#I have more to ramble about but I've ran out of tags so I'll be doing it on my main blog reblog later

[sskk-manifesto]

MITCHELL AKUTAGAWA EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!

[alieinthemorning]

Unrestrained Love [8394 | Grim | Casper]

Content: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Soul Bond, Post-Ending 8: Interwoven, Crying, POV Second Person, Reader Insert

Pronouns: None

Reblogs: Let me know that you enjoy my work and want to see more, so don’t forget to like and reblog (and comment in the tags. I love seeing people’s rambles in the tags)!

This work’s concepts, plot and original characters are my own which means I do not allow any sort of creative theft nor do I allow my work to be entered into any sort of A.I. bots. Thank you for respecting my space and boundaries

“We’re back?” Your head swiveled again, taking in what is most definitely your room. “We’re back! Casper, we’re—"

You were cut off by his lips that suddenly pressed against your own. You melted into it easily. At first, you thought that the happiness and relief of finally being able to just be together, but then you felt a dampness on your shoulder. 

You wanted to comfort him, tell him that everything was okay now. Joke with him by asking if he was crying because he just now realized that he was stuck with you for eternity., but you couldn’t. As much as you joked and teased, and acted like you didn’t give a shit. You gave a monumental amount of shit, especially when it came to those you care about. 

So, you simply held him tighter, and cried along with him. The past ten days of emotions finally breaking your well patched damn. As well as his own feelings that you could feel ever so faintly through your connection.

You don’t know how much time you passed, but eventually sobs became sniffles and sniffles became silence. Until he spoke. 

“I love you.” He curled deeper into you, “I can finally say that without the fear of our deaths looming over my head.” He chuckled. “I thought that I would feel lighter, but I honestly feel…not worse, but heavy.”

“I get it.” Your hands found his hair, one hand on his scalp while the other ran through its long length. “We’ve escaped death…and life—the whole cycle and all that, but we’re still left with this connection. Which—! I’m not opposed to, of course. I love our connection, but…everything happened so fast, and now we’re left alone to pick up all these pieces, but I guess…” You paused. “I’m glad that I’ll be able to spend the rest of our existence with each other figuring it out.”

Casper untangled himself from you. His face was flushed red and his eyes were swollen, but he’s never looked more beautiful to you. 

“I’d like that a lot, Sunshine.” His smile was as bright as your nickname, but then he looked away. 

You smiled, “What is it, Casper?”

“…can I kiss you?” 

Your smile widened. “Of course, and take this as permission to do any other time. You won’t have to ask again.” Then you paused. “…hm, actually I think asking once in a while would be pretty hot.”

“Okay, you’re done.” His lips captured yours. 

For now. You were done for now. Fortunately, he still had to deal with you once the two of you came up for air. 

I'll be so real, I wanted to write smut for him first, but I've been wombo combo'd by Ligher (ZZZ), Fiend!Sylus (LADS), and this game's DLC release that I've had no moment to rest (I still wanna get the smut out before working on Sylus, but we'll see).

Anyway, despite getting one of the good endings (I consider this one the best), I still made it sad lmao.

Ko-Fi | Masterlist

[vodika-vibes]

So, just like yesterday, I planned to stop writing at noon, and I did, and I'm proud of myself, but I have a Fives idea, and I need to get it out of my head and down somewhere. So...here it is.

And I'm tagging @the-bad-batch-baroness because it's Fives. And because I wrote it for her, lol

It's not fair. Fives grimaces as he sidesteps someone on the sidewalk. Okay, that's not fair. His brothers are good men and they deserve to be happy. And he's thrilled that they are. But it's still just not fair. Dogma found a cute little artist who takes him on dates. Jesse's dating a personal trainer he met at a cafe. Tup is dating a dancer he met...somewhere. And he hasn't found a single person. It's not fair. And yeah, yeah. Life isn't fair, he knows that. He does. He's a kriffing clone. He knows better than most that life isn't fair. He just wishes that it was a little more fair. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. Whatever. He'll either find someone or he won't, it's not the end of the world. "Excuse me! Excuse me Trooper!" Fives pauses and turns, only to stumble back slightly as a woman crashes into him, "Oh! Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't actually expecting you to stop!" "It...it's fine." Fives replies as he holds his hands out, "Are you okay, it couldn't have been comfortable to crash into my armor like that." She's cute, a little plump, and her dark hair is pulled into a messy knot at the back of her head, and she's got a set of round wire glasses perched on her nose. She grins at him, and Fives notices that there's some ink on her jaw. Like, actual pen ink, and not a tattoo. "I'm fine, I have extra padding." She jokes easily. "Ah...well, that's good." Fives replies, slightly awkwardly, "Uhm...was there something you needed?" "Oh! Yes! How much does your armor weight?" "...what?" "Your armor? How much does it weigh?" She repeats. "Uh...about 80 lbs, if I'm carrying my entire kit." Fives says slowly. "And it's plastoid, right?" She asks as she looks up at him though her rainbow colored glasses, "Is it hard to move in? Like when you're fighting?" Her face brightens, "Oh! And that skirt thing you're wearing, doesn't it get caught on things?" "Uh...in order. Yes, it's plastoid. No it's not hard to move in, that would defeat the purpose of us wearing it. And my 'skirt thing' is called a kama and it's a perk of rank, and it only gets caught on things sometimes..." He pauses, and his eyebrows creep up when he notices that she's jotting notes in a notebook, "I'm sorry, who are you?" "Oh...uh..." She smiles up at him sheepishly, and she offers her name. "I'm an author. But, like, when I showed up at GAR headquarters to get accurate information, I was told, very politely, to take a hike, so I thought I'd ask an actual trooper-" "I...see..." He says slowly. "How heavy are your blasters? How much training did you need to use them? What's with the shoulder pauldrons? Do they add extra armor? Ooh! Do they add armor to your neck? Shouldn't everyone have one then?" She rambles. "I...hey...hold on! I can't answer if you keep asking questions-" Fives sputters "Oh. I've been told that I talk too much. Sorry. I will stop babbling in three...two...one..." She presses her lips together, and Fives laughs. "How about, you buy me lunch and I'll answer as many questions you have. And in return you let me read your book?" Her entire face brightens, "You want to read my book!?" "Well yeah, I feel like I should if you're writing about Clones." He grins at her, "I'm Fives-" She takes a deep breath and clamps her hand over her mouth, and he laughs, "Ask your question." "I ran into one of your brothers the other day, and he was super rude, and his name was Frank and your name if Fives and how do you get your names?" She asks quickly. "We pick them ourselves." Fives replies, making a mental note about one of his vod and his rudeness. "You can pick your own names and someone picked the name Frank?!" You blurt, "Oh that's so lame. If I could pick my own name it'd be something awesome, like...Xesh!" At that Fives bursts out laughing, "Alright, alright. You owe me lunch if you're going to make me laugh like this."

[fumifooms]

oh, sorry for so many asks, i also wanted to say too though i really agree so much with your chilchuck thoughts so far, even down to your personal headcanons about how things might go post-series. and you're absolutely right, i'll defend that little guy any day myself. you understand him so well and it's kind of relaxing to have someone else dish out this kind of analysis and already agree with all of it cus it's just so real, so thank you again for the Meal <- perhaps the perfect thing to say about dungeon meshi analysis when i think about it

i know you have playlists and stuff so i wanted to share a song i've been listening to that that reminds me of him: divine loser by clem turner

No worries, they’ve been a lot of fun! I do plan on getting back to each one btw, just gotta get through some other things first hopefully. Aaaah that’s really nice to hear 🥺 I do know the feeling haha, it’s always fun to have posts that Get It that you just nod along with 🤝 I’ve thought sooo much about Chilchuck I rotate him in my brain like rotisserie chicken more often than not, glad it all ended up being productive haha. Y’know recently my friends have been calling me a Chilchuck superfan/scholar jokingly and it actually made me have a realization moment of…

Bc I’ve always said Laios was my fave and like, he does mean everything to me idk if I’ve ever felt so seen as with Laios, I relate to him sooo much, but then. Okay alright that can be a different thing than a character being your favorite fine FINE I admit it Chilchuck’s my top blorbo. He’s so.🧍‍♂️I can’t even describe. He’s so….. He’s a clown but he’s also perfection in its best imperfect form I will not be taking further questions today. My friend called him my silly rabbit like that one meme and it makes me laugh sm

Thank you for the music rec!! I listened to it and yes agreed, sent straight to my Chil playlist. Songs are my bread and butter when I have character brainrot bc like with web weavings I feel like there are so many emotions and thoughts you can communicate about something so simply through one… (Which for anyone interested here’s my web weaving tag, got 2 about Chil). Gonna link all my dunmeshi playlists while I’m here: Dungeon Meshi, Chilchuck & his wife, marchil, Mithrun.

Ok everyone saw this coming but this ask ran away from me and I ramble about some song lyrics I associate with Chil & different facets of his life below the cut. Some people find my, ehem, heated rambles about Chil entertaining, this is your cue to get out the popcorn.

When thinking about songs for Chil I have 3 angles I take: About Chilchuck, about him and his wife, or about him & Marcille. Marchil is so engraved into me with their arcs together, that they’re like the concept of closure and letting go and letting yourself live again to me, sorry for all the non-enjoyers… But his dynamic with Marcille is a large part of his character arc so still fits, rock on.

I think currently my top song for him is Jackrabbit by San Fermin, because it combines all three it makes me go wild. It’s about trepidation… Throwing yourself into it even despite the fear (working with traps, survival in poverty where you have to rush & hustle), or just staying there paralyzed(not reaching out to his wife). Flight or freeze!! Saying goodbyes and saying hellos!! Not dying alone!! The life cycle of a wild rabbit living and dying, the baton pass race of life from generation to generation!! Chil and his daughters even!!! Going through life at a frenzied pace!! It is so Chilchuck and so marchil, and the music does give that hurried and scared energy to me too, and sigh the Marcille side to it with fear of death too…

Extra fun context but the other day on the discord server we were talking about what animal each character’s fursona would be as we do and I thought of a rabbit for Chilchuck: Quick footed, ‘cowardly’, small and frail and seen as weak 🙃, athletic and slender, pulls stunts, stressed out, has very fine hearing and has good instincts, etc. And ofc that fits really well with Marcille since she’s kinda associated with dungeon rabbits hehe~ But I think while Marcille’s 100% the cute round rabbit Chil’s more like a brown hare, more wild and like, more like a jackalope if we’re still doing monsters... I do lowkey find it more fun than his associated monster being mimics because he’s crabby, because they’re clever (with where they place themselves) and because of how he has a soft shell but soft insides, lol.

OKAY so that’s my song pick with the main 3 facets sure, now I’ll share some lyrics for each 3 sides separatedly 😈 Kinda summarizing my web weavings for him thus far. If we start with Chilchuck by himself we have… Enter One by Shelby Merry and Drunk by The Living Tombstone

With his wife, we have the bad end, and the good end for if they get back together with Lost Kitten by Metric and North by Sleeping At Last… Okay okay plus Love Like Ghosts and My Heart is Buried in Venice… Little Soldier by The Crane Wives for them also RUIN me

And Marchil… Marchil oh my beloved. Another buddy also made a full analysis on discord about Soap by The Oh Hellos for them lol, but these are Not I by I Fight Dragons and My Heart is Buried in Venice again~

Okay okay two more. Boats & Birds by Gregory and The Hawk, and Tummy by Tamino.

Finishing it up with quotes from, in order, A Softer World by Joey Comeau, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Acknowledgements by Danez Smith, The Letter by Richard Paul Evans, and last but not least posts from dead tumblr account flintcoded. I keep looking around and finding MORE fitting quotes. Someone stop me- In loving me you hold a knife at my throat, in loving you I tell you exactly where to cut. Forgive me, memory is a rope around my neck. I need you to be happy, I need one of us to be happy.

Hand in unlovable hand…

In conclusion;

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Thumbprint Challenge

Thanks @oh-no-another-idea for the tag!

Rules: look back on your work, both past and present, finished and unfinished. What are five to ten narrative elements or tropes that continuously pop up in your work? Give a list of these things!

Back at my old work? Okay...not sure how much of these count but here are the commonalities:

Found family/importance of friendship. The focus on best friends from when I was a kid is very prominent in childhood writing and friendship is still a key part. Interpersonal relationships are a very important theme across everything.

Female main characters. Not sure if this counts, but almost all of my childhood works were about girls. My first male main OC was a character named Julian/Mikey (changed his name) in an old draft of TSP. Hell, my first male POV was my Warriors cats fanfic (they were OCs though) and the first time I wrote a male voice in first person was a character named Jesse in eighth grade.

Queer undertones. Looking back at my old work, a lot of my main characters were sapphic or ace/aro spec. Anahi and Marlis from what later evolved into SOTL were very gay for each other. Even Mossflower and Lemonfrost from my Warriors fanfic. The aforementioned Jesse was asexual-coded. Christy and Trish in TEOS. It was just always there as I hadn't figured myself out yet.

Dialogue-driven storytelling. Maybe not in early early writing, but like age 8 onward included a lot of dialogue. I've always been more character focused than environment focused, so I'd say this adds up.

Intelligent main characters. Most of my protagonists were emphasized to be very, very smart. It's interesting that I'm not a STEM person, but I am a former "gifted kid" so that may have something to do with it, but I usually emphasized this with a STEM field they were interested in. Christy from TEOS, math nerd. Hollyn from Perspectives, science geek. Twinkle in my bear cubs series as a kid, astronomer. Even in the Warriors fanfic the first POV is Mossflower the medicine cat. The only pre-high school time I can find where I emphasized intelligence that wasn't in a STEM field is Anahi, who was very literature based.

Multiple main characters. I liked a group of people, even if it was one POV. TSP D1 followed Alexia and Aurora, then they ran into four other people. 3+ was my usual. I guess it comes from the interpersonal relationships themes, like #1 talked about.

Fantasy elements. Man, I almost never write in realistic fiction. I mean, my earliest works were, but then I'd occasionally have an anthropomorphic animal pop up and now it's fantasy. Now, the only realistic fiction WIP I have on the shelf is Perspectives. Arguably IWAJAD because I guess someone can have a vivid dream where a character arc is forced upon them but idk.

Dramedies. I loved to incorporate humor among things I thought were high stakes. I like to be angsty but that doesn't stop me from being very silly. I mean, look at TSP D1. They are threatened to be killed and I still have humor in there. Good? No, but I still tried.

Communication I realize is a prominent theme. Oftentimes, things are not resolved due to not communicating, or I show communication allowing a character to experience comfort, or how not listening to someone leads to trouble, or how hiding a part of yourself isolated you, or acting like someone you're not pulls the wrong people in... So much, man.

I hope this is an okay list. I'll tag @gracehosborn @illarian-rambling @mk-writes-stuff @little-peril-stories @buffythevampirelover @dyrewrites @elsie-writes @sleepywriter00 @theelfauthor @theeccentricraven @thepeculiarbird @finxi-writes @writingsfromspace @winterandwords @revenantlore + anyone else

[daily-coral-reblogging]

Blog maintenance ramblings below the cut

Oop I lapsed in activity for two months but hoping to refill the queue and participate in our community more again. One of the issues I ran into is I fell behind on queueing posts and Tumblr is NOT friendly to digging deep into tags. Of course as I fell further behind it started behaving less. But I really don't want to miss anyone's posts so I'm scrolling all the way back to November where I last queued new posts. Thus far I've put 11 posts from November 20th-December 3rd in the queue and have had to refresh and scroll all the way back through the tag three times now ;-; but I just finished finals and am stuck in bed sick so I'll just keep trying till I make more substantial progress.

I haven't played much recently but it's great having the game continue to flesh out with updates! Although the bugs have been frustrating at times, finishing automation only to have machines despawn is a bummer. I'm so excited for multiplayer even though I don't think I actually have anyone to play with at the moment.

Anyways I'm having a good time catching up on all of the fanart and posts people have been making!

I made a Discord server for CI on request but it's very thoroughly dead. I didn't really have explicit interest at the time running it so I'm sure that didn't help. I'm kinda thinking about trying to revive it though, we'll see.

[pawseds]

I convinced our Delta Green game master to have a play-by-post (basically text roleplay) section in our game's server and uhhhhh maybe I've been having too much fun with it. Writing is faster than drawing comics, what can I say?

(Long ramble about writing stories below hehe oops)

While we're here! A bit about writing: I like writing! I've written for loger than I've drawn for (because school). I think I'm better at writing than drawing for that reason (I'm more confident at least). I've written short stories. I've written short stories about TTRPG things. I've also written a ~100k word novel by hand for 2 years. While writing it, I had 'writing class' (technically AS/A level Ennglish Language classes). It was the only class I had confidence in and high expectations for.

With those 2 combined, I burnt out pretty quick LOL. Specifically, I had a big perfectionism issue because of the high expectations I had from my teacher and especially myself -- it was the one thing I knew excelled at in school, so I better do it well! After I was done with the novel and A levels, I was supposed to edit the novel. It's been years and I haven't done it yet, and I wouldn't write non-assignment stories (except 2) until now. Writing became more nerverwracking than it was fun, so why would I?

To get back to the PBP thing: I've been in a campaign that was fully PBP. With my mindset being the way it is, hey! This is just one big writing exercise, so I ran along with that and had fun with it. I saw how some players would make their own PBP and essentially monologue/have a scene only with their PC. That was cool to see.

And now, my current Delta Green campaign (tagged 'Helvetia'). Hrothgar (guy in drawing) and his kids were ported over from a previous D&D campaign (the fully PBP one!), so the crew had a very well defined background already. Of course I get tons of drawing ideas for them, except I don't have the time to draw them all (compsci hard). But since the server has a PBP section, I had like 2 weeks to kill between session 0 and 1, and I was bursting with ideas... I made a lot of solo PBPs that were essentially short stories.

It didn't quite hit me until some time ago, but the PBPs actually made me enjoy writing again -- enjoy it a lot more, in fact! I think the format of Discord threads and messages removed most perfectionism tendencies I had. I just had to fire the story away, message by message. It didn't have to be amazing, and it was fun! (Also I really don't know how to shut up with them LOL)

I'll definitely be cleaning these PBPs up and posting them here as stories. Some of them are just silly, fun, slice-of-life character sketches. (These were the stories I wrote after my novel... and yes, they were about my other set of Delta Green characters LMAO) (and I've posted them here under pawsedswrite btw!) But some I see as legitamite short stories that I would edit more heavily and present as a short story. They were the kinds I could see myself writing on a document rather than on Discord.

Well, I lied. 'I would edit' is false. I have already edited one, because I spent like 5-6h writing this one PBP (oops) instead of writing the draft for my short story class/elective (oops 2). I joked to my two friends saying that I could just submit it as my assignment. Apparently, they both really liked it and said the dialogued slapped. So I did!

I procrastinated like hell on it though, because I was very nervous to go back into the PBP with an axe to edit it. Being in a writing class where nearly everyone else has been formally studying writing for some years kinda puts some pressure on ya!

Like the last assignment (which I'll post here after editing), I had a lot of worries. But the feedback and grade I got from my last assignment, the peer review I got from the current one, and also the support from those two friends (shoutout @katastrofish <3) made me feel more confident in myself. And also the fact that I had a lot of fun editing the PBP!

Uhhh this ramble was way longer than expected LMFAO if you've made it this far, damn, thanks for reading! If you also write or have similar experiences, feel free to share em. And have a good day!

(bonus POV editing)

[jaydawne]

Samuel Ramblings

As concluded by the poll, I shall now ramble about Samuel on as much as I can that I haven't mentioned yet already. So, without further ado~ Here is Even More Info™️ about Samuel under the cut (WARNINGS: Mentions of; Purposeful misgendering/deadnaming, physical and verbal bullying, obsessive behaviours [potentially parental yandery], death of a loved one, very long ass post)

So, I've already given a basic rundown on Sam in general, but now you get his

~Backstory~

(I'll get to his other interests and such in another post probably, this got a lot longer than I thought it would) So, Samuel essentially grew up in a household where he was very much loved and cared for, however the way said love and care went was a biiit, askew to say the least. His parents were very helicoptery, wanting to know everything going on with him at every given moment, even going so far as to pull him out of school in order to keep a closer eye on him and teach him things themselves (It is at this point that I think I might have accidentally made his parents kinda yanderey, but without the whole killing thing. Not sure but I'll add that to the warnings/tags anyway just in case). Admittedly another part of that was because Sam was often bullied for his appearance, the other kids finding him to look too weird to be normal, calling him mean names, excluding him during playtime, stealing his food, general mean little kid stuff, but it still didn't really excuse pulling Sam out of school altogether. They even went so far as to put a tracker on him so they'd always know where he is. They're also very in denial about Samuel being trans, calling it a 'phase' and insisting that he's still their 'precious little baby girl' no matter what he says or does. Luckily though, it wasn't all horrible all the time, Samuel had his uncle, Boris, and his little cousin Brody, who had the same heterochromia as him, just in opposite eyes. Boris was a wonderful uncle, he adored and accepted Sam and always did his best to tell Sam not to listen to anyone who tells him to be anything other than himself. Boris taught Sam many things both fun and practical, like how to play a guitar, lock-picking for just in case purposes of course, basic self defence and cooking, anything he could that he thought Sam might need to know in the future. He knew Sam's parents wouldn't teach him anything that would help him survive away from them, so he wanted to do everything he could for him so that if Sam were ever able to get out, he wouldn't be completely unable to help himself. Brody, meanwhile, adored Samuel, and wants to be 'just like him' someday. He's pretty much more like a little brother to Sam than anything else, and he thinks his big cousin is just the coolest ever, and often refers to him as 'Samsam'. They were practically inseparable whenever Samuel came over, also cheering and hugging each other tight when they saw the other. It always made Boris smile to see them so close. Unfortunately though, things couldn't be this happy forever, because when Samuel was 10, something happened to Boris that caused him to pass away (I'm still undecided on what that is, either illness or car accident), meaning Samuel no longer had a safe space he could go to, and Brodi had to go live with his grandparents who live outside of the US. Thus, Samuel was alone, but he wasn't out of hope. He'd had enough. So, he did the only rational thing an 10 year old could think of: he ran away from home Psychonauts anyone? No? Okay then- Admittedly, it did take him a while to do so, but he managed by the time he was 11, and had also taken out the tracker so they couldn't find him. He took a lot of measures to make sure they couldn't find him for a while at the least... This is how he ended up coming across a junkyard, intending to lay low there for a bit until he figured out how he would earn money in order to live on his own. At least, that was the idea, until he ran into a pre-mutation Repo Mantis (who I will be calling 'Manny' as 1. he is not a mantis yet and 2. I yoinked the name from @/rottmnt-risuum , go read their comic it's so good, just mind the gore if you're not into that). Luckily, however, instead of kicking Sam out, he decided to make an offer; Sam can help out in the yard in exchange for cash and a place to live until he's able to make it on his own, to which Samuel accepted. Manny may be a greedy guy, but he ain't the heartless type to leave a kid to rot.

 From that point on for the next roughly 2 years, Samuel would help around the yard, doing tasks that are reasonable for a kid his age, and if anyone were to give him any trouble for any reason, Manny would handle it and add some compensation to make up for whatever it was Sam had to deal with. He may seem like the kind of guy to not care a lot, but he has a pet kitten and kept her even after she mutated and tried to eat him for crying out loud, he has some softness under that Brooklyn accent somewhere, and sure enough he'd grown to like Samuel, becoming a sort of surrogate father/uncle figure to him. Somewhere along that line Samuel was somehow also able to procure HRT and start on that, but how it happened I will never know. It's a show with talking turtle ninjas that have magic I don't have to be logical about things ALL the time.

Soon enough, when Samuel was 12, he managed to save up enough to get himself an apartment and was even able to get into a school and find a relatively okay job that didn't know he was not 14 because he sorta kinda lied on his resume- It was worth it though, he was glad he did it. He was finally able to be independent and not need to rely on others help to get a better life, but he will always be grateful to Manny for everything, and still visits him at least a few times a week either to just hang out or do favours, like fixing something or taking care of Mrs Nubbins, in exchange for being able to scrounge around for parts that he can use for any projects he's working on either for practice or to get one step closer to his dream of being a mechanic/technician. Manny only ever pretended to keep score of how many favours Sam could cash in. As far as he was concerned, Sam could take anything he wanted, within reason at least.

Of course, this doesn't mean Samuel is completely free. He still needs to be wary of his parents, as they're out there looking for him. They almost did find him at one point, but he was able to move somewhere else before they did, but he had to change his contact details and other such things in order to keep them off his trail. It's a song and dance he'd have to go through generally once or twice a year at least, three or maybe four if he's unlucky. He doesn't have a lot with him, so it makes the process easier, but it's never any less nerve wracking or stressful, not to mention expensive. But he's been getting more and better jobs, and eventually he didn't need to lie about his age on his resume anymore, which was a huge relief off his shoulders if he were perfectly honest. He still got bullied at his new school though, again for his appearance, which was unfortunate.

 His main bullies were these two guys, Kyle and Lyle, who sometimes had one or two other guys with them to join in on tormenting Samuel as much as they could, calling him him things like 'freak' or 'monster' or 'failed Frankenstein' (which Sam often wants to correct that Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster), even going so far as to beat him on the odd occasion. Safe to say, Sam can't really catch much of a break. That is, at least, until one night he sees a video of his employer's kid, Baxter Stockkid, making yet another one of his videos again. He goes to the Stock 'n Shop in order to stop Baxter from doing anything stupid that would get himself into trouble with his parents, only to end up meeting April from school, and two very green very three-fingered people that are very clearly not human despite their cosplayer claims. They are very clearly not cosplayers, he can smell the turtley-ness on them. He's more intrigued by them than freaked though, finding them rather cool and interesting. After that whole situation is over and done with, Samuel ensures that any video footage Baxter might have taken of the turtles is erased in order to protect their secrecy, and also put up a firewall to prevent any of such videos being released in case Baxter had any backups somewhere he didn't know about. It was after this that Sam and April actually met up properly and started to bond, earning Samuel his first friend of a similar age group, and also someone who can and will stick up for him when Kyle and Lyle try shit, which he greatly appreciates but also tries to discourage as he doesn't want her caught up in his shit. It's not long after that when Samuel, while rummaging around Repo's junkyard, he comes across Donnie for the first time. It catches them both quite off guard, but after a moment Samuel recalls Manny mentioning some troublesome turtles stealing that movie buggy he'd found a couple weeks ago, and figured that this terrapin likely is not exactly on friendly terms with the mantis mutant. Thus, he warns Donnie of when Manny would be doing his rounds and that he should get what he needs and go before he's caught before leaving himself as to not draw attention. Skip to a week later, April decides to properly introduce Sam to the turtles and cue recognition and mild shenanigannery, solidifying Samuel as a friend of the turtles. Aaaaaand that's about it! For the most part that is, this is just up to being properly brought into it, there is still a bit regarding his time with the turtles, let alone his change in species and whatnot. That can be for another post on another day, hopefully not several months from now-

[melodic-mayh3m]

𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄 .

Share 5 songs that you associate with or remind you of your muse!

MIMI'S DELIVERY SERVICE - GOOD KID Why do you have to stay here on the ground? It's overrated. The cityscape berates you with a sound, it's delineated. And no one here has even learned your name, but they all claim it. They saw you land and ran to do the same, but they won't make it. KARMA - AJR If only I could keep you in my pocket, to give me some diagnosis of why I'm so hollow. Please give me instructions, I promise I'll follow. I tripped on my ankle and fractured my elbow, but doesn't that mean that the tour's gonna sell though? I try to explain the good faith that's been wasted but after an hour it sounds like complaining. Wait don't go away, can I lie here forever? You say that I'm better, why don't I feel better? The universe works in mysterious ways, but I'm starting to think it ain't working for me. Doctor, should I be good? Should I be good this year? UP TO THE CLOUD - OWL CITY There's danger and darkness all around, and the odds are I'll crash and burn. But I won't go back or give up now, 'cause if I fail, you won't return. I'll fight to the death for survival. For life to be normal again. Though the sky has gone black, I'll never turn back. You're under attack, but I'll never turn back. BRIGHTSIDE - ARRESTED YOUTH I'm stuck inside the middle of a fight with good and evil. I try my best to mediate, but they're both stubborn people. I think I finally figured out this misery equation. The sum of my frustrations minus all my expectations. My therapist said I should try and focus on the future. But every time I try to focus I feel like a loser. My right brain just switched sides with my left brain, I woke up on the wrong side. Now all I feel is neck pain. EXHALE - LENA RAINE No lyrics for this one, this is more based on vibes so you get to hear me ramble. Celeste and its OST something I've gradually come to associate with my version of Rock, especially after... Everything he goes through. Exhale in particular is something I connect with post-Wily battles. The stress is over, Wily is back in remission, and while the old man will probably come back at some point, that's not something to worry about right now. Rock has a chance to breathe, and he can feel relieved that things are back to how they should be.

Tagged By: Stole it! Tagging: Steal it from me

[halfbakedspuds]

Thanks to @illarian-rambling for the tag

OC Quotes

Rules: write quotes based on the prompt for some OCs, then come up with a new prompt for the next people

My prompt is: a quote about a time you got hurt.

I think I can do this for the protagonists across all my WIP's (plus the two characters from a little side project I've started writing that I'll have some info up for as soon as I finish writing up the introduction post for it)

TW: mentions of disfigurement, allusions to chronic pain, broken bones, amputation, pain, torture, long term psychological and physical abuse, psychological torment, burns, and impalement.

Echoes of Shadows

Johan: Other than that crazy Rostovan motherfucker Maxim dropping the sun on me, I've actually lived a pretty injury free life. Of course, I still need to go in for healing almost every week, but that's just the perks of knowing you will bleed out from a paper cut long before your body manages to close the wound. I don't even think a paper cut can bleed faster than your body produces more blood, but you get my point.

Hans: *Silently shrugs off his coat and pulls off his shirt, revealing scars all over his chest and upper arms, and what look like marks from a whip on his back* This is all you're getting from me.

Anastasia: Gemeendaal, about... three months ago? Around that? Anyway, Johan ask I watch target, learn routine so he can figure out if she is suspect. I pray that Bozhe leave... particulularly toasty spot in hells for whoever installed roof tiles like shit. I step wrong, I fell three stories: break leg. Then there was chase, shootout. Long story, but story for other time.

Maire: Wha', this old thin'? *Hits her mechanical leg for emphasis* Tha' was wae back in th'war, dearie. One o' our guys (Wha' was 'is name...? Jako, A' think) took a bullet while coverin' our retreat. Bein' th'medic, A ran out tae get 'im. Had 'im on mah shoulders an' everythin', runnin' back tae safety with gunfire, explosions, fire,- utter bedlam 'round me. Fifteen measures from our perimeter, A fell. A didnae e'en know wha' had happened at first, hell, A thought A'd tripped and was actually just annoyed. Well imagine mah shock when A looked down only tae see mah left leg about three meters back, cleanly severed by some Bioworker who'd probably been watchin' me through a rifle scope and wanted tae lure our people with me as bait.

Sasha: People always think it must be so nice to be a high order mage, to have that kind of power at your finger tips. "Must be nice to not need fire to boil a kettle", "I wish I could constantly keep myself cool in the summer", "Wow, it must be so fun to sculpt images out of fire," - well guess what else I can do, Svetlana- *points to the burn over her eye*-I can also burn my own bloody face off with just a stray thought, it's fucking terrifying to have this much power.

Children of the Stars

Adrian: When you're in combat, on the defending side of a full scale planetary invasion, sacrifices must be made. No matter how small the payoff, they are cumulative victories. The ship I was on was commandeered by Tyrus drop forces, so I rigged one of their ammo packs to explode and take down the ship. Unfortunately for those Xenos fucks: I survived having more than half my body vaporised. It's funny, really, they called me a hero for saving maybe two, three million lives with my actions. Meanwhile human casualties in that battle were counted in the billions. People are strange creatures.

Lyanni: Adrian had to shoot my arm off after calling an orbital strike on top of us. To be fair, it was stuck, probably crushed well beyond the capability of anything to even mend it, but it still hurt like a bitch. I don't hold it against him though, it was my arm or my life, and given the pressure he was under, I think he made the best choice.

Wilhelm: The Crimson Dawn- for all their talk of being pro-human and believing us to be the rightful masters of the stars- seem to have a very specific and exclusionist policy of what constitutes as human. Clones? Well, we're just faulty hardware and they hated us for being created by them, as if our minor imperfections from their tampering with our progenitor's genetic makeup were some grave offense on our part. We were beaten, hacked at, burnt, spit on, and oftentimes killed over the most minor grievances or demented pleasures, and we were expected to take it all with a smile because our creators had deigned to even give us the time of day. Being the only one who showed enough competency to become a commander, to be put in the limelight and earn Overseer Yalena's favour meant that I often got the worst of it. God knows how much I sometimes wished I'd been one of the rejects, the ones fit for nothing better than immediate recycling. Though, having met Lyanni and Adrian... I think it may actually be worth it to have my life after all.

The Tempest Prince

Jason: I mean, I've been struck by lightning... multiple times. it never hurts any less but my god, the rush of power that follows might actually be addictive.

Helga: Demihumans, like the beasts, are functionally immortal as long as our head remains on our shoulders and our heart is undamaged. And as a hunter, that has been put to the test time and time again in several very interesting ways, but the one that stands out the most was getting run through with a lamp post of all things. Of course it hurt like hell, but you get used to tuning out pain after a while. If anything, I was moreso flabbergasted by the fucking audacity of this bitch.

Alex: Varus, that swamp-nethered moerkont son of a motherfucking who- ...calm yourself, Alex... if you've ever wondered why I'm covered in so many rune shaped burn scars: the Rogues tried to turn me into their aberrants a long time. Turns out, the blood of a Great One and their corruption runes do not mix. Varus- may even the void torture his thrice damned soul- found the pain it caused me... amusing. You can piece together the rest by yourself.

11 Past Midnight

Kat: Where do I start? I've burnt my hands on a running engine, had my ribs broken by a Pulse-spear, damn near lost my arm to Kamchatka's front door of all things... What else? Oh yeah, and Artur broke my nose one time. I guess there was also that knockoff thunderdome back in Magadan where I got stabbed with a barbed wire spear of all things, and the countless times I've been shot or thrown out of a window. Really, take your pick moi druz'ya, my scars are my trophies.

Artur: Turns out, these people see their 'mutants' the way their ancestors saw Unicorns and the like. I was captured one time, and I don't think it even took an hour before two of my four arms had been cut off and sewn into some warlord's armor as a good luck charm, and lemme tell ya, seeing a part of your own body warn as a godsdamned trinket fucks with your head very badly.

Open tag for whomever wants it, and your prompt is: a quote about your favourite person

[dragonbleps]

I can no longer hold my silence

who is dal? everywhere I go, I see his face. I've heard so much about the man and yet I don't know who he is. oc? sona? simply an incredible fictional character?

(aka I dont member but am intrigued so i'm specifically asking you to ramble about your guy. I need twelve paragraphs by noon tomorrow /lh)

you've activated mY TRAP CARD

MY BOY!!!

SO, Dal is my OC! Or, rather, Dal is the nickname for my TES OC, Dalamus Rex, but when talking about other AUs of him, I'll also use the name Dal often without clarifying, usually forcing people to either assume or figure out from context which version of Dal I'm talking about. A few of his AUs keep the Dalamus first name, or have a name that can be shortened to Dal, even if the name they actually go by is different (ie "Modern Dal" Damon Rex, whose birth name is Dalmatius). Sometimes, if talking about multiple Dalamus' in the same post, I might differentiate between them by using last names (Rex, Sarangerel, Strighym). Or sometimes I'll tag something as "Dal" because it applies to all of them, or vaguely makes me think of Dal even if it isn't entirely accurate to a specific version of him.

Clear as mud, right? WELL, allow me to go through the list!!! (All AUs are specifically AUs of Dalamus Rex. No weird permutations. Dalamus Rex is the origin of all and acts as the base.)

Dalamus Rex (he/him) is the original Dal, and one of two that can be safely assumed I'm defaulting to when I just say "Dal", (the other currently being Dalamus Strighym, and we'll get to him later). Dalamus Rex is a TES OC! He's a Dunmer/Bosmer (Dark elf/Wood elf) vampire who was originally intended to be a one-off antagonist for my other character, Thaerondil, to face. I felt I had hit a wall when writing Thaerondil, and needed something to force me to get him to mature a bit, so I started writing Dal. Dal was eventually supposed to just disappear or die and. Well. It's been 12 years and he's still here! And he's infecting the rest of my braincells.

Dalamus Rex started out life in Morrowind, to a family with a terrible father and a mother who tried her best but was treated just as awfully by her husband. I won't go into specifics unless asked, but you can search Dal's blog and find info (just mind the trigger warnings)! After his mother died, he ran from home and just kept running, eventually making his way into Skyrim at a young age. So while Morrowind might be his homeland, he basically grew up in Skyrim.

In Skyrim, he continued to use his stealth and thievery skills to survive, jaded and unstrusting, until eventually he caught ill with serious respiratory illness and collapsed outside the door of a Bosmer named Falin (fuh-LEEN). Falin took care of him and nursed him back to health with food, kindness, and herbal remedies because Dalamus does not trust mages or healing magic. In spending so much time together, they become fond of each other and fall in love.

Unfortunately, it would be cut short. At Falin's behest, Dalamus accompanies mercenaries to help clear a den of vampires, and ends up knocked unconscious and unknowingly infected with vampirism himself. Near the end of the week, Dalamus would wake a vampire in the middle of the night and kill his beloved Falin for his first feeding.

Wracked with guilt and shame, he runs and goes into hiding. For nearly two centuries he oscillates violently between ridden with guilt and starving himself, and succumbing to the Thirst and becoming a terror to anyone or anyplace nearby. He is stealthy, and wickedly fast, so god help you if you try to run, because he enjoys the chase. While not the strongest vampire, his agility and athleticism more than makes up for it.

Near the end of the two centuries, he finally evens off into a sort of homeostasis, emotionally speaking, allowing him to integrate himself into society if only to lure people to their death in typical Suave Charming Seductive Vampire fashion. This is where his blog canon takes place.

As he manages his Thirst better and can spend more time among people without needing to feed, he spends his time thieving from people and seducing them for more.. mundane needs. But it also means he has the time and ability and wherewithal to have conversations with people, and conversations often lead to connection. And he starts getting attached. (The next bit is going to be incredibly condensed and summarized because otherwise it's 10+ years of storytelling).

He starts building bonds with people. He learns to trust. He starts making friends, some to the extent of considering them family. He learns how to be vulnerable. He accidentally hurts friends. He learns how to apologize. He makes up with friends. He finally finds love again. He has a daughter. He cheats on his wife. He learns that apologies are not always enough. They get a divorce, and it hits him hard. But he has supportive people in his life now, his closest of which know he is a vampire and know of his past and that he has killed on his way here.

He learns how to change his behavior while still remaining himself, becoming ever closer to his friends and family. He finds love again, and is now in a stable relationship with an Agent of Mara, who also happens to be a Healer and a werelion. He has several close friends who he quite literally owe his life to, and for whom he would risk his life in an instant to keep them safe. Dalamus is not religious and is still afraid of Healing Magic but he occasionally reads about teachings of Mara when struggling, and he is slowly, slowly working up the nerve to be accepting of magic, although traumatic experiences and misunderstandings of how magic works are significant bumps in the road.

Damon Rex (he/it) -- A vampire in a fantasy Modern Earth who owns a jewelry store called Aeternum Rex ("forever the king", "forever king", "king forever", "eternal king", however you wanna think of it). CEO, owner, manager, boss, he's all of it. This is his store, and he uses it to swindle wealthy people :)

He's also a jeweler, gemologist, silversmith, gemcutter, etc etc. He's had time to learn it ALL. And he does make some of the available jewelry for the store. Some of it is stolen from the rich and altered to hide the fact. And some of it is synthetic jewelry altered to seem natural. The idea is that he steals valuables from the rich, changes them slightly, then sells them back to the rich when they come around looking for a replacement. Selling the synthetic gems at such a high profit margin also gives him leeway to give discounts to.. whoever he wants, really. But generally it is given to those who are not rich or wealthy, those looking for one-time gifts who will likely not be repeat customers.

He employs mostly teens and young adults from less-than-ideal living situations, or generally those who are desperate for the financial stability to get out of bad situations, buy necessities, etc. How he does this legally, who knows. But he pays them very generously for easy work, and time off is given on the honor system, assuming you will show up when you can work. See, with his speed and with how small the store is, he doesn't really NEED the help, but he wants to help others.

His own backstory is similar to TES Dal's in terms of family situation. But where TES Dal's mother died, Modern Dal became a vampire and returned to save his mother from his father. He then was able to live with and take care of his mother for the rest of her natural life, and this helped give him skills to integrate into society in a healthy manner earlier in his life.

Few people know he is a vampire aside from other supernatural creatures. His employees (who he eventually comes to see as his own kids, in a way) joke about him looking like one or dressing like one, but none of them actually believe anything out of the ordinary is happening. He's just goth, that's all. He's a little scary but he only ever uses his scariness on people who are disrespectful of his employees so it's fine.

Dalamus Sarangerel (he/they) -- FFXIV AU. A Xaela Au Ra who grew up in the Steppes in the Sarangerel tribe. His father is an herbalist, and his mother a hunter, giving him the chance to learn a well-rounded skillset for survival. The particulars of his tribe are TBD, but in my head they're more bestial than is shown in-game.

They were a peaceful tribe. His tribe worshipped the moon, Dalamud, as a guiding deity--Dalamus' was even named after it. But when Dalamud turned red and began descending, all manner of creature and people began behaving strangely. Dalamus' tribe was affected gradually, so gradually he hardly noticed, until they started treating Dalamus himself as a harbinger, and sacrificing animals for their deity.

When the Calamity happened, and Dalamud split open to free the dragon Bahamut, Dalamus got the wake-up call he needed to leave the tribe. Their violence continued, but Dalamus was determined to find a way to reverse their madness.

So, he left for Eorzea (where the game takes place), and discovered that the reason he was unaffected by Dalamud was this mysterious power called the Echo which he unknowingly had. And it meant he was a Warrior of Light. Out of one "prophecy" and into another. Chosen One for a different camp. But if defeating Primals will help him find answers on how to help his tribe, he is willing to do what they ask...

(I haven't played super far into the game, so, alas, his story is limited!)

Dalamus Strighym (he/him) -- BG3 AU. Dalamus Strighym, a Drow born simply as Dalamus, as surnames denoted nobility and a House, and he was born a commoner in the subterranean city of Menzoberranzan 200 years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3. (Disclaimer: Lolth-sworn Drow society in DnD is all kinds of messed up and potentially Problematic, and I'm well aware, but I'm not going to be the one to fix it; I'm mostly taking it as-is).

His family's trade was gemcutting, but neither of his brothers showed much aptitude for it. He had two older brothers. Orgoll, the eldest, a mean sonovabitch who delighted in harassing his youngest siblings. Orgoll became a military officer, strong and powerful, and most importantly, feared. Orgoll was jealous of what small amount of favor Dalamus was shown for his gemcutting skills, and would often sabotage his work.

And Nilaufein, second eldest, a weirdo by Drow standards, passionate about his job raising and training Riding Lizards and Pack Lizards, with a curiosity and fascination about the Surface. In private, he was kind, and hated the cruelty which ruled Menzoberranzan, and avoided being cruel whenever possible, instead using his wit and charm to diffuse situations and altercations. Nilaufein tried his best to keep his brothers from seriously injuring each other.

Nilaufein was selected to join a Raid on the Surface when Dalamus was 30. It was to be Nilaufein's Blooding, the coming-of-age ritual that would see him socially treated as an adult, if he survived. But he never returned, and is presumed dead. Dalamus' own Blooding was to battle a Displacer Beast with a handful of other Drow, and he survived, but not without massive scarring from a tentacle. To celebrate his success, Orgoll visited at the behest of their parents, but used the opportunity to mock both Dalamus and Nilaufein. Dalamus killed Orgoll later that night.

For a while, Dalamus had peace as the only child. He is excellent at gemcutting, one of the best. He makes good money for himself and his family. Then his sister, Taliira, is born, and immediately becomes the family favorite (Menzoberranzan operates under a Matriarchal Theocracy, where men are second-class citizens at best, and Priestesses of Lolth rule with fear and cruelty). If Taliira can undergo clerical schooling to become a Priestess, the family can be elevated.

And so, much of Dalamus' money becomes saved and dedicated to Taliira's teachings. While she is still small, Dalamus is often left to take care of her. He does not dare punish or discipline her, leaving her to do whatever she wants. At first, this meant hanging around him and curiously watching him work on his jewelry. She'd ask innocent questions, he'd give straightforward answers. But as she grew up and was encouraged to be cruel, Dalamus became target practice for her budding magic skills. Despite only being a teen, she was a hellion, and further compounded Dalamus' dislike of magic, especially anything that manipulated the mind or body.

She eventually was sent off to schooling, at which point Dalamus got a few years of peace. Until the minor noblewoman, Nedvyllanna Strighym, set eyes upon him. She thought he looked handsome, and interesting (his eyes and hair are not the typical Drow colors often selectively bred for), and his jewelry skills were second-to-none, and she wanted him for herself. And so she did. He became her personal gemcutter, jeweler, and favored consort.

I won't go into details what that entails bc again, messed up society (if you're interested then you can check his blog where I've written headcanons). But we will just say he is not treated kindly, and yet, because of how twisted the society is and the expectations for men, he thinks it's fine, even preferable in some cases. After 8 years, they have a son. He is not allowed to see or be around the son and does not get attached.

Two years later, he gets caught stealing from another noble (at Nedvyllanna's request), and his punishment is exile. She injures him with a whip and sends him out to wander the Underdark and hopefully die. But he survives, using his piwafwi for stealth, his knowledge of Underdark flora to stanch his bleeding, and a little subtle help from a Goddess he does not worship (and doesn't realize it's her doing). He doesn't escape unscathed, though, as an encounter with a bear-like creature called a Quaggoth gives him a back injury that'll prove permanent and be a source of both chronic and acute pain.

But he makes it to the Surface. And despite being blinded by the light and exhausted by the heat, he makes it to a town, and then a city, and commissions a back-support corset to be made. About a month later, he receives the corset--and the Nautiloid appears over Yartar and begins abducting people, Dalamus included.

So now he's got this mind flayer parasite behind his eye, his back injury is still healing, heck his face and neck scarring isn't completely healed yet, and now he has to work with strangers on the Surface where the sun burns his skin and blinds him, to try and figure out how to remove the parasites before they all become Mind Flayers.

It's been a helluva time the past few weeks for him.

Other versions of Dal I occasionally talk about but don't have specific blogs for:

Dalrex -- (Fallout) An odd, intelligent dark-colored Alpha Deathclaw. Seems to have a proclivity for finding shiny loot to try and decorate his hide with. Curiously able to speak, but not much more than a child. Extremely dangerous, and yet some say he's actually docile unless given a reason to be otherwise. Not many are willing to test that theory, though.

PokeDal -- (Pokemon) An adult pokemon trainer named Damon. He's gaunt, has bags under his eyes, is pale, and a Lampent follows him around. It's believed Lampent is a sort of emissary of death, appearing right before someone dies to take their soul, and yet Damon is still here. Some say it's because he's actually a vampire! But he's not. Probably. He's just a tired recluse who lives in a castle. He takes care of a sanctuary for pokemon who can't, won't, don't want to, or shouldn't become partner pokemon for trainers for various reasons. His team consists of mostly Dark types. Lemme see if I can remember... Houndoom, Corviknight, Umbreon, Zoroark, Lampent, Crobat. I think.

Stardew Dally -- (Stardew Valley) Dalmatius is a farmer who got tired of the monotony of working for a corporate entity. He's a bit pale and thin but surprisingly strong. He always wears his straw hat because he burns in the sun so easily. Just might be a vampire. He mostly keeps to himself, but holds respect for the townspeople.

MonHun Dal -- (Monster Hunter) An arrogant, tall Wyverian man named Dalakai. Unlike many of his people, who dedicate their lives to the study and understanding of the world around them through scholarly endeavors, Dalakai thrives being a Monster Hunter. He is considered immature and brash by his people, but his skills are nothing to sneeze at.

[queenmayor23]

Fighting the Good Fight

got the idea for this while listening to a book called Whisper by Tal Bauer and watching an episode of True Life that show is fvcking bonkers.

"Hey. I'm home."

The pitter-patter of feet gradually became louder as the five-year-old ran to hug Y/N. Y/N crouched down and embraced the kid in his pajamas, a taller man following behind, fussing in Parsik about how the kid was almost asleep, and now he has to put him down again.

"I'm sorry. I miss you guys. Hey kiddo, the faster you fall asleep, the more time we have tomorrow. So can you go to sleep for your Baba, and tomorrow we can go to the park and get ice cream."

"O-tay." The kid follows the man back into the bedroom.

Y/N walks into the kitchen to warm up food. After eating and taking a shower, Y/N gets in bed; moments later, the man climbs in bed behind Y/N, becoming the big spoon. His arms smoothly grabbed Y/N's waist.

"I know those hands. Those are the "I'm nervous about something" hands, and the last time I felt them was when you told me about the kid. So what's going on, Raqqa?"

The arms grew tighter, trapping Y/N by the waist as small kisses hit Y/N's neck.

"Oh, this is serious."

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Rest tonight, my love."

The next day after going to the zoo and a hike through the park Raqqa and Y/N found themselves seated on a weathered wooden bench watching the kid on the playground as the sun dipped below the horizon casting long shadows across the park.

Raqqa exhales, cracking his knuckles and crossing his arms. "I've been watching the war in Ishtar. The rebels need help. They are outgunned and outmanned; if they don't change the tide soon, they could lose the country to dictatorship."

"So what, we're rounding up the troops for support?"

"I volunteered my efforts."

Y/N turned to face Raqqa, but Raqqa kept his eyes trained on the playground before them. "Volunteered efforts? As in "Uncle Sam wants you" or-"

"There will be others. But as far as the government is concerned, no."

Y/N trembled out a breath as he attempted to speak. "So… what does that mean?"

"I'm leaving for Ishtar in two weeks."

A tear fell from Raqqa's eye as he clenched his lips together. Y/N settled a hand on Raqqa's leg, calming him enough to open his mouth again. "You know where the key is for the emergency safe; everything you need is there. You're on the pick-up and emergency list for school; you know the schedule, our routines…"

"Raqqa-"

Out of nervousness, Raqqa begins speaking in Parsik, not noticing the switch. Y/N listens to him ramble until Raqqa turns to Y/N. Raqqa takes Y/N's hands in his. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, but if you're this nervous about it, maybe you shouldn't go."

Raqqa's gaze dropped to the ground, his eyes flickering with a blend of sorrow and determination. "I know, Y/N. But it is my duty to my homeland, and I can't turn my back on it."

A knot formed in Y/N's stomach, and his voice choked with emotion. "I can't bear the thought of losing you, Raqqa… and telling your kid that Baba isn't coming home. It hurts thinking about it. You have something special here. Why leave it? Is it me? Am I pushing you away? Am I not doing enough? That's why you didn't want me over all week, right?"

Raqqa's fingers reached out, gently brushing against Y/N's face. "Ya omri. You are perfect in every way. I was- am scared to tell you all of this. But seeing you today gave me all the confidence I needed to know that you're the one I want to be here when I return."

Tears welled up in Y/N's eyes. "I'm proud of you, Raqqa, but that doesn't make it any easier. Having to worry about every phone call, every knock at the door. It terrifies me."

Raqqa's grip tightened on Y/N's face, his voice quivering with love and pain. "I'll do everything I can to return to you. You and the kid are the reason I fight, a light guiding me through the darkest of nights." Raqqa releases Y/N and digs in his pocket. He pulls out a gold link chain with his dog tags and a Chrome ring with Yellow Gold Inlay, putting it around Y/N's neck.

"I know we talked about not buying engagement rings; that's what the chain is for, but just in case I don't come back-"Raqqa couldn't finish his sentence.

"I do." Y/N said, knowing it could be his only chance to say those two words to the man he truly loved.

"Promise me you'll be as strong as the man I fell in love with and believe in us, in our love, even while I'm far away."

Y/N nodded, tears streaming down his face. "I'll hold onto that promise, Raqqa. I'll be here, waiting for you, praying for your safe return. Just promise me you'll take care of yourself and come back to us."

In the heated moment, Raqqa connected their lips, grabbing the back of Y/N's neck. Their embrace was a mixture of desperation and tenderness. After the initial shock, Y/N deepened the kiss until both were out of breath. It was their first kiss. They clung to one another and found comfort in their newfound intimacy, praying that no matter the future, hoping that their love would be enough to withstand the trials ahead.

[aelaer]

Just saw your post about having to block the doctor strange x reader tag, and I must agree it's become the predominant DS fic that comes up as recommended on my feed as well. There are several authors I enjoy reading in that category (although lately the overall amount of fics is overwhelming), but I only started writing them myself as my stephen x ofc fics could never gain a bit of traction. I have a theory that if I went back and changed my ofc's to reader inserts, I'd probably gain a lot more readers--but I can never bring myself to doing that as I wouldn't be true to myself as an author.

I suppose that's just a writerly woe I'm sharing with someone who might understand.😏 But I'm curious; are you open to reading non-romance fics featuring original characters? I've found that tumblr can be quite snobbish towards that species of fic.

I wanted to reply to this ages ago but it requires my computer and some thinking, so I kept pushing it off again and again and again and whelp, here we are. My bad. ><

I'm the same way where being true to myself as an author is writing what I want, so I get you there. Doesn't get As Much Engagement as other tropes would, but y'know what, I can live with that. If anything, I've actually found that the fic I compromised most on (because it was for a themed exchange) is one I want to reread the least. So if anything, a lot of me writes for "do I want to reread this in the future" and that has helped me since.

It's funny since OFC romances used to be pretty popular way back when, but I guess "reader" took over that audience over the last decade because the majority of the people just wanted to insert themselves into the position instead of reading about a full-fleshed character? Honestly not sure.

Right, I keep delaying the reason I took so long to get back to you - non-romance fics with OCs. The answer, by the way, is yes. Great OCs are fantastic, but you don't tend to see many OCs outside of romance, or you only see them as side characters in another pairing's fic. They don't often have starring or co-starring roles. But I wanted to find examples with great OCs which would take time.

And now I'm taking that time. Here's some good OC-starring fics that I scoured through the tag. They're difficult to find. I had to smudge that requirement after a while. Then I gave up after I got to 2 years back in the tag.

Some of the stories that I know have very good OCs are also IronStrange, but I know that's not your cup of tea so I left it out. But I found a handful.

Keshwyn was the author that came to mind when you originally sent this ask, but I wanted to have more than one author when I wrote this. Read their series, highly recommend, top-tier OCs across the whole spectrum, with the main star being female.

This fic by LexLemon is technically PalmerStrange, but the OCs are her parents, so it's basically a delight in my eyes as Stephen's fish-out-of-water act is always funny to me.

Dragonnan writes good OCs, usually the mean sort though, the ones who hurt Stephen rather than befriend him (male and female lmao), but if you're in a whumpy mood at some point...

This isn't technically an OC, but I don't know the character from the comics, so she's an OC to me! This Stephen's new apprentice is Casey Kinmont fic by Stratagem. They just updated recently too, need to cheer them on at some point.

*sigh* Sorry love, I ran out of good OC fics that didn't have background/primary IronStrange that I could find/remember. But yeah. There's some fic/author recs.

(If anyone wants to add to the list, feel free to leave a comment or reblog. I was avoiding IronStrange for the asker in particular but I don't think the asker sees reblogs so go for it if you'd like).

Also, I love the OCs that I've come up with for my various stories in both LOTR and the MCU. I'll ramble all about them if you (or someone) wants me to, quite happily.

Hope that answers the question/reason for the ask, mostly.

[moonsdancer]

This is a good question @fleursdusang. I've done a lot of thinking about this with the other eight or so MelJay shippers I communicate with on Discord 😭 , and we'd long ago agreed that MelJay is an ironic rare-pair. But more on that below.

@arcane-rarepair-week has done a great write-up of what "constitutes" a rare pair in fandom, and they've broken it down here: (they do include MelJay on their list). Fandom Wiktionary describes it as:

A ship that generally receives little attention from fans and has few associated fanworks.

Ultimately, a ship is a rare pair based on output / engagement and not whether it's canon or not. Generally, the most "fair" metric to use is ao3 (although in some cases, it becomes apparent looking at fanart, or fan discourse, and other creative outputs what's what). MelJay has the unique 'distinction' of being one of the least supported / celebrated / whatever canon ships in maybe the history of any fandom. I ran the numbers, and it's pretty dire, just a quick summary from Sunday when I did this exercise to ask:

Is MelJay a "rare pair"?

based on ao3, only -

There were 8568 fanworks dedicated to Arcane on ao3. Of those fanworks, in terms of popularty by tag (including explicitly romantic and ships defined by '&' which are sometimes still romantic but not always), MelJay doesn't even appear in the top ten or fifteen.

Filtering out some of the "&" pairings allowed MelJay to edge its way in at about no. 9 or 10 with 213 stories.

Of those 213 stories: 116 were JayVik stories that weren't about MelJay. A good majority were often about breaking MelJay up or killing off Mel or whatever other narrative device in order to tell a story about JayVik. 74 of those are Violyn stories that tag MelJay despite it not being a factor in said story (I assume they do so because it's a canon ship, so folks just toss it in there). 51 of those were MelJayVik stories.

Once you filter those out, we come to 56 overall stories tagged MelJay. Of those 56, roughly 17 were actually about viktor with someone i.e. viktor / you or viktor / reader or viktor / original character. we can, if we're generous, pretend that about a third of those are as much about meljay as they are about viktor and whoever else, but even that would be a bit of a lie.

Once you filter those out, we were left with about 46 stories. And even in those, a quick review of the content showed some of them weren't even about MelJay.

A weird and non-self-aggrandizing fact that was pointed out to me today - just stating it to show the reality of things - I've written 15 of those stories, so that's about a third of stories, that are explicitly and materially in terms of the content about Mel Medarda and Jayce Talis in a relationship of some kind, were written by one person. That's weird, for the only confirmed, together, onscreen, canon romantic ship - but that's the reality.

ANYWAY.

The above rambling answer to your comment from this post is really my way of just reflecting on all this for my own reasons and opening the discussion which we'll all probably only have in an honest way in a few years across fandom about this and not to rant at you in anyway. Because the treatment of / reception / backlash (in many ways especially in the first few months) to MelJay is a bit weird. That's the word I'll use so I don't use different words that piss folks off.

This was a bit of a Ted Talk, sorry! 😂✨

ETA: Because someone did mention this, I know the '&' tag is generally used for platonic or familial relationships. But I notice people in a lot of cases in this fandom use it interchangeably with the bigger ships. May not always be the case. But either way, the situation for MelJay is dire. And those '&' ships don't really detract from that conclusion.

[solarishashernoseinabook]

What part of writing is the most fun?

Thanks again for all the asks!! :D

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway) Do not underestimate my willingness to write set-up for events, it's not for nothing that my friends tease me about The Solaris Effect (when what was supposed to be a fluffy fic becomes overloaded with plot, but lately we've been extending it to any minor point that ends up having a lot of set-up given to it so that it works properly)

Nevertheless! Have a short exchange that I might not be able to include in The Ward Ghost due to the timeline not quite working (scene contains implications of a past abusive relationship):

Ten Tooth Joe watched Horace and Will for a moment, then spoke in a low voice to Travis. 'And this new young man Ghost is with - he treats him better than his last boyfriend?' The memory of Will, injured and alone in the woods after his ex had taken out his anger on him, flashed in Travis's mind. His hand balled into a fist. 'Yes. He does.' Ten Tooth Joe noticed Travis's anger. 'So you know the story?' 'I do. He told us a couple weeks ago. You knew about it?' 'Found out just before the bastard left.' 'Did you do anything?' Travis asked. 'I would have, but at the time I had no idea...' 'Found out too late - by that time Ghost had broken it off himself.' Ten Tooth Joe broke out into a grim smile, his eyes glittering angrily in the firelight. 'I might have met that bastard before he hopped a boat to the continent.' Travis's blood ran cold. 'Did you--?' 'Oh, he got on the boat all right,' Joe said, waving one hand. 'But let's just say I have him a little taste of what he gave Ghost.'

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read? Mostly! I love fluffy one-shots, which is most of what I've written lol

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other? I've written more drabbles, but I absolutely love doing longfics. As for pantsing versus plotting, it's a mixture! One-shots, I'll have a very vague idea of what I want to do, but mostly pants it. My longfics are slightly planned - I get the beginning, the end, and some scenes I must include, then leave things flexible so I can rearrange or expand things as needed :3 I'm happy with what I do, no need to change!

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title? When I'm staring at that ao3 title box in despair just before I post the fic slghslgh. But I came up with the title for The Royal Ranger early (purely as a joke that my friends enabled me on)

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)? Titles oh my god. If Beethoven could get away with calling his work shit like Fifth symphony in C minor why can't I just call my shit Fluffy gay with side angst and found family no. 12?

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) *vibrates in autistic excitement* okay so I've talked about this a lot in other places but writing The Royal Ranger has been huge for me becoming more comfortable in myself. Giving Halt so many of my own autistic traits has meant I'm doing a lot of self-reflection and after a while of writing him I feel a lot better about stimming and my sensory issues :D It's also hugely validating to write people supporting Halt when he needs it bc his autism is causing a problem, or getting to call out characters who treat him poorly.

On a more story-focused level, writing Halt has been fun so far bc he's currently 20 years younger than he is in the main series, and I've written a lot of flashbacks to him as a kid where he was care-free and happy, whereas at the time the fic happens he's more reserved. It's been really fun writing him slowly becoming the version of him we see in canon! And chapter 23 plants a little seed that's gonna come back much later, in a light-hearted context that's nonetheless gonna be meaningful to him ❤

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?) I think a webcomic would be interesting! I could visually indicate that Will doesn't emote much in The Ward Ghost that way, or try fun things with panels to show how Halt perceives the world in The Royal Ranger. But I don't have the artistic skill to pull it off, nor do I want to put in the years of work to develop that at the moment lol

25. What part of writing is the most fun? Dialogue exchanges! Especially when characters get to tease each other, but also when they get to really be emotional and sincere. And I'm an absolute sucker for writing scenes where a character promises to support another ❤❤❤

Link to the ask game if you want to play!

[inky-quilled-dragon]

Greetings Ladies, Gentlefolk, and Domesticated Cryptids!

Hello all! Welcome to the corner of the internet dedicated to my various and varied ramblings, fandom lizard brain, and updates on the sheer chaos that is my AO3. (Yes this is Inky's personal Tumblr. The one who wrote both the 55k+ Miraculous angst fic and the one where Infinity War was avoided thanks to a tweet. I contain multitudes.)

I've seen other blogs do one of these posts just to lay out stuff, so figured I would as well :)

Basic Information

~ I do swear. A bit. A lot. It's a good stress release idk. (By swear, i mean fuck, shit, asshole, nothing worse than that--*creative* insults will also be included)

~ I'm still figuring out how the whole interface works so it might be a bit before i can do tag organizing and shit like that.

~ DNI's: Bigots, TERFs, Tories, homophobes, transphobes, Intolerant Jerkwads of just about any sort (NOT referring to those who are intolerant of people who cry persecution), racists, ableists, misogynists, Mental-health deniers, anti-science idiots, anyone who is a jerk of any sort--i reserve the right to refuse access to my blog to anyone at all at any time. I will block u. Don't fucking test me.

~That being said if you are a decent human being then welcome! :D

~ If i make a mistake, please please correct me. I'm not gonna be mad.

~Jysk i don't respond to DMs at this time. Comments and reblogs, I probably will.

~Plagarisim will not be tolerated. Reblogs are very welcome though!

~ Preemptive apologies for my copious use of meme speak. Those of you coming from my AO3 will already be aware of this.

~ Long posts will have the "keep reading" button activated

~ Please just try and be a decent human. This whole section probably seems really damn strict but i know how the internet works and figured I'd better cover all my bases. This is supposed to be a fun thing. I wanna keep it that way. "A truly tolerant society must be intolerant of intolerance"

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Current Obsessions

Fandoms

The Legend Of Zelda (hot damn I love those games) and Linked Universe by extension!

Genshin Impact. I will not elaborate.

Marvel Cinematic Universe--All of it!!

Miraculous Ladybug (Not an Astruc fan but the love square gives me life I must admit)

The Umbrella Academy

Amphibia (I love the frog show so much. Marcanne gives me life)

The Owl House (LUMITY.)

Voltron (Hate the queer-baiting and season 8, love the premise and my darling Pidge so damn much)

9-1-1/9-1-1 LS (buddie 4ever)

Gravity Falls

Ninjago (Fell out of it when i was eight, ran back into it with a vengance in early 2020 before losing interest for a moment, now have fallen DEEP into it once more)

She-Ra (2018)

Many, many books

a lot more, but these are my mains

Aesthetics

Cottagecore

30s/40s/50s/60s/70s/80s (vintage vibes, NOT vintage values)

light academia

pretty things in general. Idk i have very varied tastes.

Music (I have so many but these are my favourites)

Taylor Swift

Hayley Kiyoko

Dua Lipa

Billie Eilish

Carly Rae Jepsen

Clairo

King Princess

way way more

Misc

Witchcraft

Old mythology from all around the world

anything astronomy

weird linguistic things

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Final Note

So yeah that's me. Do not expect any personal information. Aside from the swearing, this blog is not 18+

Thank you very much for choosing to take a peek! Feel free to follow if you want my chaos on your dashboard.

And to my folks who got here from AO3, I'll be posting updates on progress and fics in general here :)