#I post wips because I just know I’m gonna Fuck this up at some point

[ellethespaceunicorn]

Lessons From a Social Media Break

I know I told y’all I would be making this post about a million years ago, but life got in the way (as it so often does). I wanted to explain why I’ve been mostly absent for the last seven months.

[And before you even ask, NO, I am not pregnant. I actually had an endometrial ablation in March 2024 that eradicated my periods and was the best decision I ever made in my life (apart from meeting my Wifey).]

Putting this under a cut because it got a bit long.

Now, I don’t know how the rest of you may handle your Neurodivergence / AuDHD / Bipolar / Depression / Anxiety, but when I’m overwhelmed with all of these things at the same time, I tend to shut down. So, around October 2024, I hit a wall, and I shut down slightly. And then in November, the voters of America let me down and chose to elect a brainless, fascist, racist, transphobic felon and sexual predator as their leader.

I really started to give up hope around this time and stopped being social almost completely. That included online and real-life scenarios. At this time, I deleted my Facebook, my Twitter, and my Instagram. I spent most of my time playing video games (Skyrim, The Witcher, Minecraft, The Sims 4) and being in a world of my own creation.

Spending most of my time playing and learning how to create CC for The Sims 4 [where I am currently working on making Sims based on a fic by @blackwood4stucky because as soon as I heard/read the synopsis, I knew I must have the characters to play with 🔥], and working on my mental health.

Also, I owe a debt of gratitude to @peyton-warren for being one of the best friends I have ever had. I love you, babygirl! Thank you for letting me vent, whine, fall apart, and bounce ideas off of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I also started Zepbound (tirzepatide) and have lost over 30 lbs. I'm letting my hair grow out, and my trichotillomania (compulsive hair-pulling) has been under control for some time now. I have made great strides in therapy, and even though some days are hard, I still strive to make the best of what life hands me (lemons, etc).

With that said, I miss writing. It's such a very important piece of my life. I've been writing stories for over 30 years, and I refuse to just lose that passion. I hope to update my stories soon. Including The Howling in Claw Creek Forest, Daddy Knows Best, the Sweet Redemption saga [it has its own masterlist now!], and finishing my 1K follower event Sweet Treats, and other WIPs that are begging for attention.

I also miss my Tumblr and all the friends I have met along the way. Y’all don't even understand the complexity of what a safe space Tumblr is for me (for the most part). I can be myself without worry of being called weird or whatever. I mean, I am weird, but that's beside the point.

Anyway, this post is fucking long as shit so I'm gonna shut the fuck up and go reply to my notifications.

Thanks for coming to my Elle™️ Talk!

[whydoilooklikeawetdog]

Aight , now that my hellish uni exams are over I can actually get some work done for the GF fandom girlies. I have like 12 or so WIPs but struggling to render em so it might take some time plus I also wanna do some shitposting ( that will be like a final test to see which one of u really watched season3 lmao).

And tbh I’d really love to tweak GF canon a bit in general cause as much as I adore the show no one can deny that some characters got royally fucked over by the production and that’s not to mention the abysmal plot holes. I will of course stick to the source material because the general characterization of the cast is on point , just gonna expand on the ideas n stuff.

And on the topic of s3 we all know how that worked out in canon so I’ll mostly focus on that I think. I actually really vibed with the core ideas that s3 tried to execute (well most of em) but necessary changes need to be made ,like ; D’Jok DOES NOT LEAVE FOR TEAM PARADISIA CAUSE WTF , no more try hard love triangle bs, Mei does leave for The Shadows and plays for them for more than half a fucking season because that idea is actually amazing imo, not including the whole Sinedd’s family plotline, and tbh I might just cut the entirety of Team Paradisia or at least try to make it work by them not being androids and just skilled players related to the planet who decided to form a team with Magnus.

This is getting too long so when it comes to the main characters I’ll just say:

- Sinedd will stick more to his season 1-2 self when it comes to personality (although that can be applied to everyone tbh).

- I will add more core motivations to everyone and highlight the significance of the GFC by turning it into a powerful source of well…money (the victorious team won’t just get to have their flux fly across the universe for a while but it provides the winning team’s planet with resources ,support and influence and of course confidence and pride ( I should also mention that I would’ve preferred for the SK to lose the s1 cup but place high and win the the s2 one cause it makes more sense).

- The GFC won’t be held every 4 years because come on , even the show gave up on that idea lmao.

-Mei leaving the team won’t be her just listening to her mother’s bs AGAIN but rather a conscious decision - in my head she adores the SK but wanted to grow more as a player and felt stuck. Maybe even add a cute scene of her and Mice training together , him teaching her shooting stuff and her showing him how to block (just more of these two together pls). She was thinking about leaving the team since s2 but it was just a passing thought. My girl is ambitious as hell however she always was portrayed as one of the more uhhhh “ darker?” Of her team along with Sinedd , you know she has a tendency to foul and her general attitude - that won’t change and all. She will master the smog and I’ll leave it at that.

- In general more focus on the GFC players and the tropical white-collar crime zone that is Paradisia lmao also the villains.

- the unfunny gags in the form of those two fuckass robots , and others will be cut entirely, also no Lun-Zia ,she was fun as hell but god knows we don’t need more cast members do someone is getting forced to play as a defender ( *cough* Mark *cough*).

I have more of these but this post is a goddamn essay already. Those ideas will be how I will be portraying my s3 ( cause I’m not touching the previous seasons, I’d go insane ). And I should mention that I’ll most likely just post fanart and alike as I’m definitely not an experienced writer lmao. I’d love to hear your ideas for s3 , feel free to dm me or share em here. Thanks <3

[aldisobey]

20 Questions for Fanfic Writers

I was tagged by the ever delightful @holdingontojupiter I’m cleaning out the confessional for you, hiding away whatever happened in there. Maybe keeping a souvenir.

Alright. I started fic writing and fandom past Dec. Still feel new. I had like, one forum of friends I wrote stories with for a year and it’s been solitude beyond, this is absolutely delightful. If you were tagged for this post I wanna seeeeee but no pressure. I felt like adding tags in a fun way. If you’re tagged you’ve inspired or helped me in some way thank you.

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

8 - though they’re all quite small I think Foolproof will end up being my first completed ‘story’

2) What’s your AO3 word count?

24,093 - sweet that’s more than I expected

3) What are your top five fics by Kudos?

Nascent Blight

Fuel to Fire

Weeping Hole

Fading Out

Rituals

4) What fandoms do you write for?

Dragon Age: The Veilguard right now. Maybe I’ll explore BG3 or D&D stuff at some point? I don’t know. An idea really needs to hook me.

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

YES. Okay it takes me some time but that’s because I have to dig myself out of the grave first. If I have a bad day I’m reading the comments. If writing won’t flow? Comments. Brain starts telling me I can’t write? Comments. I must respond. They’ve given me more than they know.

6) What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I love angst. Nascent Blight is still the angstiest I think. Any in Volkarin’s Beloved is usually angsty

7) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

My magnum opus Weeping Hole

8) Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! Not that I’ve seen.

9) Do you write smut?

I have! And I do. I’m in my apprenticeship. I study @razildor and @thepalehorsevictoria I’m hoping to make it to journeyman with my next release. Hello lovelies. @heylittleriotact you already know I devour your stuff to learn this art you’ve mastered. AND YOU @ollypopwrites almost got me buying gold how DARE I am an anarchist, goooold??? No. Aureate my sinful pleasure. I don’t need finery DAMN IT.

10) Do you write crossovers?

I do not. Or have not. I don’t know if that’ll ever interest me. @jainydoe has me wanting to put Emmrich with a vampire somewhere…no…Hannibal. They should have dinner.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. But look. I own nothing. What is mine is yours. What I release is for anyone. Everyone. Not minors. What they gonna pretend they wrote it? Lmao cool do it again. Do it for me if you will. Steal my fic spread it far and wide to more people. I support crime. Fuck ai though. You do that shit you’re dead to me. Mostly I’d be sad of stealing because I wanna talk and talk and talk about everything.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! That’d be sick, translating must be hard af

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope. But Weeping Hole and Foolproof wouldn’t exist without my producer and Emmrich behavioral consultant @emmg thanks for letting me workshop in our shared space lover. I need you to you know you changed my life for the better when you engaged with Nascent Blight. So many stories on this site because of you, what a shining star, a beacon. You are Worne’s father bless.

14) What’s your all-time favorite ship?

HANNIGRAM I just love Hannibal. I love Mads.

15) What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hmmmm. I believe in my current wips. The want to finish keeps them, if I have enough content for wip there is hope. I want to write a chode fic like @lavenderprose now. But Maggie. I. You. ~Lavender- I’m singing and I want it to be your voice. Thank your lucky stars I can’t go visit Ursula down in the deep to swap.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Ooof. I legitimately don’t know how to answer this. I don’t see myself clear, mic to my love, my beloved, @caffeinatedmunchkin ~you raise me up~. She speaks my strengths to me so I can keep on digging. She said I can write stuff you can see and feel. Thank you kisses forever. “neatest tightest snappiest prose” bless you and all your words. I want to put you on my will.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Actually getting words down for one. But I’m getting better at that. And I think I overuse some phrases or words. Maybe I could use more detail and more in the head stuff. But really I want to get better at getting stuff written before I start languishing over my style lol.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

If the fic needs it, the fic will get it. I’m not going to add it just to have it? I’ll never avoid it if it would be natural to have the dialogue in another language. It’d slow me down though because I’d be obsessive with making sure it’s right and I’m a one language having knowing yank. I despair. I’d move to a land of language if I could.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

I’m going to say Call of the Wild because it made me write wolves on neopets loool. Technically Dragon Age. You know the first RP forum I joined was for the Inheritance Cycle. But being here feels like my first foray into ‘fandom’.

20) Favorite fic you’ve written?

It’s gonna be Foolproof I’m having the time of my life. Emmrich having to deal with Worne as a bodyguard is way too much fun for me. Don’t worry Professor you’re gonna love him. @by-ilmater thank you for that idea friend. I think it’s going the distance.

——————

And that’s all for now! you know me I could talk forever but I love you all and I love even the folks I haven’t engaged with. 🧡 share stories 🧡 share art 🧡 @mistressandry see tagging you as well because I enjoyed reading brushes with death last night! Yell at me in messages, at me whatever, writing is survival for me. I’m going to do my best to disappear and finish my chapter.

[gojooooo]

here’s an old concept that i’ve decided to post because i just know it’s never going to upgrade from wip to actual fleshed out thing. very cute and silly hehe. takes place at some point during the culling games.

sukuna closes his eyes, suddenly unable to protect himself with his two other arms, and waits for a blow that never comes. when he opens his eyes, yuuji’s fist is frozen mid air while he looks down at sukuna with wide eyes.

“why do you look like that.” the young sorcerer, who has sukuna pinned down on the ground, releases the curse’s arms from under his knees and when sukuna goes to run a hand through his hair he feels a familiar buzzcut tickling his fingers.

“ugh. get off me, brat”

“why.”

god, he’s so stubborn.

“i said get off me” sukuna insists and when he tries to sit up yuuji sits back and both men hiss when he presses down right where sukuna’s crotch is, effectively grinding down on him.

“don’t you think you should move” sukuna deadpans, cheeks red and breath caught in his throat.

“it gets the job done at keeping you still so i’m not moving” yuuji pouts, determined, cheeks equally red.

sukuna has barely the time to roll his eyes when hana and fushiguro approach the two men.

“ohohoh, would you look at that” chuckles a voice that doesn’t belong to either of the two teens.

“shut the fuck up angel” sukuna is quick to retort, his irritation growing at the sudden audience that his rather embarassing reflex is getting.

“what does it mean?” yuuji insists, desperately looking for an answer.

“just like a predator turns into a bunny when wounded and cornered, a weakened curse is reduced to the form their heart subconsciously clings to the most.”

“fuck off. that doesn’t apply to me”

“it applies to everyone, king of curses or not” the mouth on hana’s cheek curls up in a smirk.

“should’ve killed you when i had the chance” sukuna grumbles and finally pushes yuuji off of him, whose guard is down because he’s processing the information and he lets himself be pushed back, not missing how sukuna doesn’t actually shove him too hard and makes sure to stabilize him before his hand leaves his chest.

later that night, yuuji is on his old middle school roof.

when he hears footsteps he immediately turns around with his fists up in the air and glowing of a beautiful blue.

“relax, brat. just me” sukuna mockingly raises his hands in the air before shoving them back into his pockets. “jeez, when did you become so nervous?”

“take a wild guess” yuuji deadpans, lowering his hands.

“right” sukuna chuckles, passing by him and going to stand at the edge of the roof.

yuuji dumbly stares at him until sukuna calls him out. “stop fucking staring” he mutters, closing his eyes and furrowing his eyebrows.

yuuji is quick to look away and he walks up to sukuna, going to stand next to him. “sorry! it’s just so weird seeing you like this”

sukuna sighs. “it’s the same as it was”

“except you can walk away and anywhere you want” yuuji says quietly.

sukuna curiously looks at him for a moment. “does it bother you?” he asks, trying to make it sound casual.

“no” yuuji replies, then, “not the having-my-face part, at least” he adds.

sukuna hums, pleased by yuuji’s subtle confession.

“are you alright? i haven’t heard anything about you destroying half of japan yet” the boy smiles, looking up at the stars. they look especially bright on this night.

“i don’t have my full powers anymore”

“maybe you can’t cross your arms twice to show double disappointment but i’m pretty sure you can still slice everyone in half”

“alright well i don’t care for it. i’m just gonna do whatever until i die again”

“oh?” yuuji turns to him.

“i’ve changed perspective is all” sukuna mutters and when yuuji just keeps staring he sighs. “you made me reevaluate things, is that what you wanna hear?”

“only if it’s the truth” yuuji’s lips curl up in a smile and sukuna can’t help but match his expression.

“why are you here anyway?”

“i could ask you the same thing” yuuji shrugs, doing very little to hide his intention to be difficult just because. brat.

“i’m obviously not gonna tell you first” sukuna replies, because what is he if not the everlasting opponent of yuuji’s teasing game.

“how about we say it at the same time and we’re absolutely honest about it?”

risking trusting a curse, huh? you never learn, itadori yuuji.

“and what if my answer is pathetic and yours isn’t?”

“i give you permission to slice me in half. wouldn’t be a first anyways”

“you give me permission, hm?” sukuna chuckles. “deal”

yuuji slowly counts down as he turns to sukuna and his cheeks turn pink.

“…because i’ve been missing you”

“…because this stupid human heart has been yearning for your presence.”

“oh.”

“hm” sukuna smiles, delighted, as silence stretches between them for a few seconds.

“come again?!” yuuji exclaims after realization fully hits him.

“that’s the best you’ll get, brat” sukuna chuckles, “take it for leave it.”

yuuji goes to stand in front of sukuna.

“you’re blocking my view”

“i am your view. do you really mean that?”

sukuna smiles, half amused and half fond. “i never say things i don’t mean” he mutters as he cups yuuji’s face with his hand.

yuuji leans forward and takes sukuna’s face between his hands, kissing him slowly, then fervently, hungrily, the urge between them spilling out more and more. sukuna kisses yuuji back as he puts his other hand on the small of yuuji’s back, pulling him closer until their bodies collide. it’s not enough. it’s not enough. they need to be one again.

yuuji breaks the kiss, his body gasping for air, but tries to go back for more. sukuna smiles against his lips, slightly tilting his head up. “breathe, yuuji” he whispers.

yuuji groans at that. “again” he mutters between short breaths.

“yuuji…” sukuna complies, filling the moment by starting to pepper yuuji’s neck with kisses. “yuuji, yuuji, yuuji…” he whispers sweetly as yuuji tilts his head back to grant him more access, sighing at the use of his given name.

[saveahorserideaneddie]

🩺!

🩺 - "Something Med School Didn't Cover" or the 'Nurse!Eddie' fic!

I'm FINALLY getting around to replying to some of these WIP asks (genuinely when I posted that ask game, I expected to have more time than I ended up having and here we are literally a month later oops....)

----------

“So, Eddie,” Chimney asked, his mouth full with a bite of lasagna as he spoke. “Got anyone special in your life?”

He waggled his eyebrows as Maddie shoved him in the shoulder.

“Stop talking with your mouth full,” she scoffed. “Are you six years old?”

“Sometimes we wonder,” Buck teased.

“Like you’re any better,” Chimney sassed back.

“I am,” Buck smiled, smug. “I always swallow first.”

Eddie choked on his water- as did Bobby and Ravi. Athena dropped her head in her hands, Chimney barked out a laugh, and Maddie rolled her eyes.

“Jesus Christ, Buck,” she said.

“What?” Buck asked, innocently, before he widened his eyes with a dramatic fake gasp. “Oh did you think I was talking about-”

“That’s enough,” Bobby said through barred teeth, giving a pointed look to Buck. “Some of us actually want to enjoy eating our meal.”

“Just trying to keep it entertaining,” Buck raised his hands in mock defense.

“If we wanted dinner and a show, we would’a gone to the drive in,” Athena said, raising an eyebrow at Buck- one of the many looks of hers Eddie has learned means ‘don’t fuck with me.’

“Yes, ma’am,” Buck grumbled, returning to his food like a scolded child.

He had no business being that cute.

Eddie was about to stab his eye out with his fork.

“Anyway,” Chimney said. “Eddie, you never answered my question. Got anyone special in your life?”

“Just Chris and Abuela,” Eddie replied, taking a bite of Bobby’s delicious food.

“So you’re single and ready to mingle?” Chimney asked, waggling his brows.

“What, are you gonna be his wingman?” Athena asked with a small smirk.

“I’m just curious!” Chimney defended. “Geez, let’s all gang up on Chimney today...”

“It’s easy to do,” Ravi said, timidly, earning a fist bump from Buck.

Chimney narrowed his eyes, looking between the two of them before returning his scrutinizing gaze at Ravi. “Are you almost finished with the buffering on the chrome?”

“Y- yes,” Ravi said, his ears turning red.

“Good,” Chimney replied. “You can do the rest the right way by using the buffering tool that Buck lied and said we didn’t have.”

“What?” Ravi exclaimed, his eyes growing wide.

“Have you thought about dating now that you’re starting to settle, Eddie?” Maddie asked, and Eddie felt his throat tighten.

���He doesn’t like to date because of Chris,” Buck answered for him, everyone’s heads turning to him.

“And how do you know this?” Chimney asked.

“Because everytime I try to set him up with someone, he never lets me,” Buck replied.

“Maybe you just suck at being a wingman,” Chimney pointed out.

“You got my sister pregnant before you told her you liked her,” Buck smirked. “I don’t think you have a great track record for setting people up when you couldn’t even set yourself up.”

“Hey, don’t drag me into this measuring contest,” Maddie rolled her eyes. “I have no interest in it.”

“Besides, I’m at an unfair advantage if it’s Maddie judging that contest,” Chimney said with a wink, and Buck choked on his drink.

“Can we not talk about this at the dinner table?” Athena said, giving both of them another look.

“No, but we can talk about it at the lunch tab-” Buck started, but was cut off with a slap to the back of the head by Bobby.

--------

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Wip Whenever

Helloo! I got tagged by both @skyrim-forever and @redyn-nerevarine for wip wednseday. Been a bit all over but we have a few line arts, render progress and writing. So first arts. First Boys have hair and now require facepaint.

Some Morrow!Josh with a plait because why not?

Some Joshi with a new invention (will elaborate in a separate post)

The theme has been Sluttymerrobe

Writing will be after the cut. Just a lot of Joshi being a Dwemer nerd. From chapter 13 of Sleepers Awake.

“I assume you are bothering me because you’ve come back with results, Mister Sero?”

Teldryn exhaled at the head excavator’s gruffness, though he thought better than to talk back…as much as he wanted to hurl an insult. The last thing he needed was to have this opportunity fucked because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut…he’d already compromised his position enough simply because he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.

Gods he was hopeless.

“I found your notes,” Teldryn simply stated as he rummaged around in his satchel, pulling out the slightly singed pile of loose papers and tossing them lightly on the giant, stone table that Senilias was working at.

Senilias reached for the pile without looking away from his work— what seemed to be extensive notes about the single, disembodied centurion spider leg that lay in front of him. He wondered briefly if Senilias would let him read them, but he decided against it.

“And Anes?” he asked, finally looking up at him, “Sero why are my notes singed?”

Teldryn sighed and folded his good arm over his chest, “Vendu didn’t make it. Fell to one of those constructs long before I’d made my way down there.”

Senilias nodded, his face not giving away any hint of expression. No sadness, no worry— fuck not even anger! It was driving Teldryn mad!

“I feared he might be dead,” Senilias mumbled, flicking through the notes Teldryn had given him, “This is terrible news, I should never have let him explore the ruins alone. Did you find my letter whilst you were down there?”

Teldryn sighed and tossed the scroll onto the table, “I’m assuming this is it? An hang on— you knew that Vendu was gonna be down there?”

The Imperial unfurled the scroll, a slight frown on his face, “Anes had come to me a few days before you arrived announcing that he’d managed to open the lower levels. It’s why I wrote this letter to Edwinna,” he tapped at the scroll in his hand, “I was hoping that Anes would have taken a few notes of what he found down there. But it seems that—”

“He probably didn’t get a chance since the place is fucking lousing with constructs,” Teldryn grumbled as he took a seat on the table, much to the Imperial’s distaste, “I think he found something though. Just didn’t get a chance to document it.”

“What do you mean?” Senilias frowned at him as he organised the loose notes back into a neat pile.

Teldryn reached into his satchel again and placed both the stone he’d found and his journal with the translations he’d made beside him. He pointed to the large, heavy stone and slid it carefully towards the Imperial, “Vendu died trying to retrieve this.”

Senilias Cadiusus’ eyes widened as he reached for the stone, turning it in his fingers, “Hmm, I wonder if you know just what this is Mister Sero?”

Teldryn sighed to himself and opened his journal to the page he’d made his transliterations from, “I recognised the top lines of writing, made my own notes on— Hey!”

Senilias snatched Teldryn’s journal from his hands, his eyes switching from the stone to the journal and back again.

“Where did a native mercenary pick up a working knowledge of Aldmeris?” Senilias asked almost in disbelief, “Usually that’s reserved for elite Imperial education.”

“An what makes you think I didn’t have one?” Teldryn grumbled chewing on his bottom lip.

“Well, usually your sort—”

“My sort?” Teldryn pushed, tilting his head a little. He could see the Imperial turn a little pale; he wondered if he really needed to push his point any further. Usually, he would but dammit did he need to stay in this guy’s good graces if he wanted to keep doing this sort of thing. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself.

“I come from a well-off family from Blacklight out on the mainland,” Teldryn explained calmly, “Got myself that so-called elite Imperial education you talked about.”

“I ah,” the Imperial stuttered, passing him back his journal, “It’s impressive, Mister Sero.”

“I figured that Vendu might have had some knowledge of Aldmeris too?” Teldryn postulated as he placed the leather-bound book into his satchel, “I found that stone in the grip of a centurion that had collapsed into its sphere,” He traced a circle in the air with his finger, “An Vendu lying dead next to it.”

Senilias nodded at him, “Anes was a scholar of the Dwemeri language. We had both been hoping that we might find a translation key on one of these expeditions. Much of what we know about the Dwemer comes from records written in Aldmeris from the late stage of their empire.”

Teldryn smiled and tilted his head, “Yeah I know that, an as far as I’m aware we still can’t read the Dwemeri script.”

“I guess Hasphat Antabolis recommended you for a reason,” Senilias sighed, “You’re right. So far we’ve only had Aldmeri transliterations at best. Nothing like this.”

“I think that’s the translation key you’ve been looking for then,” Teldryn smiled in reply, “So I guess you got something for your report?”

Senilias nodded, sliding the tablet back to him, “You should take this to Edwinna Elbert in Ald’ruhn immediately. Take this letter with you when you go.”

Teldryn’s gaze moved towards the scroll as Senilias rolled it towards him. He caught it in his hand, leaving sooty handprints on the surface of the vellum.

“With that stele you’ve found, Edwinna will be more willing to let this all slide,” Senilias explained as he reached for the pile of notes he had reorganised earlier, “I will continue my work here, now that you’ve unlocked the lower levels who knows just what’s waiting to be discovered!”

(or not, Joshi set everything on fire by accident.)

[vacantgodling]

i am back to do another round of (mostly) answering all the questions of an ask game and this time it is @ink-flavored's fantasy ask game! i’m gonna be doing this for my GIANT fantasy wip the chronicles of lathsbury (tcol) bc uh this story is just fucking massive and i never give myself excuses to talk about it so i’m gonna. as per usual, i'm not gonna answer ALL the questions; if i don't have a good answer or it doesn't apply i'm just gonna skip the question :)

if you’re curious of tcol’s actual plot (becuase there is one, surprisingly) have a little blurblet here:

Piper Fairwind (she/her), Deux Undershield (she/her), Sandra “San” Dearborn (they/she), Clear Brightendale (he/him), and Forte Symphonia (he/him) are the newest contingent in The Aegean Guild of Explorers. They all are chosen for various reasons, and begin their hopefully promising career at literally the same time that The Labyrinth is beginning to grow more restless than it ever has been before. Why? The Demon King, Lord Evondra — unbeknownst to anyone yet, is beginning to awaken from her 300 year long slumber and she’s out for blood. Her very presence amplifies the power of monsters and beasts within as her hatred of all Terraneans seeps into The Labyrinth’s very core. The five of them get swept up in the mix, because destiny’s knocking and they have no choice but to answer the call.

but without further ado:

📚What “type” of fantasy is your WIP? High, low, urban, historical etc.?

high fantasy through and through lmao. i really don't usually tend to dabble too hard in other types of fantasy ig? i should at some point but high fantasy just has my whole kokoro tbh.

🌍Does it take place on a fantasy planet, or somewhere on Earth (hidden or not-so-hidden)?

it takes place on a separate planet, technically, though i'm thinking of planet more in the fantastical way and not planet in a sci fi sense. its got a lot of 'western fantasy' / tolkien esque elements yknow. like in lotr, arda is a planet but you don't really think about it in that way, yknow what i mean?

💭If your WIP doesn’t take place on Earth, where did you draw inspiration from to create your new fantasy world?

a lot of it is lotr not even gonna hold you. technically the two largest inspirations for tcol are lotr & the jrpg game etrian odyssey bc that's when i first created the characters, and that's why there's a labyrinth mechanism that holds monsters in this wip at bay.

when it comes to the actual locations... good question. it kind of is very generic 'western fantasy' vibes which again kinda comes a lot from tolkien (i still have a documentary i have to watch regarding what fantasy was like before lotr kinda shaped the entire genre, and maybe whenever i do it'll influence how i go about writing and shaping my fantasy wips.

i guess the other inspiration i can say would be my desire to have a black-centered fantasy story. all the characters in tcol are black (as with many of my wips unless i specify otherwise)--but when it comes to adding blackness to my stories, the jury's still out on the best ways to do that. i'm not gonna fully delve into my racial issues in this post cuz that literally has nothing to do with anything but just know that everyone in tcol is black LMAO (theres another word i wanna say but i never use aave online unless im talking to other black people whoops)

🧝Do other fantasy species exist in your WIP? Describe them! & 🤓Are there any intelligent magical creatures, ones that can communicate with language? How do they interact with wider society? & 👹Are there monsters or other dangerous beasts in your WIP? How are they differentiated from standard wild animals, or other magical creatures?

the main breakdown of "beings "species" or "beings" in this wip are:

terraneans -> they're what i call humans to the left. they are humanoid and mortal, but they have differing features and slightly different biological characteristics than humans generally speaking (ie: terraneans have a lifespan of 150-200 years, they have pointed ears, and their whole sana/cava/ars thing. basically, terraneans are very similar to the half-elf dnd class with more words PFF. also they can't be pale unless they're dead or have died for a certain amount of time. everyone is tan or darker :>). terraneans are what most of the main cast are and most of the varying stories of this wip center around terraneans and their connection to the land and the gods. and speaking of gods

gods -> deities play a huge role in tcol because i think pantheons are interesting. they're more of the greek-mythos variety of deity in the sense that they are imperfect beings; they simply hold a lot of power and the ability to create and destory the cosmos as we know it. there's a lot of messy drama among some of them and the main deity of this world, IISIDIA has unintentionally caused many MANY issues but she pretends to not see it. cough. there have also been instances of terraneans being venerated to being gods (beings such as MARTH, The Lady of the Mists, and EFFE, for instance), and some deities have alters or basically, parts of themselves that are still them but have split off into different beings with different roles (ie: IISIDIA has a known alter, IDMIR; MIRANKA has a known alter to kisks called RANKIMA, etc).

guardians & oracles -> because deities cannot directly interact with terraneans, there are 'in betweeen' beings, or (kinda) essentially "demigods" if i were to put it in laymans terms. guardians can only be venerated once every age (and when the main story starts we're in the fourth age, and then the second book goes into the fifth age, and each age's ending is marked when a guardian is venerated. so far the guardians are lath (who if you know anything about me, i'm insane about him), immordia, and arian :> when it comes to oracles, that's a bit more complex; they're not fully demigod-esque, but they do have divine inspiration basically. there's 3 major kinds of oracles and i won't fully get into all the weeds of them but there are oracles of the deities: MUINENS, MIRANKA and YLENE, called OOMs, OOMIs, and COHs/Champions.

monsters -> monsters are essentially flora and fauna that have been touched by The Hands of Qhozion (aka chaos magic which is a corrupted form of the deep magic, cantillo). most people just call it chaos bc for many plot reasons, no one but MIZDARR knows that QHOZION exists. and this basically corrupts them into corrupted and twisted creatures of rage, fury, and power. all monsters (now) reside within The Labyrinth, which was the feat that got lath venerated to the first guardian. but again this is so many weeds so i'll cut it here. basically they're fucked up with no rhyme or reason lmao.

beasts -> are different than monsters; sort of a Next Stage in evolution to monsters: they are creatures who were touched by chaos, but they have ars which is magic and/or sentience. meaning that they are stronger, more cunning, and are able to speak etc. the strongest of all beasts is called The Demon King and they rule over monsters and beasts alike from within the Labyrinth. the current demon king and main antagonist of the first story is Lord Evondra; who ate her father after he was killed in The War of the Seven Sons to ascend his position.

🤝Are the different fantasy species all living together, or does everybody keep to themselves?

pretty much separately though there are certain junctions where the they can cross paths.

there are 3 major continents on terrae (the world) where terraneans reside: mainland terrae (where the kingdom of lathsbury and all of her constituents reside in city-states loyal to the crown), diisai (a large island that lays to the west of the eastern sea, where the federation of diisai resides; they do not have a major empire/kingdom in the same way mainland terrae does, but they do have a close relationship with the kingdom and are essentially considered a vassel state), and kiskkaddon (which is a northern badland desert peninsula that sticks out from mainland terrae but is wholly cut off from the mainland's culture by the desert and mountains that separate the two regions).

within terrae exists The Labyrinth; there is one large opening in the capital city of Lathsbury, but there are hidden entrances throughout mainland terrae. this is where all the monsters and beasts on the continent reside including The Demon King; as they were corralled by the gods (mainly MUINENS) and the first guardian lath and his sword/companion, ensio. the labyrinth is only able to be traversed back and forth by terraneans; gods are unable to enter (though their power can penetrate through it in certain instances and one exception technically, MIZDARR for... reasons cough), and monsters aren't able to leave the labyrinth's walls. beasts are also an exception to this and can travel back and forth but that's not really known knowledge--it really depends on how much ars/power they have tm.

related to The Labyrinth the three exceptions where beasts and monsters live are Diisai/Kiskkaddon -- because those landmasses were never corraled into the labyrinth proper however only monsters exist in those areas and they are SIGNIFICANTLY weaker than the monsters/beasts of mainland terrae due to being further away from The Hands of Qhozion. the origin of chaos in terrae actually lies in MIZDARR's domain, The Thicket, which is an island in the middle of a saltwater lake. the other origin point is the fallen city of Argos, for reasons in the first age. technically monsters and beasts exist in another place too, Lapsundi, the hidden world, but like again this is already so long so i'm not gonna get too into that.

gods exist outside of the realm of terrae--the sky, in the hidden places, or the bowels of the earth (or characters like MIZDARR who do have specific areas associated with them). they are unable to interact with terraneans or the world directly, except through prayer and divine inspiration and most of their work is carried out through guardians--who actually don't usually interact with terraneans either, though they can. oracles are usually the main go between. and because gods can change shape, sometimes they hide in plain sight to observe terraneans.

☮️What are the different fantasy species’ customs and cultures? How well do they get along with each other, if at all?

this is too long of a conversation to get in depth and the cultural aspect of things is something i'm still working on because each individual city-state has their own culture LOL. i have a city building questionnaire saved to do for all of the cities that i literally just haven't gotten around to bc its SO MUCH. cough.

either way though, to answer the second question monsters and beasts don't get along with terraneans at all and vice versa; monsters are fueled by chaos and kill each other and terraneans virtually indiscriminately, which is why The Labyrinth was created--terraneans were basically on the verge of extinction due to them in the first age, which then lead to the rise of The Demon King. when terraneans learned about beasts and The Demon King and their sentience, they did try to come about creating a peace treaty... but that led to the War of Seven Sons so.... you can see how well that went LMAO.

the gods in general have mixed views about chaos--there are those like IISIDIA and MUINENS who outright detest it and find it to be an abombination (and MUINENS specifically has made it her misson over the past thousands of years to try and figure out where chaos is coming from, why, and how to curb it) meanwhile there are others such as YLENE, YUTARA, and MIZDARR that are more neutral/benevolent about it. chaos is apart of the world so much as chaos is, so we cannot fully stop it from existing but instead learn to live with it. this is a big plot thread within book 2 of this series, so i won't go into much further depth but YEAH.

terraneans amongst themselves is a mixed bag as any human esque society is. there hasn't been a grand scale war among terraneans since the War of Lathsburian Succession in the second age, and this is mainly because IISIDIA, in a rare showing, possessed an OOM and basically said "if y'all mfs ever war with each other again i'm blowing this bitch UP" and no one wants to test the literal most powerful deity in the universe to see if she's joking or not LMAO-- this doesn't mean that there isn't strife and tensions and that war hasn't come close before. ie: before the 7 sons incident, terrae almost went to war due to a coup, if it wasn't stopped by a mentally unwell duchess in a murder-suicide. so uh. yeah. and even in the fourth age now, there's whispers of another coup forming up but this one is very very much unchecked and has been in the works for several decades so hashtag yikes :D

⏳Are there any dramatic lifespan differences between your fantasy species and humans? How does that influence their societies and relationships with each other?

taking out the second half of that question bc humans don't exist on terrae LMAO. but yeah. to be very general:

terraneans -> 150-200 year lifespan. basically double that of a regular human tm. the one exception is guilders tend to have shorter lifespans and usually die around 30s-40s bc traversing the labyrinth is not a fucking game LMAO

monsters -> too varied to put a number to it, but they're essentially immortal, but mortal (as in they can be killed)

beasts -> same hat, immortal as in they can live forever, however are killable. same thing goes with The Demon King, its the only "mortal" deity.

gods -> immortal and unkillable but can be injured

guardians -> immortal and unkillable but can be injured

oracles -> same lifespan as terraneans bc they're the same thing basically

👑What’s the political configuration of your WIP? Kingdoms, nations, something else?

one major kingdom (The Kingdom of Lathsbury) comprised of city-states and two vassel states that are technically independent but like are they really lmao. so each city is ruled by a duke/duchess that are either appointed by the king, or are handed down through bloodline (which is easiest) unless they decide to abdicate. the king (all rulers of lathsbury, regardless of gender, are called kings) is chosen by an OOM and they have to be 30 years old before they can take the throne. there has only been (1) exception to this, and that was king mitica the nomad of the first age, but that was also when terraneans were on the verge of extinction so desperate times call for desperate measures. anyway, he was chosen at 18 instead of 30, and had the longest reign of any terranean king, dying at the ripe old age of 148 LMAO, so 130 years lmao.

diisai and kiskkaddon operate a bit differently; diisai has a council of elders who make decisions jointly and they all have to be unanimous to make decisions though there does tend to be one "speaker" who speaks for the entire nation. kiskkaddon is more similar to how kings of lathsbury are chosen, and is done so by oracle however it is done by oracle of RANKIMA (aka MIRANKA) instead of an oracle of MUINENS like lathsbury. RANKIMA is also all about partnerships, so technically kiskkaddon always has 2 rulers at once and they have to work together to rule.

and very very technically snake's canyon is a bit different because they don't really have specific duke or duchess that rules anything but everyone just kind of. exists. there. cough.

⚠️What’s the political climate of your WIP? Are nations on the brink of conflict, or enjoying many years of peace?

conflict has mostly always been between beasts/monsters and terraneans, and while things since the labyrinth was constructed have been like. relatively okay, realistically only the second and third ages were truly peaceful. at the end of the third age with the veneration of arian to guardian status, that's very much the major catalyst to the war of the 7 sons, so the fourth age started off with a BANG. but after that was over for the most part, its been 300 years of "relative peace".... but all that's about to change LOL.

✊What’s the social climate of your WIP? Are people struggling against inequality or war?

generally speaking terraneans have always kind of been a struggling sort and its only been in the past few hundred years that everyone has FULLY begun to prosper. there's more trade and innovation than ever; more and more people are leaving their homes to continue to build the guild system and cultivate fame and riches from it, and guilds are becoming the backbone of the kingdom in terms of generating wealth, commerce, trade, and general wellbeing--despite the usual short life expectancy of guilders tm.

things are brewing underneath the surface however. just before the beginning of book one, the oracle chosen king luther, was killed in a freak accident, and the OOM did not choose a new king yet--in his stead his youngest brother, aran, is ruling as the duke of lathsbury, and this is the first time something like this has ever happened. because of that, there are murmurs among nobles to try and depose aran from the throne (which makes me mad LEAVE HIM ALONEEEE). theres also concern regarding the growing power of guilds in general--elites don't like them LMAO. so. there's some tension, but it hasn't reached its peak yet. BUT OH IT WILL.

🏰Are there royals and/or nobility in your WIP? How do they treat the common people? What do the common people think of them?

there are! it varies from area to area, however, because of how the kingdom's king is chosen there's actually more of a 'lax' cooperative nature between many people and those of a higher ranking (if they are good rulers but there's always bad eggs). the reasoning is because oracles choose kings, anyone that you speak to could at any point be chosen to be king, so it makes sense to respect everyone. PLUS comraderie in terraneans is one of their biggest tenants; as they came into the world of terrae having to rely on themselves and the gods to survive, so there's a deep generational disposition to help others. most nobles are very respectful of the common folk and use their leadership and positions to help others; a good example is duchess aria lathsbury of wish of palanthia, who is beloved and adored by all of those under her.

however, with the growing wealth and prosperity that the labyrinth is beginning to afford, it is causing larger gaps between the upper and middle class, and so cracks are slowly beginning to form. greed is the source of all evil as you know. so, things haven't fully gotten to that point yet by the time of the first book but things are beginning to slowly shift.

💎What are the hallmarks of a higher-class person in your WIP? What marks someone as lower-class?

ummm honestly its hard to say as each noble is different. some nobles are down to earth and hardly distinguishable from their common class peers (such as lord kiba; most people forget his status because he doesn't carry himself in that way), meanwhile others make it their personality that they're noble (such as lady illiana, his stepsister). as society is generally prosperous, its not necessarily about what they wear or how they dress though those can be indicators; as well as their weaponry, or homes, which can also be indicators. but a lot of people say that those who are nobility (if they are or otherwise) is their leadership abilties. characters such as sir keevan are generally thought to be nobility, though he actually isn't at all--but his gregariousness, leadership and prowess make him appear noble-like to others.

i think the best way to explain it is that people view nobility as people who are leaders, and not people who have money or material wealth. and even though some people can be nobilitiy solely through material wealth, they won't be respected or thought of as someone of noble ranking if they don't have those leadership qualities.

🙇Are the common people expected to serve the higher class in some way, explicitly or implicitly? Are some kinds of service more respectable than others?

societally, they aren't 'expected' to serve the higher class in a sort of reverent or 'because they're better than you' kind of way. there's a lot of "respect is earned" vibes throughout the entire wip and just because you're born into high class, if you want people to listen to you or respect you, you do have to earn their trust. this is why there's a lot of cooperative society vibes around class and class in general in terrae is much more fluid-its much easier to learn a trade or interact with people if you're earnest about it; and things like schooling and housing don't cost money in a traditional sense. most people aren't extremely bad off (nowadays) so honestly, the court of public opinion determined by what you do for your constituents is more important than actually having wealth. that's what the current underbelly coup against duke aran has been taking so long; its not about using money or force to depose him, its about turning the tide of the public against him.

generally speaking though, there aren't really any like, jobs that are "more respectable" than others. while individual opinion will obviously differ, as a whole, terranean society is of the mindset that every sort of occupation is necessary for the betterment of society. a knight, a duke, a guilder, a prostitute, a doctor, and a farmer are all the same level of valuable to society. what matters is if you use your role for betterment or to be a piece of shit lol. i suppose the one exception to this is oracles, as they have divine inspiration and they speak directly to the gods which is extremely important. so they are held in a slightly higher regard than other occupations tm.

🪖How are wars fought in your WIP? Swords and spells, firearms, war machines?

*whispering so IISIDIA can't hear me* swords and spells mostly. firearms are a newer invention of the past like ~50 years or so into the 4th age and theres a LOT of discourse around them. but there hasn't been any wars or whatever (yet cough) for them to be used. so mostly swords and magic tm.

🏢What kind of unique or magical architecture exists in your WIP?

so the most important magical structure is The Labyrinth. bc i've talked about it ad nauseum, i'll try to be brief, but basically it operates pretty much the exact same way you think it might based on the name. its a maze like entity that has a mind of its own (to an extent) and is greatly influenced by magic in both its construction but also internally. things move and shift, mirages and illusions will make you lose your way, and its absolutely teeming with monsters and beasts alike :) the structure itself was created with cantillo and by IISIDIA herself so the thought is that its basically unbreakable... but that is technically not the case. tm. book 2 spoilers cough.

💰How does trade function in your WIP? Merchant caravans, local markets, dragon drop-shipping?

merchant caravans, local markets, and by sea is pretty much the major ways that trade happens. bc mainland terrae is mostly land though so mostly through caravans and beasts of burden does trade happen if its not on a local level.

📦Are there any specialized or magical imports/exports that your fantasy societies rely on? Why are they so important?

getting into this delves more into the weeds of things i don't fully have the brain for yet, HOWEVER, the biggest thing that i do know is there is high demand for monster hair and hide in order to make clothes and especially, most interestingly, weaves, wigs and so on. its very similar how black people use synthetic or human/horse hair to create elaborate hairstyles, same can be said for terrae however their hair parts all come from monster hair :>. there's certain species (that i haven't developed yet bc flora and fauna is genuinely my LEAST FAVORITE part of worldbuilding holy shit) that are better for these material than others, and when i figure it out y'all are gonna be so cooked lol.

💵What kinds of currency exist in your WIP? Do people use gold coins, barter and trade, or something else?

sooo technically currency exists. i don't know much about what it is yet bc economics makes my head hurt. however, i do know that a higher prized form of currency (and what is more common among the common folk) is bartering and trading; not just items and resources but favors, skills, and even introductions to other people. its not uncommon for people to offer their service or time in exchange for something else--and the bartering system is HUGE within guild culture. when you need any type of monster part or something from the labyrinth, you can usually go to any kind of bar and they'll have a notice board where you can put up requests and rewards for services or other goodies.

thinking about it i want to say that they use coins for everything because mining is a pretty big thing esp in towns like Kingsburrow. and i imagine they just have different sizes and styles of coins to denote different things. and i don't think their money is made of silver or gold, i wanna say its made of a completely different fantastical mineral that is in abundance in terrae. i just haven't figured it out yet. LMAO. i'll come back to this eventually.

👚What kinds of clothes do people wear in your WIP? What accommodations are made for any fantasy body parts?

i can't answer this in full bc culture varies across different city states, however i will briefly mention that different guild classes tend to wear different kinds of clothes: ie, hunters of eros tend to wear a lot of furs and hides and are generally more exposed with light armor bc they're about speed. meanwhile, protectors are heavily armored in a style more similar to medieval knights. there's much more to this but again, we'd be here all day and i haven't fully decided yet so like, hit me up like several years from now when i finally stop freaking out over the timeline and start filling in details.

🏙️Are there any especially famous cities or nations in your WIP? What are they known for? & 🚩Are there any especially infamous cities or nations in your WIP? What earned them the sour reputation?

figure i would do these two together lol. all the major city states are pretty much known for something, so let's have a brief overview of the major cities (i'm literally just gonna copy and paste from my large worldbuilding doc lmao)

LATHSBURY (Lathsburian): Lathsbury is the capital of The Kingdom of Lathsbury and is named after the first Guardian of Terrae, Lath. It’s known for its entrance to The Labyrinth, it’s bustling and diverse culture as it’s a huge traveling and trading hub, for its Guilds, and being the base of all government operations. 

KINGSBURROW (Lathsburian): As Kingsburrow was established near the same time, and has close proximity to Lathsbury, most people who live in Kingsburrow consider themselves to be Lathsburian. It’s known for its rich mineral deposits and mining culture. 

EROS / ARGOS (Aegean): The swampy, dense Eros is a converted fortress city that stands in the shadow of the crumbling and foreboding Argos—the first capital and city of Terrae thousands of years ago. Eros is known for its hunters and dark hunters, and their seemingly never ending devotion to culling the vast chaos that lies beneath Argos’s dilapidated streets, in hopes of one day reclaiming the city and restoring it to its former glory. 

MARTHVEIL (Veilian): Marthveil is the birthplace of alchemy and a hub of innovation, and is the most technologically advanced city in all of Terrae, with electric lighting being one of its main highlights. It’s named after the god of alchemy MARTH who was born in the region. 

HYTRÖTH (Püerthian): Hytröth lies at the foot of the sacred Mt. Hytröth, which is also known as MUINENS’s home. It’s no surprise that the Protector’s Academy and the largest OOM Temple are located here. They call themselves Püerthian because they are sheltered under the towering Mt. Hytröth from the worst of the north’s pain. 

SILVERKEEP (Silvian or Lathsburian): The hub of medicinal research in Terrae due to the incredible and sheer vast biodiversity of plants that can be found nowhere else in Terrae. They call themselves Silvian however, implants from Lathsbury are extremely common so it’s more of a blended culture. 

MORDIGA (Diisaian): The capital of Diisai, and the hub of harvest, food and drink. It’s known for its beautiful rolling hills and it’s residents are known to be quite superstitious.

SNAKE’S CANYON (Illumese): On the Eastern edge of the continent lies the dark badlands of Snake’s Canyon. They are known for their canyon built homes and the guild class, Illuminators or Hexers.

WISH OF PALANTHIA (Palanthian): The residents of Wish of Palanthia are known for their kindness, generosity, and agreeable nature. The city is famous for being the site where a peace treaty was signed after the first and last Terranean civil war. Etched in stone in the center of the city is the grim promise the city stands to uphold: Should Terraneans ever war amongst themselves again, IISIDIA will destroy all life on Terrae. 

BASS LANDING (Canterian): Taken from cantatio, the Canterian people of Bass Landing are famous for their music and arts.

EASTHOLLOW (n/a): Easthollow lies close to Eros and the Western bank and is nicknamed “The Guild City” as any willing adventurer must travel to Easthollow to pass the Guilder’s exams and be chosen in the guild bid before they can become a guild hand proper. The city is called “hollow” because there are no permanent residents that reside here; and as such it has no significant cultural heritage. 

KOSS (Koskans) -> A seafaring city, named after the god of the seas himself KOST and located at the major junction between Mainland Terrae and the Eastern Sea. All major trade sea trading routes pass through here and its floating markets are famous throughout Terrae.

UBWYN (THE CITY OF SORROWS) (n/a): Ubwyn is mostly a ruin now, but it was the first place the Nomads that would eventually become The Lathsburians established after they fled from Eros after The Day of Fissures. It’s mostly remembered as a cultural site, and some say they do occasionally see what seems to be a tall, pale, ghostly woman floating among the ruins at night.

🥪What kind of unique and/or popular foods exist in your WIP? Magical foods?

haven't got too in the weeds of food yet, but if you wanna read a funny incident about food in this wip, how about you read The Quest for the Perfect Labyrinth Honey Loaf and lemme know what you think lmao

🚗How do people travel over land in your WIP? Are there any magical machines that help?

no machines :) just horse or beast of burden. perhaps deer and moose or other cloven animals are tameable i just haven't decided yet bc fuck flora and fauna PFF

⛵How do people sail over oceans and seas in your WIP? Are there any magical machines that help?

no machines :) by boat! however, before you travel across the ocean its always good to pray to the sea god KOST, as he invented boats and seafaring and you may as well get his blessing before you start venturing into his domain.

✈️Is air travel possible in your WIP? Through magic, technology, or a mix of both?

nope, though the first place to discover such a thing will be marthveil, they just haven't gotten that far yet lol.

🪄Is there magic in your WIP? Where does it come from? & 🎆How does magic work in your WIP? How can it do all those fantastic things?

OO BOY IS THERE MAGIC. so there's actually a LOT of different kinds of magic in terrae so to make my life simpler i'm just gonna do more copy and pasting from one of my NUMEROUS worldbuilding docs.

but very very basically, all Terraneans’s souls are made of sana (health and vitality), cava (chaos energy), and ars (magic potential). None of these are perfect percentages (they don’t have to equal 100 basically). Your soul needs to have at least 30% ars in order to use any kind of magic whatsoever. so if you're rocking a 50-29-15 set up for instance, y'aint using magic lmao. while most people don't know their exact thresholds, medics specifically tend to know their breakdown due to the growing technology in Silverkeep to measure this, as well as they need to know what their sana limits are so they don't kill themselves tm. and speaking of that, here are the kinds of magic:

Sana Inanem — is the practice of using excess sana in order to heal the wounds of others. This is strictly used by the medic class. Wounds can be surface level or internal and the only limit is the amount of 'excess' sana you have (essentially, how much sana can you give away without killing yourself). Usually a base threshold sana of 55% or more is needed.

Subortus — is an offshoot of sana, but is one of the “extraction” magics. It is the practice of utilizing the sana properties of plants and the ars of beast/monster parts in order to create potions, remedies or salves that have a variety of functions. It is the only magic that you do not personally need the base threshold of ars to use it. 

Diruam — a protective, fire based magic used solely by medics. In order to use diraum, like any sana based magic, you must have an excess of sana. While it is not particularly powerful offensively, it is a quite useful defensive last resort

Vis — is the magic of the force of your own will and is extremely versatile. It is the most common magic used by magic users in Terrae. 

Muram — is a magic only used by alchemists and involves using the scientific and biological understanding of the world around you, in order to break down and transmute the components of things around you into other things, such as plants to steel or dirt to gold. It allows you to change the state, composition, and properties of essentially any matter. 

Lumine — is an offshoot of vis and is one of the “extraction” magics. Lumine is only used by illuminators and allows a user to draw the ars out of other beings or rocks/minerals (which are rich in ars) to channel energy. Illuminators can also be called hexers as they can do darker things with lumine unto others. 

Tenom — is an offshoot of vis and is one of the “extraction” magics. By drawing out the cava of beasts and monsters you can turn yourself into a brute force powerhouse. Tenom however has extreme drawbacks, as its over usage can lead to death or insanity. 

Chaos Touched — Isn't necessarily a magic in the traditional way, but it is a blessing from the god MIZDARR, most usually to rangers, gifting them the ability to see and sense chaos (or corrupted cantillo) in the world around them, appearing like an aura around beings and beasts affected by it. it is also a skill that is developed by dark hunters (though not as proficently as rangers) as they are in close connection with cava thanks to usage of Tenom.

Cantatio — Is the second oldest form of magic and literally brought the universe into being as it is the magic of creation through music. It is very rare that Terraneans are able to grasp this ancient and complex magic, but some very skilled bards have been able to dabble in it on occasion.

Cantillo — is the oldest form of magic and what contains the fabric of the universe, only able to be wielded by IISIDIA. It's also known as "deeper magic" and its too much for any mortal or god outside of her to comprehend.

🚫What CAN’T magic do in your WIP? Where does the mystical power fall short?

the only thing magic can't do, essentially, is create immortality (though you can be risen from the dead) or deify someone unless the gods will it. the great thing about vis especially, is the sky is the limit on what you can do and the only determining factor is your own power and discipline. the other thing is control time--time is always moving forward at its own pace and you can't change that. you also can't dimension hop; time and space are apart of cantillo's jurisdiction and only IISIDIA can control that.

🤕What are the drawbacks to using magic in your WIP? Do they improve or get worse depending on how powerful you are?

Tenom has the most disasterous side affects of its usage so tl;dr the more you use tenom the more your sana will be consumed by cava to the point that you can eventually be overcome and overrun by it and become a monster yourself. :D

🔮Who can wield magic in your WIP? Everyone, a select group, or basically nobody?

people who use magic are called artisans (bc it comes from ars), and as aforementioned, you need 30% ars to be able to do magic in any capacity; if you don't have that then you can't use magic at all. there isn't any way to increase this either, though subortus doesn't require the usage of one's internal magic to do, so basically if you don't have ars you can always try subortus.

💪How do people wield magic in your WIP? Are magic users able to bend it to their will, or merely guide it?

do whatever you want baybeee you got free will LMAO

🔨Is magic considered useful or dangerous in your WIP? Do different cultures or species view magic differently?

generally considered useful! magic is entertaining and awe inspiring, or its useful and practical. bc as i said before most terraneans are community oriented, they tend to use their magic (most of the time) to help others. obvs again theres people who do use it for bad and evil but fuck those people LMAO.

tenom & lumine specifically are definitely more side eyed however, because they are more deadly than other forms of magic and can either cause severe harm to yourself (tenom) or to others (lumine). lumine itself does have its practical uses, as in Snake's Canyon artisans who can use lumine are vital to ensuring that the area is lit and traversable. tenom does have practical uses to aegeans (people who live in eros) because only dark hunters (aka people who use tenom) are able to traverse argos to try and clear it of the monsters within it HOWEVER it is so extremely dangerous that many people are against its usage. eros has no interest in entertaining outsider's opinions on the matter though.

🤷Is there a way someone could lose their ability to use magic? Has it ever happened before?

not really. essentially, its apart of your 'genetic' make up, and there's really no way to 'change' those percentage numbers... unless you use tenom enough and then you become a monster, but then basically you just cease having sentience?? so like ig you can count that but in general magic is just sorta something you're born with the ability to do or not.

⚙️How has magic influenced the level and complexity of technology in your WIP? & 🧪How does magic interact with scientific advancements in your WIP? Are they considered the same?

magic has allowed society to progress in interesting ways and the way that people have come to the conclusions that we have in our world. while science has been a major inovator for us, for terraneans magic is at the heart of innovation because magic itself (especially when you get into things like subortus and muram) is a science! while they haven't fully escaped the equivalent of the medieval period, in some ways they have very much advanced in ways that we hadn't in similar circumstances due to the proximity to magic. firearms (not automatic ones), as well as electrict are the two current biggest innovations that are equivalent to our world that have been discovered in the hub of innovation, Marthveil. and silverkeep is constantly improving and advancing their medicinal techniques as more and more about the composition of the soul and the relationship between sana, cava, and ars is discovered. but because magic itself is so prevalent, things that we use in our society aren't really things that i feel like will ever occur to them to use in theirs. i can't really think of any examples rn bc basically i don't really like making modern magic wips too often LOL so that's why tcol is like this but yeah i'm sure when i think more about what tech they do and don't have i'll get more into the weeds of this.

i do know they definitely have plumbing though. i refuse to allow chamber pots and throwing shit in the street to be a thing LMAO.

⚔️Are there any special magical objects in your WIP? What do they do? Who owns them?

telus weapons and objects are rare; they're basically magic imbued weaponry or trinkets, which allows people who don't have ars to bypass the usual requirements of being able to do magic (having ars) but limits the usage because usually the object or weapon only has a few specific abilities and doesn't have a mind of its own so it can't be as versatile. its very hard to create such a weapon; usually they're blessed in some manner by a god. there aren't really any that show up in any of the stories (unless you count guardian weapons as telus weapons but those are Very Very different) that i have for this wip, but perhaps i should and can make a side story about one. i think i would have it take place in diisai.... but i'll ponder that later lol.

🧐Do people research magic in your WIP? What’s the most popular or prestigious topic of study? The least popular?

technically people only research magic when they're trying to become a certain class of some kind. i'll just list out the "specialty" magics real fast ->

MEDICS study sana inanem, diruam and subortus

ALCHEMISTS AND GUNNERS study muram

HEXERS/ILLUMINATORS study lumine

BARDS study cantatio

DARK HUNTERS study tenom

all other classes use some form of vis, if they use magic at all as its not a requirement (ie: MBAs, rangers, protectors, hunters)

because not everyone can do magic, its not really a requirement of standard education and you usually only seek it out if you're trying to do shit in guilds or if you're trying to be in a particular field of sorts. (and as an aside, there isn't really a difference between engineers and alchemists in tcol simply because muram is also very good for construction and those types of things)

the most popular would be sana inanaem and subortus because everyone needs a medic or doctor at some point in their life, and silverkeep university is the most prestigious institution in terrae for study.

the least popular is lumine because it is very niche and mostly only those from snake's canyon use it. and even then its not a structured sort of study, its more field-learned.

⚕️How has magic changed the landscape of medicine and healing in your WIP?

sana inanem allows for a sort of catch all healing. you don't necessarily need the specifics like how we do in scientific healing; the magic itself will smooth out whatever ails you from internal bleeding, to coughs or fevers, to broken bones. i will say that generally speaking sana inanem because it is more intensive on the healer themselves, tends to be saved for physical ailments like injuries and the like; subortus tends to be the go to for other like infections and things because it is less taxing if it needs to be used over a period of time. sana inanem in the case of illness is a sort of 'last resort'

the other thing is that very extremely powerful medics are able to do things that are virtually impossible for us to do which is bring someone or something fully back from the dead. the phoenix maneuver is what it's called and its been studied for generations, however there has only ever been one medic on record ever able to do such a thing and that is Karenza Hawkins. she has been studied extensively to determine why she is able to do this and its because she has the rare condition (that i have to name) where sana is practically spilling out of her, she has an 80-20 sana to ars ratio. though this should disqualify her from being able to do magic bc she doesn't have the magic 30% because she literally has so much sana it literally spills out of her and she is able to heal irregardless. this unfortunately means though that any other magic outside of sana inanem is completely inaccessible to her. but still, its a marvel to behold and seeing her perform the phoenix manuever on a deer is the way she's introduced in book 1 :)

🏬What kind of magical professions can a magic-user pursue in your WIP? Is it considered especially prestigious, normal, or below respect?

like i said somewhere before all careers are basically considered important to upholding society so none of them are looked down upon in anyway really. magic users also aren't really beholden to one specific path unless you want to learn a specific kind of magic--however, if you want to learn vis, then you're essentially able to do anything you want without barriers. be free <3

🎭Has magic brought about social good in your WIP? Social ills?

generally i'd say magic has brought social good; but just like any tool it can be used for negative things. tenom is the only magic with a sordid history because it did not develop naturally and was not blessed by the gods. after vis came into being during The Day of Fissures, the Chieftain of Argos, Whisper of the Fire along with her head researcher Tenoma began to fervently study the limits of vis to try and find a way to combat the horrors that seeped out of Argos. this led to the creation of the Hunters With Magic research facility which basically conducted horrifying experiments of increasing cava on dissenters to Whisper's rule, and eventually led to the first 'true' dark hunter's creation, Twilightsorrow Idanly. it was horrific, and even now the history and methods are closely guarded secrets in eros; a lot of the general research itself even being destroyed from that time period. its a Hot fucking mess lemme tell you.

🙅Are there any kinds of forbidden magic? What kinds, and why?

not necessarily? there are certain magics that you simply cannot learn, essentially cantillo. like. its literally and physically impossible. but pretty much everything else is fair game.

🤔Are there any kinds of “forgotten” or ancient magic that nobody remembers anymore? How was the knowledge lost?

not really. some origins of certain magic (like tenom) have been lost, but not the know how.

🫥Are there any kinds of magic that are intentionally hidden from the general population? Who’s hiding this knowledge, and why?

The Hands of Qhozion and the origins of chaos are intentionally hidden. any of those who have discovered its power have been drawn to ruin. this is because QHOZION does not want anyone or anything to know that he exists; at least not until he's ready to reveal himself and take revenge of his own kinda against his own self. the only character that knows the full extent of what it is is MIZDARR; but he cannot speak on this for various plot reasons, and MUINENS has always been suspicious of him because he knows much more than he's letting on. he may in fact (and kinda does) know more than IISIDIA herself... which is worrying lmao. and its really just because IISIDIA chooses not to acknowledge this and has split herself in various ways. so.

all of this is book 2 plot stuff so i'm not gonna get too into the weeds about it but yahhhh.

⛪What are the popular religions in your WIP? Where is each belief more prominent?

so weird scenario; there isn't really an popular or major organized religion in tcol. the gods exist as a fact, and many different people have many different practices and have different gods that they favor more than others but like there's no like. majorly approved/state sponsored/populist belief. even oracle temples differ from temple to temple in how they practice and the gods themselves are quite benevolent in it. many of the gods feel as though they exist to aid terraneans and the world of terrae itself; and not the other way around (which would be that the world exists for them and their pleasure) so like while it can be appreciated to have terraneans worship or reach out, to a lot of the gods terraneans are simply children that they look after and nurture with or without thanks. its simply part of being a deity, its their duty if you will.

to kind of give a quick run down of places where there is an obvious preference:

MARTHVEIL -> as is in the name, they are very partial to MARTH

EROS/ARGOS -> YLENE, BRULENE and LENEYUBR (the combination of YLENE and BRULENE)

HYTROTH -> MUINENS

KISKKADDON -> RANKIMA, which is an alter of MIRANKA

KOSS -> KOST

SILVERKEEP -> YUTARA

MORDIGA (and Diisai generally) -> KIBARUM

BASS LANDING -> The Musicians of Creation, which include Nitarr, Tuara, Rana, Ranae, Wanao, and Waname

WISH OF PALANTHIA -> as the name suggests, Palanthia

THE LABYRINTH ITSELF -> The Demon King, obviously lol

📢Are there any particularly influential religious institutions in your WIP?

time for more copy paste <3

The Frosted Arches -> The largest Oracle House for MUINENS is located in Hytroth (up north) and it is considered the sacred homeland of the goddess. Oracle Houses for MUINENS don’t have standardized names the same way that MIRANKA’n oracles do, and that is specifically because they’re so old and for a long while, there was only One place (really) that oracles were and the rest were offshoots and only local Things. the large institutions we see for MUINENS don’t crop up until after the War of Lathsburian Succession.

House of Carnations -> where Oomi’s study and become the oracles. break off temples and for MIRANKA are named after different plants and flowers that have lovely scents. The House of Carnations is the largest and is in Wish of Palanthia where MIRANKA was born. Flower Houses (as they’re called generally) can pop up anywhere in Terrae and usually every town has at least one to help with relationship disputes. As of the year _(haven't decided)_ they were made mandatory for every township or city to have one per a certain population size. 

The Arena -> the only place where Oracles of YLENE practice and it is only located in Eros. it is exactly what it sounds like — a giant arena where the Champion lives their day to day life. they hold strategy meetings, sacrifices and prayers, and battle to the death for anyone who wants the honor of becoming the next champion can challenge them. they also tend to host extreme sporting events. Occasionally Champions will have a right hand man (or two) called Tacticians, who serve the symbolic role of Brulene as she is to YLENE. However, only the Champion has direct contact with the goddess.

🙏Is devotion to a particular religion expected of people? What happens to non-believers?

being a non-believer isn't really a thing? this is sort of a universe wherein it is a fact that the gods exist; however they don't demand that you serve them and there are no consequences for being apathetic or neutral to their existence. some people are definitely more religious than others, but honestly for many people the gods are just sort of a thing that exist and they just continue on with their lives about. hell, even though oracles are divinely inspired, a lot of times especially when people go to OOMIs, do so out of the help they can provide and not necessarily because they are religious. so tldr devotion and more zealot practices do exist, but like you also don't have to give a shit if you don't want to lmao.

🫵Can the deities in your WIP grant people special powers? When do they choose to do so?

sort of? deities can bestow favor upon you in certain ways-or certain deities can. the ones that are more likely to provide blessings are YUTARA, as both the deity of medicine and gender expression, their gift is towards genderqueer people who pray to them in desire of their body to match their inner self. this isn't really a 'special power' but people with all sorts of anatomy can exist if they pray to YUTARA fervently enough and they hear your prayer. 2 characters who have been blessed by them are Jagoda Arthea (a trans man who has top surgery and what we would consider working phalloplasty - as in he can have kids) & Charissa Goodwyn (a trans woman who has breast augmentation but still has her dick and is sterile), though many more exist tm.

MIZDARR can grant the Chaos Touch to those he decides but it is very unclear why he decides to do so? there's not much rhyme or reason, but more often than not these people do tend to become or already are rangers. one character who is especially unique is Eryn Arcus, who is Chaos Touched since birth but it has left her completely blind outside of the chaos she can sense. the other character is a spoiler :P

finally, guardians are ALWAYS venerated from especially noteworthy or prophecy fulfilling terraneans. MUINENS has venerated the most guardians (3 to be exact- 2 known and 1 spoiler) however, MIRANKA venerated Arian in the third age :). this is slightly different than granting powers because basically its giving you one step under a god status lol.

🗣️Can anyone commune with the deities in your WIP, or do they only answer to special devotees?

nope, you gotta be an oracle or a guardian to directly communicate with the gods and even then theres only certain gods that do communicating through them. a lot of it has to do with the power that gods have. i'm quite a fan of the whole if you look at a deity you will simply vaporize type shit so unless you're some sort of divine... good luck with that.

📞Is it rare to be contacted by higher beings, or does it happen all the time?

super rare bc its literally impossible for gods to speak with terraneans unless they're oracles lmao. and with oracles they don't necessarily speak with the god themself... its a bit confusing to explain but basically the god's energy/will manifests within them bc they're divinely inspired/a conduit for their word. the reason why they tend to be so vague is that the inherent inability for gods and terraneans to connect means that it is difficult for oracles to decipher and explain the will of the gods in a way that can be understood by the common people. some more powerful oracles are better at it but its still difficult and taxing.

🧩Are there prophecies in your WIP? Do people believe in them? & 🌟Have any prophecies ever come true in your WIP’s history? How important are they to your WIP in the present?

yuh LMAO. many if not most prophecies come true in some way shape or fashion, however prophecies tend to be more individual focused; its really very rare that an oracle gets a prophecy for an entire event or anything like that--though it has happened that multiple oracles have recieved visions and prophecies regarding a string of individuals that are all connected to an eventual large event; however its very rare for those connections to be made until after the fact unless it is alarming enough to get brought before The Frosted Arches.

there's currently a prophecy in progress for one of our main characters though i won't tell you which :D (it'll be obious who if you know anything about tcol tbh)

👂Can anyone hear prophecies in your WIP, or do they only appear to certain people, like oracles? & 🤐Are prophecies kept secret, or told to everyone who wants to hear? Why?

only to oracles (specifically OOMs because MUINENS is a goddess of fate and destiny). they don't tend to have large scale prophecies that are told aloud to the public; if they recieve a vision that great then they usually have to take that information all the way to The Frosted Arches and then among the high council they will decide what next steps should be taken to ensure that MUINENS's will is achieved.

on the flip side, usually whenever babies are born, parents will take them to the nearest OOM to have them receive their oracle's blessing. this is basically a prophecy about how their life is going to go and while sometimes vague, or nondescript, there are times when it is quite... pronounced and alarming. usually in those rare instances, the parents are advised by the best course of action for their little one.

🗡️Is killing monsters or magical creatures a viable profession in your WIP? Is it lauded work or scorned?

yup that's what guilds are for! that's not their only purpose, but what modern (as in start of book 1) guilds do a lot of is killing monsters within the labyrinth lol.

😢Are monsters legitimately dangerous, or are they simply misunderstood?

DANGEROUS ITS NOT A FUCKING JOKE THEY CANNOT BE REASONED WITH DEADASS

beasts are misunderstood but also legitimately dangerous and unpredictable and while they are similar to monsters they are very much not the same thing.

💀Can people commune with spirits of the dead in your WIP? How? & 👻Do spirits wander freely in your WIP? Why? Is there a way to help them pass on?

you can't really, but it isn't uncommon to see them in certain places. tl;dr terraneans cannot pass on unless they are properly buried, and their spirit will wander aimlessly throughout terrae unless their body is buried OR unless The Lady of the Mists finds them and guides them to Cerullius; which is essentially a "heaven" of sorts. its a reuniting with IIARAN. you can't really speak to them if you see them but occasionally travellers have seen spirits wandering and have been able to guide them back to their bodies so they can be buried and pass on.

😱Is it considered normal or taboo to speak with the dead in your WIP? Does it vary from culture to culture?

its seen as a good deed, if you can. again something something terrae is basically socialist/communist or whatever but its seen as something you should do because no one should be forced to wander forever. also, its usually not speaking to them as y'all are on different planes of existence and more like following the ghost to its body and giving it burial rites.

⚰️Is it possible to completely resurrect someone in your WIP? How? If not, has anybody ever tried?

yup! phoenix manuever i talked about before lol. only Karenza has ever been able to do it.

🗺️Is your WIP a globe-trotting adventure, or is all the adventure contained in one place?

technically book 1 and book 2 kind of all take place between the labyrinth and lathsbury but bc tcol is a huge world and i have a lot of side stories in it you can argue its a bit gloe-trotty. but characters do travel often.

🧚Is adventuring common in your WIP, or something only for fairytales?

common!

🪙When people go on adventures in your WIP, what are they looking for? Fame, fortune, power?

all of the above :)

🦸Are there any legendary heroes or adventurers in your WIP’s history? What are they famous for?

YEAHHH so time for some more lists tm

lath of argos (aka Lath, Guardian of Valor) & ensio montero (aka Ensio, Sword of Valor) -> famously helped the goddess MUINENS among 33 other warriors corral monsters and beasts from across the lands of terrae into The Labyrinth, slaughtering many stragglers so they would no longer pose a threat to terraneans and giving their lives in the process. Lath became the first guardian, and also gave the people of Terrae who left Eros after the day of fissures their eventual name Lathsburians

immordia gallant (aka Immordia, Guardian of Exploration) & her son, gawain gallant -> famously helped the first Lathsburian ship make the journey across the treacherous eastern sea, holding the boat afloat long enough to allow the first lathsburians to make it to shore before giving her life in the process. if it weren’t for her contributions, the Diisaians would never have been discovered and the Diisaians would never know their distant Lathsburian cousins existed which both are grateful for.

king mitică the nomad -> tl;dr made sure the lathsburians didn’t go extinct and is regarded as the greatest king who ever lived; humble, modest, wise, and measured.

karlan of the sea -> the first leader of the diisaians who helped them journey across the great eastern sea and was favored by the god, KOST

i haven’t named this guy yet but he’s the leader of the kisks and basically he’s the one who helped them travel from the mountains of ubwyn to where kiskkaddon is today.

king savon the evergolden -> the principle force in the war of the seven sons who held back the depouring of the labyrinth that his brother ziri the windless caused. if it weren’t for his tactile prowess and leadership it’s very likely that the lathsburians would’ve all perished tm <3

a lot of these heroes are very lathsbury focused but it’s bc i haven’t really started branching out into the other city states and what’s going on with the timelines and whatnot! but fear not! there will be So Many More LMAO.

🦹Are there any infamous villains in your WIP? How were they defeated?

listtsssss

whisper of the fire, first chieftain of argos -> she’s a villain to ME so that’s why she’s going on this list idc. anyway after her horrifying and tyrannical also short ass reign, she was killed by the first COH, hyla at the behest of YLENE. her death caused the beginnings of the aegean civil war which eventually ended with the creation of the nightwillow clan.

prince ziri the windless -> fuck this guy specifically. anyway lord evondra personally kills him because Fuck this guy specifically.

lord evondra -> that’s spoilers <3

QHOZION -> that’s also spoilers <3

🌄How much has the landscape and environment of your WIP been shaped by magic? Have entire mountains been wiped off the map, or is everything the same as if magic didn’t exist?

well, the entire world came into being via musical magic—

jkjk (but it did) but to answer the question, the best example is the kiskkaddon desert, which is a sentient entity. i haven’t fully decided if its sentient because it is RANKIMA herself, or if its a completely separate entity, but basically kiskkaddon itself is a word that means “swallowing” and thus its the all swallowing desert. conditions are harsh and its all magically related lol. it could alllllso potentially have something to do with Phyddione which could be a cool tie in so i may explore that a bit 🤔

🌥️Are there any magical places in your WIP that are kept hidden from outsiders? Why?

The Thicket, where MIZDARR resides, is hidden because it is the birthplace of chaos and to go in there is to risk being touched by The Hands of Qhozion. MIZDARR can somewhat control how much chaos seeps through the thicket into Terrae, but as he warned MUINENS thousands of years ago, there’s only so long that he can hold chaos back before it is fully unleashed :>

[bluegreenamber]

Polyamorous Nobodies (feat. a touch of queerplatonicism) [WIP Wednesday]

For @cr-aspec-fest

Oh hey, I actually have some writing from a WIP for Week 3 (unconventional relationships week) Wednesday! The larger WIP is all about Ashton and the Nobodies--their experiences and group dynamic growing up. The snippet I'm posting below the cut is actually going to be from the final chapter of six, and it's meant to be a capstone on the growing bonds of the group members wherein they all explore quite the unconventional relationships with one another.

Featuring: aro-spec and polyamorous Nobodies in a non-romantic polycule, asexual Pocket being queerplatonic in said polycule, and aceflux-ish Ashton

Hope you enjoy!

(Also, please lmk if I need to tag anything from this snippet, as I'm much more used to Ao3's tagging/warning system than Tumblr's!)

Ashton has his elbows propped up on the round wooden tavern table, a bottle of cheap beer in hand with the open neck aimed at Jeto across from him. “So, we made it to Jrusar, the city of fucking spires. What the fuck is up with that?”

Shady Sally, on the other hand, has her dirt-crusted boots atop the table. “Yeah,” she says to their unofficial group leader, “you really do have to tell us how the fuck you finally pulled this off. Enough with the secret crawler rides in the dead of night.” 

Jeto leans back in his seat, his own beer bottle’s half-empty state the only reason Bennet beside him doesn’t get splashed in the face as Jeto gestures wildly with it to accentuate his words. “Alright, alright, guess the fucking gig’s up, fellas. Time to let y’all in on my secret plots. We all know we’ve been waiting for our newest addition here to come of age.” He points the bottle at Pocket, who sits unobtrusively next to Ashton. “Well, I’ve been spending these last few years post-graduating from good ole Greymoore Shit Home trying to figure a way for all of us to make it out of motherfucking Bassuras, and I guess the Changebringer finally took pity on me after watching all the shit hands I’ve been dealt in life because I finally got lucky.” 

Zeeland wolf-whistles from their seat between Jeto and Sally. “Yeah, you did.” 

Jeto rolls his eyes. “You’re just implicating yourself, asshole.” 

“Me and half the other Nobodies.” 

Ashton shares a laugh with Sally and Bennet at that. 

Jeto waves his bottle dismissively. “Whatever. That’s besides the fucking point. Which is that I scored big with this one job for some rich asshole in that fancy fucking spire we’ve all been eying on the way up here. They even paid for our passage to the city, you’re all very welcome.” 

“Yeah, but what is this one job that they want us to do?” asks Bennet, always the pragmatic one. 

“Oh, just a light shakedown of some stubborn asshole that won’t pay up their debt to the boss. Apparently, a big group is better for intimidation purposes, and what’s better than a big group of rough-looking shithead Nobodies? I promised that this guy would be getting his money’s worth with us.” 

“So, they’re paying us to get money for them?” asks Sally, always the skeptic. 

“We’re getting a cut of the share. Extra incentive to actually shake the poor fella down, I imagine.” 

Sally scoffs. “Rich people.” 

The whole group raises their bottles as cheers for that poignant proclamation. 

“When’s this job happening?” Ashton asks after taking a swig. 

“Day after tomorrow,” Jeto answers. “Our mark has an appointment that day, and we’re gonna be there to give them a warm welcome afterwards.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that we don’t got fuckall to do tomorrow,” Zeeland says with a grin. 

Catching onto his unspoken meaning, Sally returns the grin and tips the neck of her bottle towards him. “Sounds like the night’s all ours to celebrate finally getting outta Ass-uras.”

“Sounds like you have some plans on how exactly to celebrate,” Zeeland shoots back, his eyebrow raising sharply even as his grin widens.

“If anyone could guess what’s going on in my head right now, it’d be you, Zee.”

“Aw, I’ll take the compliment.”

“Slut,” Sally says fondly. 

Zeeland places a hand over their chest. “Only for you assholes.” 

“Well, I think that’s as good a cue as ever to grab one more round to go and head up to our rooms,” Bennet says as he stands and begins to make his way to the tavern bar for the night’s final round of drinks. Sally and Zeeland follow. 

Jeto looks over to Ashton and Pocket, ever observant of each group member’s potential misgivings. “I’m leaving the key to the second room with you, Ash.”

Ashton grunts in acknowledgement of the words being left unspoken. “Thanks. Doubt I’ll need it tonight, but it’s far fucking better than trying to leave them with Zee. You wanna hold onto it, Pockie?”

Pocket shakes their head, small hands ever-fidgeting in their lap. “No, I think… I think I’ll join you guys tonight.” 

Ashton can barely hide his surprise. It’s rare indeed that the newest Nobody feels the urge to join in on the group’s more sordid celebrations.

“Never pressure,” Jeto reassures Pocket, with the weight of those two words made heavy by the history of many, many words that have long since been communicated and reiterated again and again. 

Pocket nods. “Never pressure.”

Nothing else needs to be said between them. 

Jeto turns back to Ashton. “How’s the pain tonight?”

Ashton’s shrug turns into a test roll of his shoulders. “Fine. Woke up with a 4. Booze is making it more like a 2.” 

Jeto nods. “Good. Let’s head up then. Someone’s gotta make sure those three don’t flood the building.” 

Ashton can’t resist the bait. “I’ll bet something’s gonna be fucking flooding tonight.” 

Pocket meets his grin and uncharacteristically gentle nudge with a small yet genuine smile, and honestly, Ashton could ride the high of coaxing that smile out of the smallest Nobody all night long. 

With a snort of laughter, Jeto passes the key to the second room that the group had rented from the inn for the night over to Ashton. Ashton slips the key into one of their more secure pockets, having gotten the impression that the second room would not be getting much use for a majority of the night. They take a final swig from the dregs of their beer bottle, enjoy the sensation of the cheap booze stealing that last edge off of their usual pain, and stand to follow the rest of the Nobodies upstairs to their first—and likely only—inn room for the night.

[tatsugiriroll]

Gonna be lowkey with you at this point I highkey wanna know about all of those WIPs like you have such interesting ideas 👀👀👀

“gonna be lowkey” *is highkey* smh…

I WILL BE HONEST all 5 listed on there were horror fiction and I WILL explain them but I promise I write other stuff, namely Comedy. Neither WIP has a name but one’s about bar staff at a drag show who think they’re dealing with a Cishet White Man but it turns out to be a vampire who just woke up from a VERY long nap. The second is about a staff member at a Christian-oriented restaurant who has to serve the pastors (& families) of two rival churches at the same time. I promise I’m not just Scary Guy. I’m also Silly Guy. but the others,

Wild About Harry is the one that’s the most finished because it’s the idea I’ve had longest. It’s about a man in the late 1990’s so downtrodden he was bullied by his boss into missing his beloved brother’s funeral. He’s only just now going to fly down and visit family, since they need his help settling the estate, and he can’t stay more than a weekend. Harry, the man in question, quickly unravels as he becomes lost after a wrong turn during a rainstorm… and the only person he can reach on his limited cell phone service is the late-night jockey of a nearby radio station, who encourages him to vent his frustration, and convinces him to come on down to the old station and wait out the storm. It’s very close by. It’s the only building close by. And you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your rental car, Harry, so you’d better come park by the station where no tree branches will fall onto it. I’ll be waiting there to let you in, Harry.

Sister Skin is actually a planned novel rather than short story, following a woman living in post-cosmic-apocalypse America, now overrun with alien monsters and roving cultists. After overpowering her would-be Ritual Murderer and killing him in self-defense, she finds herself connecting to a strange entity that sends her nonsensical visions and grows nearer in every dream she has. A paramilitary settlement nearby may have someone who can help her, but after arriving she discovers they’re in way over their heads. This is not JUST cosmic horror and not JUST body horror BUT. also some kind of fucked up romance between a Promised Sacrifice and the one who Craves It, even after being robbed. this too is yuri

For Want of a Cigarette is not actually the title of the last one, but it’s all I could come up with. This one is a novella set in the 1970’s about a prisoner who is strangely immune to a disease that’s overtaking the jail he’s in. Even after the ill disappear, more fall victim– and the warden just seems happy about clearing the cells out. But this fella simply won’t die; he doesn’t particularly want to live either, though. He’s entirely neutral. All he really wants is a cigarette.

[blood-mocha-latte]

🌹🌹🌹😏

for every “🌹” received in my inbox i’ll post one random sentence/snippet of a random wip i’m currently writing

loosely based hunger games au

Ridiculously, humiliatingly, Joe could feel his eyes begin to burn. 

He  dropped the spoon into the bowl with a small cough and scrubbed the back of his hand across his mouth, instead, propping his elbows on the table. 

George made a soft sound from behind him, like half of a shushing noise. A warm hand slipped across the back of his neck, smooth and gentle, and Joe leaned back into it before he could think not to.

George hooked an arm around his neck as he pressed up behind him, half-using Joe for balance as he pulled himself up onto the couch with him. 

“I know.” He said quietly, hooking a leg around the trunk of Joe’s waist and pressing his mouth to the curve of his neck, warm and lithe and lovely. “I had that last night.” 

Joe kept his elbows on the table, staring down at the bowl. His face felt hot, and when he scrubbed a hand under his eyes, it came back wet. George kept kissing down his neck. 

“Something new, right?” He asked Joe, and his voice shook. “We’re gonna make something new for the both of us and it’ll all be okay.”

sixties au part two

George rolled back on top of him, taking the cigarette from between his fingers carefully and putting it out on the bare wood of the nightstand. “Let’s go again.” He murmured, mouth going to brush along Joe’s cheekbone, chapped and warm. 

Joe just hummed, running his palm up George’s side and down again; lazy and absent. Everything ached, same as it always did. It was easier to bear with, when he tilted his head enough to kiss George again. 

“Whatever you want.” He said, and the words tasted like nicotine. 

bradray scorpion imagery

“Dude, I realized what this whole shitfuck was.” He says, anyway. Brad doesn’t look at him, which isn’t surprising, so Ray just shuffles his feet, scuffing at thin, hard carpet with his heel. “I am guessing that in your white suburbia educational system, you had to read Alice in Wonderland?” 

Brad walks off without a word. Ray trails after him thoughtlessly, not really thinking about it. He kicks his mouth into high gear, which is a term that Brad himself had actually termed, wherein Ray has no idea what the fuck he’s saying, and is basically just saying it to say it. 

“You should think about it for a moment, anyways.” Ray tells him absently. “Because you’re blonde, and at one point, Alice is a fucking ginormous freak too. Except for they do what they’re supposed to in that scenario, which was basically to commit some variant of agg-assault until she flees. Which we should maybe do to you. Because you’re a fucking ginormous freak.”

Brad isn’t listening to him. Ray knows that Brad isn’t listening to him, mainly because Brad has a semi-serene look on his face that dictates if he was, he’d be trying to curbstomp himself against bag claim by now.

[qoldenskies]

7, 8, 32? :3

YIPPEEEE thank u for the ask i have been BORED

7. Post a snippet from a wip.

“Says the one who continues to try and convince me that the waiter at the mutant pizza place is in love with you,” Donnie said, voice flat. He took an unconcerned sip of his coffee. “Nooo, he wants me, trust!” Leo whined. “You’re just too stupid to see the the sexual tension between us.” “There’s about to be sexual tension between your head and the fucking drywall if you don’t get off of me right now.” Leo sniffed, and pointedly sneezed in his face. Donnie judo-flipped him. “Oh nooo,” he deadpanned, not even looking down at Leo, who was splayed out on the floor. “I’m so soooorry, it was just a reflex.” “I HATE YOU,” Leo shouted up at him.

8. Post an out-of-context spoiler from a wip.

they lied. it was four days.

32. Do you take fic requests?  Why or why not?

nooot normally, although mind you i havent really gotten any ever so i havent had any reason to consider it. although once i finish caged lungs i kind of slightly plan on opening up some crowdsourcing on ideas for where im gonna like,,, GO from here because i have a lot of things to address in the aftermath and only a few vague ideas on how to do it. mostly just asking what people want to see because ermmm moment of weakness (i know fandom writers do this kind of thing all the time ive just never done it before so im a little nervous lolol)

im in the final fourth of the first draft btw im ALMOST DONE, im estimating 55-65k words in total. SOON I WILL STOP YAPPING ABOUT MY PROGRESS AND ALL WILL BE WELL (editing will be much calmer for me)

otherwise idk at some point maybe i'll do a bad things happen bingo and shake it up a little for funsies, the idea is definitely not something i find bad!! and i love whump and would love to diversify my Angst Palette, write about some other characters perhaps. i have like a whole queue of ideas its hard to stick to one

[seethesunny]

Hey friend! For the WIP ask game, what can you tell me about your New Year’s fic?

Ask me about my wips

Hello friend, sorry for taking my time answering this, but thank you for sending it! Hope things have been good in your corner ❤️

I'm most likely posting it today as I'm basically done with it and I need to do a lot of editing, and I ended up with more vibes than plot (as expected of me)

It's a story set in New Year's Eve then the morning after in New Year's with no cuts at all so you get around 5 to 6k words of build up. And you may wonder to set what? But it's for Tess and Joel getting back together because they're exes in this! And some recent news from Tess may have driven them to rethink their break up. Also Maria and Tommy bullied them into attending that party.

I know it's kinda grim to have a fic about the new year to be this angsty but I've been too nice to them haha

Have a snippet:

Tommy was clearly in charge of the music as Snoop Dog boomed in the speakers, the joyous roar of laughter and chatter filling her ear drums while Tess got closer to the open door. 

A low whistle broke through it all, and she grinned with a sidelong glare at the younger brother, a beer in hand that was nearly empty. 

“Look at ya, Tessa!” He twirled her around to her weak protests, and she wanted to smack him for being a funny drunk, “and to think you were gonna stand me up.” 

She poked at his chest, two tipsy people circling them before going inside, and she yelled. “Shut the fuck up Tommy! I'm here for Maria.” 

Half a truth, and she didn’t lie as often, so Tommy raised one of his hands in the air apologetically to placate her, then squeezed her shoulder to signal she could come in. 

It was warmer now, with all the bodies pressed together and all the liquor flowing like water, not like she would expect less of one of the most important events of the year, and she watched with horror as Tommy left a cold beer in her hand. 

“The fuck?” She blurted out, hesitant, and he clinked them together before downing the rest in one big gulp.

“Relax, it's New Year's Eve, everyone's gonna get wasted!”

“Uh, Tommy, I don’t think-” 

“I’m gonna look for Maria! Stay here!” Was what he shouted, pointing with a thumb over his shoulder, and then he was gone. 

The beer was heavy in her hold as she licked her lips to worry her mind. She scanned the busy room, and with everyone focused on each other, the flickering colorful lights and doing shots, she easily abandoned the bottle on a low wooden table.

Tess had known this house like the back of her palm once. Half of her life, if she thought too hard about it. 

Joel had once jokingly said this is where they would live and raise all of their children, and back in time, Tess had laughed it away. But now she knew he had never joked, and that she had broken his heart, and that was something heavy she couldn’t brush it aside. 

“Are you kidding me?” A voice called, and Tess was happy for the needed distraction when Maria, dressed in nothing else than a white pants and an intricate blue sweater, pushed to get to Tess. “You look radiant, Tess!”

Her cheeks darkened, and she playfully shoved her elbow. “Oh you’re just being generous.” 

“Bullshit. You’re glowing.” Maria continued, and Tess winced. Maybe a drink would’ve made forgetting easier, but, well.

[greenandhazy]

WIP Word Game

Rules: you'll be given a word. post a sentence/excerpt from your wips beginning with each letter of the word.

@anbessette tagged me! I've got two excerpts from my masquerade AO3-posted WIP, two from a divorced coparents NieYao fic hopefully being posted in 2025, one from a NieLan Fandom Trumps Hate fic being posted sometime in the next two weeks, and one random ZhuiLing fic in which Jin Guangyao is thrilled that his nephew wants to marry the only polite boy in the jianghu, but the other parental figures have some concerns. OH and also one from a short oneshot collection in which 3zun and SXX are romantically split up and paired up with their narrative foils. SzunXzunXjun, as it were.

My word is WONDERS.

W - “Well, I’m not gonna lie—my stomach feels pretty bad. Almost as bad as Uncle Sangsang’s that time we went out for Spanish dim sum—” “Tapas,” Juliang corrected with an exasperated giggle. “You remember, right? ‘Oh, Liangliang, I can’t move, my tummy hurts so bad. I can’t even take one more bite so you have to finish my flan or else I’ll make myself sick.” It was uncanny.

O - “Old families will sometimes keep spiritual weapons as mementos,” Song Lan pointed out. “They don’t have to license them if the weapon is deemed unusable, but they can be repaired. And the Jin are an old family.”

N - Nie Huaisang waited. He shivered again, performatively, and mused aloud that he should have taken Jin Guangyao up on that offer of coffee—maybe he could have just a sip? Jin Guangyao handed over his mug without a word. What do you know, Nie Huaisang? he thought. More importantly—what do you want?

D - “Da-ge is unhappy because he thinks you don’t like him,” Huaisang said impatiently. “He thinks you’re only pleasant to him because you’re pleasant to everybody. He told me to stop complaining when you go off to Cloud Recesses, because he thinks if you want to be there instead of the Unclean Realm, then it would be cruel to make you feel guilty about it.”

(Lan Xichen 🤝 Jane Bennett confusing their love interests by being too smiley)

E - “Eloping,” Sizhui. He glared at Hanguang-jun. “We can’t elope in front of everyone we know!” Jin Ling protested weakly, with a nervous glance at shushu, whose polite smile had frozen on his face. “Oh, yes we can.”

R - “Remember, we’re hosting lunch and board games on Sunday.” “A-Yao,” Xue Yang groaned. “If financial stability means we have to give up the living room lube in favor of Sunday board games, then I don’t want it.”

S - (Sometimes, when Meng Yao had had a particularly hard week or a particularly strong drink, he complained to Xue Yang that all of this felt a bit silly given that by the time he was nine years old, he had become well-accustomed to being left in the apartment overnight while his mother went to work, let alone for a few hours after school. “That’s what you fucking get for joining the middle class, babe,” Xue Yang cackled without a hint of sympathy.)

tbh I've lost total track of which of my moots are currently writing fic, let alone in fandoms I know, so if you see this and thought it looked fun then Pikachu, I tag YOU.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Wip when I get the time.

Hey! I got tagged again. Thanks to @thequeenofthewinter, @mareenavee, @friend-of-giants, @archangelsunited and @elfinismsarts for the tags, I'll get to everyone's posts! I've been avoiding certain parts of the internet this week for my sanity so have been a bit slow getting to things <3 Anyways this week is art and writing again. I've finished 1 art, almost finished another and started one that is a little on the NSFW side, yay me. Oh and because I've been down it's obviously more Josh because that's all my brain can draw atm. Art!

Yeah, Glock!Josh is almost done and the meme is almost over! Next art is under the cut coz length lol.

And here's the most self-indulgent thing I have ever created...the safety version!

It is very self-indulgent, will be a massive pain in the ass and I can't post the full image outside of discord and pillowfort but dammit I'm going to paint this!

Now writing!

More Josh, he's gotten off the boat and is stuck in a room. What's he gonna do? Fuck with Socucius Ergalla of course! It's all dialogue so feel free to skip and just look at the art. :)

“Thank you, now on to the next question,” the Breton paused for a moment, did he expect Teldryn to interrupt him again? “Your cousin-”

“I don’t have a cousin,” Teldryn interjected, oh he was going to enjoy this.

 The Breton sighed before continuing his line of questioning, “Your cousin has given you a very embarrassing nickname and, even worse, likes to call you it in front of your friends. You asked him to stop, but he finds it very amusing to watch you blush.”

“Well, I don’t know what you Bretons like to do with your cousins but-“

“Will you shut up!” The Breton finally raised his voice at him, just the rise Teldryn was looking for.

“Of course, officer, please do continue with these very important questions,” he pointed at his right ear, “I’m all ear.”

 “Your three options are, A. Beat up your cousin, then tell him that if he ever calls you that nickname again, you will bloody him worse the next time.”

Teldryn nodded, he’d let him finish this one.

“B. Make up a story that makes your nickname a badge of honour instead of something humiliating. Or C. Make up an even more embarrassing nickname for him and use it constantly until he learns his lesson.”

“All three,” Teldryn stated before scratching his nose again.

“Choose one please,” the Breton’s tone was becoming increasingly irate.

Teldryn laughed and took a step towards the desk, sitting on its edge. His chains shook as he moved, “You see first I’d cover for myself, make that name sound all heroic in front of these friends.” He moved some of the papers to the side, earning a somewhat mortified look from the Agent. He grinned at the Breton before continuing, “Then I’d call my cousin over, wait for him to use it again and beat the shit out of him. Teach him a lesson and all that. I’ll have plenty of ammunition for an even worse name later!” He laughed to himself before standing back up and returning to his original position, “It’s fucking brilliant!”

The agent just pinched the bridge of his nose, bit his tongue, “Next question.” Teldryn would take that as a win.

“There is a lot of heated discussion at the local tavern over a group of people called 'Telepaths'. They have been hired by certain City-State kings. Rumour has it these Telepaths read a person's mind and tell their Lord whether a follower is telling the truth or not.”

Teldryn remained quiet this time, why not let him continue this one?

“What do you think of this rumour? A. This is a terrible practice. A person's thoughts are his own and no one, not even a king, has the right to make such an invasion into another human's mind.”

Well, this was an odd one, didn’t the Empire use these sorts of mages in their spy rings?

“B. Loyal followers to the king have nothing to fear from a Telepath. It is important to have a method of finding assassins and spies before it is too late.”

“What kind of bootlicking response is that?” Teldryn muttered under his breath, it earned him a stern glare from the Agent before him.

“And finally, C. in these times, it is a necessary evil. Although you do not necessarily like the idea, a Telepath could have certain advantages during a time of war or in finding someone innocent of a crime.”

“How are any of these answers options?” Teldryn shifted his weight where he stood, why was this room so hot? “Oh, I don’t know…The first option is the least stupid.”

“That is the most common response among recruit- “The Breton paused, he’d clearly misspoken, Teldryn decided to keep that bit of information for later, “amongst those being released.”

Teldryn just nodded silently, the word recruit still swimming in his mind.

“Question five, your mother sends you to the market with a list of goods to buy. After you finish you find that by mistake a shopkeeper has given you too much money back in exchange for one of the items.”

And the thought of his mother trusting him with coin and a list sent Teldryn into another laughing fit, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please continue,” This was just ridiculous!

The Breton furrowed his brow. Clearly, he was trying his best to keep his composure, “Do you A. Return to the store and give the shopkeeper his hard-earned money, explaining to him the mistake. B. Decide to put the extra money to good use and purchase items that would help your family. Or C. Pocket the extra money, knowing that shopkeepers in general tend to overcharge customers anyway.”

“Is this a trick question?” Teldryn asked, “You do know what I was arrested for? Right? It’s in that fancy notebook you’ve got there.” Teldryn pointed to the ledger that the Census and Excise Agent had closed earlier.

“It’s a hypothetical situation, now could you please answer the question without all the commentary please.”

“What do you think?” Teldryn shook his head.

“I don’t know, you need to answer the question.”

“The latter,” he looked up at the ceiling and noticed a long, thin crack in the plaster, how much longer was this going to take? He was beginning to feel restless, for a variety of reasons, he did just wander off a cramped ship after all.

The Breton took a deep breath before moving on to the next question, “While in the marketplace, you witness a thief cut a purse from a noble. Even as he does so, the noble notices and calls for the city guards. In his haste to get away, the thief drops the purse near you. Surprisingly no one seems to notice the bag of coins at your feet.”

“Oh, another trick question ha?” Teldryn moved back onto his heels, the shackles around his ankles pinching at his skin. He really wanted those things off. The old man ignored his comment.

“Do you choose option A. Pick up the bag and signal to the guard, knowing that the only honourable thing to do is return the money to its rightful owner.”

“What bullshit!”

The Breton glared at him again, “Do you B. Leave the bag there, knowing that it is better not to get involved.”

“Also bullshit and terribly stupid.”

“Or finally do you choose C. Pick up the bag and pocket it, knowing that the extra windfall will help your family in times of trouble.”

“Oh, come on officer! What kind of leading questions are these?” Teldryn watched as he scribbled something down into that ledger. Notes? Was he being assessed? Teldryn sighed, “Fine, the last one.”

“Thank you, question seven, your father sends you on a task which you loathe, cleaning the stables. On the way there, pitchfork in hand, you run into your friend from the homestead near your own. He offers to do it for you, in return for a future favour of his choosing.” He paused, glancing at Teldryn for a moment before continuing, “Do you A. Decline his offer, knowing that your father expects you to do the work, and it is better not to be in debt.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Enough commentary please,” the Breton snapped. He wrote something else down in that ledger as he continued his line of questioning, “Do you choose option B. Ask him to help you, knowing that two people can do the job faster than one, and agree to help him with one task of his choosing in the future.”

“Also stupid,” Teldryn interjected again.

“Please just let me finish,” no, this was stupid and Teldryn was adamant that he’d prove that point, “Or finally C. Accept his offer, reasoning that as long as the stables are cleaned, it matters not who does the cleaning.”

Teldryn smiled, He attempted to fold his arms but got caught in the chains, he leaned back instead, “Oh that’s easy, if the s’wit is stupid enough to want to shovel guar-shit, then he can shovel guar-shit.”

“Interesting way to put it, most ah, prisoners choose the second option,” he continued scribbling down what Teldryn assumed was his answer or a commentary on his answer, he couldn’t quite see.

“Well then, most prisoners are stupid,” Teldryn offered, he found another knot in his hair to fiddle with. It felt greasy, he didn’t like it one bit.

“Question eight, your mother asks you to help fix the stove. While you are working, a very hot pipe slips its mooring and falls towards her.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?” The Breton questioned, pausing long enough to dip his stylus into the inkpot.

“I’m not helping mother with a stove! This question is stupid! Next!”

“Please, we only have two left!” the Breton’s composure slipped again as he raised his voice at Teldryn, “Now option A-“

“Next. Question.” Teldryn growled through gritted teeth, he was officially over these questions and it seemed that in this case, the Census and Excise Agent was just as willing to move on.

He flipped through a few pages, marking each as he went, the elderly man appeared to be clenching his jaw as he went, “Question nine, while in town the baker gives you a sweet roll. Delighted, you take it into an alley to enjoy only to be intercepted by a gang of three other kids your age. The leader demands the sweet roll, or else he and his friends will beat you and take it.”

“Kid sounds like a dick, if you ask me,” Teldryn interjected, really what was the point of this?

[teddywesworl]

if you're still doing the wip thing... The last mile? your mass effect au makes me feral

I just tried to answer this and tumblr fucking ATE my response but yeah i'm working on it, it's set half at the beginning and half at the end of the Reaper War with the Hawkins assigned to Project Crucible (part 1) and the London assault (part 2). tonally it's very me3 so im gonna be kinda nervous about posting it, especially as it may require a MCD tag lmaoooooo (not them though. never them)

i have no idea when it's going to be completed, though, so here's a sizeable chunk of the opening, complete with epistolary-ish framing device to match DTA:

EDDIE 1

Fig. 1: Perspectives on Tayseri Ward, an award-winning photograph of the Citadel by acclaimed asari photographer Lidilya Ranis, ca. 2182. Note the near-atmospheric effect of the gas and dust of the Serpent Nebula creating depth of field between the camera’s lens and the Presidium Ring.

*

The Citadel is different than he remembers, but it’s also the same.

He and Steve see it differently. Steve thanks air traffic control in person on their way through security and comments on the Sur’Kesh native trees freshly planted in the commercial district. Eddie marks the C-Sec man tailing them while they eat tacos from a super gimmicky Thessia-Earth fusion restaurant and spots a pickpocket watching them from an alley. It’s a human girl, maybe thirteen. No visible tattoos or marks, but that doesn’t mean much when the kid is wearing a beanie and a scarf and a bulky jacket that’ll hide plenty of take. Eddie angles himself so the cop can’t see his face, makes eye contact with the girl, and shakes his head.

They’re in the Mid-Ward, a part of Zakera that Eddie should know intimately. It feels strange not to recognize the large majority of the storefronts, replaced as so many were in the aftermath of the geth attack in ‘83, but the longer he looks, the clearer it becomes that the bones are the same. Eddie rebuilds the map in his head from the position of keeper ports, maintenance panels, walkways—and vents.

He falls behind Steve just staring at a vent tucked between an Armax vendor and a pop-up shop selling the elcor equivalent of beer. Steve walks another dozen feet, maybe, before he notices Eddie’s not beside him and doubles back.

“You okay?” Steve says, fingertips brushing Eddie’s elbow.

Eddie shakes himself off and nods. “Yeah, sorry,” he says. “Um. I used to sleep in there, I think. I’m pretty sure that’s the one.”

Steve frowns, his eyes moving from storefront to storefront, gliding over the vent like it isn’t there until he remembers. “Oh,” he says. His hand slides down Eddie’s forearm, and he laces their fingers together.

Eddie feels oddly disconnected from his own body. He doesn’t think he would fit in that vent, now, but that’s sort of the point, isn’t it? That’s what a duct rat is. You stop being a duct rat when you can’t fit anymore. Or when the wrong fan powers up and chews you to pieces.

Eddie unfocuses his eyes and doesn’t quite look at the C-Sec man still pretending not to follow them. It’s a turian, hanging around some fifty paces behind them, and he’s obvious in a way that’s kind of aggravating, because turians make up something like half a percent of the Mid-Ward’s population, and the real residents don’t dress business casual. There’s a tension welling up, raw from the vents and the cops and the collision between memory and immediate reality. He bounces on the balls of his feet, indecisive. Then he squeezes Steve’s hand, locks eyes with the turian, and crooks his finger at the guy, beckoning.

There’s a strange hanging moment where the cop looks like he’s gonna try to disappear into the crowd, but then he accepts that he’s been made and approaches. Steve looks surprised to see him; his posture gets a little guarded, so Eddie squeezes his hand again.

“That’s close enough,” Eddie says at a distance of ten or so paces. He’s not in the mood for this, doesn’t feel like playing a game, so he just says: “Why?”

Steve stays quiet, apparently satisfied to let Eddie handle this.

The turian’s mandibles twitch. “I’m,” he says. “I don’t…”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “Why’d they send you?” he says.

“They didn’t say,” says the cop. Eddie’s not sure he believes him, but at least he’s not playing completely dumb.

“Get out of here,” Eddie says. “Tell them you were made. Also tell them the Alliance doesn’t appreciate C-Sec harassing its N7s on shore leave.”

The mandibles twitch again. Turian hearts aren’t quite like human hearts, but the rhythm of this one changes enough to confirm Eddie’s suspicions that the guy at least didn’t know who Steve was. “Right,” he says. Leaving is an awkward thing, but he manages it, walking off in a straight line.

Eddie sighs when he’s gone.

“How long’s he been there?” Steve asks.

“Since security,” Eddie replies. “Fuckin’ amateur hour, sending a turian. Especially since there’s a ton of human cops now.”

Steve hums thoughtfully. “You ready?” he says.

“Yeah,” Eddie says, and it’s the truth. He wasn’t sure it would be, when Hop offered to call in a favor, when the message hit his inbox, or even when he stepped out of the Hawkins airlock and onto an Alliance dock this morning. He just kept saying yes and moving forward because he knew he’d regret it if he didn’t.

He keeps holding onto Steve’s hand as they move through and past the crowds toward Oji Way Warehouses, a row of storage units guarded by sectional doors and the occasional krogan hired gun. One such krogan, a scarred old brute with a cracked green frontal plate, approaches to grunt at them about what they’re doing down here, to move along if they don’t have business.

“We do,” says Steve. “We’re looking for somebody.”

“That so, soldier boy?” says the krogan. Eddie ducks his chin to hide a smile, because yeah, even in civvies, Steve sticks out like a sore thumb.

“Munson,” says Steve. “That’s the name.”

The krogan turns his head to get a better look at them out of a single eye. “What d’you want with Wayne?”

[stabbyfoxandrew]

for you wip Wednesday posts, do you just post as you write? like are the parts all continuous or is there parts between that you don’t post? (sorry if this is dumb, I’m just curious how you do yours:))

okay so (get ready for a long winded explanation of how my writing works sorry in advance)

for wipw, i have sort of a basic outline for plot points and stuff. i know roughly how each of the stories go and how they end. that being said, i have two docs (or more) per au. one with the outline and the other is the draft i'm posting for you guys. like here's the actual docs in my bookmarks (ignore my joke titles okay)

(ID: a screenshot of my Firefox, with a folder of bookmarks showing.)

cutting here because sweet lord this got long

as you can see i've got all my wipw docs in a bookmark folder so i can find them easily. DIH, BB, OG, 🦊, and 🦊WIPW are all writing folders. DIH is a long fic for another fandom. BB stands for 'big bang' and is for all my 'cosmic lost and found' stuff. OG is my ocs stuff :). Fox is anything aftg-related that isn't for wipw. and finally wipw is... wipw.

ALSO 'strips and tags' is the doc where i keep my little 'headings' for wipw posts as well as the tags so i don't have to type that shit everytime! (ex: 'WIP Wednesday (10/25) | Guardian Angel Neil (Part --)'

anyway! i write on them and cut them into chunks for wipw. the size of the 'chunk' each ask gets depends on how well the story flows and if it's a good stopping point. so sometimes it's just a couple paragraphs and sometimes it's almost a full fucking page because i couldn't decide where to chop it?

also usually i like to work a bit ahead so i'm not starting with nothing the next week. so when i don't and i get a lot for a certain au it stresses me out bc i don't know where we're going and i have to come up with it on the fly so i can answer asks??

this is also why i write in order and i could never write bits and pieces here and there all over the timeline like Ash does. it would Stress Me Out sooo bad lol

to answer the actual question: yeah.

for the most part, it's mostly how the final draft will be. but in the final i'll probably flesh out certain bits to make it make sense. like we just Jump into the scene a lot in wipw posts and it makes sense for wipw posts. but it wouldn't in an actual longfic on ao3? you know?

also in angel neil, some of the events are out of order. i never expected people to care about it so much so originally it was gonna be a lotttt shorter so andrew talks to betsy about it right away. i think in the Finished Fic (whenever that will be) he won't mention neil to betsy for a while?? but idk for sure we still have a long ass way to go.

thanks for asking this i'm sorry if you didn't want to read my life story but i don't have anyone to talk about writing with really and also i'm insane and can't just say yes/no i have to EXPLAIN