#I haven't really explored their personalities much

[redmoonwanderer]

FFXIV Write 2024, Day 1 Prompt: Steer

At first, the loud sounds, mostly banging on metal and stone, get the whole tribe wary. They think, and rightly so, that the Imperials were dealing with some percieved trouble in the vicinity of their home, and quickly gather their belongings.

Well, the adults do. Qhol’a’s oldest sister Felha is tasked with taking the children to safety, and they rush for the Comet’s Tail, where they would meet the rest of the tribe.

There hasn’t been refugees coming through, lately, and the well-trodded paths in the forest are in places hidden with new grass and bushes. The tree-line has withdrawn closer to Gridania since the Imperials invaded in their hunting grounds, and there’s less cover to take, but his sister knows her way around, and Qhol’a and the other children start to think of it as a game rather than a precausion when they dash from shadow to shadow. “If that monster sees us, the game’s over,” says one child, Reha, and points at a large, three-headed beast whose heads are actually more like plants. Qhol’a wonders how it sees or hears anything, and how they can even decide if it’s spotted them when all the heads are turning this way and that.

But one by one they go by, with Felha leading the way, and find their way safely to the lit caves in the southern Fringes. There they wait for what feels like an eternity and a half, and when the children try to play, Felha tells them to be quiet. The way she hisses at them, Qhol’a’s not sure if she’s angry or scared, but because Felha is fated to be a great adventurer, and they are never scared, she must be angry. Qhol’a thinks it because the Imperials are in their territory.

Finally, the rest of the tribe arrives. Some talk with Felha quietly while others look after their children. Qhol’a is quiet, like the good child he is, and listens. Beyond the murmured greetings and questions between blood-families it’s hard to tell what his sister is talking about, so he sneaks a little closer. When he tries to sneak past two grown-ups, his shoulder hits someone.

“Oww,” says the voice next to him. Qhol’a doesn’t say anything, but rubs his arm and looks at the youngest of his three sisters (who is still older than him, though she’s smaller than him. It’s kind of funny when outsiders think she’s the youngest). Elys seems to pick up on his intent, puts a finger on her lips, then leads him to the side, behind a rock.

“-- to say what, but I don’t like it. Either way, our way over to Gridania is blocked, for now, maybe for a very long time,” Qhol says to Felha.

Aw, they missed the important things. The two look at each other in disappointment, but before they can do much else, Qhol speaks loud enough that the others can hear. “Children, come on here.”

Qhol’a and Felha step out from their hiding place, and Qhol gives them a knowing look, but seems a little proud. Maybe she hadn’t seen them go there? Elys giggles and Qhol’a smiles as they join the group of others.

“Firstly, you don’t need to be scared,” Qhol says. “The bad guys aren’t attacking, they’re building something. We don’t know what, but we might find out eventually. But they are really, very close to us now, so you need to be careful. No going out alone, just like before. If you see something or hear something and don’t know what it is, tell one of the grown-ups. Most important of all, steer clear of whatever they are building. You can’t go to Gridania anymore. If you see anyone trying to go away alone, tell us.”

The kids look at one another, then one, a five-year-old Nilh, raises her hand. “And what if we see Qhol’a going out alone?”

Because he’s the only one who can, because he’s allowed to do magic. It makes him feel a little important.

“If you do, you can still tell the grown-ups. Just in case,” Qhol says with a smile, and Nilh nods her head.

After that, they’re told they’ll be sending the night in the cave, and that they will find a new place for their home tomorrow. Or the day after.

Just one look at Elys, and Qhol’a knows that they’ll be out to see the secret thing the bad people are building. Not today, probably, but one day.

[sskk-manifesto]

Ep 10!

[helpimstuckinafandom]

Me starting another bg3 run where I will make virtually all the same decisions in mostly the same order as if there isn't different branching paths

[starbuck]

the telltale sign that you've been watching good films is when you get legitimately confused by two-person relationships in media. Like. where's the third person? we need them.

[antirepurp]

oh dear jojo ova discussion is threatening to give me grade A stardust crusaders brainrot again. but like i already did a whole-ass rewrite on part3 that incorporates themes from the ova so what the fuck am i even going to do with this ??

[birlwrites]

How go your projects? I believe the writing ones at present underway are Bloodfinch and possibly the Rainfall sequel?

primarily drafting bloodfinch, but i also have a short story in its final round of edits!! i was hoping to get it out in june, but both my personal and work life have gotten incredibly busy, so new goal is sometime in july

i'm like, cackling and plotting and scheming with bloodfinch because i did some plot work similar to when i was making posts about the foreshadowing in lachrimae that was just Appearing and me trying to make sense of what my subconscious wanted me to put in - i've discovered something veeeeeeery interesting about finch that nobody knows except me and one (1) fictional character (not finch) (they've never even met, unless of course they have............) (not that finch would know anything about it because she is a delightful mix of self-sacrificing and self-absorbed and is not super perceptive as a result)

oh also i've changed a couple of things about finch's friendship with adalric - the first thing is that i took the 'h' out of his name because it has a much more Fantasy Story vibe without it. sometimes i forget that i have done this. i'm going to have to do a ctrl+f for 'adalrich' on the full draft. the second thing is that now, at the beginning of the story, they've been close friends for years, which is behavior that the king indulges because adalric is a very dutiful crown prince and he shows zero (0) signs of letting his friendship with the bloodfinch affect his obligation to his country. i plan to throw that out the window, of course

and i've changed something very, very important: at first, i was writing finch singing as being a pretty non-magical experience, very much in line with my own personal physical experience of singing. but now, due to Plot Reasons Mumblemumblemumble, singing makes her feel physically horrible, regardless of the perfection of her technique.

did i have to scrap my previous draft and start over? yes. did i then beat that word count within 48 hours? also yes. is it going to be a stronger story? DEFINITELY yes. so i'm very excited!!!!!

i've like barely been on tumblr the past week or so, so my blog's mainly been running on queue, hence the lack of me posting about how writing is going atm (i also haven't had much writing time ajgkhjgksdf). but please do feel free to inquire at any time!

[smute]

virginity is a construct but that means sexhavership is also a construct. i used to be such a slut but when that phase ended in my late twenties i swung round to the other extreme and became so perfectly celibate im not even sure i could find the hole anymore gromit. i am not a virgin yet i have never felt more virginal in my life so what does that make me?

[confetti-critter]

I played too much minecraft. Now its 8pm and I'm just now having dinnar (creem chease bagel+various ffuits) 😞

[vyrantium]

hmm. i haven't made ambrosia's playthrough spicy enough when it comes to durge things, i think. i need to replay her anyways because i missed a bunch of stuff, and maybe this next one will be more... tragic

[bittershins]

I've been thinking about star wars and the expectations and features of certain types of storytelling - mythopoetic, war drama, politicial commentary, tragedy n all that jazz - a good bit lately, but ever since I finished screechers reach I've been caught up about folklore and fairytales as a bit of worldbuilding. I wanna know what Jedi fables look like

[tvrningout-a]

maybe i'll reread earlier j.jk chapters bc i've had the urge to get back into it and develop tsugumi, miyuna, and chiyo's verse more, but i don't wanna touch the most recent chapters unu

[rizardofether]

The Beginning of Yet Another Life

A short story about how Null's current life began, and where his current name came from. (Null is a character who keeps reincarnating with all previous memories intact)

“Aren’t you worried about our progeny?” Mother asked.

“I am. He still hasn’t uttered a word..” Father sighed sadly.

Hearing my parents in this life say that, I realised I had forgotten how fast asura develop. It seems I should have started talking by now. The last time I had been an asura was 300 years ago. I have to make an effort to start talking from now on…

-

“I can’t help but worry...” Mother sighed.

“I know… It seems like our progeny only has interest in history and historical inventions…” Father nodded in agreement.

It really can’t be helped. I somewhat got the hang of things 300 years ago, but it’s taking me a while to get a grasp of modern asura technology. I can’t help it, I just have to study harder, I suppose.

-

“Destroyers incoming!” Mother shouted.

“Damned monsters just cannot leave us alone, huh?!” Father growled.

While we were on a trip outside Rata Sum, a sudden destroyer attack occurred. My parents had holed up behind a nearby merchant’s cart. They could defend themselves to a certain degree, but against the horde of destroyers, they simply didn’t have the power to win.

“Still no sign of the Peacemakers yet?” Father asked, while struggling to hold back a destroyer.

“I’m afraid not! What should we do?!” Mother looked around, distressed.

Father managed to take down the destroyer and looked around before turning to Mother and I.

“Look, I am going to create an opening. You two escape when I create one.” He said while sternly looking at the two of us.

“No! What about you?!” Mother began weeping.

“We cannot all survive at this rate. I will sacrifice myself. Just go!”

And with that, Father turned back to the destroyers, taking their attention. Mother cried as she took me closer, getting ready to leave.

“Now!” Father shouted as he spotted an opening in the destroyer horde.

Mother grabbed me and began running. However just then, a destroyer turned its attention on us. It swiped at mother, causing her to loose her balance. In a quick reaction, she tossed me away.

“Run! You must escape!” She shouted.

Even if I did run, I could not get far with my small body. I would likely die again. It has been a while since I died before reaching adulthood. Though I had known this life’s parents for less than a decade, I felt despair. I just couldn’t bring myself to get used to death no matter what. In fact, it would be better for me to be the one to die since I am bound to be reborn again and again. Everyone else though, they only get one life, even if they are reborn, they forget about who they were before. I alone stay the same. As I watch the destroyers who killed my parents get closer and closer all I can think is: “I am so tired of this.”

Just then someone grabbed me from behind, pulling me away from the destroyers. A Peacemaker steps in front to fight the destroyers.

“Are you injured?! Come, I’ll take you to safety now.” A second Peacemaker says as they begin slowly pulling me away. I take one last look behind me at the destroyers and the bodies of my parents. Why couldn’t they have arrived sooner..?

“Alright, it looks like you only have a little scratch on you. You’ll be fine now. What’s your name, progeny?” The Peacemaker smiles softly.

My name? I realize I can’t remember what I was named in this life. I have always struggled with names and it has always taken me years to learn even my own name each life. I didn’t have enough time to get used to it. I don’t even remember what my name was the last time I was an asura, it’s been 300 years since then.

“My name is… Null.” Since I can’t remember it, the first word that came to mind was that. Nothing. It happens to have the same structure as many common names asura tend to use.

“Null, huh? Let’s go back to Rata Sum together and we’ll take of what happens next, okay?” The Peacemaker smiled, taking my hand. Hopefully I’ll at least remember my new name this time since I came up with it myself…

[the-ancient-dragons]

How to Spot a Dragon Before it Spots You!

(Written by a human for humans in the Wings of fire universe).

Transcriptions of my chicken scratch and closeups of each tribe can be found here (two separate posts)!

Otherwise, next week I begin Overcomplicating the Pantala tribes. See you then!

I was inspired by a bird of prey identification poster at my sister's school. It had a very similar layout. I really loved the coloured poses and the multiple silhouettes and thought it would work so well for the Wings of Fire dragons. I'd seen another artist experiment with their wings shapes and wanted to give it a try myself. This is the result! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

All the designs you see here are not final - I drew these without properly planning their full bodies, but the final versions I will try to keep as similar as possible. The only change I might make is the position of their wings. I also won't go back and change this because it doesn't need it. They look good enough like this and, who knows, the changes I make might not be enough that the final designs would be any different. I will be doing a lot of muscle and skeletal anatomy, possibly written in the perspective of a NightWing since they seem like the type to explore the insides of a dragon for science.

This, however, is written in the perspective of a very lucky human who saw these dragons and lived to tell the tale. Or maybe it was a collaborative effort between multiple people adding their own wisdoms, like the Dragon Manual in HTTYD 1. I haven't read Dragonslayer but I think they refer to the dragons as '[element] dragon' (not [Element]Wing at least). I also think that they're not sure RainWings exist (at least according to the 'Here Be Dragons?' over the rainforest, but I didn't want to exclude them from this piece).

The main purpose this guide would serve in-universe would be to help humans identify dragons, preferably before ever being seen. That's why I used a lot of auditory and movement descriptions unique to each tribe, ways that a person could identify a dragon without needing to be close.

I'll be splitting the closeups into 3 and 4 tribes each following this post so you're not scrolling for 10 years (you still will be but I'll try to keep it brief. Will I succeed? No!

Stay tuned next week for the beginning of Overcomplicating the Pantalan Tribes: SilkWings!!!

[rafeandonlyrafe]

distant calls

words: 700

warnings: 18+ only!, smut, male masturbation, mentions of p in v sex, like one use of kid, protective!rafe, one mention of violence, kinda creeper!rafe i guess??, dubcon possibly?? not really but just in case!

“hey princess.” rafe smiles when he hears immediately how excited you are.

“hi rafey!” you squeal into the phone, wishing you weren't separated by the distance, forced to talk on the phone instead of in person.

“how was your day pretty girl? what did you do?” rafe asks.

your cheeks blush red at the nickname, never getting used to it no matter how many times he uses it on you. 

“well, it was a port day!” you start to describe your cruise. you really did try to have fun with your parents, but part of you longed to have rafe around, to be back in the obx where he could look after you.

you tell rafe all about the city you stopped in, where you went to shop and a cave exploring excursion that you ended up sitting out to wait on the beach until your parents got back.

you kick your feet up and down, back and forth as you recount everything to rafe. he stays mostly quiet, only letting out a few grunts and light sighs that you suppose is his affirmation that he's listening.

you feel so lucky to have captured rafes interest. you're not dating, haven't done anything at all yet beyond rafe holding your hand when you cross the street, but you're enamored with him. rafe is just as infatuated with you, but he would be damned if he told you, preferring to just keep you smiling and beat up any guys who look at you even a second too long at parties.

“and then we got back on the ship.” you twirl a finger absentmindedly over the blanket as you lay on your stomach on the bed. 

“did you eat baby?” rafe asks, his voice sounding strained.

“yes, of course.” you nod quickly despite rafe not being able to see you. “we went to the buffet and i got a chicken salad and then i even got dessert!” your exclaim, proud of yourself. “i got vanilla ice cream with sprinkles.”

“that's good, kid.” rafe let's out another sigh that has you pressing your ear into the phone, listening intensely to hear a weird somewhat wet sound that you can't place.

“keep-” rafe gasps out. “keep talking baby. tell me about-” he has to pause again as he grunts. “tell me about tomorrow.”

you instantly lose your suspicion as you let out another squeal. “rafey, you will never believe it!” you explain how you're going snorkeling in an area where people commonly see dolphins and you're really hoping you see them on the boat ride out to the reef.

you giggle with excitement, not realizing what your sounds are doing to rafe.

many hours away, back in the outer banks, rafe is laying on his bed, back propped up against the pillows, one hand holding his phone close to his ear while his other furiously strokes his cock.

it wasn't his intention when you first got on the phone, but hearing your sweet little voice had him pulling his cock out of his shorts.

“oh wow.” rafe says, tacking on a moan at the end that he hopes is disguised by his words.

rafe knows he's going to break the second you get back from your cruise. he's going to pick you up himself and bring you to the closest bed, even if it's a shitty motel. he's not even confident he'll make it that far without needing to take you. maybe the side of the highway will do.

you continue talking away about the itinerary, not a clue in the world that rafe is so close to ending the game you've been playing, the teasing about to come to a wicked end.

“are you in your pajamas?” rafe asks, interrupting you. but he doesn't care. he needs to know more.

“yup.” you say, popping your p’s. “been in my room for like half an hour now. it's so warm even with the ac blasting i'm wearing just a t-shirt.”

it's all rafe needs, the image of you splayed out on the bed with just a t-shirt on, pushed up to reveal your bare cunt and perfect tits. rafe doesn't hold back his sounds as much as he knows he should, grunting as he cums with a final stroke, releasing all over his abs.

“you okay rafey?” you question.

“im perfect, dollface.” rafe says, sighing as he lets go off his softening cock. 

“wanna switch to facetime?” you pout. “i miss looking at you.”

rafe switches without second thought, loving to see the way your eyes widen when you realize he's in bed shirtless, eyes squinting at the sticky white substance dotting his lower half.

taglist: @drewstarkeyslut @forstarkey @f4ll-for-you @dilvcv @drudyslut @jjmaybankswifes-blog @rafescokenostril @jjsmarijuana @seeingstarks @angelofcigs @cece45450 @babygorewhore @vanessa-rafesgirl @michelleisheres-blog @outerbankspov @drewstarkeyswifehoe @cutielando @sourkittie @rafeyslove @rafeinterlude @bellbottombaby @deeaardiary @rubixgsworld @wearemadeofstardust0 @leighbronk @starkeysheart @pradabambie @tobesolovelysstuff @alexiskirkland @rafestar @brioffthegrid @juniebugg @magicalyoura @cokepewpsii @mysticallystilinski @luvdella @aerangi @vogueprincess @auryyz @raysmayhem-72 @thestarlithideout @marvelfanfics1recs @rafesgiirl @dityaadama @chiaraanatra @tobiaslut @drewsephrry @1aarii1

[saturnberry]

Hans is getting some love in the next chapter of the ABCs fic ;)

[finnlongman]

Dear Tumblr, I have been desperately wanting to share this news with you since May last year and now I finally can: Gollancz is publishing not one, not two, but THREE of my queer medieval retellings over the next few years! You'll have seen me posting little bits about these books in the past, but I'm so excited to get to share them with you properly.

First up in 2025: The Wolf and His King, a queer retelling of Bisclavret that uses werewolfism as a metaphor to explore chronic pain and illness. It's also very much about gay yearning, fealty, and the mortifying ordeal of being known. Partially in second person and partially in verse, you can see my previous posts about it under the tag the wolf and his king or, for the really early ones, werewolves and gay yearning.

In 2026, I'm bringing you The Animals We Became [working title], which is a queertrans retelling of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, looking at gender, compulsory heterosexuality, and trauma, via nonconsensual shapeshifting. Lotta trans vibes, lotta trauma; I wrote a first draft of this last year because I got carried away writing the sample chapters for my proposal and I'm excited to get deeper into it in edits. Aka t4t shapeshifting and trauma; generally tagged as also owls are transmasculine now.

And finally, in 2027, which is the one I've honestly been most excited to tell you guys about, it's To Run With The Hound [working title]. If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I wrote a book with this title way back in 2018… well, the one I've sold isn't exactly that book, it's a proposal for how I intend to completely rewrite that book from the ground up, but yes, this is it: my Cú Chulainn novel, my queer medieval Irish book, my (hopefully) magnum opus. Haven't written it yet, but the plan is to use a nonlinear narrative to explore why Táin Bó Cúailnge is a tragedy, featuring a great many feelings about Fer Diad, Láeg, and Cú Chulainn himself.

There's a bit more detail and some FAQs on my website right now, but the most important thing is QUEER MEDIEVAL BOOKS WRITTEN BY SOMEBODY WITH MULTIPLE DEGREES IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. If that sounds like your jam, stick around.