#I have written so much damn lore for this fic

[mythmerth]

from my February and March readings, I’ve collected a few more merlin fic recs for the people…

ive been primarily rereading in March so I’d have to change up the style anyways xoxo here’s both!

For favorite long (80k+) fic I’m absolutely choosing The Scroll and the Sword by Elizabeth. The modern-with-magic and haters-to-maybe-you’re-not-bad-shit-I’m-in-love adventure of it all, I was thoroughly enjoying this one from start to finish. The plot hooks you, the romance gets you kicking and screaming, what else is needed ykwim. It also captures the brilliant merthur idiocy, really a gem!

For favorite mid length (30k-80k) fic I’m going with A Language With No Words by neptunesyellowsands! It’s a really great canon era post finale Arthur survives fic. The gradual acceptance of magic and grappling arthur does is just *chefs kiss*. It also has a sequel which was really great as well- just a really enjoyable series!

For favorite short fic (<30k) I’ll choose And He’s Still Left With His Hands by witchmd13! It was so beautifully written and I love the detail of focusing on hands in various scenarios throughout the story. It’s canon era, very soft and such a pleasant read plspsls check it out

since I’ve been rereading so much, I’m gonna do a shorter list of rapid fire novel reads and then another one of favorite rereads~

novel-

At the end of the world by b92morgan was a unique take on omegaverse soulmatism with a lot of lore and plot to back it up. not really canon era, not really modern, somewhere in the middle!

If you like your ouchie fucked up fics, Shackled by Obsessionist may fit the bill. It’s canon era and painful and pay attention to the tags cause it definitely keeps getting worse before it gets better, but still a good read!

rereads-

Following the beast by Footloose is following the fucked up trend in a different way. you just don’t get this kind of fucked up BAMF merthur often, morality is a bit lost here. Modern era with lots going on, and watch the tags cause even though Arthur’s the actual antichrist and earns the title in every respect he still has quite the age gap with merlin

My way home is through you by evaelisaa and Leandra is another great modern-turned-canon era fic. I love the transformation merlin especially goes through as he realizes where he belongs. the first kiss scene gets me screaming every time

The Dragon Rises by Footloose is an all-time favorite. It scratches the canon era itch but technically isn’t. Unique plot, incredible lore, the merthur in it is pure excellence, I’d recommend it to damn near anyone

Though Love Like Light Can Flee by horsecrazy is a wonderful modern era read. like these idiots, absolutely incredible the way they dance around each other Ten Million stars out of five

that’s it for now! sorry for the format switch but I hope it still works <3 god I’ve been busy and offline and this has been in my drafts but tehe I’m still hereeee!

psa I’ve been getting the itch to write again and it’s been distracting me like crazy… if I posted snippets of original work would that be welcome? 👀 let me know! I love to do more writing too but it slows down my reading… hmmm…

see you later for next months lists!!!

<< prev month next month >>

[spooky-scary-scarecrow]

"You have beautiful eyes."

(So, I've been skimming Tumblr and haven't found any goddamn Cooper Howard fics that involve how pretty his damn eyes are. Only a handful of people actually mentioned it - babyghoul still has his luscious eyelashes. So since nobody has written a fic of it, I put it in my hands >:] Enjoy!)

Warnings: Mild nudity, mentions of after-sex, cuddling, complimenting, tooth-rotting fluff, a teeny of lore-building in the first few paragraphs

It was a quiet evening, the both of you laying on an old mattress you had found that was surprisingly intact enough to not have a spring digging into your back. The night was elongated from the actions that happened merely moments ago, labored breath between the both of you still filling your ears.

Turning to face Cooper, your eyes roamed his scarred body. A lean frame with muscle, not too much yet not too little. Just enough to show off how strong he can be. You both met only months ago. It was supposed to be just him killing a bounty for you and you'd pay him in caps and viles. Though after the next few bounties, you grew on him and decided to tag along with his journeys. It was like the longer you were both exposed to each other, the more you fell. Ending up in this situation many times before. Quick, easy, just to relieve stress.

Until now. You took the time to observe him. Observe his scars and muscles and callouses as he laid on his back, arms behind his head as his eyes were closed for the moment. You let your gaze drift up to his face - the normally hardened expression softening.

"I can feel you starin'," he spoke after a moment, making your cheeks flush red as you look away.

"Sorry, I just never seen you so... relaxed," you mumbled sheepishly with a chuckle.

A soft hum left him, his arm wrapping around your shoulder and pulling you in without warning. This was rare, the physical touch. Affectionate. Slowly, you rest your head on his chest, hearing the faint beat of his rotten heart and the rasp of his lungs as he breathed.

A moment passed before you looked back up at him, capturing his gaze with your own. Suddenly, you noticed something you never noticed.

His eyes. You never studied them because of how much movement he made - or there just wasn't any time. You would have thought that his lashes would have been gone along with his other body hair but no. They were still there. Rather thick and long. Framing the hazel orbs of his. Making them stand out.

They seemed almost a rich, deep gold and green at the moment because of the lighting - only the dim flame of the oil lamp on the ground beside the mattress lighting the area.

They were beautiful.

"I never noticed your eyes," you blurted, your gaze lingering on his. You could just see the shift of emotion in them - they were so expressive. More expressive than you expected. It showed he was still a man - still human - even if he did turn into the being he is now.

"Is that a compliment, darlin'?" he mused, raising a hairless brow.

You pondered. Maybe it was. Maybe you should say the things about them that were stuffed in the back of your brain.

"Yes," you answered after a beat. "I'd say more about them if I could put it into words."

He was the one to break the eye-contact, leaning his head back. You didn't speak again, afraid you might have hit a soft spot in the man. But you could see the corners of his lips twitch, his roughened fingertips tracing imaginary shapes on your bicep as he gazed up at the ceiling, through the holes in the roof.

"I never paid attention," you continued with little hesitancy. "Of your eyes, I mean. I always thought all Ghouls had fully black eyes."

A grunt in response. You can take that. The silence fell between the both of you once more. With a heavy exhale, he pulled you closer until your body pressed firmly into his side. A subtle gesture. A silent thank you.

Maybe you should pay attention to him more often.

Thank you for reading! Give me a message if you want to request any prompts for our cowboy ghoul here :D

[brineoffire]

Uuuuuuh hi, hi howdy! I've been super possessed by the need to see more male centered fics with the poly!141 soooo here's a bit. I honestly haven't played the games, but I've been looking into the lore because I'm so hyper fixed on the 141 rn. Bare with me, I haven't posted fics here before and definitely never written army anything. Please please please lemme know if you like it even a lil and I'll type up some more.

Fic notes!

So I saw someone talking about a reader who's in it for the money and I liked that idea- tweaked it a little but the basic jist? Mc loves vidio games so much they went to school for it, can't pay, joins the military to pay it all off. I'm writing this chapter ambiguous on gender so far, but I'm writing with a trans!masc reader here because fuck. I can't find much so better make it myself.

-Edit I forgot to put the title here rip

The Right Price

You can't help but stop to think about how you needed to stop biting off more then you can chew. It's been a few months since your recruiter told you all about the joys, wonder, and honor that comes with serving. You where in the second she told you about the pay. Too many student loans, too much microwave ramen, the list went on, but fuck it yeah? You where the one that said that in the first place when you signed up for your courses. The basics, programming, coding, digital design a bit of physiology because of personal interest. You where over the top when it came to studies. Didn't bother you none when you couldn't have a social life. If you weren't busy studying you where quite literally inhaling any game you could get your hands on. But now when you had to fork over the bill money? You started singing another tune.

So here you are. On the training grounds with the rest of the folks recruited at the same time as you.Your sargent was barking out orders for you all to start your runs one by one, but some smart ass was holding up the line. You actually agreed with half the shit he barked back at the your troop leader, but damn it, you didn't want the consequences.

"That's it! You wanna run your mouth? You can all run double to catch up with Marco's mouth! Now!" He yelled white fisted. The remaining lot of your groan and grumble, starting the run together now at double time to hopefully finish before lunch call. Seven miles was what you had all gotten used to. Seven miles of uneven terrain, hurdles and dives, inclines and ramps now lengthened to fourteen.

"Oh fuck off Marco!" One of the recruit remarks, smacking said recuit behind the head before taking off on a spint. Several others join in on mocking the guy before bolting trying to get it over with. You shake your head as you catch up to him and clap him on the shoulder.

"They'll chill out later man just gotta grit and bare it more y'know?" Marco yanks was shoulder away from you, giving you a nasty glare before taking off too. You raise your brow at that, curious to what set him off before shrugging, taking the course at your normal pace with a hand full of the others. Better late then fatiged. The little spat dosn't bother you anyway. You'll all be split into your first teams in less then a week. You doubt he'd even be grouped with you anyways.

Oh how wrong you where. How very. Very. Wrong. It was actually laughable at this point, because you where either grouped together because your Sargent knew you got under Marco's skin for some reason or because fate wanted to see the drama unfold. You took that as a personal challenge either way. Snapping back snarky retorts anytime Marco decided to fuck around, until one day he had you cornered with a handful of others, in your face yelling about how "your kind" didn't belong in the military let alone the states. You let him finish his rant. Something, something, something, God damned, something, something, blight all the good christians, something, something, belong in the kitchen like a proper bitch.

Oh. Okay. There it was. You laugh in your head. No. Outloud. You flip the positions, getting uncomfortably close to the fuckers so they back off some and spout of some tibits you learned in your phycology classes about the brain being easy to manipulate. Quiet anger radiating from your low tone, keeping it quiet to force them to listen harder. You throw in some extra bs about how you could probably "turn" the lot of them given enough time. That them speaking more shit would be an agreement for him to test his theory. They back off after that, but report you all at once for "harassment". There being no evidence for anything you're transfered to one of the other split groups. Half made up of people you didn't enlist with. Mabey this crop would yeild better results yeah?

Nah. You jinxed it. You know you did. Oh well. This time it's just one guy though. And all it takes is a bit of reverse phycology to have the guy questioning his own damn identity so bad he's sent to the on duty therapist. You're transfered out this time by a different woman. Laswell. She heard out your full story of your transfers and unlike your last transfer she gave you a garentee that she'd make sure to find a good fit for you. You shrug and thank her. No matter what you had to tough it out anyways, you needed that pay check after all. Had no where else to go.

It goes sour when you head with her to a base near Wales. You where supposed to go talk to her about setting up here overseas for a while. Something about spreading out more newbies anyways. You really don't understand half of it so you just agree and you're off to training on this base. As long as you're here you're expected to keep up with basics and the routine set by the Sargents and that's fine by you, whatever to pass the time at this point. They run a drill with half the team ment to run a faux attack on half the base and the rest made to counter. You're getting prepared to counter the fake attack when alarm bells are ringing. That's definitely a little over the top. Usually they just yell over the loudspeakers and... You kinda blink a few times before you realize your group of rookies is being pressed to the armory. It's not a fucking drill at this point. This is NOT what you came here for but, oh fuck here you go! You've played too many games for sure. Mabey it's time to cut back. Because you're immediately focused. Immediately setting up the scene in your head to get you in a headspace where it's all a game. It helps you focus and damn you really need help with that right now.

There's active rounds being fired a ways away from the base as you all are suited with gear and munitions. You've trained for this but damn if you ever thought you'd ACTUALLY use any of that shit. You always imagined it was for show, like how you never use any of the fucking math they taught you anywhere.

You're moving on a sort of autopilot, moving out to a defensive manuver outside, staying under cover like you're told until your unit arrives halfway out, between the fighting and the base. It's impossible to see much past a thick smoke blanketing half the scene but you all move out, groups of three fanning out for any injuries and more importantly, any hostiles. You and your group are about to get to your second vantage point when you catch something they don't, you call out a group of several hostiles over what looks like a member of the base before realizing there's radio static.

Fuck it. Risking your life might score you some bonus merit, some extra cash somewhere along the line, you don't know. You're just trying to rationalize why the hell you bolt for the man, keeping low, keeping quiet until your almost upon them all. You get close enough to make out the British insignia on the man's arm. You've definitely seen him on the base before, and now here he is, no weapon in sight, surrounded by four hostiles. You slow your approach and aim carefully, making sure to get the kill shot on one of them, the spray of bullets catching another in the arm gives you enough time to aim for one of the other ones. You've definitely played too many vidio games but you're damn sure that's what kept you from being shot on your first unofficial day of active duty. You roll. Fucking barrel roll on the ground, with enough force to get you away from the spray of bullets from the last uninjured hostile as you stop yourself and make the shot on him. Dumb luck is what you chalk it up to as the fourth guy falls, letting you finish off the second man as he scrambles to retrieve his weapon.

"Up! Up! UP!" You yell to the man on the ground. You don't notice the look of utter confusion from the guy as you rush to help him to his feet. You've gotta get him back to base or at least the rest of the team and out of harms way. So you sprint as fast as you can as soon as the man's up, keeping to your side as you keep an eye out for anyone else hostile or otherwise. You try your radio again, but nothing you backtrack enough to find the spot you last saw your little team and find them under fire, one covering a wound on the others arm, panicking. You're quick to take over, playing out the scene in the same mind set you started out with. Mission in mind. Quest line to follow. You snap the other guy out of it enough to instruct him on how to stop the bleeding properly and grab the injured mans weapon from him, shoving it into the man's hands and directing him to cover you. Again, your oblivious to the look of pure confusion from the man and your uninjured teammate as you work to bandage up your fellow recruit.

You all make it out in one peice, the base being cleared of the small force that attempted to overtake the base. What you don't learn, and no one bothers to tell you. Is that the man you "saved", Captain John Price, has been talking with Laswell. Not so much talking with her as TO her. Your in it for money? Perfect you'd definitely agree to join the 141 with the pay difference.

"John you can't fucking do that. This kid is green. Way too fucking green! They weren't even supposed to be pulled into active duty! They should have been benched with the newer recuits, not out with their seniors!"

Price laughs and shakes his head. "No. This one's got potential and I wana see how far it'll take em." He was impressed by how some rookie was able to show enough guts to help him when the odds looked bad. He had everything under control, but damn if your actions weren't something interesting. Rolling out of line of fire and still keeping a steady aim? That's quite the task, he boasts for you. Hell, you didn't even think twice about Price's rank or authority, your focused was on recovery and living while taking out the hostiles. As much as Laswell regrets to say there's not much reason to deny Price. His eye for talent really was spot on. What could go wrong in all actuality? She trusted Price, and hasn't let her down yet.

"Fine. But I'm keeping a close eye on this set up."

Price grins as he looks down at your small folder, thanking her and flipping through the pages again. Tomorrow you'd be flying out with him to your new base. Joining the 141 as a tech specialist.

[hyperfixation-fix]

Alright girls, guys, and gays - welcome to...

A Newby's Guide to the Marauders Fandom

You keep seeing your mutuals post about this Harry-Potter-adjacent fandom. It seems cool, and pretty damn gay, and you're kinda curious to know more. Except there's one problem: there is little-to-no actual canon.

How do you get into a fandom with little-to-no canon material?

Well friends, I'm here to help! Consider this post your roadmap to the fandom - useful locations are noted, major landmarks and tourist destinations are starred, and recommended routes are highlighted.

But where you actually go is up to you.

Level 1: The Basics

If you're the freshest of fresh meat to this fandom, you may like to start with a nice little overview of our chaos-fanon. Here are some YouTube videos that give you a good tl;dr:

a deep dive into the marauders fandom by uncarley (YouTube video, general topic, no major content warnings) - this is a great starter video, especially if you're not a fandom person usually. It's digestible, fun, and not too lore-heavy.

The Marauders Era Fandom Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, general topic, no major content warnings) - alternatively (or in addition), this is another great starter video, but possibly more from a fandom-familiar perspective. Also Coffeekoe just has great vibes and I want to kiss them on the forehead. Mwuah mwuah mwuah.

Marauders Era Ships Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, several different ships, no major content warnings) - after you've got the gist of how the fandom works, you might want to know a bit more about the common Marauders ships. This video gives an awesome (and comprehensive) overview.

Level 2: The Canon in the Fanon

You're going to have a pretty tough time in the fandom if you're not at least somewhat familiar with The Fanfic™️, All the Young Dudes. This fic is as highly revered (if not more so) than the real actual canon text (obligatory fuck JKR).

First off let's understand what it is.

All the Young Dudes is a long-form fanfiction written by MsKingBean89 and published on Archive of Our Own. And when I say long-form, I mean long-form - this thing is a monstrous 188 (chunky) chapters long. It spans from 1971, when the Marauders start their first year at Hogwarts, until 1995, when Remus dies. Speaking of which, it's also canon-compliant, so I'll save you some heartache and tell you right now that all of the characters die in pretty tragic ways. I'm not going to lie to you, it's a pretty heavy story - there are strong themes of child abuse, homophobia, underage drinking/smoking, drug abuse, abusive relationships, and trauma. BUT. I really enjoyed it and have read it twice now, simply because the happy bits are worth the painful bits.

With all of that in mind, here are (my recommendations for) your options for acquiring your ATYD education:

All The Young Dudes Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, ATYD, some light discussion of triggering topics mentioned above, spoiler heavy!!!) - yep that's right, it's Coffeekoe again. Mwuah mwuah mwuah. This video is a super duper great alternative to reading ATYD, or a great way to dip your toe in and see if you want to commit to reading it in full. Obviously it's spoiler heavy, so if you already know you want to read ATYD and spoilers bug you, just skip it.

All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 (AO3 fic, mostly Wolfstar, triggers as mentioned above) - here's just a straight up link to the fic. You may need an account on AO3 to access it.

All the Young Dudes by BIBLIOBIBULI (YouTube, same as above) - if you're like me and love the idea of reading a long-fic, but don't actually have the time/energy/patience/stamina to do it, an audiobook might be the way to go! This one is great, and complete. You're welcome 🫶

Level 3: Fics of Note

Okay! By now, you should have received your official Marauders Fandom Certification in the mail (or, I guess, via owl), and you're pretty much free to go and explore the fandom on your own. You may, however, still come across references that confuse you. Those (probably) come from one of the many, many, many popular fics in the fandom.

Here's just a few of the major ones and links to them, for your convenience (asterisks indicate fics that require an account to access):

NOTE: This is not a rec list. Approach with caution and read all the tags.

Crimson Rivers by bizarrestars*

Just Lovers (Like We Were Supposed To Be) by bizarrestars*

Best Friend's Brother by bizarrestars*

Choices by MesserMoon

Kill Your Darlings by MesserMoon

All the Young Dudes - Sirius's Perspective by Rollercoasterwords

The Cadence Of Part-Time Poets by motswolo

Art Heist, Baby! by otrtbs

Only the Brave by Solmussa*

Level 4: You're On Your Own, Kid

You're still here? Why are you still here? You should be out there, enjoying your newly acquired fandom!

Fine, one last piece of advice and then you really have to leave:

Engage.

This fandom is unique because it is the weird, Frankenstein's-Monster-esque lovechild of thousands of strange little obsessive gremlin people like you and me. Sure, it only has one eye and far too many nipples, but who cares? We made this and we love it. And it's your job, as someone in the fandom, to keep it alive by engaging. Yes, this is true for every fandom, but even more so here. Comment, reblog, share, recommend fics, ask for fic recs. Fuck it, create too - write, draw, share headcanons, make playlists. It doesn't matter if it's "bad" or "wrong", there aren't any fucking rules.

Add another nipple, by all means! Eyes are overrated anyway.

[sandinmybed]

Ohhhhh you don't know that J2 were the first alpha and omega? I'll be honest, it's not much of an infodump, they just are. People were really into knotting fics in J2 livejournal, and then one day in a J2 kink livejournal group someone put out a prompt along the lines of "a world where there are two types of men, alpha males, who can knot people, and bitch males who get knotted and also can get pregnant" and the first omegaverse fic was written in response to that. And also it is so good that honestly, I'm impressed anyone was brave enough to follow it up. Like, I wouldn't have. I would have just gone "damn, that's a cool idea. I wish I'd gotten to that first. No point now, though, when it was already done perfectly the first time." It's got alpha/omega relations as basically a radical feminism allegory, where some people just view knots and anyone with them as inherently evil (much like how TERFs view penises) and it's got really interesting knotting mechanics that like... I get why they didn't get retained to the present because it's too complicated to have lasted, but I think they were really cool. I highly recommend reading it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/719878

omg thank you for the lore dump!!! that's so interesting that someone just made it up and now it's THIS. can you imagine being that person? and if it was a Livejournal kink meme they were probably anonymous too damn. I'll have to check out the original omegaverse fic

[berrywantsakiss]

Lady Orchid

★ I just drew her so now I gotta talk abt her too ★

- realmsau

I don't have much art of her bc I'm lame and I suck, but wtvs here goes :3

Orchid Amina was married to Elliott Hark, my best friend (Lou)'s oc.

She was born in the kingdom of Erkin in the Flower Realm, and she and her family lived there for the first 10 years of Orchid's life. They then moved to the Spice Realm and somehow Orchid's father got the title of uh Viscount or smth (I haven't decided, and her lore is more recently being established).

Elliott's family was brought on as servants, and idk that's how she met Elliott and fell in love w him

I have never drawn him young so you get these drawings of him (that I hate) ↓

as you can see I can't decide on how I want to translate lou's style into my own sigh

anyway they get married eventually yk

They both become Viscount and Viscountess after Orchid's dad dies

anyway fast forward a few years, Orchid has Lynch Syndrome (?).

she develops gastric / stomach cancer bc of it. she doesn't tell Elliott and she hides it pretty damn well.

Elliott goes away to war, seemingly smth he'd wanted to do for a long time, this fighting. This is a part of the reason she doesn't tell him — she doesn't want him to not go and do what he wants to do.

but anyway, once he's gone, Orchid hires a nurse, Valeria. I have never drawn Eri and I never will.

She slowly gets sicker and sicker, coughing and vomiting lots of blood, is unable to eat or drink, is constantly coughing and in pain.

she seeks out the Queen of her former kingdom / birthplace, Queen Alba. She begs the Queen to let her have some of the water from the Tree of Life / Lignum Vitae to try and cure her illness. Alba tells her the water will not save her, but only make her suffering worse. (the cancer is alive, not just a virus or smth. the lakewater would just give the tumors vitality or smth).

at this point, Orchid is beginning to regret not telling Elliott and making him stay. she doesn't even hope to survive anymore, only hopes to live long enough to see him come home, to see him for only a second one last time.

well... she doesn't live. she dies like a month after visiting Alba and a few months before Elliott's return. She instructs Valeria not to write Elliott reporting her death as she doesn't want grief to overcome him and get him killed.

so ultimately, he comes home to an empty house.

atp Elliott is like 60 or 70 or smth and the king of the ice realm, Elias wants him SOOOOO BAD. (Elias is Lou's oc)

Elliott (from what I can understand from Lou's queerbait yaoi fics) does end up wanting Elias back (?),, but not until Elliott is like damn near dead from being assassinated.

actually I think Elliott ended up dead at that point, hence how these doodles were born ↓

but uh yea that's it so far fjsnnxbnsnnxnnsnnxna

have her portrait,, my beloved Orchid

this was poorly written, but that is bc she isn't really all that developed outside of existing lowkey just for lou and I to torture each other and for Elliott's character.

she was initially just some idea Lou had, the Elliott had a dead wife in his past — shoulder shrug wtvs — and I was like "CAN I DESIGN HER !!! PLS !!!” and now we are here. bc. I made her really pretty 😭😭

her original concept (from when my current artstyle was still developing </3) ↓

but uh, yea !!! thanks for reading :3

I'm going to go doodle her now instead of.. oh idk.. doing anything else 🤭

[morningstargirl666]

what is your writing process with the rewrite?

Honestly? An unholy mix of spite, inspiration and utter madness.

It's important to note I didn't start this rewrite because I completely hated the original draft. I mean, sure, I'm struck by imposter syndrome sometimes like any writer and the old draft is cringey as hell to me now, but as a first draft? It was fine. Certain things needed fixing, sure, but it wasn't awful. So originally, I started editing The Litte Wolf first (intending to move onto TBBW after), wanting to fix any grammar inconsistances, tighten up the lore, get rid of any plotholes, and as a whole create a more consistent, well-rounded fic with better, fully-fleshed out characters. It has been a few years since I had started the series, and my ideas had changed---it needed a refresh. And I knew by this point TBBW was going to be such a long fic, so stopping at the old chapter 35---the halfway point---to change things was sensible. I could change and edit, before moving on.

...Yeah, so, it's the understatement of the century to say things escalated quickly.

Here's why: I saw some writing advice on tumblr once and gotta say, it stuck with me. I'll link it here if you want to read the whole thing, but essentially, the writing process is this: do NOT edit. Rewrite. As in, I literally divided my laptop screen in two and set up an empty word document on the left and tbbw's old draft on the right. I started with a blank word document and re-typed. Every. Single. Word.

And you're probably thinking huh. But there are scenes in the rewrite you didn't change?

Wrong.

I re-typed them too. Every. Single. Line. I found myself changing their sentence structures, the description, dialogue---even the god damn grammar. Nothing in this rewrite has been left completely untouched. When you just re-read your work, editing as you go along, you don't change much. You let things slip by, your eyes miss things. We all do it---ever posted a chapter only to spot a spelling mistake right after?

When you're editing, it's often a tedious process and a lot of the time, you give in and you think, eh, good enough. But when I rewrite? I'm in writing mode. I'm immersed in my fic---without the intimidating blank page holding me back, because I've got my first draft right next to me. I can use it as a template and copy it out, but more often than not, I'm changing things as I go along. I'm reformating entire paragraphs, adding new scenes, cutting old ones out and oftentimes---reorganisning the entire order of said scenes. I discovered flaws in my plot and whole characters arcs that needed reimagining, and I rebuilt them in the best way. So not only did I add 125k+ of new content to what was originally there already, technically, I also wrote over 530k in little over a year?

And you're probably now thinking that's the insane part of my writing process.

Nope.

I also don't write in order. And when I say this, I don't just mean I ping-ponged between chapters, working on whichever ones struck my fancy at the time---because I did also do that---but I wrote chapters out of order. As in, I didn't always start at the beginning of the chapter. Sometimes I started rewriting in the middle. Or at the end. Sometimes, the first scene of a chapter was the last thing I wrote---it's the case of chapter 33, which is why I haven't posted in a few days. The rest of the chapter is written and good to go, but the first scene is not finished. Because I left it till last. I have generally more than once started at the end of the chapter and worked backwards, one scene at a time.

Insanity. Madness. Completely unhinged behaviour. Whatever you want to call it.

But hey---it works.

[acourtofladydeath]

WIP Wednesday - TBAV is back with...

Neve Aenson, only daughter of the Winter's Autumn Court Border Emissary, has only ever met the Vanserra's a few times before. That is until she decides enough is enough and takes over her father's role, hoping to readapt treatise in her Court's favor. What she didn't expect was to find a mate, let alone two. Conleth Vanserra never expected Neve, never expected love at all. He doesn't do emotions. Neither does his brother, Fintan. Those who have met them would say the brothers are polar opposites, despite having been forced together as young boys. How will they deal with being forced together once more?

"Tastes of Desire" explores who the second and third born Vanserra brothers are outside their father and brothers shadows, both as integral parts of the Autumn court and as individuals. You can find out more about the three characters in this fic here. The title and tagline are based on the poem "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost.

This fic has been SO MUCH FUN to write, and working to develop these original characters has helped the lore of the "To Become A Vanserra" universe really blossom. As always, this fic builds on the previous installations, and I highly recommend reading them all in order. I cannot wait to share this fic with you all, starting next week as part of @polysjmweek! Below the cut, you can read a snippet from each of the first two chapters.

Chapter 1 Snippet

She turned when he entered, the skirts of her gown the only sound in the room. The fabric was gorgeous, a dark thistle color more vibrant than any other he’d seen in the manor before. But what finally took his breath away, stealing it from his lungs before he could choose to exhale, was the look of challenge written across her pale face. Her vibrant blue eyes were already narrowed, painted lips in a slight frown as she looked him up and down.   Neve, Conleth remembered her slightly upturned nose and the powerful set of her shoulders from the few times they’d met at equinox and solstice gatherings. They’d danced, once or twice, at the gatherings. But he’d never really talked to her before today.  When she spoke, her voice was sharp, yet composed. “Well I certainly expected you to be more foreboding, seeing as you’ve walked all over this court for the past several years.”  Conleth inhaled to respond, but when he drew in the breath, something else joined the oxygen that rushed into his chest. The bond slammed home with the ferocity of a blizzard, wrapping around his heart like the snow had danced around his boots on his walk in. He lifted a hand, feeling the thick suede coat above his clothes, and the tight tether coiling in his chest. Conleth looked down at his hand before glancing up, unable to hide the shock on his face. The look on her face was a challenge, one he’d have to learn to meet quickly, because Neve was his mate.

Chapter 2 Snippet

Conleth entered, his steps intentionally loud against the soft wooden floor that had been inset around the tree. Bookshelves lined the walls of the circular room, alternating with floor to ceiling windows. Regardless of his brother’s obvious entrance, Fintan stayed bent over his desk, intently reading with a quill tucked between his teeth.   “You know, I've always thought it was sacrilegious to keep so many books close to the tree,” Conleth spoke as he meandered slowly to the side of Fintan’s desk, eyes roving over the cluttered bookshelves.  “Because you care oh so much for the tree,” Fintan mumbled around the quill between his teeth. He’d had this particular habit since he was a child, his mind running too fast and hands too busy with other things. Fintan couldn’t simply put the quill down because it was one of the only objects he was regularly capable of losing.  “Try again, dear brother, I’m not sure I heard you over the damn feather in your mouth.” The sarcasm dripping from Conleth’s words was thicker than molasses. 

My deepest thanks to @climbthemountain2020 for being my sounding board and cheerleader through the development of this fic, and helping me with edits and beta work.

[lacyscabinet]

Willow Waly

A/N: okay so I'm not dead (to the people who asked me that in my inbox, I see you) 🙌🏻🤗 but I have no inspiration to write requests, I'm in deep emotional despair and I don't want this blog to slowly die soooooo enjoy this nat x ghost reader fic 🤍 the song I quote in the fic is "Willow Waly" if you don't know the song then you probably haven't seen the hunting of Bly manor (would recommend!!)👀👀👀 written in about 15 minutes while I was bawling my eyes out 🎀

Summary: reader is a ghost that hunts an old mansion in Wiskayok and Nat is dumb enough to break in and face her destiny :) also special thank you to Shauna for being an amazing narrative expedient :))))) (people with cars are cool @pinkmoonzzz)

Special thanks to @jollyreginaldrancher my favorite typo spotter 🤍🤍🤍

WARNINGS: death!, reader is dead, Natalie dies.

Enjoy 🤍🤍

"Isn't it violation of..."

"Shauna" Natalie said with a stone cold gaze, fiddling with the straps of her backpack while sitting in Shauna's passenger seat "That house is empty from like...a decade"

Parking her car at the side of the road, Shauna's head tilted and looked directly at Natalie "Yeah because of that story old people tell kids to scare them away" she chuckled "Scary ghosts"

Natalie's brows furrowed, she didn't know what Shauna was talking about at all "What?" she asked in confusion, causing Shauna to let out a big sigh "Guess I'll have to tell you the whole story then" she spoke with a fake mysterious tone, causing Nat to roll her eyes.

"A family moved there in the 70s, mother, father and daughter, I'm talking about rich ass people that ended up gambling all their money way, and, one night, the daughter was killed, they found out the parents did it, apparently she was dating someone and her parents didn't approve their relationship" she took a deep breath. "The legend says that the girl's ghost is still there attempting to kill everyone who gets inside the house to find herself a new lover" she finished off with a dramatic voice

"Damn" Nat exclaimed "Wiskayok has lore, who would've imagined" she said giggling before going back to her usual cold stare "I'm not scared, and it's a free place for me to stay, my father was a real asshole today" Natalie said as she opened the door and got up from her seat, turning on the torchlight and pointing it in the mansion's direction.

"I told you you could stay at my place" Shauna scoffed.

Natalie just shook her head, it didn't matter how much her friend insisted, she couldn't help but feel like her presence would intrude. So she just plastered a small smile on her lips and a wave of hand before closing the door "Thanks for the ride Shauna"

And now that Shauna was driving away, she was alone.

Walking towards the ruined wooden door, she could hear the porch cracking under her feet, screeching and almost crumbling under her weight.

Once the door was reached, she opened it with ease, multiple years of sneaking into places led her to mastering her bobby pin tecniques.

And the second the door was halfway open, she immediately realized that she was wrong, the house wasn't empty at all, several pieces of furniture and decorations still adorned the inside, covered in dust and cobwebs, carrying signs of the time passing while everything remained still and frozen in time, untouched.

That's when the unsettling feeling kicked in.

Taking a last look outside, she started to think that maybe it wasn't a good idea, but what was left for her outside? a bridge? a street? the trailer?

The allegedly haunted house seemed more welcoming than any of the above.

So she closed the door behind her.

Deciding to explore the remains of the house, she felt like she was transported back in time, the calendar dated back to 1975, and after entering the huge kitchen, she didn't fail to notice the old toaster and other visibly dated furniture.

Until her eyes landed on something. Something she wished she never saw.

"Holy shit" she whispered, looking at the knife holder, noticing one single big kitchen knife missing.

It sent chills down her spine, especially after what Shauna told her, so she backed up and decided to go upstairs and find a place to get some rest, trying to ignore it, it's not real anyways, or at least that's what her mind kept telling her.

Turning around, she noticed a big fancy wooden staircase that headed upstairs, old and dirty blue carpet guiding her way up as she cautiously walked up the stairs, noticing the little intricate details.

And then.

Blood.

Big stains of blood caught her attention as she reached the second floor, her breathing grew heavier as she thought about whatever it could be, some animal hunting a prey and leving traces behind?...in Natalie's mind it made sense. After all it was just a legend. Right?

But as her eyes shifted she started noticing that the blood trailed from the top of the stairs to a closed rusty door.

She was already inside the house, curiosity taking over, the urge to explore was too much, she didn't believe in ghosts anyways, but the thought of exploring a crime scene was thrilling enough to convince her to go further.

So she took a couple of steps foreward and opened the door. Instantly regretting it, eyes meeting an unmade and messy bed on the wall right opposite to her, her eyes immediately landing on the sheets, they were almost completely covered in blood.

Natalie gasped in horror, torch falling on the ground and her trembling hands reaching up to cover her mouth, wide eyes darting away from to obscene sight and a grimaced expression written all over her face.

And then she heard it, a soft mumble, a hum, a weak broken whisper echoing both in the room and in her terrified mind, it took her a while to realize that it came from upstairs.

The attic

She didn't understand why, almost as her feet started moving on their own, she found herself climbing up the tiny ladder at the end of the corridor, pushing open the small door on the ceiling and finally reaching the attic.

Now she could hear it vividly, someone was singing, but even there, she couldn't see who it was, some old boxes blocking her view.

" We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow, but now alone I lie and weep beside the tree..."

The stranger's voice trembling and on the verge of tears, almost sobbing.

"Singing oh willow waly by the tree that weeps with me, singing oh willow waly till my lover return to me..."

Nat's hands trembled, curiosity replaced by fear and fear replaced by terror in a matter of seconds.

"We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow, a broken heart I have, oh willow I die, oh willow I die"

The stranger kept singing. Louder.

Taking a deep breath Natalie quickly got back to the second floor, not even hesitating for a second and immediately sprinting out and running for the door, the creature's chants echoed throughout the whole house, making Nat's head spin as panic filled her whole body, almost making her legs give out as she ran down the stairs.

"Singing oh willow waly by the tree that weeps with me, singing oh willow waly till my lover return to me..."

Finally she could see the door, finally grasping onto some hope, but of course it didn't last long. Because as soon as she tried to open it just like she perviously did to get in, she relized that it wouldn't budge. It was locked.

Curses left her mouth as she kicked and threw fists at the door, her only result a bruise on her knuckles.

Tears of frustration streaming down her face as she started to feel a presence getting closer and closer to her, hunting her down and refusing to let her go.

Then, all of a sudden all the rage, the panic, the desperation and the misery she felt were replaced by a feeling of extreme emptiness and coldness, she felt lighter as if her body was slowly detaching from her soul, even though she swore she didn't take acids that night.

And then she heard it. Closer then before.

"We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow, a broken heart I have, oh willow I die, oh willow I die."

[ladiemars]

I love Nor and her giant sad puppy eyes, I would love to know more about her

thank you!! have a hastily drawn nor ft. her giant sad sopping wet puppy eyes:

+ a giant nor lore dump below the cut જ⁀➴

➸ her whole character was inspired by that one textpost that’s like, “characters with both the abject terror and desperation of an animal that knows it is cornered and destined to be eaten. you just can't get that kind of angst out a successful hunter” and this quote by james harriet: “if having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.”

➸ she’s is the product of a union between a drow woman and a deep imaskari man. for those who don’t know, the deep imaskari are a human subrace (from 3e) that have stone-like skin and hair that’s white or black. because that’s nor’s human half, most people assume she’s completely drow upon meeting her, since did not inherit any features from her father that would make her look less like her drow mother.

➸ the deep imaskari live longer than other humans—up to 550 years—so nor ages at a rate more akin to drow and elves than half-elves or humans. nor believes she’s currently around seventy years old, though she could be off by a decade or two. she’s not sure when she was born and has long periods without human contact. she really isn’t sure how much time has passed.

➸ she has no given name, but eventually ended up going by the name ratcatcher, which is what the locals in baldur’s gate called her. halsin is the one who names her nor shortly after they meet, which is the elven word for “passion” and also “run.”

➸ this excerpt from one of my fics sums up her urchin/orphan to urban ranger/beastmaster pipeline pretty well:

➸ around the age of twenty, nor grew to resent humanity so much that she decided to leave baldur’s gate and live in the forest with only animals for company for half a century. (this is when she lost track of time completely.) in the forest, she became an expert in survival, attuning her ears to the slightest twitch in the air, to every noise and smell. she lived in a cave and slept curled up beside velvet on a bed of willow leaves. the events of baldur’s gate 3 is the first time in decades that she’s had social interaction.. and it shows.

➸ she has a little wolfdog companion named velvet. (i’ve drawn him and her and halsin and scratch here). he was another half-breed who didn’t quite being anywhere, so they bonded very deeply. (fun fact: velvet killed the elder brain in my first playthrough as nor. he’s a legend in faerun now.)

➸ laezel is her bestie. they are ride or die. neither of them understand a damn thing about faerun or its inhabitants. but that also means they don’t judge each other for anything, cause they both just kind of assume what the other is doing is normal

➸ a big part of her character is her dynamic with the emperor. she gets manipulated by him so bad because he tells her everything a forgotten, unloved creature wants to hear: i need you, i’ll protect you, you’re not like other people, we’re a team, you can trust me, i want you to join me, you aren’t alone. it’s not until he begins to pressure and compel her to become illithid against her will she starts to fear him and his power over her, and after certain revelations she realizes he was using her and turns on him altogether.

➸ obviously she romances halsin. i love the dynamic of beastmaster/druid. they’re extremely well suited because they’re both such inherently good people and they bond a lot over their love for nature. they are also the only two people who can really understand each other’s animalistic quirks.

i’ve written some fics with her that you can read here if you’re interested. >:3c

[cdroloisms]

some c!dream fics don't take into account his flaws and make him like a little bit out of characther bc while he was traumatized by the prison and it affected his way of thought in much aspects he was still able to bit your hand if you looked him bad and got more focused on his revenge and after his plan. He's a more morally grey characther and sometimes people who try too hard not fell into the c!inniter caricature ended up making him unable to literally even hold a sword when that isn't true either

"revenge" lol

to be fair, c!dream was deeply affected by the prison and absolutely got nerfed like hell fighting wise. the difference between his fight with clingy before and after the prison is insane--not to mention how scrapped lore had him so damn triggered by the sight of the cell replica that c!quackity and c!sam could get him down pretty much without a fight. las nevadas five has him running away from the fight at the first main sign of danger (and then successfully being followed by c!tommy without noticing) and the scene with c!sapnap and c!george with aimsey had him barely fighting back at all, cowering behind his shield against a wall, and running away and using arrows of harming to get himself distance. like, sure, he can definitely still fight, but he was absolutely played as losing a lot of his fighting ability (c!dream's fighting style is nothing like cc!dream's--it was absolutely a deliberate character choice to have him act like this)

all that being said, i get what u mean--ooc c!dream is everywhere in every flavor. i definitely like c!dream written with a little bit of bite, especially when he's on the back foot, as you said. c!dream's declarations of revenge (as is especially evident in LN5 and daedalus, boy what the fuck is torturing a country supposed to mean IT'S A COUNTRY) are also very evidently ... often defensive in nature? c!dream bites and shows his teeth as a back off back off dont fucking touch me don't try to fuck with me gesture because he's scared moreso than angry, tbh, and i think playing with aggression due to fear is something fun to do with c!dream in fic in general bc of the ways that aggression can be perceived and then responded to

a lot of what i like about post-prison c!dream is that ... despite an alleged focus on revenge (which took him months. and fucked him over, with scrapped lore, and was badly executed both times with quackity and put him in a lot of danger and involved a hell of a lot more trying to get through to sam than actual revenge in daedalus) and The Plan (which involved ... killing people? and then he repeatedly. does not kill people?) is that he does feel quite directionless. he's still in the prison, still caught in that limbo. he's doing research (i guess) and he's letting the prison (his home base) rot around him. he's staying there and barely leaving for weeks at a time. all while he's focused on the plan, guys, #trust, he's fine, he's still moving forward moving on ... just. Just.

[bardic-inspo]

🪻 - You already know my favorite scene you've written (The woman cries in glass, my beloved) but I'm very curious about which scene you've written is your favorite! Pick from any of your fics and if you have multiple favorites please do tell -- it'll give me an excuse to reread them.

🌸 - I would love some behind-the-scenes commentary on Blood in the Mortar, especially if you could talk a little about what inspired that particular fic! Or ... if you want to give some behind-the-scenes commentary on how Naomi herself came about as a character, I'd love that, too.

🌼 - Would you please share some of your current favorite fics and/or writers? I need to find some more cool OCs to obsess over.

🌷 - I hate the distance between us because it means I can only show you love through words and not actions, and so much of what I say to you reads like I'm just blowing smoke up your butt. But I genuinely adore you so freaking much. I love how empathetic you are, I love your willingness to try new things and step outside your comfort zone even when it's scary, and I love how you give out encouragement like it's pocket change. I just love you so much and I'm so glad I met you.

Oh, I wonder *who* this could possibly be, hehehehe. 😉

🪻- First of all, you're an angel. And second...I had to think about this because I wasn't immediately sure! I think I'd have to go with either the intro scene or the 'torture' scene in Blood in the Mortar. I really enjoyed those scenes because it was my first experience writing an OC (or really any character) that's explicitly a villain, and I liked giving Naomi a sense of presence and power even before she shows up or speaks. I loved writing arrogant Ascended Astarion, and writing Naomi being a fucking freak. They're both so...pretty and petty about it.

🌸- ahhh you've hit on my favorite fic of mine, hehe. I could ramble so much about this one. This fic was sort of a culmination and a turning point for me where I realized 'actually, I love ascended Astarion very much, just as much as spawn, and he has SO much untapped potential'. I've since found a lot more ascended fics in veins I like, but at the time, I felt really starved for what I wanted to see in an ascended fic. This was a 'fuck it, I'll do it myself' fic and that alone made me feel really free. I could be as off the walls as I wanted to. I can be very self-conscious about my writing, so that was a rare thing for me to feel sort of liberated that way. And even though it was a lot of work (smut fics are always harder for me) it felt like I made something unique and I truly had a blast with it.

I was heavily inspired by the vampire bride lore that has circled around the fandom and wanted to double down on the shared mental/emotional link as something really literal/tangible (and kinky). I also adore the idea of A!A as a service dom. And although I have since written generic Tav, my preference is to write a named OC with backstory and characteristics I can dig into. Naomi was the OC I wrote BG3 fic for to begin with with spawn Astarion, so this was a way for me to explore the "what if" of what the ascendant ending could look like for them. (Surprise: I liked it so much I started another longfic about it and now generally consider it to be the more likely canon scenario for them, hehe).

🌼YES ABSOLUTELY!!! Not an exhaustive list, but here's some incredible fics that I adore to pieces, take up permanent residency in my brain cells, and feature explicitly named OCs:

i'll peel my heart like a pomegranate if you promise it won't go to waste by @amoremagnificentbastard

you love me like i'm solid when i'm but a silhouette by @amoremagnificentbastard

say yes, but only if you want to by @amoremagnificentbastard (What can I say, Amy doesn't fucking miss. ;) )

Portrait of the Pale Elf by @larvasmoon

Sonnet of the Lone Cardinal by @brain-rot-central

Can I be Good? by @arzen9

How Far you've Come & No Good Deeds by Garnett Gibson

Damn, this is what if feels like to be you? by @kalmiaphlox (Kal also has a longfic with this OC that's on my TBR!!)

^^^all of these authors are so talented and inspiring. I'm so grateful that they share their incredible writing with us.

🌷- I love you too, sweet friend. Your friendship is a gift I never expected to receive just from falling into deep, deep hyperfixation over a beautiful bastard vampire man. I'm grateful for it every day. You make my life brighter just from having known you, and getting to be your friend. I am sending you the tightest hug through the internet right now. 💜🫂

[not-freyja]

I was tagged in the fic writter tag game by both @toyouhellohowareyou and @rebornofstars . Love you both!

(All metric and ranking based questions have, to the best of my ability, excluded all works posted on Anon.)

1. How many works on Ao3?

51!

2. Total Ao3 word count?

727,467 so far!

3. Top five fics by kudos?

Okay so funnily enough, every fic in the kudos top five belong to the same series: Doubt the Stars: a Star Trek AOS AU where Kirk is raised in space, him and Spock meet and bond as children, and every possible shenanigan they can concoct ensues. The first installment (and also number one kudosed fic) is:

Adventure is Out There

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Trek (TOS and AOS) and Zelda (ALBW, FS, BOTW, and LU) currently. But I have also written for LOTR, Supernatural, the Walking Dead, Sherlock, The Boondock Saints, and Harry Potter (lmao regret).

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, every single one.

6. Fic with the angstiest ending?

Lol. Lmao, even. I’m not going to say what you think I will here, actually. So I have a WIP, and that one will have the angstiest ending so far. There’s a one-shot of a pilot here: Gale

Base premise is a Koholint retelling with a baby Link (Lore) who had already met the Chain and the entire thing is serbii’s fault and it will end in tears.

As for fully completed fics, the angstiest I have off-anon is probably Frenetīk, Sky’s Adjuration Epilogue and a testament to the aftershocks of grief.

7. Fic with the happiest ending?

The Gravity of Never Letting Go is a disability AU of ST AOS, a real downer of a time, but does end in surprising joy. A bit of a personal vent about accommodation (wrote it as my own disability progressed to the point of actively changing my life plans.)

8. Do you get hate?

[starts laughing and does not stop] Yes!

9. Do you write smut?

I do! And I enjoy it very much.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not as a rule. Not really my jam, though I have tried my hand at it before.

11. Ever have a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes and no. Nothing that is publicly available at the moment, but I have been told of several translations of the Damn Fic that are in progress. To the kind folks attempting such a thing: may the wind be at your back.

13. Have you ever co written a fic?

Yep! @straight-outta-hobbiton and I co-wrote Doubt the Stars, and @gia-d (the breathtakingly beautiful) and I are currently writing Shadowed together.

I have also contributed to the stellar Ganonrulie series, with canon works by @rebornofstars @nyastri and @toyouhellohowareyou

14. All time favorite ship?

As a multishipper this question causes me physical pain. Sprik? Old reliable, Spirk is. Also Ravioli. Gigolas.

15. WIPS you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Head in hands. Every day I tell myself to go work on The Oracular Refrain, and every day I fail. I’ll get there eventually. Please.

16. Writing strengths?

Characterization. Without a doubt. The one thing I know I do well is getting into a character’s head.

17. Writing weaknesses?

Spelling. English is a garbage language made of garbage phonics. I would die without spellcheck. There is probably a typo in this post, even.

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue?

Mixed. I tend to write very focused pov so if the narrator knows what’s being said, so does the audience, and I would just specify the language in the dialogue tags rather than make the reader translate.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ever? I don’t even remember. But my oldest surviving (we don’t talk about the fic purge) work on Ao3 is Learning to Breathe, a Cas-centric Supernatural oneshot. It isn’t good, to this day has a (deserved) comment count of zero, but I was proud of it at the time.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Okay how funny would it be if I didn’t say exactly what you think I’ll say? Imagine. *hem, hem.*

This is an Adjuration, or as I (mostly affectionately) call it, The Damn Fic, was the most impactful, life changing, and transformative thing I have ever done, both as a writer in the work, and in real life.

It is a classical tragedy, where the end is set in stone before the characters walk on screen. It is a story about love, and what it means to us, even in the darkest of times. It is a story about Link, every version of him, and the sum that is greater than each of his lives.

It is also where I met the woman I love, in the fucking comment section. We’re moving in together this summer! It’s where a group chat for my readers formed - that is now my group of dearest friends. A bunch of us are going on vacation together this month!

What a wild ride that was, is and—though the narrative has ended—will be.

I will leave you with this: You have to remember the love (this is an adjuration).

…anyhoodle, new victims! No pressure: @straight-outta-hobbiton @gia-d @hotcheetohatredwastaken @needfantasticstories @musical-chan @bokettochild

[shiny-jr]

hiiii!! I recently got into quotev to read your most recent release, "how to steal a heart," and was curious if u have any recs for other yandere quotev fics? :o or just any quotev fics in general!! ^_^

feel free to disregard this question tho if u don't have any recs or simply don't want to answer!

Thank you, anon! I'm glad people seem to be liking that story so far. I'm hoping that I can find the time to write for it soon. Hopefully. Anyways, as for recommendations. That's a difficult request for me to answer for two reasons. One: I rarely have the time to read, and when I do read these days its physical books. And two: I'm terribly picky so if I don't like something about a fic its automatically out.

But, I managed to fish out a couple of things from my library that I finished reading ages ago. However, keep in mind, I meant what I said when I say that it has been a long time since I read these fics. So they may not be as good as I remember, or I may get some things wrong. Keep that in mind. Also, these are all yandere x reader stories.

Infectious Intent by Darkened Warrior. I remember when I first discovered this story, I stayed up reading it. I stayed up late, and legit got kinda scared because imagining certain scenes in this story and reading the details gave me the chills and was just not a good idea to read it while it was pitch black and the dead of night. Even the ending got me.

the martyrdom of a final girl by MAI. This is one of the more recent stories I've put in my library, and by recent I mean it's probably been there for almost a year now. I haven't caught up with the updates, but I remember the story really gave kinda protagonist and friend group in the 80's-90's sort of horror vibe to it. Although I don't remember if it got to the yandere yet. It really hooks you in with action that starts fairly quickly which I very much value when starting a new story.

Humorously Inconvenient Tragedies by riz. In all stories, I very much value action. If there's not action in the first few chapters, I usually toss the story out. However, this story managed to be the sole exception to that. I think it's the written tension that managed to keep me hooked. Like the questions of why and how, along with the tension between characters that keep me intrigued.

Bonus: Shameless plug for How To Steal A Heart because damn it if people won't write Latino yanderes then I gotta do it myself. Also because its a vital part in the whole oc lore I have which has been obscure up until very recently.

[slayerdurge]

god the most annoying thing by far about writing post-ending bg3 fic is how much of the canon plot makes no damn sense. especially the ending.

why is it that only a mind flayer can use the netherstones to dominate the netherbrain? i know emp says that they're just so much smarter than humans but that doesn't actually make sense. even an ordinary elder brain dominates mind flayers just fine. so obviously they're still significantly lesser to it. also being intelligent isn't just like an "i win" button. you still have to actually do something intelligent. 😂

and if it's all about intelligence, then how does orpheus factor into it? do they need to absorb orpheus's power to get closer to the netherbrain? but why, if they're ALREADY controlling orpheus's power and it's obviously already working? what's different about eating his brain? i know they get his memories, but if it's something in his memories that helps, then why is that never acknowledged??? and if having a mind flayer who ate orpheus is so crucial, then why can you just kill them and take the netherstones back??? does it just stop being crucial once they've dominated it once?? like if it's beaten once it just stays beaten forever?

(tbh this may just be my very blatant personal bias talking, but i almost feel like they just needed to shoehorn a way to make sure gort dies no matter what because if the plot were logical, he would win. he's pretty much the only person in that story that actually consistently behaves in an intelligent way.)

AND ANOTHER THING. clearly not everyone in the city is tadpoled. so then if the player character takes over the netherbrain, why do they gain immediate control of the whole city? do they just have enough people under their thrall that they can use their military might to just pacify the rest? is the netherbrain so powerful now that it doesn't even need tadpoles to dominate people? that's suggested by its ability to just kill gort with a command, but if that's the case, then why doesn't it just dominate the whole city instead of leaving some people able to fight against it? and if it CAN'T control non-tadpoled people, then how DOES the netherbrain kill gort anyway? does it just cast power word kill? i mean i'm pretty sure they're not supposed to have spells by default (only psionics) but i could believe that the crown of karsus gave it magic. i guess we can ignore that he obviously has over 100 HP because maybe it has a stronger version of power word kill because the crown is just so very powerful. but then why does it only use it once??? i mean i guess it's a 9th level spell so maybe it just... doesn't have that many spell slots? idk.

(or, you know, his death was shoehorned & he obviously should've won 😂)

even the lore items have so many inconsistencies. there's a document written by gort where he says that the elder brain will never produce enough tadpoles to tadpole the whole city or even a majority of the city, but then there's ANOTHER one where he talks about his plan to tadpole the whole city. so like. which is it? the main thing i can think of is that it started to produce more tadpoles after it became a netherbrain, but he didn't KNOW that it had become a netherbrain because he's surprised to see that when he sees it at the morphic pool, so that couldn't be reflected in his notes if he didn't know it. there is a note by ketheric that says that gortash anticipated that it would become a stronger version of itself before it actually happened, so maybe you could justify it that way. but it's still a bit of a stretch. the other thing i could think of is that the note where he says there's not enough tadpoles was a private note & the note where he talks about the plan to tadpole the whole city was an official note to the bane hierarchy. meaning that maybe he's just lying to his bosses. which i kinda like because it is a little funny.

anyway the only thing i can even think of to do fanfic-wise is just change some stuff to make it more logical & just gloss over the stuff that's too absurd to even be fixable.

[kalmiaphlox]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

oooh thank you for this! I think I've done this before but it was a while ago and now I have a few more fics under my belt!

I'm Better Now, I know My Faults - my completed dadstarion long fic, coming in at 206k. I recently reread this, and while it's a fucking mess from my inability to stick with tenses in the first like 14 chapters (I promise I'll fix it one day, I'm so sorry new readers!!), I am super proud of what I created. It's not perfect, it's kinda long, but damn I wrote all of that and I miss my lil characters. I wrote well over 100k of it before I actually started posting online and every word was a labor of love.

Till Lies Break Our Hearts - current WIP. Arranged marriage AU between Astarion and my OC/Tav Hircine. Inspired by a lot of Korean manwhas that involve the same trope, I've been really enjoying writing this one. Manipulative Astarion and secretive women, what's not to like? Lots of Elder scrolls references, drow lore, spooky shit and eldritch happenings in this one so I have a lot of fun just doing whatever I want.

If You Give A Vampire A Polymorph Scroll - probably my favorite short fic of Astarion and his big (little) dragon gf getting up to funny business in Waterdeep. Crimes and lots of biting to be had with these two goobers. I just like silly stories

Crash Landing - a little dad-batstarion. Astarion learns how to fly as a bat and becomes much to confident. A cute little fluffy story. Also one of my faves.

Damn, this is what it feels like to be you? - this one is definitely a labor of love... I've struggled a lot with just keeping the characters properly differentiated and then I could complain all day about writing smut lol but it's been a ton of fun writing something so different, especially for a character that is resistant to this type of stuff.