as you step into the upstairs hall.

The whole of the house is watching — heads peeking from doorways, half-dressed workers lining the halls, some even pausing their morning powdering to get a glimpse of their Madam.

“Who is it?” your voice is hoarse as you move down the hall, rounding the corner to the stairwell.

“Mr. Silco, madam.”

There’s a bit of a pause in your step. The faded wallpaper is where you root your gaze — and from the bated breaths of the entire parlor, you suddenly become keenly aware that the little secret you slipped loose to Lizbeth has now become the whole of the establishment’s knowledge.

You cast Gwen a look over your shoulder; expectant and shy. Suddenly, the teenager is taken aback by your out-of-characteristically girlish look.

“What did he say?” you nearly whisper.

She winces. “Only asked for you, ma’am. Nothin’ else.”

Well, that does nothing to quell the rush of a raging fire in your chest. Lovely.

Seems there’s a crowd gathered to watch, too.

You’re fast to fly down the stairs into the lilac parlor room; your chemise’s hem is gripped tightly in your hand the whole way. Slept-on hair does little to paint you calm in any way of the word. When you reach the front desk where the intricately adorned box sits, you find the receiver placed delicately atop the dark wood. Suddenly, there’s a rush of hisses — barks from the older courtesans to be quiet!

You inhale, then reach to wrap your hand around the cool, smooth, obsidian handle.

“Hello?”

Across town, Silco is leaned over the callbox.

It’s outside one of the docking warehouses, a building more commonly used now by his people to load up shimmer shipments for Piltover. It’s just beyond the main dock, and Silco can see the entire harbor as he waits on the line.

It’s a cold morning. Gray as ever. It will snow later, he knows. He can feel it in his knees — in the aches of his palms. In a life long ago, he would venture into the mines on mornings like this and emerge to a world of off-white powder. It was beautiful, a sliver of promise. But even in Zaun, the snow was never as white as it was in Piltover. The smog promised that.

The harbor water sways.

Behind him, Sevika delivers a harsh blow to the face of a man already bound on his knees.

When your voice comes over the static crackle of the telephone, Silco finds his posture easing a bit. He pushes a gloves hand through his hair, tosses a look over his shoulder, and clears his throat.

“Madame?”

“Hello, Silco.”

Perhaps it’s comical.

The fact Silco is here, mid-interrogation. Having just learned a handful of Chem-Barons intended on making their arrival known tonight? All of this riding on the high news that three of his men had effectively disappeared with a month’s worth of shimmer shipment? He had growled so sharp in irritation, the man before him was shocked when Silco stepped back and lowered his knife. Sevika slipped him a knowing look, then. His other men, too, had dawning guilt written all over their faces.

Of course, they knew his plans.

He’d reserved the entire upper balcony of The Last Drop for you and himself tonight. He’d been dealing with a rather jealous little Jinx, and the nervousness that comes with a romantic dalliance after years of settling on avoiding them entirely.

I believe I have to make a call, Silco had said.

Better now than any later. His guilt will eat him alive. But such is the way of a Kingpin. He tries to stomach it.

It’s difficult when your voice on the other end is sweet enough to bring a wry smile to his face.

He lifts his eyes to the gray sky.

“I hope I didn’t wake you?”

“You did,” you say slowly, leaned fully on the desk now, “It’s rather nice, actually.”

The gathered courtesans seem to fly into silent hysterics at the very clear flirtation — you can see the wide smiles and slapped hands as they clamor to gather closer, to listen in, to hear the Kingpin of Zaun’s response. You sway a bit, bouncing on the ball of your foot.

The response earned is a rough, low laugh.

Somewhere in the background, a scream begins — and then it’s smothered by the wide palm of Sevika. Silco tosses a sharp look back at the group, and Sevika roughly tells the bloodied man to shut up, he’s on the phone, can’t you see?

"Well, I admit I wish I wasn’t having to call—”

Your gut sinks.

“Oh?”

“I’m not going to be able to make dinner, it seems,” he says slowly, almost tentatively, and you try to ignore the sudden rush of sheer disappointment that floods your figure. Though you can hear his apology on the other line, it does little to blunt the impact.

The gathered faces who are close enough to hear the exchange suddenly recoil. Their expressions are a mixture of angry, of confused, of bitterly rejected. A bit of how you feel, honestly. Suddenly, there’s a rush of questions being passed silently between the parlor; Lizbeth, looking on in front of you, shakes her head in confusion.

Ask why, she mouthes.

“Is... Is everything alright?” is the best you can manage. Your own thoughts are running a mile a minute.

“I’m sending extra security tonight,” comes his response; it’s thoughtful. Warm, almost. His voice dips a little lower as he leans his palm against the wall and toes his boot against the sea-worn floor of the warehouse, “Chem-Barons have called a meeting, and sadly I’m required to be in attendance.”

“Oh.”

Silco’s heart pangs. Your tone is distant — hurt, clearly. He leans back, posture slouching. From across the warehouse, Sevika can see her boss’ distress. A gloved hand reaches to rub the spot between his brows. He leans a little closer over the receiver. His voice is low. Quiet. Only for the two of you.

Unbeknownst to Silco, the entirely of The Lilac Lounge is eagerly attempting the eavesdrop of the modern era.

“I’m sorry, my lovely. I... ” he clears his throat, suddenly realizing how much he had been looking forward to a quiet evening with you. Silco rubs his jaw. “I—”

He’s about to suggest tomorrow night. Hells alive, the sad little quiver in your voice has the Kingpin feeling like he ought to be the one on the receiving end of Sevika’s fists.

But, it seems as though business has caught up to him again.

Suddenly, a scream cuts through the other end of the line and you blinks down at the receiver.

The anger at the interruption ripples through Silco like a rogue wave. He’s decided immediately Rocco will die for that as if his other mistakes weren’t worth that same weightier sentence. His head snaps around, and one void-black eye pins the man in place. The ring of his eclipsed pupil swivels, all burning rage condensed into a single look.

“Silco—?” you call, voice retreating as the receiver slips from his ear for a moment long enough to gesture with deft, gloved hands for his people to haul Rocco up, get the chains ready. He’s going for a swim.

The realization dawns on the once-loyal man as he begins a string of begging — no, no, no and please, please, I promise I don’t know anything!

“I’ve got to go, Madame,” he turns back, with a stoney expression; and you can hear it over the line, “My sincerest apologies.”

Then, the line clicks dead.

And you’re left in the parlor holding a silent, droning line.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘ ⚘

A week.

You hear nothing for a whole week.

The good news is that a week is apparently plenty of time to work yourself up, calm yourself down, then grow bitter, then sad, then enraged and so-on and so-forth — you know, the usual cycle of heartache that comes with an apparent rejection.

You wonder if maybe that’s the curse of expectations — that being excited over new and exciting possibilities inherently spoil the entire rouse.

Admittedly, Silco’s little stand-up (could you even call it that? He had, after all, let you know he was unable to make dinner...? Are you putting too much weight on this? Do you deserve to be upset? ...Hm. You shoo that thought away. Yes, of course, you deserve to be upset) fueled enough of your hermit-like coping mechanisms to hole you up in Yeleni’s office for three days straight.

More good news: it was feeling less like Yeleni’s and more like yours. Clean. Cozy.

The worst news of all: the beautiful, attention-absorbing Friedlingmer was now the sorest spot of woe in all of Zaun, so much so that you’re genuinely considering throwing a bedsheet over it. Seriously. You could just hop up and be done with it. Cover it up! Then, you won’t be thinking about Silco every damn time you walk into your office.

You huff.

That would be cruel. A true disservice to Friedlingmer’s residency in Piltover. All over a heartache? No. No, no, no — fucking hell, Yeleni is probably rolling over in her grave right now. If she knew the current state of you, she’d laugh. And not a nice, cheer-up kind of laugh. No, the mean sort. The sort that tells you to pull up your britches and hike your tits up with a single wheezy, shimmer-lined cough.

So, right. A week.

Granted, on the seventh day, it isn’t as if he finally gives you a callback — he doesn’t soothe your burning anxiety that he lost interest, or found someone better, or finished playing...

No, it’s business that brings you to Silco.

The Chem Baron’s seemed to extend their stay in the Lanes — in turn, Silco had wordlessly extended his promise of upped security around The Lilac Lounge. That much you were appreciative of, but the new faces made you uneasy. Not just you, but the other businesses in the Lanes under his word.

The Chem Barons arrive on a metaphorical litter, dragging along henchmen and staff that support their endeavors. Be it chemists, be it enforcers, be it family. The Lanes are fraught with distinguished members of various affiliations.

Silco’s security is a double-edged sword. It protects his assets and reminds everyone who owns the Black Lanes.

You’re in your office when the commotion begins. It’s nearly midnight. The Lilac Lounge is busy.

“You can’t just go barging in—”

That’s Sevika’s voice.

Someone is arguing with her — which is enough of a shock to get you up out of your chair and away from ruminating on the Friedlingmer.

It's one of Babette's girls. She's a lithe little thing that nearly springs through your office door. You'd heard her shouts, all breathless and wild-eyed, as she barreled through the velvet hallways of The Lilac Lounge.

The prick of instinct has you bristling when she nearly beats your door down. You pull it open sharply, face met with the smoke-filled air of the brothel's back corridor. Beneath the Friedlingmer, a candle snuffs itself out.

"It's Mira — a-and one of Silco's boys," she's rushing out, hardly breathing and hardly making much of any sense as she stumbles over herself and her words; but you can sew together enough from her panic and her fear, "Babette's called for you—"

Mira. She used to work under Yeleni. You knew her. Only briefly. She was younger than you. Sweet. She preferred Babette’s management style to Yeleni’s. You can’t say you blame her.

There are faces, masked and painted-on, that have begun to poke from their lavishly curtained rooms. The haze of lilac smoke makes the air taste sweet. Eyes hang on your tensed figure.

Sevika, at the end of the hall, goes still.

You realize they’re suddenly looking to you — for strength, for an example, for leadership. All of it. All at once.

It wasn’t often that house-calls of this sort came and went. You remember Yeleni, though, when a fearful call for help came. She would waddle on, pulling up her jacket and promising she will be back. Be it Babette’s or Sygyn’s or any of the other working houses in the Lanes... you all worked together. A habitat of coexisting lives and work. You owed it to one another. You keep one another safe. No negotiating.

Eyes blink when you disappear from the view of the doorway. You return with a long, wool coat that's swathed with fur, and begin the arduous task of lacerating your meticulous hairstyle with long, dagger-like hairpins.

Yeleni’s.

They’re cool, smooth, matte metal. Sharp. She’d left them in a pearl case that snapped shut onto your finger like a lobster claw the first time you’d opened it.

The small charms that hang from them on delicate chains swing as you button your coat and pull on your gloves. Your strides are long.

Those expectant, worried faces follow you silently.

"Is Babette with her?" you ask calmly, leading her through the winding hallways that have grown silent.

The girl swallows; her voice is hoarse. She can hardly be any older than eighteen. She looks about Gwen’s age. "Yes."

"Is she alright?"

"Shaken up," she offers as she follows you through the hall. The Lilac Lounge hangs on the anticipation of your first enforcement. These were the expectations of Madams. Handle the business, protect the workers of the Lanes.

You admit you thought you might not be ready for this sort of confrontation. But, as you enter the stillness of the parlor, you realize that Yeleni had prepared you for this.

After all, she taught you everything you know.

She taught you how to be everything she wasn't, too.

In the parlor, you finish pinning your hair. Sevika stands beside you; her eyes are pulled across your face in a snap of tension.

You like Sevika. She’s... She’s an intricate soul with mean left hook. In the last week, you’ve noticed she’s been on door duty consistently. Not that anyone is complaining. Almost the entire brothel clamors to offer her a nightcap at the end of her shift.

“Who was it?” she asks tightly. Her voice is rough.

“I’m going to find out,” you say flatly.

Sevika tightens her jaw, then nods.

“You need me?”

You straighten your posture. You consider it, then inhale. “No. From the sounds of it, it might be best let Silco know he may be getting a visit from me tonight.”

Her nod is terse.

You push onward.

It’s snowing out. Your breath curls around you as the girl leads the way to Babette’s. You blink up at the grey plods of snow falling from the sky.

The snow is always whiter in Piltover.

Babette's brothel is a block down, almost directly adjacent The Lilac Lounge on Zaun's main bazaar. Here the smog carries the light so well you might confuse it for day — the hazy, pink glow of light-polluted signage has your eyes adjusting as you near. Dilated pupils swing around the street.

Seems as though someone let word slip there was trouble.

Your arrival outside on the main strip of the Black Lanes has heads turning, and whispers following every staccato step of your heels. Eyes follow you and the young girl as you step up to Babette's brothel. As quickly as you came, you disappear and leave the onlookers to their gossip.

The yordle is waiting for you inside.

"Is she alright?" is the first thing out of your mouth.

When Babette nods, you ask your next question.

“Who did it?”

"No idea," she heaves; you can see the weight of the evening beginning to wear on her, "I just know he was one a’ Silco’s. Figured you’d be able to help. Come on. Maybe you can talk to her. Poor thing is a wreck."

Babette isn't exaggerating — Mira is sitting on a couch holding a pack of ice to her nose. There are a handful of workers around her, cradled close, but it seems as if the worse of her wailing has calmed down. You can see, though, the creep of purple along her eyes. The bruising has started.

Your fingers twitch.

She seems to soften at your arrival. She recognizes you. Her eyes, big and green, widen as she scrambles to move towards the end of the sofa. Her friends hold onto her as you near, dropping to kneel before her with a sad look.

There is a bond shared between those of you in this line of work.

...You’ve been here — cradling friends after the darker dangers of this life creep in. You know this fear, this uncertainty. You know it well. You can count on two hands the number of times you’ve looked back and been astounded at how close you might’ve come with being snuffed out like candlelight.

You have to look out for one another.

Her fingers are bloodied. You hold them.

“He didn’t want to pay,” she explains angrily.

"Who was it?” is all you ask.

And you get your answer.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘ ⚘

The Last Drop is busy.

Your arrival draws attention — no doubt Sevika had returned and made it clear that they should be expecting your appearance. Security parts, offering no resistance. Maybe it's Mira, who has her chin held high. Her hand is in yours. Maybe it’s the icey look on your face. Perhaps it’s the few of Sygyn’s girls that escort you to the doors, drawn in from the street, who chatter promises to Mira that good Madams sorts this business out. Babette follows.

Eyes falter. Screamed gossip slips past to the melodic thrum of the bar's music.

You're gestured upstairs by a man in a suit that has a whiskey stain on the sleeve.

You can feel the bass in your ribs, rattling your heart around. The haze of shimmer makes your head swim. The air tastes sweet. Better than the grimy sting of smog that the Lanes bring. No, in here? It's sex and sweat and shimmer. Not all that different from The Lilac Lounge. Less gentle though, more fists-to-mouth. Somewhere, a fight begins over a spilled drink. You're high above the dance floor when it ends with a stool coming down over a skull.

The VIP section of The Last Drop is quieter — more light, too, though it's as artificial as everything in Zaun. You recognize that there are Chem Barons here in attendance. Sardonically, you scoff at the fact they’ll be getting dinner and a show. A reminder of how business is done in the Lanes. In Silco’s Lanes.

At the back of the mezzanine, there's a booth swathed in security. Sevika stands to the right, hands clasped before her. Inside the plush, crimson booth there are two men there.

One with white hair. Tattoos. Twitchy.

Then, Silco.

It hurts to see him.

He's leaned back, attention focused on a burning cigar in long fingers. Those knuckles are kissed with scars. His collar is high, starched and sharp like all of him. He looks as if he’s ready to snap. The longer you look, the more you wonder if a kiss would draw blood.

You’re so angry you hardly have time to acknowledge the heartache burning your throat.

He’s put himself together meticulously tonight. His face is turned, speaking to the one you're here to deal with — and a curl of smoke passes around his head like a crown.

Ever the handsome leader.

He’s clearly irritated.

Babette makes a small sound of concern beside you.

Sevika meets your eyes.

Your fingers twitch. Mira, sets her jaw. You pause. Your entourage heels. You turn to Mira, cheek grazing the furs of your collar, and speak softly.

"Beside Sevika, is that him?"

You see the hatred snap in her eyes.

"Yes."

You reach. You brush her knuckles with your thumb.

"We’re almost done, Mira," you whisper, "You've done good."

Then, your eyes connect with Silco's and it's like a match to gasoline.

He knows why you're here.

Of course he does. And he knows, too, why your look burns so hot he nearly flinches. Suddenly, his tenseness thaws. You’re disarming — as always — but tonight you look every bit as powerful as freshly sharpened dagger. You look as if you want to hold it to his throat.

Perhaps he deserves that.

You watch the way he leans back a bit father and crosses his long legs. Gilded toe tips flash in the light. He is dripping in enough power to make most salivate. One eye as hot as ember and the other as cool as a placid lake. They both flick to man beside him.

His brows raise, and he gestures minutely with his cigar.

He's offering him up a platter.

Go on.

As if you needed his permission.

Sevika decides then to step aside. A perfectly timed shift in the guard, allowing you the room to press on and move forward,

The silence creates a divide. The entire balcony seems to suddenly be aware of what is playing out. They’re hanging on the tension, afraid the snap will ripple through the whole of the bar.

You step up.

Your heart is vibrating. Ready.

Mira had said the man’s name was something just as twitchy as him. Zam. It fit him nicely, actually. You wonder if that’s really his name, or if maybe something like Harold or Roger was unbecoming of someone in Silco’s ranks. Too plain, too normal, too easy. No, Zam was just right.

Zam moves to stand at your sudden appearance — too stimmed to really grasp what's going on. He looks like he’s ready to square up. You can see it in the hued ring around his irises. It's Sevika that urges him back down with a single rough push.

"Hey—" Zam cuts out, eyes bouncing between Silco and Sevika in protest.

"Sit down," you roll your words off your tongue slowly as you peel your jacket off and unceremoniously toss it on the table; it comes out steadier than you thought it would. Over your shoulder, Babette sticks close to Mira.

You offer Zam a level look; beneath it is white-hot rage. Your tone is hemlock-licked and enough to kill, "I believe we have business to settle, don't we, Zam?"

"I don't know what you're talkin' about, lady—" and another attempt to stand up, to weasel away.

Your hand roots itself with the spot where his collar meets. The grasp is sharp and fast, and you slam him back against the booth hard enough to startle him into really paying attention to you.

Zam stills.

You’re leaned in close. You snarl. “I said sit down.”

Silco is watching. There’s a stab of discomfort under his skin. He knows this isn’t in your nature but he also knows better than to assume you aren’t capable. There is a reason Yeleni left The Lilac Lounge to you. You’re doing fine. Making a point. Helping establish control for Babette who has long since relied on Yeleni for things of this sort.

Establishing who you really are.

A week’s worth of longing rushes up to meet him. You're a beautiful thing, and he can see the burn of Zaun in your eyes. It's the pride, the anger, the well-kept facade of luxury.

Your eyes connect with the Kingpin's once more as you speak.

"Mira?" you call, as your eyes bore into Silco's, "How many times did he hit you?"

Mira's voice is as hot as smelted iron. "Twice."

"Twice," you reiterate, "Right."

"Hey, listen lady, I dunno what sort of bullshit she’s been spinnin’—”

Then, with viper-like precision, a hairpin is pulled from your wound-up style and is plunged straight through Zam's hand into the table. The scream that cuts through the mezzanine is silenced when you dislodge the long hairpin with a scowl and, with the metal pin wrapped in your fist, strike him across the face.

As Zam teeters backward in the booth, gripping his mouth, and muttering a half-aware curse, you catch him by the hair. With one swift motion, you bring his face down against the table. The crunch is violent and wet.

Two hits. One more for good measure.

Faces flinch across the sea of onlookers.

Silco's breath is caught in his throat. He holds it there. Then, he lets it loose. Long and slow. Smoke curls from his nose.

Right.

You straighten yourself up and exhale.

Zam has crumpled in the booth, groaning and bleeding, and you mind only the pin in your hands when he falls to the ground. The bar's floor rises up to greet him, whiskey and grime clinging to him desperately as blood from his broken nose begin to run underfoot.

You begin the meticulous task of cleaning the pin on your sleeve.

Your voice is icy.

“I think we’re done here.”

You are. If the point hasn’t been made, then you’re not sure this job is for you. With any luck, this will be the most you’ll have to display for the next coming months. This sort of violence doesn’t suit you. Silco is right about that much.

"A word, madam,” comes Silco’s slow drawl.

Your look is stern as you pause. Silco leans to sip his whiskey.

For a moment, bodyguards led by Sevika pass through the bitter stare you land on him. They’re quick, hauling away the crying mess that’s become of Zam on the bar floor. No doubt he’ll be tossed to the back alley. Left to figure out how to fix his fuck-up on his own.

“I thank you for your time, Silco,” calls Babette, “And you Madam, for helping sort this out.”

She casts you a slow look. Mira frowns. Her voice is soft. “Thank you, madam.”

Mira's thanks are uttered into a kiss of your cheek — her fingers wind around your neck as she cradles you close. The warmth is genuine. Kind. She looks a little less afraid now.

"Go on," you bite, "I’m sure Silco won't keep me long."

He rolls his jaw. His reply is stoic. "Only as long as you'll let me."

There's something awfully romantic about that, isn't there?

...Fuck him.

Silco snuffs his cigar in the intricate, little ashtray on the table.

When he stands, you're reminded of just how tall is he. Waif-like and sharp — he smooths down the front of his vest with long fingers and clears his throat. He smells like smoke and velvet and something cuttingly masculine. Perhaps it's his aftershave or the salve he uses to keep his hair meticulously in place. You're not sure, but you do know that you like it.

You really do.

His hand falls along your lower back as you place your pin back in place. It feels mean now — to cast you aside for so long after a promise of endearments. And now, here he is. Touching you.

Silco gathers your coat from the table.

To others, it must look as though you’re both slipping away to discuss business, to rehash agreements over examples such as this.

The others in The Last Drop don’t hear Silco’s low, careful question posed to you as he leads you to his office.

"I take it you're angry with me, then?"

You dislike that he’s able to read you so well.

He leads you along, towards a back hall. It’s darker here, and you feel his hand flatten entirely against your spine, as if to hold you. You know why that sets you off, but you’re not entirely ready to admit it. The good news is that you’re far enough from prying eyes — you turn sharply and catch him mid-step, sending him backwards against the narrow hall wall. He backs up against it with an oof.

There’s a moment’s pause between you. Silco looks surprised. The music is far away now, crescendoing somewhere to sex and sweat and shimmer.

You find suddenly that... well, the hundred things you’d been rehearsing to let loose on the Kingpin suddenly won’t come out. The adrenaline rush of confrontation has sent your fingers into a wobble — and you try your best not to look as if you’re pouting.

“Yes,” is all you manage as you tilt your head to the side and inhale sharply, “Yes, I’m angry with you.”

The darkness of the hall is a bit suffocating – not that Silco minds.

He’s missed you.

He’s spent the last week wishing the Chem Barons would take their fucking leave from his Lanes so he could spare a moment away — he hardly even had enough time to spend with Jinx.

His good eyes relaxes. His expression morphs into something like acceptance.

Yes. He knew it. If given the reverse, he would be just as bitter. A canceled dinner? And then not a single call nor visit nor word since?

You try to hold his gaze. You do.

"You have every right to be.”

The honest admission has you blinking at the floor.

You turn your head sharply back down the hall and consider walking out then and there. After all, you’re not keen on letting Silco see just how upset you are. It makes you feel childish. Like a lovesick teen.

“Could we...” a slow question, punctuated by a lean into your field over vision, “Discuss the matter? Over sherry, maybe?”

“What is there to even discuss—?”

“Endearments, my lovely,” he breathes, “I assure you mine have not wavered, despite... how busy I’ve been. I owe you an apology.”

It’s low. Soft. Coaxing.

He can see you wavering — and for a moment, Silco’s heartstrings wind themselves so tight he’s sure he will be drowning his thoughts alone tonight. Just him and that expensive bottle of Sherry he bought just for his discussion.

“...Do you mean that?”

“Every word.”

You...—well, you hadn’t anticipated this.

No, no, no, not the relief? The promise of an apology? The softening of his smile in the dim light of the hallway? No, no — you were mentally prepared to skewer him on a hairpin. Just a minute ago the thought had crossed your mind. You could have, probably. Who would have stopped you?

Not Sevika, that much is sure.

Silco would welcome it.

You’re pouting. Truly, genuinely, pouting when you gesture finally to his office door and step back from him.

Silco blinks. Then, curtly, he steps across the gap in the hall with long legs and opens his office door.

You slink in behind him, arms crossed and eyes pulled narrow.

Silco’s office is in a more desperate state of disarray than you’ve ever seen it — not that you frequent it much. But still you remember, the first time you’d come here, how meticulous everything had been. Now, papers are strewn about. You catch a glimpse of the title of one. A territory agreement.

...Now you feel bad.

You’d been so angry and — ugh. Here he’s been, clearly trying to manage the unplanned upending of his usual business by the moguls and sharks that were praying for a single slip.

"You handled that well.”

His voice is warm — it floats into your hearing from the corner of the room. Back by the little cart with all his various spirits and whiskies. It’s looking sparse. You cast a long look at him over your shoulder and note that he’d taken your jacket and settled it over the shoulders of his desk chair. Lovingly, almost.

“I know it wasn’t easy.”

No. It wasn’t. But, the shake in your hands has all but subsided. The center of focus for your anxiety to feast upon is now Silco. Wholely him.

You are suddenly struck with how different this moment in his office is from the first.

You fiddle with your blouse’s sleeves. “It had to be done.”

“That much we agree on,” he rasps out; he turns and has procured to decently poured glasses of sherry in each hand, “Though I’m sorry it ever even had to come to that.”

“Should serve as a reminder,” you mumble, “I remember working after things like that. Was always a bit safer the months following a Madam making an example of someone. It sets a standard. Necessary violence. A means to an end. Whatever it takes to protect my workers.”

“Put quite eloquently for a woman who just skewered a grown man’s hand. Either way, he’ll no longer have a place in my rank and file. That shimmer habit was becoming a spot of bother anyways,” the Kingpin explains as he slowly crosses the dim office; the warm light from the lamp on the corner makes the sharp contours of his face look softer than usual, “You have my honest apologies, madame.”

He hands you the sherry.

Your mouth quirks. You’re quiet long enough to pass the glass between fingers and hesitate to sip. Before you so, you speak coyly.

“Is that really what you’re sorry for?” you tilt your head and then, sip the sherry, “Now that we’re in private, you can speak your piece... you know, about endearments.”

Silco clears his throat. He hesitates to sip his own drink. He finds himself looking you over, critically paying attention to the curve on your lips. You’re playing with him. Toying the apology out of the big bad Kingpin.

The rings along his fingers glint in the warm light. His posture against the desk is relaxed. One hand in the pocket of his slacks, the other raising the glass to his lips for another drink.

You watch, and you catch the smirk there.

“I need not be in private to speak about my endearments for you,” Silco leads with as he straightens up and stalks closer, “You should know as much.”

“Should I?” you ask honestly; for a moment, a clear indication of just how hurt you’d been slips out. You lift your face and flick your eyes across his face, and Silco sees the quiet wound in the light of his office, “I don’t enjoy playing games like this.”

His words dry up.

No, no, he doesn’t either. He sees that — the look of hurt. For a moment there’s a shred of panic that bubbles in his throat at the knowledge that feelings are a fickle thing. If this is to be the future between you, Silco will have to understand that seeing this hurt will not be the last. That’s the thing about love. It’s not always calm. Sometimes, it stings like the water in the harbors of Zaun.

“I should have come to you—”

You shut it down quickly. “Silco.”

He takes another step forward, and his brows are pulled tightly together. “I hurt your feelings, my lovely. It wasn’t my intention. With the Chem Barons in town—”

“—You were busy.”

Yes. Yes, he was.

More than you know — more than you need to know. Betrayal and recruitment and territory disputes and in the midst of it, sweet little Jinx had come down with a head cold that sent him into a spiral of worry deep enough not even Sevika could drag him out of it.

The aforementioned blue-haired terror is one floor up, fast asleep. Feeling better, too. Thank the lights alive.

Silco swallows.

“...I haven’t been completely transparent with you.”

You recoil slightly.

You blink.

“...You’re not married, are you?” you prod lowly, with a comedic hint of concern.

Silco’s worry splits for a moment, long enough for him to roll his eyes. “No—”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

“Try a father,” he says curtly, bracing for the inevitable reaction.

All he gets is a quirk of your brow.

In truth, you’re pleasantly surprised at this little confession. This wasn’t exactly common knowledge — and it’s clear that Silco has gone out of his way to keep the aforementioned child out of the Zaun spotlight. Probably for the best. Zaun will burn you up quickly if you aren’t careful.

“Stop looking like I’m about to run,” you say with a slow smirk; you sip your sherry and move to lean back against his desk, “Really, that’s... charming.”

“Charming?” he says with a sudden escalation of amusement; you catch him scoffing, “Yes, the constant turmoil of a fifteen-year-old girl in the height of puberty is very charming—”

You laugh.

Fifteen. You remember that age. All fun and games and anger and frustration and loneliness and excitement. All of it, all at once. A whirlwind of everything, all of the time. Suddenly, you find your heart clenching at the thought of Silco trying his hardest to parent through this seemingly alone.

He absently toes your boot with the gilded tip of his shoe.

“...Were you really that worried about how I’d react?” you ask softly.

Silco swallows. “I wasn’t sure. Still, I... she’s not my blood but she’s every bit my daughter. I try to... keep her out of business.”

Business.

You tilt your head.

Your voice is as soft as velvet; Silco is drawn in by it.

“Am I business?”

He lifts his eyes. Standing before you, he looms. He can see the pass of vulnerability in your gaze when the question leaves your lips. Silco leans. As he speaks, a cool hand passes along your cheek. His thumb traces the round curve of your cheekbone. Your bottom lashes kiss the pad of his finger as he marvels in the warmth of your skin, the beauty of it.

“No,” he asserts warmly, “Far from it.”

Oh.

He drops the glass of sherry to the other side of your hip. He leans, bending to brace a hand on the desk and effectively trap you against the desk. The action itself is enough to suddenly stoke something horribly hot and hungry in your gut. You inhale, lip parted, and take the moment to admire him closely. It’s the expression laced in his good eye that leaves you to melt into the affectionate touch of his hand on your cheek.

“I care about you,” he speaks plainly in a whisper, “Very much.”

“Enough to kiss me?”

Silco’s smile is slow.

He — well, he’s thought about this moment for a long time now. In truth, it’s gotten him through the better half of this month, let alone the length of time he’s known you. If he’s being completely honest, he never imagined it would be here in his office, with his other hand landing along the curve of your thigh beneath your skirt’s cool fabric. He follows the plush, giving curve of your thigh, hand landing just above your hip.

“Plenty.”

His nose brushes yours as he speaks, and you’re left to stare at the way his mouth quirks. Charismatic. Charming. Like the man Babette had chortled about in his younger years. A smooth-talking man with a taste for good whiskey and cigars. Could talk a damned, starved dog off a meat wagon.

He puts his mouth to good use.

The kiss is slow — chaste, almost — to start.

Well earned. Tender. Deliberate and welcome.

Embarrassingly enough, it has you reaching to lace your fingers in his vest’s lapel and tug the Kingpin a bit closer. You hike yourself up, propped up on the desk, and happily sigh into the kiss when he steps between your legs and looms closer.

That little dance is enough to give him the permission to deepen the kiss.

It’s hardly his waltz to lead.

You nip eagerly at his bottom lip as you become half-pliant in his hands. One hand cradles the back of your neck while the other firmly plants itself to the curve of your hip. You lean backwards, just enough to have him leaning to chase you, and let him drag you back upwards toward him.

You taste like sherry and sugar. Silco’s lips are smeared red when he pulls away long enough to catch his breath. The disregard for the painted rouge on your lips is alarmingly attractive; it steals your breath right out from your lungs at the sight of it.

He catches you looking and reaches to swipe his thumb lazily across his bottom lip. His eyes are half-lidded.

“Oops.”

You’re smirking when he crashes down for another kiss, this time holding your jaw in his hand as he does. That other hand has moves to pull your hips closer to his own. He pull rips a small hum from your throat — enough of a pretty sound to have Silco huffing as he breaks to kiss a line across your jaw.

He mutters against your skin, though he isn’t even believing a single word he’s saying, “This is hardly the place for this—”

“I believe I’m owed my apology, at the very least,” you manage to sigh out as your head drops back and Silco nips a lovely little bite into the column of your throat. His hand is settled against your ribs now, effectively holding you still enough that he can dare nose farther down to your décolletage.

Oh.

Silco’s laugh is quiet. Knowing.

“An endearment and an apology,” he says as his hand ventures a bit higher, to ghost the swell of your breast, “If we’re keeping tally.”

“Right,” you mutter highly as you pull your bottom lip between your teeth; his hair is a mess, settling to hang in his eyes as he lifts his gaze. He’s amused. Smirking, “I mean after ignoring me for an entire week—”

He laughs. It’s rough. Low. Lovely.

“Let me make it up to you.”

So, that’s how you find yourself here, now — with one leg crooked and up on his desk, black chiffon skirt hiked up your waist and blouse torn open. Silco’s weight is pressed to your back, a calloused palm passing over your breast and the other hand gripping your hip tight enough you’re sure you’ll bruise. You brace yourself up on your hands, back arching just enough that you’re gasping the second Silco’s cock settles into you.

“Sh—shit.”

You can’t remember the last time you had sex like this – good sex. Sex where a man spends time learning how to touch you, and how to speak to you, and how to work you up and open. No, it must have been years now.

Silco had certainly done just that. With teeth and tongue and hand. You’re littered with little bruises, delicious little reminders of the way you’d arched off his desk with he’d loops your legs around his shoulders and purred into your soaked core.

All for him.

The cool metal of his belt brushes the curve of your ass as you whimper; Silco’s pace is slow, and steady, and he’s truly trying his hardest to keep himself calm enough to remember how to breathe. You’re tight. Warm. Perfect in every way. The most beautiful Madam in all of Zaun, here. His.

He’s sure that invoking his endearments was just as good as signing his death certificate when you lean back and grab his tie; the action brings him over you, spurs him forward. And when you crane your neck to kiss him feverishly with lipstick smeared across your face, Silco swears this is heaven.

He curses quietly, lips parted. You mimic his expression.

Fucking hell, you can’t believe you ever mad with him.

You wrap the tie around your fist a bit tighter, yanking him down for another kiss.

“Go on, then, Silco.”

...This is dangerous. Dangerous and lovely and he’s glad he locked the office door so he can take his time bowing to your wishes — so he can hear your gasp out his name a hundred more times like you just did when he rolled his hips up into yours.

You’re happy for the tie — because when the slow and steady bace yields to a more rough, steady, frenzied one it’s really your only grip on Silco himself. His hold has wound itself around your hips to maintain the very angle that’s making your toes curl, and to occasionally spread your leg a bit wider so that he can see the pretty sight of you bent over his desk.

His mouth slips to your neck and he almost shudders when you angle your hips back just enough to hit the spot that makes you tighten wonderfully around him. You immediately gasp, and Silco takes it as a cue to not slow down, to keep this sustained pace up — and he’s rewarded for it in a desperate kiss as you crane to smother a series of embarrassing sounds as your chest bounces.

Really, this might arguably be the best sex you’ve ever had.

Maybe it’s the setting, but you settle quickly that it’s mostly the man. Powerful and intimidating and Silco — cigar smoke and gilded edges and a glass of sherry knocked to the floor in the fray. Either way, you’re positive that you’re not angry with him anymore. How could you be? You’re going to be sore for days. You know that much.

The best kind of sore.

He says your name so desperately you’re rushing to fix your grip on the desk. He breaths hotly into your neck when you manage a prideful laugh — it’s enough to have him tighten both hands on your hips and press onwards with a touch more fervor.

It’s just enough to send you right over the edge.

It takes you by surprise.

The edge of your pleasure rushes up to greet you so fast you aren’t even sure what’s up or down — all you know is that you’re slapping a hand down to catch yourself on the desk as your thighs quake and your knee nearly gives out. All you can do and writhe and gasp and screw your eyes tight shut as Silco promises the orgasm with a continued pace.

It’s when you say his name, sweet and pleading, that he follows you down the cliff-side in a less-than-graceful tumble of hand and mouth. All gasps and messy, sloppy stutters and forehead-pressed-to-shoulder. Warm. Sticky. A right mess.

You can’t say you mind it.

Son of a bitch.

Silco has to take a second — just enough to blink himself back to Zaun and try to remember the sight. He exhales tightly as he pushes off from you, tucking himself away and buttoning his belt sluggishly; the entire time, he’s watching you with a sex-buzzed smirk.

You’re indisposed at the moment. Looking rather beautiful the entire time as a bit of him runs down the inside of your thigh.

Silco, in all his years, never considered how attractive the sight could be. And now, here he is, trying to ignore the pull to have a go at it all again.

When you finally do lift your head, you blink tiredly at the painting staring directly at you from across the office.

With a smirk, you toss a look over your shoulder as you stand up and straighten your skirt.

“Have I ever told you how much I like that painting?”

He laughs out loud.

When you turn, Silco is kissing you, hands working to easily dress your blouse to its correct state before he laughs. Your legs wobble a bit as you lean from boot to boot. Lazily you tilt your head.

“You can have it,” he mutters into your cheek, “After dinner, we’ll hang it in your office.”

“Dinner?” you ask, perking slightly.

Silco hums. He moves to snatch up your coat.

“I’ve worked up quite an appetite, it seems,” he smirks, “Care to join me?”

“How could I ever say no?”

So, perhaps coming into ownership of The Lilac Lounge was hardly as horrible as it seems. That’s all you can really consider as Silco helps you slip on your coat. A family, a business, a few Friedlingmer’s... Silco and his endearments.

Yes, this was quite alright.

Yeleni would be proud.

#hobbyists & finer things #silco x reader #silco/reader #silco reader insert #silco x y/n #silco x f!reader #silco x female reader #silco imagine #arcane imagine #lol arcane imagine #silco arcane #WELL THAT'S ALL FOLKS #this was a fun little series and i loved writing it

816 notes · View notes

nataliescatorccio · 2 years ago

Text

2022 End of Year Gifmaker/Creator Tag Game

Cut this into what works for you. Want to do only one instead of five? Do it. Tag 2 people? Do it. But there are a couple of rules:

RULE 1: Review your creations over 2022. Tag some gifmakers/creators, friends and strangers to get them to do the same.

RULE 2: Link to the content, commentary optional.

5 (or more!) creations from others that made you smash the reblog button hard, closely followed by your ‘insp’ tag or ‘fave tag’. Link to sets that started conversations, outstanding composition, coloring, etc.

4 creations of which you’re proud. These are goals you scored. Nothing to do with notes.

3 creations others loved. Include the one that got most notes, great comments, or the classic ‘how dare you!’

2 creations that stretched you as a creator: style, coloring, blending, text, etc. include the one that should have got more notes.

1 creation of yours that you find most aesthetically pleasing to the eye and self AND 1 creation that broke and (maybe remade you) as a creator – we all have that one.

0 the creation that never was because nothing was working that day.

i was tagged by @userbabygirl, thank you so much for the tag! was really nice to have a chance to reflect on my favourite creations of this year.

tagging anyone i tagged throughout this and anyone who would like to do it, this is your excuse to reflect on your tumblr year!

(placing under the cut because of my ramblings)

5 (or more) creations that made you smash the reblog button:

i’m glad this says or more because there are way too many beautiful creations that i’ve seen this year which have lived in my mind rent free. it’s so incredibly hard to pick, so i’m going to chose some of my favourite creators of the year and my favourite sets they’ve produced.

avia, geraskier queen @lamberts, sheer creativity never fails to blow me away, and seeing her creativity with new witcher content at the beginning of the year got me through those early dark and dreary months. there are so many creations i could list here, but i’m going to pick this jaskier’s feelings for geralt via his songs set because it highlights so much of avia’s talent. the clever and cohesive typography, the stunning combo of yellow and pink, the seamless blending, all rounded off with a bit of geraskier angst. each and every gif of these is made to perfection and it’s such a great overall journey of jaskier and his feelings towards geraskier across the seasons, whilst also being art.

daphnée, my french princess @ivashkovadrian, has made me smile with a lot of her sets this year. but this yenralt + ship’s in the night set really had me screaming. i adore this song to death and seeing it used for them, and so gorgeously, blew me away. the gold and mint that i always associate with daph is drop dead beautiful, so vibrant and so rich. and what really makes me lose my mind is the attention to detail with pairing the lyrics with symbols! the way the hourglass is used to hold the typography is simply genius. i also gotta do a little shoutout to your costume sets though! violet’s teal dress was such a surprise and the most delightful gift, and kate’s orange dress was a set i’d been waiting on for a while and it certainly did not disappoint.

jagoda, goddess of merlin and the witcher @ughmerlin, has again made so many stunning creations this year that picking just one was a ridiculous task. there are so many amazing sets showcasing her creativity and talent that it’s almost impossible to pick one favourite. but this merlin + zodiacs set is one that has stuck with me because i could stare at it for hours. there is something so calming about this deep blue and celestial signs. but on top of that, the blending is just gorgeous, the scene selections and even triple blends occurring are some of the best i’ve seen. i want these made into actual cards so badly.

maria, my go to merlin genius @arthurpendragonns, has again surpassed creativity and talent this year whilst crushing me with the merthur feelings. i can’t list every set (though i would if i could), but this 10th merlin anniversary set felt like such a flex of all your talent. you truly own this red to orange to soft yellow combo, and the detail here was nothing but immaculate. the perfect overlays are on show, from the use of the wings, crowned skull, lightning, just everything. then to even include transitions between both text nicknames and scenes? so cleverly done. plus that twist of the last gif made me lose my mind.

laura, one of the most creative giffers on this site @katherineebishop, always impresses me with her unique takes on gifsets. i’ve really enjoyed your celebrations this year and how you approach every set with such creativity, including beautiful overlay additions and stunning typography. but i’m going to shout out this yenskier set from earlier in the year because this one left me speechless. them in bi colours is so incredibly valid and i really adore the range of typography used to showcase their moments. it’s such a perfect summary of them and why they were such a highlight of season 2.

neve, my british twin @aryastaark, has produced the most drop-dead gorgeously coloured gifsets this year. i still think about your rhaenyra episode sets because the colour combos you picked were everything. but if i have to pick a favourite of yours this year, it is without a doubt this dragons + their riders set because holy shit. the rainbow colours are gorgeous. the blending?! spectacular. the inclusion of little symbols was genius. and the use of different fonts for each rider... just wow. this set really took my breath away and was such a showcase of the talent you have. it belongs in a gallery.

ana, keeping me fuelled with flawless house of the dragon content this year @zoya-nazyalenskys, has produced so many gorgeous and emotional sets i could list here. i always say you own the colours blue and orange, because each and every time you use them it takes my breath away. so i have to pick this rhaenicent set, because it showcases those things so perfectly. also the blending is absolutely to die for, the way this parallels moments and delivers on the angst is everything.

arianna, queen of typography @seance, always floors me with her colours and creativity. i’ve never seen a set of arianna’s that missed. each and every one is so incredibly beautiful and impressive. but i’m going to shoutout this wednesday + episode titles set because i’m still not over it. the choice of scenes for blending is immaculate, each adds such texture which elevates the gif. the colours are just phenomenal, so vibrant and stunning. and the typography rounds it off perfectly. your eye for combinations always impresses me.

myra, blender extrordinare @capinejghafa, has really kept me fuelled with umbrella academy content this year which is much appreciated. i will always think of your hargreeves rainbow transition set, but i have to shoutout this hargreeves + their mothers set because i’m still in awe of how you did it. the way you included the newspaper clippings is actual genius, and it’s so seamlessly done. and then there’s triple blends going on to include the newspaper clever?! so beautiful, so genius, so in love with it.

cj, provider of the luther content this fandom needs @viktorhargreeves, has come up with so many original and amazing concepts this year. getting a new umbrella academy season was a blessing because it was so exciting to see what you would do with it next. but i’m going to pick this luther + soundtrack set because of the way i gasped when i saw it. the creativity of this album and disc layout is absolutely incredible. and not only that, but every single gif within this is beautifully coloured, seamlessly blended, topped off with to-die-for typography. it’s just incredible, i don’t know how you had the patience to do it but i applaud you.

michelle, the talented angel @enidsinclaiir, blew me away with her talent a lot this year. but i have to say that umbrella academy week was a moment where i was going ‘oh my god how’ every single day. because i know you were doing things that week, and yet you still managed to come up with the most creative and beautiful sets. i have to pick this favourite episode set though because it showcases so many different skills and is simply stunning. the colour palette is to die for, the layout is so creative and clever, the cut out of allison? on the floor. the use of speech bubbles and typography... i could go on and on about this set because they’re are so many details and each are so beautiful.

bru, #1 nancy wheeler and robin buckley supporter as is right and proper @natalia-dyer, you are so talented but also your passion for what you create really shines through. thank you for always being a safe space to celebrate the lesbians, it’s been a delight to witness the ronance agenda. i am particularly in awe of your ability to take scenes from different films and fit them into an au gifset, it’s just incredible how talented and creative you are. but i’ve got to pick your favourite platonic relationship set as one that has stayed with me this year. the colours and typography for each is just so gorgeous, it’s the most perfect and spot on rainbow set i’ve seen.

dee, #1 contributor to my wenclair brainrot @wenclair, i swear you are one of the most dedicated gifmakers on this website because you always seem to gif for so many fandoms and to such an impeccable level. your use of colour is always so impressively beautiful, creating the most vibrant and aesthetically pleasing sets. i could probably list every single one of your wednesday sets here for the joy they brought me, but i’m actually going to shoutout this stobin set because it’s absolute genius. they fit it so well, and this is so beautifully executed. the blue, the blending, the split gifs, the typography, each and every single thing is so gorgeously done.

maureen, yenralt goddess @something-more, you have singlehandedly fuelled gifs for the yenralt fandom and i’m so grateful for that. we are such an underrated space but you have kept it bright and beautiful. thank you so much for your hard work and talent. but i have to select this witcher season 2 rainbow set because the colouring still takes my breath away. they are so vibrant and delightful and is a real flex of your colouring skills. rainbows fuel my very being, and this one was definitely no exception.

elsbeth, i’m so happy that wednesday gave us another mutual show so i could scream over your gifs once more @laylakeating. and i just have to point and yell at this wednesday + anti-hero set because wow! red, black and white is one of my all time favourite colour combos and this was perfection. the blending is flawlessly done, and i really adore the font you chose. there’s been a lot of anti-hero sets this year but this is the one that really sticks with me. it is so fitting and so perfectly done.

4 creations of which you’re proud:

i just did my list of my favourite creations for every month so i’m going to try and give some love to creations outside of that!

this umbrella academy s3 soundtrack set was a real labour of love. adding the rainbow to it was just so much fun and i’m really proud of how it turned out. i also tried to do it all chronologically which made a challenge for rainbow colouring as i couldn’t just pick the greener scenes for screen.

this kanthony favourite scene set is one i’m so proud of. i generally don’t like giffing scenes because it always feels like everyone beats me to it, but this was a more ‘creative’ take on it and was really fun to make. and i was really proud of how it turned out, especially the rings!

this shadow and bone season 2 trailer set admittedly could be better, but i’m really proud of how it came out with that awful trailer quality. i do wish the footage was better, but sometimes we have to work with what we’ve got! and overall i was really happy with what i managed to do with brief glimpses and low quality.

this chrissy cunningham set was a fun appreciation of the character! it was really fuelled by the hate grace was recieving from the fandom (which is never fair) and i really wanted to celebrate her acting in both the sadness and sweetness she brought to chrissy, which made her a scene stealer in what tiny screen time she had. i was really happy with how it came out, with the blue and green of the cheer colours and the ink dropper fade effect.

3 creations others loved:

this wenclair gifset keeps popping up in my notifications and i’m so happy that people enjoyed this concept. i really loved their contrasting personalities and it was fun to do that in the contrasting yellow and black and white.

this house of the dragon queens set is one i actually had scheduled to post when i was on holiday with no internet. i got home and got to see the reaction people had to it all at once and it was overwhelming! people had left such lovely tags and comments and it just made me so happy. there was almost a nerve-wracking feeling of ‘well, i wasn’t around to boost this so it could entirely flop’ but to see people had enjoyed it was lovely.

i think this first kill set is my gifset with the highest notes this year, so i have to give it a shoutout! loved seeing everyone connect with not just this set, but the show itself. its release felt so special and i really enjoyed engaging with the fandom and celebrating our supernatural sapphics (even if the show deserved so much better, still mad at you netflix).

2 creations that stretched you as a creator:

me? biting off more than i can chew? ... yeah it happens a lot. i’ve done a lot of appreciation weeks this year that have really stretched me, doing five or even seven days of straight gifsets while also feeling like i need to be creative has felt like running a marathon at times. but i also feel like it has helped to push my ideas.

this yennefer week set pushed me a lot because creatively, i wasn’t sure how to make it work, and also because i was struggling for time because i was so busy with work and was literally snatching moments to hide away and gif. but i was really happy with what i came up with in the end, especially with the reviews fading in and out.

and this umbrella academy quotes set, again for an appreciation week, was a lot of work just because there were so many details i wanted to include within it. and i was doing so much for this week on the day/staying up way too late at night because i’d managed to make only one set in advance. in the end, i’m very happy with it and think it looks so fun! but at the time it was a case of me driving myself crazy with my own ambition and perfectionism.

1 creation you find aesthetically pleasing:

something so (literally) magical about this yen + magic set to me. i just think the shots of her trying to do magic/doing magic on the show are so beautiful and it was fun to play with them. also adored adding the witchy halloween colours to it!

1 creation that broke you:

giffing the entire umbrella academy season 3 trailer was a lot. this definitely broke photoshop and made me lose my mind. by the end i was so tired and fed up with it.

0 creation that never was:

i started a yennefer + smiles set (sort of based on this but for season 2) back in february and have still never finished it. i’ve actually still got all the caps ready to go, it’s just... still not happened. maybe one day.

#tag game #yeah i shouted out 15 instead of 5 WHAT ABOUT IT #it's so much easier to yell about how much i love everyone else's content ok #you are all so talented what am i supposed to do!!!#today is my day for yearly reflection apparently #p.s. pls ignore typos i'm currently ill and i know some things may be all over the place bc my brain is not present

40 notes · View notes