#I wanted to include each line so I hope it's not too difficult to read

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

Hii do u have any headcannons for reader being Baji's little sister and Mikey having a huge crush on her, but Baji is like suuuper protective of her and refuses anyone from the gang to date her because him being her brother is already dangerous as is, I hope this ask isn't too complicated 😅

Ok I set this in the good timeline and there's also two endings. We have the sfw ending which is with all the other hc's and we have the nsfw ending which is clearly labelled at the end. You guys can choose which ending you want to read (the bullet point with the star is where you should switch if you only want the nsfw ending).

Baji is very very vocal about the rules around his little sister, makes it very clear to all the guys that you're off limits and "too good for all of them anyway".

Unfortunately for Baji though, he's keeping an eye on the wrong ex gang members. He eyes the way Hakkai blushes to you, chases Kazutora and Hanma for saying they plan on dating you (they're actually just teasing Baji), raises his eyebrow at how friendly Chifuyu is with you and yells at the Haitani's for trying their pick up lines on you. The point is Baji is so distracted by the others that he never sees Mikey coming until it's too late. 

Mikey starts off simple, just getting you alone one day and asking you what you really thought about your brother's "rules". And as he watches you giggle and call Baji caring but too overprotective, he thinks he falls even more in love. 

And so operation "make y/n fall in love with Mikey" begins. Of course Mikey assembles a mini team for this. Including Draken (he think this is an awful idea and Baji will kill them all), Emma (she thinks the two of you will be cute together), Takemichi (he is very scared of the consequences of doing this), Sanzu (anything for Mikey) and Kisaki (has no idea why he's here and thinks this is a waste of time). Of course these meetings don't do much but Mikey does get some advice.

You start getting mini anonymous presents daily, always pretty or thoughtful things, the card is always just signed with a heart. (Baji is very concerned when he finds out).

Mikey also comes up with elaborate plans to get you alone so the two of you can hang out and get to know each other more. These mostly involve distracting Baji in some way, either by telling someone to hang out with him or by telling him a cat needs his help a few miles away. Baji falls for it everytime, rushing off and leaving you alone. 

He's very touchy with you whenever the two of you are together. He'll happily hold your hand, hug you and lean his head on your shoulder if he gets tired.

Also loves to take you for rides on his bike, Baji barely ever let's you ride with him because of the risk so Mikey figures it's up to him to show you how much fun it is (the feeling of you clinging to him is great too). 

Mikey really likes hanging out with you and get's a little sad whenever it ends but he can't risk Baji seeing this, not yet.

He takes you to the sea often too, sharing a taiyaki with you and talking about anything that comes to mind. It's here that he finally confesses to you and here where the two of you share your first kiss after you confess back to him too. 

You two become experts at secret dates and secret looks at each other. 

Even in front of Baji the two of you find ways to flirt and be affectionate with each other. Mikey whispering you a compliment as he walks past you. You telling Mikey he dropped something but when he picks up the paper it's just a note from you telling him how much you miss him during these big gatherings. Baji never even suspects anything at all.

It is a little difficult hiding your relationship at times but the two of you feel like you could do this forever but of course nothing can last forever.

☆It was a pretty big day for the two of you, Baji had gone on an out of town trip, leaving you alone in your shared apartment. So of course you took the opportunity to invite Mikey over.

The two of you had just settled down to watch a movie, happily sharing a blanket and cuddling when Baji walked in. Turns out the trip had been cancelled but that's nothing compared to the chaos that was about to go down.

Baji stands there for a moment, staring in disbelief at his oldest friend and his baby sister together. You and Mikey stare back in shock, no one daring to move until Baji opens his mouth to start yelling or talking. You're not sure what he was about to say because before he could get even a word out Mikey launched a pillow at his face, giving himself a head start to start running.

Baji very quickly shot out of the apartment after Mikey all while yelling "MY SISTER!!!!" You watch them for a moment before sighing and calling Draken. Before then calling Ryoko, if anyone could talk sense into your brother it was definitely your mother. 

After Draken (and Mitsuya, who he brought along as backup) separated them and Baji got yelled at down the phone by Ryoko a truce was made. You and Mikey could date and Baji wouldn't kill him if you kept all of that relationship stuff away from him and out of sight. It was a lot better then either you or Mikey had expected (largely thanks to Ryoko) so you both happily agreed. Holding hands and walking off together to Mikey's apartment this time (all while Baji yelled about how holding hands counts as "relationship stuff"). 

Nsfw ending

It was a pretty big day for the two of you, Baji had gone on an out of town trip, leaving you alone in your shared apartment. So of course you took the opportunity to invite Mikey over.

Eager to see and feel each other, things got steamy very quickly. Mikey was just in the middle of thrusting into you, in and out, getting lost in the warm, velvety feeling of your walls. While you were letting small moans and whimpers slip as Mikey went deeper, hitting your spot and making you see stars everytime. Both of you were so close and lost in each other that neither of you heard the key in the door or the door swing open. You moaned as it finally became all too much and you came, the feeling pushing Mikey over the edge with a groan as he releases his thick load into you. Neither you get to enjoy it for long though as Baji announces his presence with a dangerous growl.

Mikey frantically tries to cover you before putting his clothes on in record time and racing out of the door with Baji quickly pursuing him. All while he yells "MY SISTER!???? AND ON MY SOFA!?????" 

Putting some clothes on and cleaning up the mess as quick as you can, you frantically run after them. Who knows what Baji will do to Mikey after seeing that, whatever it is you need to stop it.

You think you're getting close as you hear raised voices but suddenly your wrist is being grabbed and some strang man is holding you still.

"Hey I recognise you! You're Baji Keisuke's sister, yeah. That fucker beat me up years ago, made me lose my gang and my reputation, I've always wanted to make him pay..."

You only see the knife for a second before it's being kicked out of the guys hands and you're being pulled away. Baji holds you in his arms, both of you needing that comfort while Mikey knocks the guy out. They worked together to save you and without knowing it, Mikey proved he's more then capable of keeping you safe. 

He's still a little reluctant but Baji gives you his blessing, after muttering about needing to bleach his eyes out. 

[dunmeshistash]

Interview to celebrate the opening of the Ryoko Kui Exhibition

About Delicious in Dungeon: Story making

Q1. Your first long-running series has lasted for about 9 and a half years. Has it been different from your previous experience drawing short stories?

A1. Compared to short stories, the series has been easier because the same characters appear each time. But I was surprised to find that I got tired of drawing the same characters too many times.

Q2. You have said before that the overall structure of the story was decided before serialization began, but how much of that had you communicated to your editor? Also, what kind of communication did you have during the series production?

A2. The goal was something we discussed and had decided on from the beginning. The goal itself was simple, but the path to get there was more difficult and took longer than imagined.

Q3. Regarding the overall story concept and development, did you write out or put anything down in writing (such as the plot)?

A3. I did, but it was simple.

Q4. Did you come up with the dishes based on the monsters you wanted in the story? Or did you come up with the monsters based on the dishes?

A4. It depended on the story, but usually the story came first followed by the monsters or food. I feel like that was most often the order.

Q5. As you progressed in drawing the series, what elements of the characters, story, or world expanded or grew in the most unexpected way?

A5. Nothing particularly unexpected perhaps. When I used to draw web manga, I tended to think up inconsequential settings. So, from the beginning I tried to restrain myself as much as possible and not expand too much. I was surprised when my editor said "Let's expand it more," in the second half of the series.

Q6. "Delicious in Dungeon" starts with a relatively simple setting, but as the series and the labyrinth exploration continues, the map slowly expands little by little in the readers' minds. It becomes more three-dimensional, revealing the secrets of the world, and taking on a multilayered structure. Are there any sources that you used as a reference, or which influenced you in creating this multilayered structure?

A6. A long time ago, when I was working on my personal web manga (fantasy), I drew it however I wanted, thinking that "Only people who can read this will read it," but I regularly received feedback that it was "unreadable", so I tried to make it as easily. accessible as possible.

Q7. The series combines many elements, including "fantasy", "gourmet", "battles", and "puzzle solving", but I think it's also important that it is a "comedy" which makes people laugh. Could you let us know if you have a creative commitment towards depicting humor?

A7. My hopes are that I can make it fun for people to read.

[page 5]

About Delicious in Dungeon: Drawing manga

Q1. Please tell us about the drawing tools you currently use, both digital and analogue.

A1. In terms of analogue tools, I use a light box, a G pen, a round pen, and a brush pen. And for digital, I use CLIP STUDIO PAINT and a Wacom LCD tablet. Screentone pasting is always done on the computer, so ultimately it all ends up as a digital manuscript.

Q2. Do you have any rules or reasons for using digital and analog separately?

A2. I'm always looking for ways to draw better and save time, so the exact approach is probably different for almost every chapter. Personally, I feel that analogue methods create more appealing lines, but I feel like digital saves time, so maybe I'll do a digital rough sketch and do the inking by hand… I might have been using a G pen, and maybe I'll try out a turnip pen, or this time I'm short on time so I'll draw it entirely digitally, but with digital I can redo it over and over, so maybe analogue is still faster, and so on and so forth. I'm indecisive in this way and so haven't developed a consistent process.

Q3. I understand that you prepare 3D data for your assistants to draw the backgrounds. What kind of data did you make for "Delicious in Dungeon" ?

A3. You could call it 3D, but it's not a proper model, just something to help with the rough sketching. I line up cubes to share the perspective and sense of scale, and they use it as a reference.

Q4. At the beginning of the series, the characters and backgrounds were somewhat simply drawn, and it seems like they became richly detailed over the progression of the story. What was your intention behind using these different styles?

A4. It's simply that my technique isn't stable. I thought I'd put a lot of effort in at the start. I remember being confused when my editor asked me to add more in to the drawing, and I wondered "Where…?"

Q5. Thinking about the food, were there any menu illustrations that you were particularly satisfied with, or which you struggled with?

A5. I've never liked my own food illustrations. But the times when I read other people's manga and thought "That looks delicious," I think it's been more an influence of the movement, the staging, and the situation than the drawings.

Q6. For the world maps and the terrain of each continent, did you refer to any maps of the real world? I feel like the shape of the 'island' is similar to the shape of Fukuoka Prefecture or Kyushu.

A6. I didn't reference any specific geography, but I did try to put thought into things like whether a developed city would be near a river or the sea, and what the coastline would look like. I'm pleased if it feels similar to a real place, because it means my interpretation was pretty accurate.

About Delicious in Dungeon: Other

Q1. Which is your favorite monster?

A1. Nightmare.

Q2. I'm sure you have received a lot of feedback from readers in countries and regions outside of Japan. Please tell us if there was anything from them that made you happy, was unexpected, or which made a lasting impression on you.

A2. When you play foreign games, there are times when you think "Why did they translate it into Japanese like that?" But having been on the side of having something translated, I've realized some things are unavoidable, or endless, and there are many things that don't matter either way from the author's perspective, so it was interesting.

About Ryoko Kui's short story collections and herself

Q1. Dragons are a consistent and important motif in your work. Was there any particular work or experience which inspired this? Also, are there points about drawing dragons which you find interesting or have had to work hard on?

A1. It's less about liking dragons, and more that I'm interested in the worlds in which dragons exist. When I draw dragons, the depiction in itself has a sweet feeling to it. I have never had a pet reptile, so I don't have a very good understanding of them.

Q2. Unomiya University in your story "The dragon's school is on top of the mountain" has a Faculty of Dragons, Department of Environmental Studies, and Department of Technology Studies, and a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. If you were to enroll in the university, which department or faculty would you like to enter?

A2. I probably wouldn't be accepted….

Q3. The collection includes a short story staged as an essay manga. Are you a fan of essay manga? Please tell us about any genres of essay manga that you like.

A3. I love all kinds of essay manga. I read them often.

Q4. If you were to make your own game, what kind of game would you like to make?

A4. I prefer being a player when it comes to games.

Q5. When did you first start drawing illustrations (doodles)?

A5. I don't exactly remember when I first drew a picture, but I think I started drawing manga around the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school. in my notebooks and had my friends read them.

Q6. What is the most fun part about drawing manga?

A6. Every part is fun and hard in its own way.

Q7. Please tell us if there is anything you "just can't stop no matter what".

A7. My procrastination habit.

Q8. Could you please tell us if there's something you want to draw now?

A8. I've been working continuously since the serialization, so I'd like to take about 2 to 3 months to just draw whatever I want.

[her-satanic-wiles]

October 12th

Medical Play, Papa Emeritus III x Reader

Masterlist

Words: 2.5k

Warnings: Medical play; GN!Reader; dom!Reader?; cringey Terzo; subby!Terzo; established relationship; latex kink?; glove kink; hand job; mild praise; anal fingering; taunting; mild degradation; mild humiliation; power kink; mild edging; cum eating; cumswap; reads like an 80s porno; awful medical terminology, I'm sorry to all the doctors and nurses reading this lmao;

Taglist: @sodoswitchimage @enchantedbunny @bitchywitchygardener @thew0man @sodomiser @the-did-i-ask @copias-sewer-rat @gehrmansbignaturals

🔞 MDNI 🔞

The graveyard shift was always the worst - or rather, the slowest. As most of the Siblings were asleep in the dead of the night, you had free roam of the medical centre of the Ministry. Not that there was ever much to see given that it was hardly decorated and filled to the brim with medicine and multiple medical journals, all of which you’d perused on your off or slow hours.

Thankfully, your job was always made easier by the fact that no one in the Ministry was stupid enough to get themselves into a lot of trouble. Even during the day, the worst injury you’d seen was someone’s ritual or blood play wounds get infected, but thankfully it was easy enough to sort out. It was the most difficult thing, becoming a doctor and going through university - even getting a job within the Ministry itself was a difficult task. The job itself though - paid to read books mostly.

Though, it was different that night. Your socked feet were up on your desk and a book was in your lap. You were, of course, reading what your friends liked to call your “dirty girl books”, when there was a gentle knock at the door. “Come in!” You called. Immediately you brought your feet off the desk and put your bookmark in the book, hiding it from the view of your guest. You still didn’t want to appear unprofessional, even though there was no one around… well, almost no one.

The door opened to reveal a smaller man, black hair and wrinkles. You recognised him instantly. “Good morning, Papa.” You said, standing to your feet out of respect.

“Ah, hello, doctor. I hope I am not disturbing you while you are busy?” Terzo stood there in the doorway uncharacteristically awkward in his demeanour and make up chipping from his face. He looked tired.

You looked at the clock: four o’clock. It was so early. “I always have time for you, Papa. How can I help you?”

“Ah, it is a little embarrassing, doctor.”

“Whatever it is I’m here to help, judgment-free.”

This was the moment you’d been waiting for. The thing is - you weren’t Terzo’s personal physician. Given the nature of their job and the importance of their status, each of the Papas had their own personal physicians at their beck and call all times of the day and night. You weren’t part of that club, rather, dealing with the rest of the Ministry including the Ghouls and the Clergy. You may not have been Terzo’s physician, but you were his partner… so to speak. This whole arrangement had been set up and pre-decided weeks ago, and when he had time, he’d drop in to see you with some “medical emergency” and you would be the doctor to “treat him”. You would pretend not to know each other which was the most crucial part of the whole scene. So now you were just waiting for Terzo to say his next line, not that you knew what his next line was.

“Well you see, I am an old man. And my, how do you say? My dick is broken.”

This fucking guy.

“Okay, in what way?”

“It doesn’t stand for very long. It grows tired very quickly, like me. Or my fratello.”

Please don’t compare your penis to your brothers.

“R-right.” You blinked at him a few times, not quite expecting him to be so forthcoming with his “issue” - or even quite so chaotic. “Please come and take a seat on the bench for me.” He did as you instructed. “Would you mind unbuttoning your shirt, Papa?”

“Ah, doctor, that is the other thing. My fingers are tired today, too. I am afraid they can’t unbutton anything.”

Of course they can’t.

He looked at you and gave you the biggest shit-eating grin, clearly eating up his role. Despite knowing Terzo as intimately as you did for a number of years, he still managed to find ways to fluster you.

You moved forward, trying your best not to smile and keep it “professional”, but the excitement within him was simply radiating off of him and infecting you. He was, for lack of a better term, buzzing with it. Your fingers carefully began to unbutton his white shirt and avoiding his gaze, but you could feel it on you. His mischievous eyes studying you and your expression so intently you were sure it would leave a mark.

Once his incredibly hairy chest was completely exposed to you, you took the stethoscope from around your neck and set yourself up to use it. “This may be a little cold.” You warned before placing the bell over his heart. Of course, this wasn’t a real check up, so it didn’t matter what you heard. In fact, you were only doing this for his benefit because you knew he’d want it.

“Can you hear that, doctor?” He asked.

“There’s nothing unusual.”

“But my heart, you should hear that it beats only for you.”

This. Fucking. Guy.

It took everything in you not to blush or react to his words in any way. “Okay, I think we should do a few tests just to make sure everything’s okay. Would you mind removing your pants, Papa?”

You took a step back and allowed Terzo to stand from the bench and do as you’d asked. You looked away to feign privacy, despite the fact that you’d been up close and personal with that part of his body for a long while. But out the corner of your eye, you noticed that the little shit had decided to forgo underwear. How you were surprised was a mystery unto itself.

“You know, doctor, usually I buy ladies dinner before I let them undress me in their offices.” He teased.

“Usually ladies don’t examine you for erectile dysfunction.” You taunted back. “Are you ready, Papa?”

“Of course, doctor. I await your professional opinion.” He plonked himself back up on the bed and leant back confidently, completely exposing himself to you. He was enjoying this game a little too much for your liking. You began prepping your hands, first sanitizing them then putting latex gloves on to keep up appearances. When you moved back over to him, you noticed that his mismatched eyes were heavily trained on you, only moving when you did and fixating on your gloved hands. Time to bullshit your way through this. “To make sure you can maintain a healthy erection, we need to give you one first. Is this normally something you have a problem with?”

“Not at all. Usually my partner is able to get me up just by looking at me.”

You nodded. “So you won’t need any help from me today, then?”

“On the contrary, doctor. My partner is not here, and so I am having trouble. Please take care of me.”

He gave you the best doe eyes he could muster knowing that it would work on you because it usually did. And so, you nodded, and poured some of the office’s lubricant onto your hand. “This will be cold.” You warned him.

As soon as your lubed hand made contact he hissed and jumped, perhaps making more of a show of it than he ought to. Your hand began to work away at his flaccid length, which was filling up with blood a lot quicker than you anticipated. With each tight stroke of your hand, Terzo’s hips bucked slightly. He wasn’t quite ready or sensitive enough for it to feel mind-numbingly good, but the little breaths and whimpers he was releasing was proof enough that it was working. One of his own gloved hands came up to your arm and gripped onto it, trying to keep himself grounded. The other hand grasped onto the bench with as much force as he could.

You tightened your grip and began focusing entirely on the head of his cock, making sure he was feeling as much pleasure as possible. The feeling of the lubed latex on his head had his mind reeling. His eyes were tightly shut, his bottom lip had been taken into his mouth and trapped between his teeth. He was trying so hard to keep up the pretense but he was obviously feeling good. You decided to be a bitch. “Tell me, Papa, what do you usually do to keep the erection?”

“What?” He asked, opening his eyes and coming to his senses.

“Well, this is a new problem, isn’t it? What usually works? What usually feels good?”

Terzo, whom you had never seen so flustered before, gulped and took in a sharp inhale before continuing. “M-my partner usually uses their mouth.”

“Where?”

“What?”

“Where does their mouth go?”

“M-my cock and sometimes my a-asshole.”

You moved your other hand to his taint and then to the rim of his hole. “Here?”

“Yes! Merda! There!”

Then, all of a sudden, you removed all of your hands and took a step back. “You seem to be healthy, Papa. I think maybe you’re just stressed.”

His eyes were wide and he couldn’t quite believe you’d done that. “What?”

“Lack of sleep can also be a cause of dysfunction. Do you get enough sleep?”

“Yes. Doctor, I- I am confused.”

“What with?”

“Well, I… you… stopped.”

“Of course, Papa. You needed help maintaining an erection, we’ve since discovered that you don’t struggle with that regularly, and you’re certainly not now.”

“You can’t just leave me like this.” He gestured to his now angrily erect cock before muttering something in Italian, clearly irritated by you.

“Maybe if you were to ask nicely, I might help you out.”

Terzo hesitated for a second, clearly wanting to say something but not wanting to either be so desperate that he begs for it, but also being to embarrassed to say anything. He was perhaps the filthiest person you knew, never shy or bashful, but apparently when his partner had the upper hand he was a total mess.

“Per favore.”

“Not good enough. Try again.”

“Will you… help me out?”

“Sure, what with?”

“Porca puttana! Make me cum… please, Doctor.”

He almost forgot himself.

You stood and sauntered back over to him applying more lube to your gloved hand as you passed that shelf. “Good boy.” You told him with a teasing smile, wrapping his cock back up in your hand and continuing exactly where you left off. “Nothing wrong with you now, is there? You’re keeping it up well enough, aren’t you?”

The same hand that was gripping onto the bed had moved up onto your shoulder, a gorilla grip on it. His eyes were open but focused on the wall, glazed over a little in the sheer pleasure your hand was providing. Your other hand went straight back to the rim and began rubbing over it again. His noises got louder when you did, hips having a mind of their own. The position wasn’t great so you got him to sit back, keeping him width-ways on the bench with his cheeks on the edge and his feet propped up and legs spread. You cursed your boss for giving you the wrong chair to use for today, what you would have killed to use the gynecology chair with the stirrups. It would have humiliated him so much to be so exposed. He would have loved it. Though he looked like such a whore in this position, you thought perhaps this was more humiliating.

With more lube on your hands, one went back to his head, and the other started pushing inside his hole. His mouth dropped open in a perfect ‘O’ and his brow furrowed, the pleasure almost overwhelming him. “We do have to make sure all parts of you are working correctly, hm? Especially this nice little button in here.”

“Cazzo!”

Only your pinkie was inside him at the moment. You didn’t want to hurt him and as he hadn’t pre-stretched himself out, you thought it was best to take your time. You wiggled it around a little, trying to make his hole fit two of your better, and kept at it until he was lose enough. Eventually, your index and middle fingers were able to fit inside him, and so you went in search of that button you mentioned. “Touch your cock for me.” You instructed. Like the obedient whore he was today, he did as you asked, wrapping his own hand around the head and moving quickly. “Ah-ah.” You scolded. “Slow down.”

“But-”

“Slow!”

His hand gradually put the breaks on, dropping to an almost torturous level. You could see how much it pained him. Given the fluttering of his hole around your two fingers, you could tell he was already too close. He was too overwhelmed. He needed that sweet release that you were refusing to give him. Why? Why wouldn’t you just make him cum? Why would you drag it out as much as you did? He couldn’t fathom it. But he was so desperate to finish he couldn’t ask you to stop.

This was a completely different man in front of you. The head of the Satanic Church was riding your fingers in your office as if he didn’t hold all of the power. Because right now he didn’t. You did. In his desperate need to cum, he was obeying your orders down to the letter. He was whining and writhing for you and only you. No one else got to see him like this: his entire body on fire and chasing a release he’d practically been begging for since he entered the medical ward, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth where it had opened so wide, and loud moans were spilling out with it. His pants completely removed and his white shirt unbuttoned completely. He was positively sinful right now - a proper Babylonian whore giving himself to another for his own pleasure. And oh how he sang for you when you reached that spot. How he stopped breathing when you finally hit it. How expletives poured from his lips to cope with the devastating bliss your fingers were giving him. Choruses of “yes!” and “right there!” and “don’t stop!” providing him comfort while you had your way with him. His own hand matched yours and as you got faster, so did he. He was so close. He could almost taste the sweet release that was on its way to him.

It was when your hands came up to play with his balls he finally tipped over the edge. Cum spurted from his cock and pooled over his hairy stomach, and even reaching up his chest in the intensity of the orgasm he was experiencing. His toes curled and his body seized up. You were, the whole time, talking him through it. “That’s it,” you told him, “give it all to me, Papa. Give me everything. Such a good boy.”

When you were sure he was fine, you gently removed yourself from inside him and bent forward, your tongue running through his spend and lapping it up into your mouth, keeping it there. You looked up at him and saw his eyes were ablaze with something. More lust? Frustration that you were doing something so sexy and he was too tired to do anything about it? You weren’t entirely sure. But the moan he released when you kissed him, swapping his cum from your mouth to his was enough to tell you all was forgiven… at least for now.

Previous Day ⛧ Next Day

[scribbleseas]

in love & in war, drabble 2: the one where you meet him

Description: Join Ciel, the Earl of Phantomhive, as he embarks on one of the most difficult challenges of his professional life: getting you to fall in love with him in order to become the next chairman of TransAtlantica— your father’s vast shipping empire.

Warnings: None, save for some explicit sexual content down the line! This is just a lighthearded series for fun! Think Bridgerton :)

Author’s Note: I’m sorry for the wait! I dropped this series premiere and academia decided to just become torture from then until basically now! But now I’m a bit more free to get some writing, and hopefully I can get my content consistent again! I’ve missed you all so much. I hope you guys like this drabble! I wrote it in one sitting so I will probably make some edits/additions down the line, you know how it is lol.

Also, if you would like to be put on a taglist for my fics, please comment and I will tag you for each update! Or if you only want to follow specific fics, you can let me know in your comment and I will make individual taglists for each fic :).

Happy Reading,

Dan <3

⇐ PREVIOUS DRABBLE | NEXT DRABBLE ⇒

MASTERLIST

Y/N Y/L/N

“You filled my entire dance card?” you lamented, feeling your resolve crumble as you scanned over the small piece of cardstock paper’s lineup of 20 names, each aligned with a planned piece from the ensemble: Lord Alexis Cuthbert, Mr. Nigel Crawford, The Honorable Geoffrey Wilson… The list included a plethora of noble lords and heirs to either significant corporations or well-respected aristocratic bloodlines.

“That is in accordance with the terms of the deal, yes,” your mother insisted, simpering at you while Daphne hooked long diamond teardrops in your ears, set in gold to match the thick necklace resting on your chest. “There were many house calls made about this specific inquiry, and they were all qualified young men.” By the tone of her voice, you could tell she felt she was doing you a favor.

But truly, meeting a man during a dance was excruciating. There was no respectable escape if the conversation was painfully dry or offensive. All you could do was pray for the ending measure of the music and make a swift exit.

You sighed, turning your attention back to the list: Mr. Jack Morrison, Lord Clarence Abery, The Honorable George Ackland…

“I understand. Thank you,” you surrendered, knowing fully well that there was no changing this list without disrespecting those on it already. You were fortunate that your parents were giving you the freedom to choose your suitor in the first place. Most of your peers had been betrothed since their birth, promised to a relative or a family friend as one half of a smart match.

Mr. Neil Gayton, Lord George Cuross…

You were the Earl of Richmond and founder of TransAtlantica’s only child. That was two inheritances—even if you couldn’t assume all control. Your positions should have locked you into a smart match from the start, but your parents decided to give you a chance at a love match, too. A chance at finding real love just as they did: through a cultivated list of requirements.

As painful and awkward the prospect was, it certainly wasn’t the worst outcome for a woman in your position.

“Lord Ciel Phantomhive?” your eye caught his name before you could properly descend through the list because you couldn’t believe it was there of all places. You knew the Lord Phantomhive to be incredibly private, skipping most if not all social gatherings and public appearances. The public rumored that he guarded his appearance closely because he was one of Her Majesty’s advisors and private investigators. You were most accustomed to seeing his name in stately cursive at the bottom of correspondences with your father and his associates.

“His butler called on his behalf the other day,” Daphne answered for your mother, smiling apologetically for interjecting. “He said he will be attending the charity ball tonight and wishes to meet you.”

“He is more than qualified and interested,” your mother said, “your father has always liked him.”

“Father likes his business strategy, no one knows him,” you answered, letting the dance card fall from your wrist limply. There was no merit in analyzing the names on it— you knew there was no escaping the evening.

Your mother rolled her eyes, unwilling to engage with your technicalities. “Come now. Our guests are trickling in. We should greet them with your father,” she offered her arm to you. You accepted, allowing her to guide you out of the suite with Daphne in tow. Whenever TransAtlantica co-hosted events at the Langham Hotel, your family rented the penthouse to finish preparations without having to make a commute from the estate.

. . .

CIEL PHANTOMHIVE

Acquiring TransAtlantica is not an option; it is an inevitability. Acquiring TransAtlantica is not an option; it is an inevitability, Ciel Phantomhive reminded himself with every step closer to The Langham Hotel’s grand ballroom, trudging through formalities and tepid greetings in the populated hall leading to it. It was the phrase he used to justify all of this unyielding frustration at each step: listening to Sebastian as he attempted to break down the confounding science of charming a young woman into comprehensible steps, and now, burdening his already-fraught calendar with unnecessary social appearances just to put himself in Lady Y/n’s path.

Unnecessary social appearances such as The British National Society for Aid and to the Sick and Wounded in War’s annual ball in partnership with TransAtlantica—one of many charitable foundations that the shipping company partnered with. TransAtlantica covered the costs of a lavish evening and invited their extensive networks of business moguls and the aristocracy to partake in raffles throughout the formal night. All proceeds went to the medical organization, and all publicity went to the company.

Until this year, Ciel was content with having Sebastian send his regrets to TransAtlantica alongside a hefty donation to maintain goodwill. But now, maintaining goodwill with this corporation and the family behind it would no longer suffice. He needed to make a personal appearance both at the ball and in the middle of Lady Y/n’s dance card. After Y/n cooly rebuffed him after moments of light teasing Sebastian made the appropriate arrangements with one of the maids to put Ciel.

While Ciel was well aware of the stubborn reputation proceeding her, few dared take such a tone with him. And for so little. Defensive, she was! Was it such a crime to be transparent about how it was careless to step onto a street without looking both ways? If Ciel hadn’t saved her at the perfect moment— even if Sebastian orchestrated the timing — she would have been hit!

“Find Lady Y/n when it comes time for your waltz,” Sebastian reminded Ciel as they entered the ballroom, “you are only on her dance card for a single number. The point is that you make a better impression this time.” The bloody butler prodded at Ciel’s lack of romantic finesse— a talent that a sleazy demon might have in surplus. Apparently, approaching her first and taking the time to see himself onto her dance card would prove Ciel’s interest in her.

“And of course, you must remember your apology, sir,” Sebastian’s words were coated in honey, the most obvious tell of his amusement. The prospect of his master having to express his regrets. “You bruised her pride,” he explained.

In response, Ciel sent him a fleeting gaze, heavy with irritation. Exhaustion after hours of coaching and correcting, endless explanations as to why Sebastian insisted that Y/n could never connect with him properly if he failed to acknowledge her grievances.

“I will,” he answered simply, clenching his jaw at the thought of verbalizing anything along the lines of ‘I apologize.’ He never had to apologize for his actions—not ones that were truly malevolent, and certainly not ones that were decently-natured. Although it seemed the exception was for the daughters of incredibly prominent figures whom he needed to charm. So much so that Sebastian had Ciel practice the series of words in front of a mirror.

Acquiring TransAtlantica is not an option; it is an inevitability.

The phrase had Ciel’s shoulders relaxing into proper posture, his tense jaw relaxing with reluctance. He took a gradual inhale in, scanning the room for Lady Y/n. He found her in moments, catching her pale green gown and its gold accents shining in the warm chandelier light. She was engaged in a jubilant exchange with the wife of Selwyn Westley, the owner of a prominent watch company.

“Very good, my Lord,” Sebastian chirped, merely watching Ciel build his resolve. He’d seen the Earl tackle a number of more threatening offenses: vengeful angels, homicidal circus clowns, and corrupt monopolists with less agonizing. “There is absolutely no time to waste,” he added in reference to the rest of TransAtlantica’s suitors (they were longshot candidates, at best) as they readied themselves among their own servants. Several men’s eyes lingered on the small dance card that hung from Lady Y/n’s wrist, looking to secure a spot in the moments before the first dance started.

It was that particular thought that had the corner of Ciel’s mouth twisting upwards, satisfied. Courtship could never be left to chance. It was a strategy— a war. How could they hope to defeat him when they couldn’t even manage to get themselves in front of her?

. . .

Y/N Y/L/N

“And that’s when I told him: I think I left them in the carriage!” Inara Johnson laughed riotously, briefly touching your arm as you laughed, mirroring the young woman’s impish grin. She had been recounting a sordid story about her courtship with her husband since it seemed your mother was quite liberal in spreading the word about your season beginning. Even still, Mrs. Johnson was quite a breath of fresh air after you suffered nine suitors trying too hard to impress you.

“I can’t imagine what you could have done without a spare change of clothing!” You managed through laughs, ignoring the pinch in your cheeks after hours of simpering and entertainment. You were only about halfway through the merriment, the orchestra completing a lively movement to start transitioning to the first waltz of the evening.

You only had a few moments to find your next suitor: Lord Ciel Phantomhive.

“I should find my husband for this waltz! I certainly hope you find yours quite soon, my Lady, I’ll be looking forward to your wedding,” she chuckled, parting with you after a playful wink.

“Enjoy the night,” you nodded, unsure of how to start your search for a faceless man as Mrs. Johnson found Mr. Johnson in seconds. He’d only been paces away, engaged with your parents about something you couldn’t quite pick up.

You took another look at your card to ensure that Ciel Phantomhive was indeed your next dance partner, but just as your gaze caught his name again, the man who pulled you from the carriage approached you. The very one that you were content with never laying eyes on again.

“Lady Y/n, just the perfect timing. Were you looking to join this waltz now?” He dared to ask, his sapphire eye just as breathtaking as it had been, his lips turning in the same mildly amused manner. Trying to appear aloof. “Or were you uninterested in sharing your time with the likes of mediocre destitution such as myself?” he asked, repeating the words you threw at him.

Was he trying to get a rise out of you?

You felt your face warm from his attempts as you fashioned your falling expression into a sparking grin. The future-Countess-of-Richmond-grin that you relied on so much. There was no losing your temper in this environment without mortifying your family name.

“Unfortunately, my dance card is full,” you answered with false kindness, feeling the young man see straight through your pleasant deception. That was one of the only lines a young noblewoman had to tell a man to leave her to her lonesome; it was well-known by all of polite society. “Perhaps another time. Though I really do need to find my next—” you started, starting to take a step to walk around him, but he side-stepped in your path.

“—After I saved your life last week, I thought you might find time for a dance,” he interjected, causing the remnants of your Countess smile to falter. “That’s why I had my butler secure this waltz with you.”

Your blood ran cold, your smile finally melting off your face. He couldn’t be…could he? It would only make sense, you supposed. A person astute enough to even impress your father.

“I was scheduled with the Earl of Phantomhive,” you forced yourself to answer placidly. You readjusted your expression, unwilling to give the man the satisfaction of visibly surprising you.

“Then you found me already,” Lord Phantomhive replied, all too satisfied. You didn’t even find him! He found you!

You failed to conceal your thoughts, judging by the condescending mirth in his grin. “Shall we?”

. . .

CIEL PHANTOMHIVE

“I— yes, I suppose we shall,” Lady Y/n cleared her throat, despite herself. She laced her arm with Ciel’s as he guided her to the center of the ballroom, more than certain that they were attracting attention, even if most people couldn’t connect his appearance to his name. The very reputation that filled a room enough to substitute his physical presence, most of the time.

Technically, he didn’t have to bow to Y/n because he outranked her, but as Sebastian insinuated, apparently Ciel needed to nurse her shallow pride.

Acquiring TransAtlantica is not an option; it is an inevitability.

Taking Y/n’s hand, Ciel led her into the first steps of the waltz. She seemed more interested in studying him than starting a conversation, mechanically following the dance while her mind was elsewhere. He allowed her to dissect the performance he put on for her for a few long moments before speaking.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to extend my sincerest apologies to you, Lady Y/l/n,” Ciel said, visualizing the script that he and Sebastian formulated. He had to make the words seem genuine as if he’d given them enough thought to be considerate, but not so much that he was reciting them. He guided Y/n through a turn, feeling her back tense under his hand.

“I should have helped you find the man who took your things rather than demean you with quips that failed to land,” Ciel continued, taking her continued silence as a bid to continue. His skin crawled at his words, betrayal bristling down his spine. He didn’t apologize. It was fundamentally wrong. And yet, for TransAtlantica, he would. Perhaps this company was the Earl of Phantomhive’s only real love match. “I know I seem far from deserving, but I do hope for your forgiveness. If you give me the opportunity, I hope to show you that I can be,” he continued, fashioning a similar helpless frown that Sebastian used to appeal to frustrated women.

Y/n’s face was unchanged, the same politely engaged expression with clear notes of frustration layered beneath. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy—she was a petulant heiress unused to not having her way with people. She hummed, tilting her head as she took another moment to dissect his expression. The movement caused her long earrings to sway, drawing Ciel’s attention to the length of her neck and the complicated waves she had her hair styled in.

“You should have helped me,” Y/n agreed gruffly. “A proper gentleman would have, after all,” she mused.

Was the apology not gentlemanly enough? Ciel felt it exceeded expectations.

“I would…treasure the chance to prove myself to be a gentleman, then.” He answered, using part of a line Sebastian fed him. The demon did not have any foresight into the future, but after investigating Y/n with the intensity he would look into a criminal with, he had decent intuition regarding how these planned interactions would unfold. Sebastian accurately assumed she wouldn’t accept that apology.

“The chance to prove yourself?” Y/n repeated, her interest piqued at the proposition. Finally—a new emotion on her face besides detached politeness. “That sounds like quite the endeavor, my Lord.”

“It may very well be, should you let me accompany you on a promenade next week,” Ciel answered, watching her face redden. “If you might overlook my…” his mouth was drier than cotton, “deficiencies.”

He nearly choked on the word. Bloody Hell.

“Perhaps I might find time,” Lady Y/n answered, and Ciel’s heart soared for all the right reasons. He had a chance at the corporation, after all. It seemed acting was just as suspiciously close to lying as Sebastian had insisted.

Acquiring TransAtlantica is not an option; it is an inevitability.

. . .

[werewolffeelings]

2025 wips

Was tagged by the lovely @emmerrr to list the wips I’m hoping to get done this year, ty 🥰!

Search for the Unknown

Which is still under the title “ghost adventures” in my gdocs. Ghost hunting au! [advertisement voice] Read chapter 1 on ao3 today! I have the main plot shit of chapter 2 mapped out but it needs jazzing up bc I want the flirting and tension to reach truly painful lol. Starting with: there was only one bed (the floor). There will also be spirit boxes and fucking around in abandoned buildings and finding a dead body and maybe a ghost fight. who’s to say

Crazy Ex Boyfriend

The crazy ex girlfriend au which replaces musical numbers with dreams! This fic haunts my every waking moment. It wants to be written so so so bad. Unfortunately I don’t actually want to write it 😭 I would prefer it to be written by someone who is more qualified… But then they wouldn’t do it like I would and so I HAVE to 😔 i was talking to kellie the other day about her existential crisis fic and realized that this is MY existential crisis fic which is part of why I don’t want to write it lol. Anyway! Chapter 2 is more shenaniganful than the opener. Teaser trailer - ronan meets blue (and Gansey) while looking like shit at the grocery store and gets swindled into going hiking with them (and Adam :3). He’s not remotely prepared and has a bad time! He stalks adam a little bit. He goes to confession and smokes weed w the priest in the parking lot

Greywaren canon divergence

This fic suffers from the fact that I disliked so much of greywaren that it’s difficult to limit myself to changing only some things and not like. Everything 😅 Which would be like entirely too much effort and I’m not going to do that ✌️But the idea stemmed from the fact that I’d expected adam to be asleep/in a coma/actively dying after the end of mister impossible since he was in the astral plane when hennessy shut off the ley line… so he meets ronan there and the have to find a way out of the liminal dreamspace they’re sort of trapped in. In so doing they actually have to deal w their respective shit and fight and talk to each other lol. Optional sidequests include: exploring what ronan actually IS (fae??) & maybe some kind of metaphorical brain labyrinth to sort of call back to that Harvard/bryde labyrinth thing from the beginning of cdth that never really went anywhere to my knowledge. A test of mettle??Also the reason why Adam doesn’t actually die is that persephone’s spirit is still floating around the astral plane and she temporarily takes control of his body and pretends to be him until he gets back lol. Tragically this would require a dreamer trilogy reread and I haven’t had the stomach….

Forgetting Sarah Marshall au

I’d first conceptualized this as ronan going on vacation after a breakup with kavinsky and falling for Adam who works at the hotel or resort or whatever which would be fairly straightforward. But then i thought it’d be funnier if it were adam after a breakup with blue but then surprise blue and Gansey are there and for some reason they brought Gansey’s terrible obnoxious friend and much awkwardness ensues 💖

Honorable mentions include:

Rodansey college au. Canon divergentish trippy dream sequence with horror and clone fucking elements. Wedding au. Vampire au. That one where adam is Ronan’s weed man.

I have many ideas but only 1 brain which only works SOMETIMES but i promise it is doing its best

No idea who’s already done this but @cheeeryos @clotpolesonly if you have anything???

[elspethdekarios]

This is my first time doing this so I hope it's right, for the intimacy prompt, some good ole fashion fluff

59.41.21.9.25 if those are too many whichever ones you'd like ❤️

Thank you for the ask! I'm sorry it took me so long to answer. I decided to make this 10x more difficult than it needed to be and combine all of these into one short little fic. I hope you like it! <3

Intimacy prompts:

9. Watching movies/tv shows (I wanted to keep this in the Realms so I took some liberty with this)

21. Listening to someone’s heartbeat

25. Falling asleep in their arms

41. Washing each other’s hair

59. Height difference

The Lightsinger Theatre was bustling with life, a shining beacon of bright gold in a dark winter evening. Young workers in threadbare coats shoveled heaps of snow from the main street to make way for the nobility and otherwise wealthy attendees arriving by horse and buggy. Elspeth and Gale walked hand in hand from the nearby restaurant where they had shared a bottle of bold, red wine and indulged in the finest cheeses and cuts of meat this side of the Chionthar. 

“It isn’t even our anniversary,” El had laughed as she saw the rich feast laid out on the table.

“I have something in mind for that,” Gale smirked, taking another sip of wine. “Don’t you worry.”

“I’m sure it’ll be marvelously simple,” she teased. “A bouquet of roses and some chocolates. A kiss on the cheek. An otherwise normal day.”

“You know me. I’m very practical and not at all ostentatious.”

No, this date wasn’t to mark a special occasion. Gale had bought tickets to a traveling production of The Gilded Unicorn, a renowned grand play of Amn that he had always been eager to see. The two of them spent the past month taking turns reading the play in written form aloud to each other, and finally got to the end just the previous night. All day they discussed how fantastical scenes would be translated to the stage, with Gale particularly curious about whether or not the production would include magic: You know, they could use a minor illusion spell for the stars. Or, better yet, a powerful illusion spell for the Unicorn! I once saw a production where….

Golden lights glowed from the Lightsinger’s entrance, guests mingling as they clutched their cloaks and hurried inside. It was a grand building, with marble columns and a large arched doorway gilded with golden filigree. As they entered, they joined the queue moving slowly up the atrium’s ornate staircase. Gale kept a protective hand on the small of El’s back, and urged her to the step in front of him when the line moved.

She looked at him over the shoulder of her embroidered coat, smiling. “Look who’s taller now.” But when the crowd shifted, Gale joined her on the step, the top of her head level with his nose as usual. 

“Still me,” he said, and planted a kiss on her forehead. 

“Are you, now?” she asked, stepping up again when the line moved.

“Hmm,” Gale mumbled into her shoulder, which was eye level with him now. “I’ll let you win this one. I like a dominant woman.”

“Gale!” 

The play was magnificent, and the seats Gale secured with his position at Blackstaff (and a hero of Baldur’s Gate, no less) were some of the best in the house. They watched with their hands clasped together, Elspeth holding his right hand in her lap with both of her own. He held her cold fingers and radiated a faint warmth from his palm, something he’d grown accustomed to doing since the year or so she’d been in Waterdeep with him. The Baldur’s Gate winters she was used to were much less harsh. They held onto each other even as they left the theatre and walked home, recounting their favorite parts of the play.

“That night sky was so beautifully painted, they didn’t even need magic,” Gale said as they neared the Dock Ward. The well-to-do patrons who lined the streets around the theatre had given way to worn-out sailors and merchants smoking their pipes outside of whatever inn housed them for the night. “I’m sure magic would have improved it, of course, but it was lovely on its own, don’t you think?”

When they reached the tower on the corner of the street,, they fell mindlessly into their nighttime routine, trekking up three flights of stairs to the bedroom as if the night were any other—but the conversation was still lively, their giggles frequent, and their bellies fuller than usual. 

“I suppose we don’t need to take a bath tonight,” Gale stifled a yawn as he untied the laces on the corduroy vest layered over a long-sleeved shirt. 

Elspeth waltzed in front of him, half undressed, wearing only a thin chemise over her leggings. “But think of how warm and cozy it would be,” she said, grazing his hands with her own, gently lifting his arms towards her. Snow was beginning to fall outside the window, and she craved nothing more than a hot bath in her love’s arms to ward off the chill.

Gale slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her into a hug. “If you insist,” he grinned, resting his chin on the top of her silky blonde hair.

The washroom took only a few moments to steam up the room and fog the mirror. They settled into each other in the water, familiar and warm and safe. It was one of their favorite things to do together—lying in the bath and staring out the window Gale had enchanted so they could see out but others couldn’t see in. Tonight, the view of the waterfront street below was peaceful, with only a few passersby huddling up in their coats and hurrying home, or to an inn, or to nowhere at all. It was a game they played with each other—who is that person and where are they headed? There were the familiar faces of course: the elderly grandmother nextdoor who brought flowers home with her at least once a tenday, the children who gathered along the docks playing make-believe pirates, the grumpy middle-aged man and his equally grumpy wife on their way to the market with toddler in tow. Tonight, though, the few citizens who passed were strangers.

“I reckon he’s on his way to the Empty Keg,” Gale said, pointing at a stout man staggering his way down the street, a pipe in his hand.

“He should probably be heading home, by the looks of it,” El laughed as she dipped her head into the water. Gale worked the soap into her hair, his strong fingers massaging into her scalp. He took his time, his movements deliberate. She swore her hair was always cleaner after Gale washed it. 

 They switched positions in the tub, Gale nestled now between her legs as she returned the favor. She took extra care to scratch his scalp with her nails, savoring the way he sighed and melted into her. 

“Why do I ever wash my own hair?” he mused, putty in her hands.

“I was just asking myself the same question.”

Lying in the dark, freshly clean and hair still wet, they settled into each other's arms, the bed exceptionally comfortable as it can only be after an eventful day. El brushed her feet against the soft sheets absentmindedly—a habit she’d had since childhood to help soothe her to sleep. When they first began sharing a bed (or bedroll, rather), she tried to stop, worried the movement would bother Gale like it did her previous lover. But as she became more comfortable, as they bonded so closely that she no longer felt the need to hide any part of herself, she realized how ridiculous it was to keep something so simple and mundane from him. Especially when she struggled to fall asleep, plagued by the occasional insomnia that came with her half-elf heritage.

There is something that helps me fall asleep, she told Gale one restless night in bed at the Elfsong. Repetitive movements.

Like you do with your feet?

I… how do you know about that?

You do it right before you fall asleep and right before you wake up, he said so nonchalantly that she was taken aback for a moment.

And it doesn’t bother you?

Why in the world would it bother me?

Now, more than a year later, she rested her head on her husband’s chest, feet fidgeting under the covers as the beat of his heart thrummed in her ear. Her husband, alive and healed and happy. She smiled to herself, his arm warm around her shoulder, his pulse rhythmically lulling her to sleep. 

[shattered-soul-au]

Been thinking some more about how I want to make this AU available to everyone who would be interested, and not just older teens-adults.

I think that I'll be adding another one-shot collection fic that is for anything NSFW or that I feel is too explicit for the main arc stories. A lot will likely focus on moments referenced, but not shown within the second arc stories, but I'll likely include third arc and random stories as well.

I also feel like this is a good time to explain my current plan for the fics. I plan to have three main arcs with two one-shot collections.

Arc One - Frisk's Journey:

This will be a singular long fanfic that covers the timeline of Frisk first falling underground, to them shattering their soul and breaking the barrier for the final time. I plan for it to end similarly to Undertale itself, with everyone starting down the mountain.

Arc Two - Second Chances, Growing up, and the Difficulties That Come With Those

I'm hoping to write a fanfic for all nine of the kids, but will likely move onto focusing on the third arc after the fics for Frisk, Asriel, and Chara are done, as they're the main kids that the AU is focused on, plus I'm still working out the details of each of the others' personalities and issues.

However, even if I do move onto arc three, I will likely still be working on the remaining six fics simultaneously, and will post them as each one gets done.

These will be focused on the 6 years between their freedom and the time-skip stuff that I usually post. There will be a decent amount of overlap between the fics, as important scenes with two or more of the kids will be included in each of their fics. I'm going to do my best to make them interesting enough to read through again, but I'm already finding that I struggle with that, so help would be appreciated if anyone is willing.

The main plot will be focused on how each kid handles their revival/species change, what issues come from that, and how those are handled, how humans and monsters resume co-existing and each kids' perspective on that, basic struggles of growing up, though sometimes a bit more difficult in regards to the whole species change issue, social difficulties, personal mental health issues, and general character development.

These will also be quite long, as I'd rather write a complete story for each, and not just jump from big moment to big moment, but if you guys would prefer the second option, I would be willing to do that, as it would make it easier on me anyway. Though it may be harder to keep a timeline doing that.

A fair warning that later chapters where the kids are older will have more suggestive scenes, but nothing explicit will be shown, and would at most be referenced. Though some explicit discussions will occur.

Arc Three - Realizing Adults Don't Know Everything

I'm planning on it being another single fic, though that could change as I flesh out this arc more.

This one may actually overlap somewhat with the later events in the second arc, but I'm not quite sure yet.

What I'm thinking so far, is that it will focus on the kids who were adults (or considered to be adults due to various reasons) by the end of arc two (Asriel, Chara, Frisk, Clover, Anna, Jaden, and possibly Kanako)

It likely won't be as linear as the other two arcs, as I plan to jump from one pov to the next for each chapter, though I am planning to have a rough time-line that is referenced.

Each chapter will likely be sort of a mini-arc of its own, addressing an issue that relates to them being new adults, the kids still trying to rely on trustworthy older adults for help and knowledge, and then those adults not actually being of much help, leading to them having to figure things out on their own.

Due to how I plan to have it set up, each chapter will likely be rather long, causing the overall fic to be long as well. However, I don't see it as being as long as the first two arcs.

I also have decided to make Zagel canon, and they will definitely be the focus of at least one of the chapters. (They actually have a big part to play with some of Chara's chapters, so they may have a decent amount of focus for 3-4 chapters)

One-shot Collections

The first one will go along with all three arcs. Each chapter will focus on another character's perspective of certain major events.

For arc one, it would mainly be Chara and Rory's perspectives, but other monsters that Frisk meets along the way will likely end up featured as well.

For arc two, it would be focused on the main adults in the kids' lives, and how they feel about certain interactions, and just the kids growing up in general.

For arc three, I'm not entirely sure whose perspectives it will mainly cover. It may just be random depending on who's pov I think would be most interesting to see and explore.

The second one-shot collection will be anything that I feel is too suggestive or nsfw for the main stories. It will have chapters focused on arcs 2 and 3 that had interactions referenced, but not explicitly written out, as well as some chapters that don't necessarily connect with specific parts of the timeline, but I just wanted to write. This one will have focus on a large variety of characters, not just the kids. Though I already know that Frisk x Asriel, Toriel x Sans, and Starlo x Ceroba will be included. Chara also has involvement in certain chapters, but I kinda want to keep their whole character development vague until I'm actually working on Arcs 2 and 3.

Discord!

As I mentioned before, I am working on setting up a Discord server for anyone who wants to join. You will be able to share fanart, fanfic of your own, theories, brainstorm ideas for the official fics, and be given access to the current fics that are being worked on (Currently Arc 1 and the varied perspective one-shot collection) as well as the rough timeline, character guides, and an updated lore document. Eventually, new refs will be drawn up to be more accurate in their varied body types, but for now, referencing their current refs and the character guides should work well enough.

I will simultaneously be working on all of the fics, as bouncing around is what helps me keep my motivation, but the discord members will only have access to the ones that are next to be posted once finished. Not sure if there's a way to set up a way for certain people to have a higher tier, and therefore have access to ALL of the WIPs, but if there is, and I can figure it out, I'll absolutely set that up.

[caeli0306]

For the writers’ ask game thing (please and thank you!):

❤️🎁👻

———————

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

✍️ What’s your ideal writing setup?

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

🏷 Is there a tag you like to search for when looking for fanfics to read?

⏰️ Do you like to post fics on a schedule or at random?

👓 What helps you focus when you write?

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

🐇 Do you write for yourself, for others, or both?

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

📗 Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

😎 What fics do you prefer on a scale of canon compliant to wildly original?

💎 Do you often write about a relationship or focus on an individual?

🔥 Have you included any sexy scenes in your fics? If yes, do you find them easy or difficult to write?

💘 Is it easier to write angst or fluff?

🚦What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

🔎 Does anyone beta read or edit your fics?

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

🤖 Are non-fandom friends aware that you write fanfic?

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

👑 Do you like writing short fics or long fics?

🎯 Do you have a writing milestone you’re working towards?

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

🤔 Would you ever want to write something canon if you got the opportunity?

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Ooh thanks for asking!

❤️ - This is so hard. A few options b/c I can't choose!

from castles crumbling chapter 2

I want to scream, but I can’t get the air into my lungs. This isn’t fair. If Malek had to take anyone, he should have taken me. Not this innocent child. Not these people celebrating their gods. Me. A murderer. Someone who so long ago lost my humanity that I barely even remember what it felt like to be human.

This line from the present, the past, and you in between:

The war was long, but my life with her has been longer. I used to say that I've lived on borrowed time, and I accepted that my life was destined to be short. Then I began to pray to Malek, begging to borrow more, all to spend with her.

Combined with this line:

I begged Malek for more time, and he gave me too much.

From Did Someone Say Shots?:

Instead, I slept with her when I knew how horrible of an idea it was, and it fucking destroyed me when, in the morning light, she called it a mistake. Look at me, dealing with the consequences of my own actions.

Last but definitely not least, from chapter 6 of castles crumbling:

I laid my old self to rest a long time ago, but he is still there at the wake, trying to make sense of her demise.

🎁 - a lil blurb from an unpublished one shot, if it pleases the court :)

Then Xaden walks into the conference room. He has the kind of presence that makes people shut up and pay attention, and I hate him for it. The chatter that permeated the air dies away instantly, replaced by the silence of worshippers waiting for words from their god on high. I guess Xaden fulfills that role here. Those golden eyes of his find me almost immediately, and I school my expression into a glare. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. That's the message I want him to receive. Instead, he only smirks, and then turns to retrieve a folder from Bodhi, who followed him in. Xaden takes a seat at the head of the long table, sitting as casually as one would in their own living room. He props his elbows on the table, the movement causing the muscles of his arms to bulge under the rolled up sleeves of his black button up shirt. I hate that he looks that good without even trying. I hate that I know what he looks like under that shirt even more. As if sensing that I was thinking about him, about That Night, he meets my eyes again, and his grin this time is downright filthy. "Shall we begin?" he asks. "Sorrengail, you're up. Tell us how you plan to save our asses, and try to make it quick." Oh, fuck him. I plaster on my most fake smile, and stand. Liam gives me a look from where he stands, that basically says Don't do something you'll regret. Luckily for me, I've about expended my regret reserves when it comes to Xaden Riorson. If he wants to be an ass, then fine. I'll be an ass in return. He needs me a whole lot more than I need him.

👻 - IDK if it's a headcanon, but I like to think Xaden sometimes needs assurances that she's not going to leave and that she loves him because he doesn't think he's worthy of her. Not in like, a toxic way, or in the "I need to know you'll be there" way that he brought up in IF, but more every day, like "Hey I'm feeling x right now, and need to hear that my brain is creating scenarios that aren't real." IDK if I'm making any sense.

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Hi, I was wondering if I could get an obey me, genshin and Honkai star rail matchup?

My pronouns are she/her.

I'm bi and ace.

My zodiac is cancer and I'm an INTP.

I'm around 5'6 and pretty thin, I don't have many curves at all. I'm pretty pale, have short & wavy dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. I have tons of ear piercings and a tongue piercing.

I'm a pretty quiet person and can be noticeably pessimistic at times. I'm socially awkward and find talking to people difficult, so I usually avoid meeting new people and crowds as it makes me anxious. I worry almost all the time over any little thing. I'm a very honest person and am not good at sugarcoating things, though I don't usually give my opinion unless it's asked for anyway. I also have a very sarcastic sense of humour. I have a habit of becoming hyper-focused on one particular task and it being the only thing I'll do for like weeks lol.

I like listening to music, reading, animals (including bugs/arachnids), and video games. I don't like confrontation, crowds, loud noises.

I like to crochet. I have tons of weird little plushies in my room that I made by hand. I also paint and craft DIY jewellery.

Kind of a random thing to add that's probably unneeded but I also have a pet hognose snake called Microwave (Mike) who I crochet tiny hats for.

Hi Anon! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took so long. I hope you like your matchups!

In Obey Me, I match you with...

If there’s one thing Mammon is, it’s honest and he’s comforted that you’re the same. He likes knowing that you’ll tell him if he crosses a line.

He also loves that you’re so sarcastic. When he’s talking to certain people (*cough*Lucifer*cough*), he has to hold back certain comments so he thinks it’s great when you seem to speak exactly what’s on his mind.

Please make some jewellery for him. He loves anything shiny and the fact that you’ve made it for him is an added bonus. He’ll wear it around everywhere, displaying your relationship proudly.

Loves playing video games with you. Regular games nights in Levi’s room are a must but he also likes playing them when it’s just the two of you.

Since you dislike confrontation, Mammon’s willing to step in if needed. He usually tries to avoid conflict as well though so he’ll look for a peaceful solution before things escalate too far.

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

Mona’s pretty socially awkward as well so even though it might take you a while to warm up to each other, you’ll be very close afterwards.

She loves listening to music with you. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s got a good beat and she can still concentrate on other things while listening.

Mona’s also a prolific reader so she’d love to get some recommendations. She’s only really read magic tomes and academia texts so if you have any fiction suggestions, she’d love to hear them.

Definitely an animal fan. I see her as a cat lover so she’ll happily go on dates to the Cat’s Tail with you as often as you want.

Much like you, Mona’s not a huge fan of crowds but she’ll brave them with you if there’s no other choice. She’ll hold your hand the whole time to comfort both of you.

In Honkai Star Rail, I match you with...

You and March are polar opposites, especially since you’re so quiet and she’s so loud. But that’s what makes you such a great couple. 

Since she knows you don’t really like talking to people, she’s more than happy to carry conversations. It’s a good balance.

March definitely gets where you’re coming from when you hyper-focus on something. She’s very similar so it won’t be uncommon for the two of you to sit side by side, focusing on your own projects.

Please gift her some of your weird little crocheted creatures! She loves them so much and will decorate her room with them so she’s always reminded of you. She’d love to have one on a keychain as well.

Although I don’t see March as someone who’s particularly good at painting she enjoys having a go so she would love it if you’d teach her some painting techniques sometime.

[louisisalarrie]

hi, i mostly don't use twt only once in a while on a happy occasion but for the past few days i have been doom scrolling wanting to know something about it, if the boys are okay, if his family is okay, are they drinking enough water, are they together? i know i don't want media attention to it but i still feel knowing the little details that his family and friends are together and taking care of each other will help me sooth this pain. it's so difficult to get up and go to work and get things done when it feels like the world has stopped for so many of us and liam is forever gone and it's like a piece of all our hearts have been broken, forever. at the same time, i see many ppl on twt focusing on the second sentence of the one direction ig post which says that when the time will be right and everyone is able to there will be more to say (or something along this line) when I first read that line i thought it meant their individual posts and condolences but a few of my mutuals on twt think there's more intent to that sentence, not like a major revelation but a little something. a part of me wants it to be something like that, like a closure for liam, and calling out everyone who did this to his mental health, but another part of me thinks it's just refering to their individual posts and emotions. what do you think??

yeah idk anon. I saw someone on twt say “it feels like we’re all sitting here waiting for something… but I don’t know what” and it definitely feels that way. im hoping this absolute tragedy brings at least some accountability to those involved in 1d’s management throughout those years, and there is recognition on how we treat artists both as fans and in the industry. im hoping for 1d to out a bunch of shit about these powerful folks and really fight for liam. im hoping maybe they out everything, including the stunts and the lies and closeting and absolutely everything. I’m hoping that they take SC down.

but yeah, I think we’re all doom scrolling on there a bit too at the moment. Just waiting for something. and I guess we mainly just wanna know that the boys are okay, and with each other, and with their families. But they also deserve privacy, but also none of this feels real. Idk.

that line could definitely be interpreted either way, and im not sure tbh. I hope they take those morherfuckers down though.

[accessibleaesthetics]

hello! I've been reading through the resources you've compiled and I really appreciate them! You seem pretty experienced with image descriptions, so I was hoping I could possibly ask you for some advice on how to make my poll tournament more accessible. If you don't have the capacity to help out right now, that's totally fine—let me know if there's someone who you think could better answer my questions!

Anyways, currently I'm running a tournament for poems that are popular on Tumblr (@poetrysmackdown). For Round 1 I just included the images of the poems, which I'd still like to include in future rounds just because it makes it easier to compare side by side, and a few of the poems' precise line structures would be pretty difficult to faithfully replicate on Tumblr. That said, I want to also include text transcriptions in the future rounds for obvious accessibility reasons (and I'm now really wishing I did for Round 1! I didn't realize the tournament would be voted on by anyone besides like ten of my mutuals haha). Do you have any advice on how to format text transcriptions for poems? I'm not sure how best to convey a line break for text-to-speech, for example—should I write it as a "/" between lines, or is it preferable to just write out the poem as I would otherwise? Is it okay if I put the transcription below a read more (some of the poems are quite long), or is that considered rude? I may be overthinking this haha, I just wanna make sure I get it right so everyone can enjoy the poems. I'm attaching two sample poems just so you can get an idea of what I'm working with—thanks in advance!

Not overthinking at all! Before anything else, let me describe the two examples you gave and then I'll put some more detailed thoughts under a read more.

[Image Description: Two screenshots of poems.

The first poem is titled "Scheheraade." It reads: Tell me about the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake / and dress them in warm clothes again. / How it was late, and no one could sleep, the horses running / until they forget that they are horses. / It's not like a tree where the roots have to end somewhere, / it's more like a song on a policeman's radio, / how we rolled up the carpet so we could dance, and the days / were bright red, and every time we kissed there was another apple / to slice into pieces. / Look at the light through the windowpane. That means it's noon, that means / we're inconsolable. / Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us. / These, our bodies, possessed by light. / Tell me we'll never get used to it.

The second poem is titled "Having a Coke with You." It reads: is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne / or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona / partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian / partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt / partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches / partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary / it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still / as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it / in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth / between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles // and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint / you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them // I look / at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world / except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick / which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time / and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism / just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or / at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me / and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them / when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank / or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully / as the horse // it seems they were all cheated of some marvellous experience / which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I'm telling you about it.

End Image Description.]

Now, obviously I went with the traditional academic rules for quoting poems in the above ID, and I did that because the location of line breaks can be very important in poetry, and that's not always going to translate with a screen reader if you just format it that way. Additionally, if you have someone who sight reads but needs to make the text large, this will often change the location of the line breaks.

I don't know of a good or natural way to convey the right-aligned text in some places via a text description, but if any of my followers do, please feel free to comment!

Capitalization, punctuation, and even font choice are all things that can potentially convey significant meaning in poetry. I opted not to attempt to transcribe those in the above two, but if you're more familiar with the poem and thing those aspects are important in context, you could always make a note about the capitalization. And for things like italics, you could do something like "except possibly for the [italics] Polish Rider [end italics] occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick."

Punctuation is also a tricky one...I tried to keep the description as true to the text as possible, because the lack of punctuation in the second poem defintely seemed very intentional and internal to the flow, but I did add a period at the end of the last poem to give a proper stop between the end of the poem and the "end image description." Your call on how you deal with that, just be aware that not all screen readers are going to pause between lines or paragraphs.

I would generally discourage putting descriptions under a read more, though I do very much understand the concern about length. The formal poem quoting rules above can help condense things space-wise, if that helps.

I also want to encourage alt text! Don't put the entire poem in the alt text of course, but if you put a little blurb in the alt text of each picture, that can signal to screen reader users that it's worth their time to continue down the post. Some screen reader users will simply skip the post entirely when they start hearing "photo, photo, photo," and never even get to the image ID, since it's often not there. Such a blurb could be something like "Screenshot of the poem Scheheraade. See body of post for full description" for the first photo, and "Screenshot of the poem Having a Coke with You. See body of post for full description" for the second.

And finally, just to throw it out there, you don't necessarily have to do a traditional image description the way I did, especially if you provide the supplementary alt text. You could simply transcript the poems too...it's all up to you!

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any more questions, I'm defintely going to follow, this is such a neat idea.

Oh, and one more thing: don't be afraid to let AI help you with this! And I'm not talking about the neural network kind, I'm talking about good old-fashioned optical character recognition. For example, I plugged that first poem into onlineocr.net and got this:

Scheheraade Tell me about the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake and dress them in warm clothes again. How it was late, and no one could sleep, the horses running until they forget that they are horses. It's not like a tree where the roots have to end somewhere, it's more like a song on a policeman's radio, how we rolled up the carpet so we could dance, and the days were bright red, and every time we kissed there was another apple to slice into pieces. Look at the light through the windowpane. That means it's noon, that means we're inconsolable. Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us. These, our bodies, possessed by light. Tell me we'll never get used to it.

Sure, it required proofreading, a bit of clean up, and of course the line/stanza breaks, but made the process of creating the image description much less effort than it would have taken to type it all out manually. Of course, if you have access to a text version of the poem, that could work even better, but this is a great way to do it if you only have access to the image for whatever reason!

[theladyofbloodshed]

Can I ask a fan question? Fellen and Juran feel the need with their Tahars, and Takar doesn't with Florence (but of course loves and is devoted to her, which I love). The question is: how do Cora, Iasmina, and Florence feel about the need itself? Florence talks about how she wants Takar to find the person he feels that with and is willing to let him go for it, so she understands how big of a deal it is, but I don't remember if Cora or Iasmina talk about how it feels to be on the receiving end.

You may ask me anything! Your help shaping the second book will never be able to be repaid <3

So, I didn't really delve into it other than Juran realising that Iasmina doesn't feel it - as it's only for vlkolaks.

Here's how I think they feel:

Cora can recognise that a lot of the changes in Fellen's behaviour are due to the need. I think there'd be a part of her that worries (particularly at the start of book 4 when she kicks him out) Fellen only wants her because of the need too. She is somebody who needs to be useful and will step into that role. Slowly, Fellen recognises that its his actions rather than promises that will help Cora. For them, the need is Fellen adapting who he is to be the best partner that Cora needs. She doesn't let the need excuse his poor behaviour.

For Iasmina, the little chicken that she is, she needs to be cherished and doted upon, as well as having a shield. Her and Juran fit so well in that regard, but also he provided growth to her by saying "I'll hold your hand through it, but you need to spread your wings." The security provided by the need with him is what Iasmina requires. She loves Juran's devotion and care.

With Florence and Takar, I wanted a story where they choose to fall in love without the pressure of a bond moving them into place. I think that can be more impactful and meaningful than saying "fate decided we should be together". There was never any moment in the planning where I thought about them feeling the need later on OR Takar feeling it with somebody else later down the line. He's so rational, and can separate his emotions, even if the need was clobbering him over the head, he'd weigh up the options and consult the council lmao.

I'm not sure if you've read the bonus book yet. It shows how Raya is in love with Olen, having grown alongside each other for many years. When she meets Visan, the need strikes for them. It's a magnetic pull that is difficult to ignore and more physical. But it was also still important to have choice. Juran asks Visan if Raya can hunt and run as well as him, why would she want him? Olen offers the things that she does not have - patience, care, a silver tongue. Visan comes to realise that if he wants Raya in any regard then he must accept all of her - which includes Olen and their son.

I wanted the need to be different from the typical mating bonds where there were no other options available. What would happen if only one party can feel it? What happens if it's lingering over their heads? What if one already has a partner?

I hope that ramble answered something!

[finishinglinepress]

CELEBRATING NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

NEW FROM FINISHING LINE PRESS: Work Songs by Jonathan Cohen

On SALE: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/work-songs-by-jonathan-cohen/

Work Songs is a collection of memoiristic hymns to the many service #jobs the #poet held as a young man coming of age in 1970s-era Buffalo, NY and beyond: zoo concession worker, butcher’s helper, taxicab driver, short order cook, and disc jockey, among others. In rich lyrical language and engaging narrative style, Work Songs draws on the American #poetic tradition found in the #work of Walt Whitman, Philip Levine, Dick Allen, and Richard Hugo to etch keen evocations of the #people, #places, and #human #conditions of a faded #world.

Jonathan Cohen is from Norwalk, Connecticut and Buffalo, New York, where he held many of the menial service jobs that inspire Work Songs. His poems have appeared in SALT, Image, Cloudbank, Stone Canoe Journal, I-70 Review, and others. He is a winner of the Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Prize, a finalist for the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize, and a finalist for the Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize, as well as a nominee for Best Spiritual Poetry and the Pushcart Prize.

PRAISE FOR Work Songs by Jonathan Cohen

Jonathan Cohen‘s Work Songs is a celebration of youthful naiveté-a collision of hope and difficult realities that manages to find joy despite surly customers, interminable hours, and the “uncertain crossing” that separates the empire of childhood from the adult world. In language both direct and tender, the poet recounts the disparate jobs he took in his younger days-disc jockey, cab driver, concession worker, butcher-all of which culminate in an astute summation of a lesson most of us learn too late, “We saved no money, earned the wealth of kings in each other.”

–Frank Paino, author of Obscura and Pietà

Work Songs struck me first with its sense of abundance. With excess of ordinary objects made strange, colors, sounds, language familiar and new, the little book offers a joyful and affirmative view of a broken world-a view happy to juke-box dance in the tension between Cohen’s two earned axioms: “Work is death,” and “play is work.”

–Josh Roark, founder and director, PocketMFA Program, and author, Put One Hand Up, Lean Back

Jonathan Cohen brings a keen eye and an open heart to the proceedings of his many service jobs. “Furls of spun sugar,” he writes in “Zoo Concession Wise Guy,” “wobble on paper cones.” In “Elephant House Rapture,” he recreates the tumble of imagery around the “kiosk red and / narrow as a London phone booth.” Cohen deploys a lexicon that includes the common-“fares don’t want to talk”-and the arcane-“tires spin in late winter mank,” he writes, repurposing a little-used British slang word to brilliant effect. So it’s no surprise when we hit a title like “Disc Jockey Agonistes.” Although the influences might be closer-Philip Levine, Richard Hugo, Dick Allen-there’s more than a touch of Walt Whitman’s generosity of spirit here; the wise guy is revealed as tender-hearted celebrant. “Big winds feel like history swaying on its hinge,” he writes. “Quiet winds toll our wins and losses.” We are, it seems, all in this together. This small book of poems is as rich and vibrant and varied as life itself.

–Jon Davis, author of Above the Bejeweled City and Fearless Now & Nameless

Please share/repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #read #poems #literature #poetry #work #life

[radioactive-leopard]

Genuine question but what do you guys think about the concept of arabization (before modern arabization) and the many conquests of Arab Caliphates, including the levant ? And I mean this humbly, I don’t want my tone to be misinterpreted

Something that a lot of people get wrong when looking at the history of the SWANA region is that they assume Arabs completely took over and dominated cultures. Arabization definitely shaped the Levant, but it took some time. This is a very unpopular opinion, but I don't think that Arabic should be classified as just one language. Hear me out, this is relevant. If they don't know "standard arabic," someone from Morocco will have a very difficult time communicating with someone from Syria. Swedish and Norwegian are mostly mutually intelligible, they can understand each other even if they're ostensibly speaking a different language. Moroccan Arabic and Syrian Arabic? No way. I understand that the dialects are a continuum so drawing a line between different dialects wouldn't really be feasible. Classifying Arabic as one language really allows us to classify everyone who speaks Arabic as the same, as Arab and it also makes it seem like there's one Arab culture. The Levant and the Gulf States have basically nothing in common besides their religion and language, and even then the religion was traditionally practiced differently. The people we currently classify as Arab in the Levant are the descendants of the canaanites and the people who lived in the Levant thousands of years ago. Arabization didn't change that. It would be ridiculous to demand that a culture remain stagnant for 2000 years or else they have no right to their homes.

Do you guys not believe that at least a portion of jewish people are descendants from the levant? I feel like this is a question at the core of this issue.

It would be ridiculous to say that no Jews are descended from the Levant. We also have to remember that especially before the rise of the Catholic Church and Catholic policies, Jewish people weren't viewed in the same way. While the destruction of the second temple and following persecution by the Roman Empire in 70 ad were horrible, we don't see any archeological evidence for a mass exodus from the Levant. Lots of Jews did leave the Levant, and as Judaism was a proselytizing religion back in the day, lots of people converted. Side note, I saw someone say that because Jews were the ruling class in parts of Palestine 2000 years ago that they have of a right to steal Palestinian land. Which is actually an insane thing to say.

The bible is actually a really interesting source that you have to take with an entire salt mine. I haven't read the Talmud, but I was raised Christian so I've read the bible. In the bible, Jesus' family comes from one sect, and they are not friends with another sect, the Pharisees. A lot of the bible contains things like "fuck the Pharisees they're terrible I hate them." This tells us that the Jewish people have never been a monolith.

The Levant is, and always has been, extremely multicultural and it is only since zionist nationalism that we see this separation. After Arabization, some Jews held on to their Jewish identity and became Mizrahi Jews, but a lot also converted to Islam. I hope this makes sense.

The history of displacement and expulsion of jewish people is pretty well documented in Europe, but I see no online mention ever of the treatment that Arab countries gave to jewish indigenous people, or other groups like Berber people. To some of the “Arab jews”, the idea of reviving the Hebrew language and bringing it back to use in Palestine could be seen as decolonial (which went too far when it became the sole official language of the region in recent years…). All this to say there are fringes of zionism that have decolonial arguments (as jews are not strangers to the area and many have been persecuted or made to flee), but an overwhelming majority that is colonial and that we can acknowledge they both exist and can contradict without this discrediting any critique of Israel or letting these arguments justify what is happening to palestinians.

I think what you need to remember is that the "elite" of whatever society you're in love fucking everyone else over. Dominant ethnic groups don't suddenly change their behavior towards minorities because they're in a different region. Also, a lot of these persecutions happened during the Ottoman empire when nationalism was starting to get popular. Minority ethnic groups in Europe were forcibly assimilated, although some did manage to resist. It's not possible to have any decolonial notions towards Palestinians, because they were not the ones colonizing. They were being colonized by the Ottoman empire, and then the British and French. To be anticolonial in Palestine you have to be antizionist. Currently, Israel is the colonizer saying you're a decolonial zionist is like me claiming to be anticolonial by invading reservations.

the issue is how Israel and zionists are acting, the way that Israel is, the shift in the 1940s

Zionism has always been colonial. In the early days, there were some people, especially leftists, who moved to Palestine and were pretty integrated in society. Then came nationalism and Zionism in the late 19th century. There are writings from the fathers of Zionism that explicitly and proudly state that it is a colonial endeavor and they want to recreate what happened in the Americas. There was a massive shift in the 40s after the Holocaust, but it's always been a colonial endeavor. People began to buy massive tracts of land from absentee Ottoman landlords. It would be like if I took your house and then said that you actually rent it from me, but oops another guy comes along with a great offer so you have to leave. There were also common areas not owned by anyone that were "bought" (stolen). It's like the commons and subsequent enclosure of the commons in England. Owning land as we see it today didn't really exist until a couple hundred years ago. Of course, there were landlords and land ownership, but common lands were extremely common.

It's also important to note that Arab antisemitism as it exists today and European antisemitism have fundamentally different roots and different aims. The Arab antisemitism we see is a direct response to Israel's policies. The persecution of Jews in arab countries was terrible, and there was a lot of that dual loyalty shit mixed up, but it's different dual loyalty shit. It's like how the Ottoman Empire believed that Armenian Christians had dual loyalties and thus it was necessary to try to wipe them out. It's pretty standard bigotry.

European antisemitism on the other hand was always pretty fucking malicious. Jews were the scapegoat, if anything went wrong blame it on the Jews. The Catholic church was also instrumental for all of this. Over time, it evolved from simple bigotry and discrimination to blood libel and all of the other shit. Jews being greedy and controlling the banks and whatnot arose from the persecution they faced and not being able to own land or farm. Jews and Roma were very convenient scapegoats and they often were forced to the the dirty work. Jews were forced into ghettos, and often Romani caravans were basically travelling ghettos. I think a lot of this antisemitism kind of morphed into a really weird pseudo-religion.

I find the history of genocide very interesting because it tells us a lot about humanity. My personal theory of genocide is that it is driven by the control of resources, especially money. We see this in the genocides in the Caribbean and Americas, we see it in the Rwandan genocide, we see it in the Cambodian Genocide, and we see it in the Holocaust. The victims of genocide also often have less control of resources than the perpetrators, but if people think that they are the ones making everything terrible, then the truth doesn't matter. Another massive factor is nationalism and sectarianism. If your group is the only group that deserves anything, then it is your right to wipe everyone else out.

*I'm not Jewish I just really like history*

Zionists are the biggest fucking morons and don't know shit about their own fascist ideology. It's unbelievable that they're all living within this bubble of delusion, spouting this nonsense. Even when assholes like Herzl, Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky say "Oh, this is colonialism, make no mistake", these people try to engage in historical revisionism.

[kogarashi-art]

Posting Fic - How to prep your writing to display correctly on AO3 (via LibreOffice)

So I've seen guides online about how to convert your fanfic for AO3 after writing it in Google Docs, because a lot of people use GDocs to do their writing (which is a decent option, since it saves it in the cloud and all that). I'm not planning on repeating that here.

But I don't do my writing in GDocs, I do my writing in LibreOffice Writer, because it emulates an older version of Word (which is what I grew up on and am most used to), and because I can have more robust spellchecking than on GDocs. And when I was first considering finally posting my work to AO3, I'd heard lots of commentary about how often pasting into the rich text editor sometimes loses formatting, or what hoops people had to jump through to make sure everything looked good.

So I'm here with the actually-pretty-darn-simple method I use to post to AO3 for anyone who needs this, because I want to be helpful.

Please note: this is largely for the basic formatting one might use on AO3. I haven't tested it with fancier things (not even smallcaps yet, though I'm hoping that won't prove too difficult when I finally get around to a chapter that needs that functionality). Also, these instructions are for Windows, which is what I use.

The first step is, obviously, to write up your story in LibreOffice Writer. I have some formatting standards I prefer because it makes my works look like they're publication-ready, which helps me stay in the "I'm actually writing fiction here" groove.

Once you're done writing, you need to make sure the file is ready to save for AO3. With how I write, the only thing I change is that I remove that first-line indent across the whole document. This is easy enough. Select everything, and then go to Format > Paragraph.

Once in that dialog, change the first line indent to 0. If you don't see a number there at all, just enter the number in there.

Then press "OK." This will realign all the paragraphs, including their first lines, to the left margin.

Note that I haven't changed the spacing between paragraphs at all. It's still single-spaced, and that's fine, because the next step can handle that.

DON'T SAVE OVER THE ORIGINAL.

What you want to do at this point is select "Save As" and make sure to save it as an html file, not whatever file format you normally use. LibreOffice will probably ask if you want to do that or use its native format, and you can just tell it "use html format."

You should now have an html file wherever you saved it. If you double-click it, it will open in your default browser, and you can check that the formatting carried over properly if you want. It should look ready for posting, complete with the internet-standard single empty line between paragraphs. LibreOffice knows to wrap each paragraph in html paragraph tags, which is what AO3 likes, and AO3 (and generally the rest of the internet) reads that as the extra empty space between paragraphs, just like you should see here on Tumblr.

Now you need to navigate to where you have the file on your computer via your file manager of choice (I'm on Windows, so I use File Explorer, which I can reach just by right-clicking on the Start button, but I also have a shortcut to it on my taskbar). Right-click on the file, and "open with" Notepad. You can also just open Notepad and open the file from within the program.

You should see the html code for the file.

This is all set and ready to go. Copy everything between the "body" tags in the file (I also skip the lines that are for the chapter title, because I can enter that in a different spot on AO3).

Copy the selected code and paste it into the HTML editor on AO3. If you want AO3 to do a bit of cleanup for you, you can click over to the Rich Text editor, then back to HTML, and it will clean up extra carriage returns and such, but this isn't necessary. Double-check that everything looks good by clicking "Preview," and if you're happy, click "Post."

This even preserves smart quotes, which I don't bother to change to straight quotes, though I suppose you could do so if you wanted.

But honestly, that's how easy it is. Save the file as html, copy the html over to AO3, and done. No scripts, no file converters, no worrying if your formatting is going to survive being pasted into the Rich Text editor. Just LibreOffice and Notepad.

[allylikethecat]

ok here are my comments in bullet point:

- please stop stying your smut it subpar it is HOT, matty's daydream at the table was everything (it is a truth universally acknowledged that matty has a praise kink and we love reading about it)

- #justiceforsharkplushie HAS BEEN SERVED

- george chest sliver and necklace combo are very important to me

- the pretty woman analogy LOVE IT

- why are matty and george being dumbdumbs i want to knock their pretty heads together YOU LIKE EACH OTHER GO HAVE SEX AND BE HAPPY

- George was offering to fuck him through his heat as his best friend > this made me snort

- another heat?? is he ever gonna catch a break

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK OMG I AM GOING TO RESPOND IN BULLET POINTS AS WELL

Omg thank you so much 🥺 I'm confident in my ability to write illness and pain and suffering, but writing smut is still something that I struggle with and always feel like it comes out super awkward so THANK YOU OMG so much for saying that it was hot and not cringe 🥺 I've really been trying to practice and also keep track of all of the body parts lol I felt like it was important to include because I wanted it to really set up and show where Fictional!Matty's head was at, and that he was being difficult and resisting but WOW he wants fictional!George (he also wants fictional!George to just like... tell him he's a good boy but that's for another time lol)

Shark Plushie 🦈 has become my favorite OC I've ever written, don't worry she's in the next chapter as well and plays a bigger role 😂 Between the whole if some species of sharks stop moving they die thing (which I always associated with IRL Matty because of that line in Roadkill) and also the whole *shark week* joke my friends and I used to make in middle school because we might have been middle school girls but rest assured we had the same (and continue) to have the same sense of humor as frat boys ... a shark plushie just felt too perfect and made me snicker but now somehow I CARE ABOUT HER

Fictional! George's necklace is also very important to me - I know I didn't really describe it in detail (yet) but I imagined it to be a pear shaped emerald surrounded by tiny diamonds on a thin, short while gold chain, it would rest perfectly above somebody else's chest tattoo and it's a very feminine necklace, just saying

Fictional!Matty is feeling very much like when she goes to that one store to buy an outfit and the sales people are rude to her, except no one has been rude to him yet because Fictional!George may or may not be looming a little bit and Fictional!Matty hasn't noticed

LOL that would be way too easy, Fictional!Matty doesn't have the self confidence for that (and Fictional!George knows as the alpha he's perceived to have the "power" and is trying to be respectful and not make Fictional!Matty uncomfortable - he's trying to let Fictional!Matty take the lead but alas fictional!Matty is dumb)

Fictional!Matty has really chosen the WRONG PART of that whole conversation to focus on lol But in his defense he is not well

This is an Ally fic, Fictional!Matty is NEVER going to catch a break 😂 maybe at the very end up alas it's got to get MUCH WORSE before it can get better 😈

THANK YOU SO MUCH for not only reading but taking the time to send such a wonderful and thoughtful ask! I grinned so hard seeing all of your comments!! I hope it's okay I wrote a small novel in response... I got excited. I hope you Tuesday was FANTASTIC and that you have a wonderful rest of your week!

❤️Ally