#I will forget it if goes to the war (drafts)

[staryflowers]

chat what happens in fullmetal alchemist. sorry for ur loss or happy that happened i dont know

[curiously-a-dreamer]

Growing up being deeply uncomfortable with myself and not knowing why (being unknowingly queer and ND) meant that there’s always this barrier between me and people. And like while yah the barrier is still there, the confidence I can exhibit because I know myself really makes things so much more enjoyable and also opens my life up to experiences that I thought were borderline made up.

[gayferrari]

I’m going through your sebmark recs and wanted to know could you do another list for brocedes?

WOPS sorry this is so late, I saved it to the drafts and it slipped my mind. This is pretty varied; I hope there's something new-to-you to enjoy!

on the faultline by @monacotrophywife. Multichapter; Brocedes through the years. Sort of canon-compliant until it isn't. Rated E.

so many fics by @lost-decade — they're mostly older works, I remember reading a few back when and then I revisited them this year and they still hit. some of my faves:

All That You Can't Leave Behind. AU where Nico goes to university instead of racing and eventually becomes an F1 engineer

an empty space to fill in. PWP + character study, silver war era

traviamento. In 2004 Nico invites Lewis on holiday with him and Vivian

constellation falling into place by wraysford. Speaking of AUs where Nico goes to university. This is set in 2007 during Lewis's rookie season. Rated T; some angst + getting together.

post 2016 AUs

and it feels good (to be known so well) by @gokartkid. Lewis forgets his apartment keys. Guess who might have a spare copy from years ago. Rated M. tagged: the emotional complexity of living in the same building as your childhood friend-lover-enemy-rival

dirty valentine by @sionisjaune. fic series, ongoing, established relationship post 2022. Includes 4 complete one-shots, mostly rated E.

fresh old mistakes by bestliars. Abu Dhabi 2021. Sometimes u lose a championship fight and fuck your ex about it. Rated E.

hall pass by @/monacotrophywife. Brocedes but make it 2023 and Nico's wife is okay with sharing. Rated E.

Lemon, Ginger and Honey by witchee_writer. Feel-good 2022 season AU; getting back together. Rated T.

remember to forget me by @12romy. Amnesia AU! what if you got hit in the head and forgot just how rancid your situationship became? Set in 2021.

RULE 63 / genderfuckery

desire unfolds by bestliars. girl Lewis/Nico. Rated E. tagged: anal sex, first time, catholicism.

if I get too close by @/monacotrophywife. that one trope where a driver wakes up temporarily turned into a cis woman and needs to have sex to go back to normal :) temporarily a girl! Lewis / Nico ft. repression like woah. Rated E.

want you to be my girl by @/sionisjaune. f/f. Rated E. underage. fisting. check out THIS FANART ALSO.... PLEASE.... (nsfw)

brocedes-adjacent — threesome fics + fics where Lewis or Nico fuck somebody else about their issues.

I hesitated to put these on the list because they aren't Nico/Lewis BUT they are on-theme, they're all very good, and it's my post so why should I limit myself. But skip if it's not your vibe!

[Sebcedes] only bad thing about a star is they burn up by @blorbocedes, Nico/Lewis/Seb; au where nico retires after 2016 and him and lewis get married. Rated M. (If you like this sebcedes vibe + Rule 63 I also enjoyed their challengers AU with f!Lewis)

[Sebcedes] double or nothing by @grideon. Nico wins the Monaco Grand Prix. Even better: Lewis doesn't. Rated M.

[fics with past / background brocedes] If you're down for fics where they fuck somebody else while the Past Relationship Looms, I enjoyed these both as rarepair fics but also bc of the Former Brocedes of it all: my kind’s your kind by @/monacotrophywife (Nico/Charles) & the price of the prodigy by @saff-rons (Lewis/Max)

that's all! (for now) if you enjoy drop the authors a line etc. sorry again this took forever

[frownyalfred]

20 Questions for Writers

I was tagged by @lurkinglurkerwholurks

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 146! It would be a larger number if I hadn't deleted all of my Supernatural fics back in the day. There were at least 30 of those, maybe more...

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

913,163 - I'm hoping to hit a million soon!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Batman, Superman, Justice League, Star Wars, Marvel

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Take Care of Business Everybody Wants You It Was Always You a sky of honey Anything Like Me

5. Do you respond to comments?

Not anymore :/ I have a really hard time keeping up with writing if I'm responding to comments. I hope my readers understand.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm. Probably lonely town? Dick is getting de-fibbed in the alley by Bruce, and it's not clear if he's going to survive or not.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

here as I am is hilarious if you're into jealous!Clark. otherwise the weight (salmon ladder fic) always gets me.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yep. Mostly on borderline, but on other fics too. I love how, as I've gotten better at writing, it's changed from "wow this sucks, your writing is awful" to "you suck because you chose to have [character] do this." Luckily I think most of the hate filters over here to Tumblr, where I can happily block and forget. These days, I mostly get people commenting about how I'm wrong about something. Wrong about something I researched and triple checked before posting...

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep! All of them, I think? At least, I haven't balked at much yet. I'm not really into the excrement related ones, so I think that would be one of my no-go's.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yep! bloodletting (Mandalorian/Star Wars and DC Crossover) and a few Marvel/DC crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep, a few times. What I'm more pissed about is all of my textposts being monetized over on TikTok and IG. I could be making bank off of those, considering the reach. And several of them are basically mini-fics.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Tons. Check them out here. There's also some podfics and related works there.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really. I've made attempts but I'm really bad at it. I tend to write spur of the moment and follow my gut on where the conversation/action goes. Planning out a fic with a partner would do them a disservice, I think.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I really love Superbat, but Codywan is right up there with it. Something about Cody being a loyal BAMF soldier and long-suffering big brother gets me.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

My vampire AU. Not because I don't want to continue but I cannot decipher my notes as to what should happen next.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm very quick, I can type up a full draft in a few hours. I like natural, snappy dialogue and I think I'm good at it. I don't shy away from weird or uncomfortable situations. I'm comfortable with writing a lot of sex/etc.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I write too quickly, sometimes I get ahead of my plot. My dialogue and descriptions can sometimes be a little too bare, or I overcorrect and become too flowery. My fics take on the tone of whatever I'm thinking about at that time.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If you're confident in your language abilities, go for it. If you're just plugging it into google translate, consider why you're doing that first. Is the addition of this new language actually something someone would say in that moment? Or are we just using it to signal to the audience that they speak another language? Is there a way to show this without telling? That being said, I love using Mando'a in my Star Wars fic, and I've studied it for a while now to be able to do so.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Supernatural

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Probably borderline or a sky of honey. Both took a ton out of me and I'm proud they're whole and standing on their own right now.

---

I'll tag anyone who wants to play! Go wild.

[qqueenofhades]

Is it normal that I’m legitimately so scared of saying pretty morally tame things like “I don’t want to talk about genocide because it makes me severely uncomfortable” or in general expressing my political opinion.

Like i’m not even kidding when I say that all my drafts are just my possibly offensive (probably not) political takes i’m just so scared of everyone leaving me it’s not even funny.

Anyway i also think that if you talk about Palestine but not Ukraine you are a victim of Russian Propaganda™️

I’m sorry I don’t know why i did this have a nice day ok baiiiiiii

Here's the thing. You and every other average social media user should not have to masquerade as a sudden in-depth expert on every single social, political, humanitarian, etc. crisis that we are dealing with in this wretchedly miserable excuse for a timeline. It should not be a baseline expectation on you that when you log onto your little social media in your little average life, you have to come up with The Correct Opinions on everything and if you don't, you're "perpetrating oppression" by not vigorously spreading misinformation, instead of simply admitting that you don't know what to do, you as an average citizen are not in a position of making this change and therefore don't actually have to spend every waking minute obsessing about it, and that maybe, just maybe, you'd like to spend more time informing yourself until and/or IF you decide you want to talk about it. This is the same as the Instagram Activists (TM) who traumatize themselves to the point of PTSD by constantly consuming torture and/or war porn and/or graphic content about murdered children because they "don't have the right to look away." Actually, you do. You are able to make choices to control your personal social media use and to set boundaries as to what you do and do not want to do and/or see, rather than insisting that the only moral choice is to literally mentally destroy yourself with all the weight of human suffering in the world and then expected to act as a de facto expert on all of it, on pain of being Cancelled. This is a stupid, irrational, unhealthy, and generally idiotic expectation. You should not have to take part in it. Nobody should.

Likewise, I think that this is a large part of why people are so scared to voice any opinion that goes against the Prevailing Groupthink: they are afraid of losing friends, of having nasty bad-faith internet trolls say mean things about them, being accused of being a "bad person," or otherwise being guilt-tripped, shamed, and blamed for not centering their entire existence around something that they cannot actually do anything about. Once again, people think the only way you can be Known to Oppose Something Problematic (tm) is if you post on social media about it all the time. Forget whatever you might be doing offline, in your real life, or otherwise; it "doesn't count" if you don't make a big virtuous display of your Rightthink, or you will be viciously harassed. Now, look, I am old and/or tired enough that I don't give a shit what stupid internet users say about me, but I can tell you that I sure did when I was younger, it was incredibly painful to be on the end of those kinds of attacks, and it's (again!) not something you should just have to expect as a baseline level of gaslighting and harassment. As I have said. This is Tumblr. It is a stupid blue website mostly for fandom and/or three in-jokes. This is not a platform where we are expected To Do Social Justice all the time, nor should it be. As for Elon Musk's Twitter: yeah. No.

Also: yes, if you do spend all your waking moments obsessing over Palestine, but say nothing whatsoever about Ukraine and/or openly support Russia, you are in fact very much a victim of Russian Propaganda and you 100% support genocide when it's done by an "anti-western" state that you support for that reason alone. You only care because you can use the cause to make yourself look morally superior, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with opposing genocide on a basic, universal, or fundamental level. The end.

(I hope you have a nice day too. The anger in this is not directed at you. I support everything you've said here and hope that you're able to set healthy boundaries and protect yourself.)

[yourlastbraincell-kiwi]

A/N: I found a Benny Watts one-shot hidden in my drafts, I had forgotten about. Here it is, please enjoy!

Most likely has grammar errors-

Pairing: Benny Watts x Reader

——————♟️——————

Benny huffs standing up and goes to retrieve his wallet from his coat pocket, before handing me my money. I smiled, cheekily, before plucking the cash out of his hand.

“Thank you, baby.” I stand and peck his lips, but he pulls away abruptly. “Yeah, yeah.”

“All’s fair in love and war, or love and chess. More like..” He rolls his eyes, going over to set the chess pieces back to its original state. And I look at the cash in my hand.

“Hold up, Benny.” I hold the cash up to him. “I won thirty, you gave me twenty.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“That’s wasn’t in the rules.”

“There were no rules to begin with.” I roll my eyes and huff. “Yeah, you won those games fair and square, Congrats.” He congratulated me and placed a kiss to my forehead. “But since you are living under my roof-”

“It’s not a roof, it’s a floor, but continue.”

“I decided to take ten from it, as compensation, if you will.” He explained and I nod my head understandingly. “Right, so if I was to leave, would I be able to have my ten back? Considering I’m not living under your roof at that point.”

He thought about it before grabbing his wallet again, and just my eyes follow him, as he digs out another ten, handing it to me. “Is this your way of telling me, you don’t want me to leave, Benny-boo?” I said, as we both cringed at the nickname.

He sighed, looking at my eyes, before nodding his head slightly. I place and hand on his chest, as I stepped closer, feeling that his heart had picked up speed.

I don’t know, if it was from me, pretending to leave or me putting a hand on his chest. But it genuinely broke my heart seeing a man, who lets nothing get to him. Gets extremely nervous around me, and the fact that I might leave him.

But I must be stupid, drunk or both to leave him. Cause I would never make decision like that sane nor sober.

“Benny?” He refused meet my eye. “You didn’t actually think, I was going to leave you, did you?” I try look into his eyes, but he stared off into a corner of the room.

“Benny..” I started, absolutely devastated and saddened, that he truly thought I would. “Benny, look at me..” It took him some time before he made eye contact with me. By the time he did, you could tell his unshakable and tough demeanor had been torn.

“Benny, I would never, in a million years, leave you.” I said, holding his face in my hands. “You’re just the most amazing and remarkable person, I’ve ever met. You’re sweet, funny, talented..”

He looks away quickly, wiping a tear that had managed to fall. I redirect his face to look at me again. “And incredibly incredibly, handsome. You hearing me?”

“Why would I want to leave and find someone else, when I have the only one I want, right in front of me?”

“You might not see it, but take my word for it, I’m staying here, cause it’s were I belong.” I pat his cheek and leans him down to kiss his forehead, we stand there for a bit, before he collected his barrings, and wiped away any fallen tears.

“Wanna play another round?” He asked, sitting at the table. “Definitely. But before I forget,” I hand him the ten dollar bill, and he looks at me confused.

“It’s for compensation, remember? I wouldn’t want to get kicked out of your house.” I said, as I sat and he rolled his eyes, putting the bill underneath his thigh. “So, what are we playing for now?”

He thinks, before leaning forward with a mischievous grin on his face. “How bout, whomever losses, has to take off an article of clothing. Winners choice.”

“Are you just trying to get me naked, Benny?” He leans back in his chair, hair falling over his right eye. “Only if you agree to the terms and conditions.”

“You’re on, and there’s no way in hell, I’m losing to Benny Watts..”

[acroagoraphobe]

How would the FNV and/or FO4 companions react to having a slice of cheese thrown at their faces?

Im gonna do FNV for now because thats what I got inspo for! (SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I FORGOT IT WA SIN DRAFTS)

Boone:

Goes into combat mode because he thinks he's being attacked.

Once he realizes its just the Courier being a shit, he calms down.

But you'll hear some irritated grumbling coming from him for a few minutes.

Ed-e:

"Beep?"

Confused as all heck.

why did you cheese the orb?

Veronica:

"What did ya do that for? Free food I guess heheh."

She eats it. Yum Free food.

(She would probably slap people with cheese in return Cuz shes silly like that.)

Arcade:

"What the-" "Okay uh thanks I guess? Is this a gift or?-"

Annoyed definitely, but mostly confused.

Where did you even get the cheese from? He wonders. Because like... Its a pre-war slice of cheese that should have gone bad forever ago and- There Arcade goes on an infodump.

Rex:

"Bark?"

Doesnt get it but, yum cheese!

Struggles to reach the cheese to get it off so you have to pull it off of the poor dog.

Lily:

"Pumpkin, is this what the kids do these days? Good thing you're having fun!"

Doesn't really mind that much, just happy her little pumpkin is having fun.

Forgets the cheese is still there and it has to be removed by someone around her

Cass:

"What the fuck."

Shes gonna beat the shit outta you.

Be ready

Raul:

Big sigh, shakes his head. "Boss, just why?"

Confused and dissapointed.

Immediately removes cheese and throws it away ):

[thedissociatives]

Heeeyyyy, I'm so so intrigued by your hockey posting. I'd love to know more about Fedorov, like what's the lore, what makes him special? Have a nice day/ night <333

good morning/afternoon/evening anon! since you asked so nicely i'll try my best but i do tend to forget everything i know when i have to actually explain it. there is a lot of lore tho so i'm not gonna go over all of it (mainly the bits that interest me the most + some other stuff). i guess what really makes him special (at least to me) is the fact that we don't get players like this anymore. and i'm not talking playing style here (the impact of euro hockey players of the 90s on the nhl today is still so obviously there). a lot of his early career was directly impacted by cold war politics, and since those circumstances haven't existed for a while now, we don't get this insane type of backstories and lore anymore. i should also make it clear that i'm a massive nerd who sat in classrooms for years learning abt soviet stuff which i think definitely has an impact on who My Guys are

seriously there is a lot under the cut so be warned because i did get carried away with myself A Lot (i literally wrote over 1k words on this. sorry in advance)

ok so. sergei started playing "pro" hockey in the soviet union in the mid 80s (i don't think this is the place to explain whether these players were pro or amateur so will leave it like that), first in minsk (only for a year) before being picked up by cska moscow- the central army team. these guys made up most of the national team, which can probably be explained by the fact that their head coach also coached the national team (god that's a bit of a mouthful, but incredibly relevant). he wasn't the only rookie on the team that season; another kid (i think they were both like 16 at the time ?) called alex mogilny had also just arrived in moscow. they would become good friends. sergei would play three seasons for cska before being called up for the national team- he was going to the 1989 world championship. alex would be there, too, having already played on the team before. naturally, the ussr won gold (as they did almost every year). but that doesn't mean everything was good with the players. not long too after the tournament, some of the older players would finally get permission to play in the nhl, but for the younger guys it was looking like they had no way of getting out any time soon. in the days between the end of the championship and the soviet team's flight home, mogilny apparently approached fedorov and asked him to go to america with him- sergei said no, worried about what would happen to his family. alex would go anyway, disappearing for a few days before popping up in buffalo ready to join the sabres. (this might seem irrelevant right now but it's actually really not- i'm getting there now)

that same summer, sergei would be drafted in the fourth round by detroit. this choice may or may not have been influenced by steve yzerman telling them sergei was better than him. after a bit of back and forth, they got him to defect after cska played a series of games in north america. it literally sounds like the type of shit they write in spy films it was fucking mental. this made him only the second soviet to defect in order to play in the nhl i'm pretty sure (defo the second in like 18 months- funnily enough it was his bestie who was the first one. what a coincidence), but they weren't the first two from the other side of the iron curtain to do that. might be wrong but i think that honour goes to the stastny brothers. anyway. when sergei got to detroit he wore 91 because he wanted to "be like stevie" or some insane shit like that. which i literally think about all the time. like seriously what was that about sergei.

okok can't not talk about the russian five so doing that now. since idk how much you know about hockey i'll do a better job on this bit. after sergei arrived in detroit, management must've figured they could get more russians. over the next couple of years they got vladimir konstantinov (who was drafted the same year as sergei) and slava kozlov to make the jump to the states. since i'm mainly talking about sergei i won't go into how they got those two but it's just as unbelievable as you'd expect. after the 1994-95 lockout, the wings traded for another russian- slava fetisov. if you ever want to learn about soviet hockey you'll hear a lot about this guy, and for good reason too. he won two olympic gold medals and seven world championships with the soviet union, and captained most of those teams. obviously adding a guy with that much experience winning was a smart choice imo, even if he hadn't won anything in the nhl yet. by now the wings had four russian players- why not add a fifth ? in 1994 the wings were embarrassed in the playoffs, losing to san jose. it just happened that sj happened to have two of the older soviets who had fought for the right to play in north america. one of them was igor larionov- probably the smartest guy to ever play hockey. it was his tactics (and refusal to change his style of play) that led to his team's success in the first round. and i guess detroit didn't ever want to deal with that again because they ended up trading for the guy in the first part of the 1995-96 season. the russian five first played together in calgary, where they played that style of soviet hockey that nhlers could never really wrap their heads around at the time. they walked all over the flames in their own building, and would continue to do the same to the rest of the league. the five would be a key part of the 1997 stanley cup-winning team, which was the first wings team to lift the cup in over forty years.

sergei stayed to win a few more cups, and then left the city. he signed w the ducks in anaheim, bleached his hair and moved out to california (i think we can all resonate with wanting to change our appearance and move thousands of miles away from where we've spent over a decade building out lives amiright). from what i can tell, this move was Not Liked by detroit's owners (honestly i can't see any other reason his number hasn't been retired there). he'd bounce around a couple more nhl teams before going back to russia to play on the same team as his brother, eventually retiring in 2012.

jumping to 2015, that year's hockey hall of fame inductees included sergei (and nick lidstrom, one of his detroit teammates and one of the best defencemen to every play the game). it was basically a 90s wings reunion. in sergei's induction speech, he did like everyone else and thanked a bunch of people who helped him out throughout his career. and, you know, it was all the expected stuff (hockey guys can be so predictable sometimes), but "to my captain, steve yzerman" still fucking gets me. it had been twelve years since he'd worn a wings jersey. my captain. i think you get my point but i'm gonna have to stop there because i can't carry on and be remotely normal about it.

oh and in 2021, after spending a few years bouncing around random jobs for the team, cska announced that fedorov would be taking over as head coach. he went back to the team where all this started. now i don't know how exactly he is with his team but i sure hope he learned enough from his days there as a player under tikhonov on exactly how not to treat your players. cska won back to back gagarin cups (the trophy awarded to the khl team who wins the playoffs) in sergei'd first two seasons behind the bench, and they're probably looking to make it a threepeat with the playoffs starting today (?)

[aeligsido]

Hiyaaaa! 🧚‍♂️

You said in this ask that you would love to talk about your OCs, sooooo... Top 5 OC? 👀🍬

Hiiii 🕺

I also do indeed!

1) how dare you make me try to rank my babies (affectionate) 2) top 5 oc of what!! So many things I could go off on!!!

Jk jk, but I did choose to list five of my first OC created in a fandom. Bc why not. Important note that some of them were created more than ten years ago (a bit reworked more recently)!

-

1- [Fairy Tail] Lyna Dreyar (technically now Dreyar-McGarden) . I genuinely don't remember much from when I created her years ago — I think I do have notes somewhere. She was always Laxus' little sister though. She was also a Dragon Slayer but now she isn't anymore jdjdjdb. I think I reworked her personality a bit too? She was more of an extrovert in my first drafts I think, but she's not as much anymore 🤔

-

2- [One Piece] Monkey D. Ceeli (previously Shelly). Once again, I created her a long time ago! And she changed a bit, too. (I mean, we also learned some more about this world since I created her lmao). She's Luffy's little sister (by three years). In my first drafts (I do have a fanfic with a few chapters posted with her as a character, over on my ff.net... not on ao3 bc i don't think I will ever complete it) she was supposed to have been raised with the ASL brothers, with a pretty serious personality and very interested by the Revolutionary in general. Also I don't remember what it was exactly but she had powers™. Now, she has a super powered haki (bc i can), she was raised by their mother (for... reasons), and Luffy doesn't know her (or that she exists). She's also way less serious and a bit more into the overexcited side.

-

3- [HP] Daisy Potter (it... wasn't her first name when I first thought about her but I can't remember what it was now). Again, a very old OC! She wasn't that developed all that time ago, but she's way more present in my mind now haha. You will never guess, but she's Harry's little sister, bc i once found the HC that Lily was pregnant when she died and I ran away with it. Interestingly enough, I think that the explanation I have for her birth now and then is the same? And same for her fate in canon,,, (I mean, a canon where she's born). Rip (i love u baby). I put her in a lot of different aus now, where she grows up differently each time and things impact her differently, but I think at her core she's a very brave and smart girl who wants to do good. She's her parents' daughter all the way!

-

4- [Star Wars] Letti Kryze. One of my most recent ones! So maybe five years old or so idk what time is. She's Korkie Kryze's daughter, a Jedi, eight years younger than Luke & Leia, and has the habit of causing accidental chaos everywhere she goes. I love her she's a baby. I remember after watching the first season of the Mandalorian thinking it would be funny if her and Din kept throwing the Darksaber back at each other bc neither of them want to be the big boss™. She's a tired teenage girl in the middle of an intergalactic war who just wants her father back and it shows.

-

5- [DC] Emma Pennyworth. Alfred's granddaughter via his daughter Julia. She is, in general, done with the Batfam's collective bullshit, and wants to hold the braincell. She's also like, twelve, so there's that. I've written her a few times actually!! She tries so hard to be serious and mature and she forgets a bit to be a kid, but also her favorite sport is annoying Damian lmao.

-

Bonus — this one time I was very into Hetalia and created an OC Bretagne, bc of course I did.

-

Yes there's a common theme in all of those lmao. Interestingly enough, even when the OC is like... Cringey and a bit Mary-Sue and all, the goal was always to have them as part of the family and... That's it. Legit 0 of them have a love interest (I'm thinking of Cana for Lyna but that's a very recent development, and I do have a few ideas for Letti but it would be another OC)!! It's so funny in insight idkdkd

I also have a fair share of OCs that are like. The next gen (you know the type). So there's that. I'm giving so many characters kids and I'm not even sorry.

... Well kids or random family members lmao.

[murahel]

Fanfics Masterpost

C.Y.B.E.R.V.E.R.S.E. series complete stories:

Hand Over The Relationship, Offish Decepticon! : Soundwave survives the fight with Tarn.

Standing Among The Blue: rewrite of a scene from s2 ep13 in which Optimus meets Solus Prime.

Transformers Cyberverse Fanfics Ideas:

Sapphic Shadow Striker/Windblade. Background Hot Rod~Soundwave being supportive.

"Wherever Bumblebee goes on Cybertron, Cheetor, be with him." If Cyberverse doesn't give me Cheetor remembrance, then I will. Maybe even a word from him from within the AllSpark. Featuring Bumblebee & Windblade's friendship post-war. Bee is sad in this one.

Hand Over sequel: Hot Rod and Soundwave accidentally complete the Conjunx Ritus. Shenanigans ensue, including a wedding Shadow Striker and Windblade might steal for themselves.

Transformers EarthSpark Fanfics Ideas:

Brave Educational Experience: or when the Terrans shatter Bumblebee's worldview through a single question. Sequel under consideration.

Shockwave & Wheeljack relationship, but still with their dynamic from in Cyberverse (dancing robots, Shockwave's invention liking Wheeljack (s2 ep10, Secret Science)). Also Wheeljack calls Shockwave out on his racism towards the Terrans/Twitch his daughter. Featuring Fluffy Ears since the show won't give her back to me. Senator Shockwave plotline.

The ones I probably won't write (may you feel free to appropriate this ideas for yourself):

Decepticons meeting up with Autobots at the border after defeating the Quintessons (too vague).

AU fix-it in which Starscream gets better (I just don't know his character enough).

The ones I said I wouldn't write but did in a way or another:

I've read a fic headcanoning Soundwave as a cityspeaker too, which I find interesting but don't think I'll write about it <- "Hand Over The Relationship, Offish Decepticon!" (chapter 5 especially)

--------------------------------------------------

Other stuff I've written unrelated to Transformers medias: ⬇️

And The Sun Snuffed Itself Out So Icarus Could Keep Flying: "In this world, Hawks doesn't lose his wings." MHA, canon-compliant up to the moment Hawks loses his alter to AFO. I've always felt like Endeavor/the Todoroki family owned him one after what Dabi does to him (also why the hell are people shipping Dabi and Hawks together wtf) and that with Endeavor's whole "redemption" thing he would at least try to protect Hawks more?? Maybe it's just me. Might get a sequel or follow up if I can work my mind around some plot. Learned Icare is called Icarus in eng so I edited that.

Triangle Is The Strongest Shape: Monastario/Zorro/Lolita trouple. I know, I've got you, you'll have at least one fic with the three of them (it's silly tho). I honestly don't know how Monastorio's name is canonically spelled.

Oh Little Angel's Family: the one I keep forgetting. Supernatural, it's about family feels among the angels (especially the archangels and Castiel) and isn't canon-compliant in the slightest. I think it diverges from canon at s4. It has an attempt to plot in it, it has. Anyway it's written in french and Michael is called Michel in it.

Not home: an Outer Worlds game character-study(ish) fic about the Captain being an outsider. Do not be fooled by the english title, it's written in french.

Star Wars. I've written many a fic of Star Wars stuff starring the Codywan ship, some in french that haven't been translated since I switched to full english. I've still got unfinished drafts of more fics including them which will probably never be finished because I can't be bothered, and I don't post unfinished drafts (there's one exception to this and I won't elaborate on it).

Ideas of fics that haven't been written (yet):

A Baroness fic. From The Cat Returns Ghibli movie. In which she either gets reunited with Baron or has Toto and other birds travel letters between them.

A Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas time-travel fix-it fic centering on Shion, in which Zeus is actually responsible for the Holy War and the Aries cloth has time powers because of Chronos. Featuring being hunted as a traitor by his fellow Golds, soul wound, and Lady Persephone.

A Kuraerti fic (you know. the one yall keep calling Clerifa like it's a fucking Pokémon.) post-canon, a timeline what timeline, everyobody lives, setting: Gold Saucer. Featuring an Oblivious!Cloud, background Reno/Rude, Zack being around, Rufus and his dog learning to be a Good PersonTM under mentorship from Dio, the most adults members of the group acting like parents and a frustrated Barret.

A Brooklyn Nine-Nine fic in which Kevin's family is actually from the mafia. His parents don't talk to him anymore because he married a cop and the whole Seamus situation gets worse because that's a mafia family kidnapping somedoby from another mafia family. It is unclear if Holt is aware or not.

[agirlandherquill]

Written In Smoke - The Travelling Letter

it's been a very busy couple weeks, so to make up for my forgetfulness of making a letter last week i'll be combining the two together this week!

A Glimpse Through Time - little bits about me and what I’ve been up to this week

as the letter's name this week tells you, it's a travelling one, and also the biggest thing to happen in these past couple weeks, so here goes!

i went to bath! it was GORGEOUS and everything i hoped it would be

so, dear reader, i'm assuming you're wondering what i did on my trip, and what did i do? well:

I visited the Jane Austen Centre (it was the hottest day of the year so far, so of course i bought a fan, among a few other bits)

I also visited Mary Shelley's House of Frankenstein (timed it so i finished reading frankenstein on the train there which was pretty awesome)

I obviously popped into Waterstones (snagged a copy of the maze runner, since i haven't read it in forever and my kindle copy has since been gifted to a relative)

and if you're interested, here's some of my pics from the trip! (a fair few are on my kodak, so until i fill the film roll and get those developed those ones are under wraps i'm afraid!)

I don't want to spoil the experience for anybody so I'll just show a couple from the jane austen centre:

me, ink, and a quill (very ironically) don't mix, i ended up covered which wasn't a surprise at all, but it was very fun to do (and difficult, and i thought fountain pens could be challenging)

and mary shelley's house of frankenstein:

being the only one in the room at the time was a strange sensation to say the least but when this giant starts BREATHING it's a fright

super cool movie posters

and if anyone else attempts the 'touch if you dare' electrocution bit this is me giving you a heads up - my phone ended up flying out my hand onto the bare wooden floorboards of the house (that shock HURT)

and then some of the things i was lucky enough to see - it really is a beautiful place

needless to say i'm so, so glad that I went on this trip (even if it was terrifyingly exciting to do on my own, when my trains got cancelled and delayed and i nearly got stuck in london for a night (just had to go when the computers crashed globally didn't i? and a heatwave to boot)

now for the rest of this section!

books: of course I had to prep for my trip by reading frankenstein, sense and sensibility, and northanger abbey, and while i've been recovering from 11km of walking (so worth it) i've been reading it happened one summer which is so, so good!

shows/movies: i started rewatching the boys, finished watching the original star wars trilogy and i finished s5 of Dexter, so a bit of a busy couple weeks too

music: this one's a bit tougher since i've been so busy reading/watching things, but here's a few of the tracks i've been listening to this time round: bleachers by haiden henderson, animals by maroon V, and lilith by halsey

Spills From The Ink-Pot - writing, writing, and more writing

where do i start?

the calendar project is going well - this is day 9, and i've made a good start on chapter two

ruin's reprisal, i'm ashamed to say, hasn't been touched this week since i've been so busy, but i'm determined to finish the draft by the end of july (utterly terrifying)

also started dabbling in fanfic again (if such a thing is possible, it's been such a long time that i don't really know) which is a really daunting prospect but i'm looking forward to exploring it and how i write it some more

now, i usually include some snippets here but since all of my writing time has gone into the calendar project this week that's all I've got, so feel free to check out the most recent pages from my master post!

bit of a double whammy to make up for my lateness but here you go! this week's letter is all typed up, compiled and heading your way!

~ A Girl and Her Quill

Tag List! (if you want to be notified when a WIS post comes out, interact with this post :) )

@lead-to-code @catwingsathena @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @thestorywitch @lunaeuphternal

@theaistired @frostedlemonwriter

[tunaafishyy]

Enkanomiya Enigmas - Part 1

A look into some of the strangest comments made by Enkanomiya’s residents

Note: this post is incomplete, I’m just starting the new year by clearing out some of my old drafts… maybe I’ll go back and fill these in better one day :)

Draft last updated 2022-12-26

In the Beginning…

Eboshi: Before Byakuyakoku fell into the deep sea, the whole world had a single unified culture.

Eboshi: Later, a great war broke out, in which the heavens capsized and the earth was ripped asunder. This land was then plunged into the dark ocean depths.

Eboshi: However, the heavenly order seemed to not wish for those who remembered all this to remain on earth. We searched for a road of return, but there was none to be found.

Eboshi: Much, much later, heaven’s powers of prohibition would gradually weaken. This did Watatsumi Omikami manage to fall into this place.

Out of Heaven’s Reach

Eboshi: They are primordial elemental beings, unbent and unbowed by the power that came from the heavens owing to their living deep underwater.

…

Eboshi: Watatsumi Omikami, due to ill-fortune, fell into this place, beyond the jurisdiction of the heavenly order.

Holy Soil Phenomenon

Eboshi: The Holy Soil phenomenon is, in fact, the expansion of their habitat. That means that the primordial elemental power of the three realms is growing stronger.

Eboshi: Only by using Watatsumi Omikami’s life force to awaken its second servant could we convert this raw, raging elemental power.

…

Tsumi: According to what I have read, the fundamental purpose of the Watatsumi Goryou Matsuri is to use the serpent god’s life force to awaken its second familiars: the Sangacorallia.

Tsumi: They are creatures that break down raw, primitive elemental energy into the milder elemental energy of the human realm. The giant coral is a symbol that the Sangacorallia have been awakened by the serpent’s blood.

…

Tsumi: Things are even more complicated than usual this time. The darkness from the Void Realm seems to be surpressunf things in the Light Realm and the Human Realm, causing them to come to a standstill.

Tsumi: You may need to use the power of the Bokuso Box to dispel the darkness and allow the ecological transformation to continue.

Orobashi’s Sacrifice

Eboshi: Unfortunately, by making contact with us, it also grasped a truth that came before it’s own existence. Thus, it was forced by heaven to sacrifice itself.

Eboshi: The truth behind this sacrifice had to remain unknown to all. Only this could the people of Byakuyakoku be allowed to live under the rule of The Seven.

Forgetting & Discovering the Truth

Eboshi: Due to the phenomenon known as Sinshades, the “past”, “history”, and “truth” of Enkanomiya would endure even if left to their own devices.

Eboshi: As such, a great effort was expended, not that we might remember but that we might “forget”. Lady Sangonomita was of this view.

Eboshi: The trial to obtain the branch was intended to limit the number of people coming after us who could know the whole truth of the matter.

Eboshi: As for me, I supported leaving records of the truth. As such, Watatsumi Omikami permitted me to add another trial path that, if passed, would lead to knowledge of our secrets.

Eboshi: “In the faintness of everlasting night, beyond the rushing of the river Styx, within the sinless flow of heavenly light.”

Eboshi: Release the seal on The Emanant Skylight. Then, you may ascend to the Gate of Heaven and access the site of the trial.

Vishaps

Eboshi: They are actually very intelligent, and they are adept at evolving. They would even evolve into different elemental forms throughout the history of their war against us.

Eboshi: I would not be surprised at all if they have learned language or perhaps even evolved into lizard-people of a sort.

The Traveler

The sinshade of Clymene, caretaker of the Sunchildren, recognizes the Traveler’s garb.

However, she then goes on to say that she was born in Enkanomiya (post-sinking) and that she’s never seen someone from outside of it.

For Clymene to have seen it, but to also never have left/met an outsider, implies that the Traveler’s Outfit existed in Enkanomiya.

She also makes a comment about not having seen it in awhile. This could be due to her either being a sinshade and not having perception of time, or the outfit being a carry-over from Enkanomiya’s society before it sank, and thus was as common post-sinking…

??? (Clymene): Hmm? How strange. I have not seen someone in your garb for a many long years…

??? (Clymene): From your mannerisms, you are not from Byakuyakoku either. Are you some guest from afar who fell into this place?

Traveler: That’s more or less correct…

??? (Clymene): To think that there were ways to access Byakuyakoku from the outside world… Shocking news indeed.

??? (Clymene): I was born here, and I have never seen anyone from the outside world.

Memories

Clymene: It has passed through the hands of every Sunchild, and the memories it has inherited are enough to fill the gaps in their souls.

Clymene: … Even though these memories are double-sided.

Traveler: Double-sided? Memories have sides?

Clymene: of course. In this case, the memories are two-fold. On one hand, you have your own memories, and on the other, you have others’ memories of you.

Clymene: Thus the gaps are being filled by both the Sunchildren’s own memories, imprinted upon the bridle… As well as the memories of them as the children who were blamed by Byakuyakoku, of those who became children of sin.

Clymene: my own memories are insufficient, and so I had to supplement them with those of the people of our nation.

Clymene: and it is thanks to these transgressions that have been laid upon them that they have now been remembered by Byakuyakoku, and can now leave their afterimages behind.

Clymene: Thank you, Traveler. My greatest wish now lies fulfilled. Yes, I… can finally be with those children again… I can finally… be at ease.

[goldeneyedgirl]

TwiFicmas23 Day 7: Hybrid Jasper

Good evening! Tonight, we have something experimental. I was trying to put together a one-shot that focused on Jasper as a hybrid because I'm equal-opportunity with my nonsense.

It's still in parts, and I'm not sure that I've captured the vibes that I'm aiming for, but we persevere. I kind of love the idea of Jasper being the vulnerable one and Alice being the protective one and wanted to riff on that concept. Some of the 'rules' and world-building are a little iffy at the moment, but first drafts always need a little work.

Thank you to everyone who has read, liked, tagged, and messaged me. Those tags and messages absolutely make my day and I love every single one of them.

I'm off to sleep off this cold, in the hopes that I can recover fast enough to finish off a couple of planned entires <3

on the edge of dawn.

His past is knotted up in secrets and lies. 

And blood, he can’t forget that. 

(It starts and ends in rivers of blood, in so many lives worth of blood, that it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge it.) 

When he meets the eyes of the recruitment officer and tells him that he’s of-age, he’s not lying. He’s been a grown-ass man for a decade now; just because he’s sixteen in human terms is meaningless. He is more than capable of fighting a war. 

(He fights to protect the people that raised him, the cousins who were really his little sisters. He goes to war to make sure that he can send money home, enough to keep them fed and warm and safe. He doesn’t need much, and it’s nothing compared to what they gave him.) 

When he runs afoul of Maria, he expects it to be his death. One that is surprisingly appropriate considering his own origins. Instead, it is a fever that cooks him from the inside out, one that he stays lucid throughout, begging for answers, to explain what is happening for water, to know what has become of his poor horse. He sees a lot of people, strange people, that feel like they are all wrong but he doesn’t know why. 

He thinks of his little sisters, and hopes that they’ll be okay. He saved a lot of his pay, sent it home, so maybe they will. Maybe they won’t go hungry or get sick.

Maria is exceptionally intrigued by him. This man who doesn’t die, who rambles at her, begs her. And even when the fever ebbs, his eyes are still a piercing hazel. He still bleeds and sleeps and breathes. But he feeds on blood, he can move at least as fast as the slowest newborn, and has a gift that he almost effortlessly weaponising. 

He is a marvel, a miracle, a prize. 

So she keeps him, and Jasper is mostly reminded of stories about hell from the Bible. 

(He can never go home again.) 

—

Her visions have shown him since she awoke, but he’s always been very strange in them - like he’s made of smoke and memory, faded and halfway gone. She doesn’t understand it, and it scares her - that very first vision, where he tucks a flower behind her ear and says her name - is her north star, and her touchstone. She doesn’t know who she is without him, and the idea that he could disappear terrifies her to the bone. No one else does that in her visions, and she can’t work it out. 

Then she realises his eyes are hazel. Somehow she missed that little detail as she watched him fight and feed and rule Mexico in Maria’s name. They are such a beautiful shade, impossible for a vampire. 

And then she sees him sleeping, and it terrifies her that he is so vulnerable and unguarded in such a terrible place. She feels sick at it. 

He’s still an enigma, she still has questions, but it’s a clue. It’s something. It helps her shape and frame their future in her mind, knowing that he is not entirely the same as her. 

It makes her feel useful, and that’s a nice feeling. 

—

He remembers his mother a little too well. She had sharp hazel eyes and hair so light it was almost white. She’s already dead by then, washed out and still, and it’s a single frame in his memory. Something he should never be able to remember. But he does. 

(Jasper remembers her best when faced with the bodies. The ones who were taken as a meal, and the ones that don’t survive the change. Bloodless and broken in every way that counts. Her face is always clearest in his mind as he gathers up those dead people, and maybe he remembers his upbringing and says a quick prayer for them. But it doesn’t take long for those prayers to be meaningless mutterings under his breath, part of the routine without any of the meaning.) 

Sometimes he wonders what would have become of him in another life, with his mother perfectly dead. His grandmother had no love for him, not in those earliest days; a pious woman, she would have cast him out young if it hadn’t been for his mother’s brother. 

For a long time, he’s raised by his Uncle Jed. Jed looks at him and seems to see past all the things that shouldn’t be and the things that make him strange, right down to the lost boy he is. 

Jed gives him the family name - Whitlock - and puts him to work on the ranch. It’s a good life, and he likes working with animals, likes that the things that make him different make him useful on the ranch. He likes that he never has to see the old bitch of a grandmother that never let Jasper forget that he was the reason his momma was dead. 

(His momma named him. She picked the name out herself and started embroidering it on a blanket because she became too ill. That’s something he tucks in the back of his mind, that possibility that maybe she didn’t hate him, maybe she even loved him.)

Then Jed meets Gracie Wainwright and Jasper is terrified that he’ll have to leave; that being reclusive and unseen is the only way he can stay there, outside San Antonio. Jed doesn’t even let him go to church except at Christmas; for Jasper to grown up, he must be invisible and it’s the one family law they all obey. 

Except… Aunt Grace is his greatest champion, the mother he never had before. She is quick to teach him, bringing him books and teaching him his sums, how to sew on a button and darn a sock, and cook a hot meal - “Everyone needs to know these things Jasper, no matter where you go in life.”

And then there are the girls, he beloved cousin-sisters who climb over him and cling to him and are nothing but laughter and soft, kind things. Jed and Grace produce five of them, one after the other, all golden-eyed and blue-eyed and his favourite people in the world. Girls he would die for. 

So he does. He goes and signs up for the army because he’s been grown for years, because he’s faster and stronger and doesn’t need food or water. Disease never seems to touch him, and there’s little-to-no chance that they won’t have to leave the ranch. They’ll need to eat and travel, and his stipend will help with that. It’s the least he can do. 

(In her letters, Aunt Grace worries about him incessantly, tells him that Little Emma wanders around calling for him, not understanding that he’s not coming home any time soon; that his stipend has been useful in keeping them fed and well. Jed writes him and scolds him for running off and for sending them his money, but always ends his letters speaking of his pride in Jasper, and wishes to come home safely. Jasper’s always felt guilty he never made it back.)

Maria is oddly fascinated by the concept of his family, by how dearly he holds them, and how he still remembers them, still adores them. Vampire memories are supposed to decay; it’s considered a rebirth for a reason. He doesn’t know why his memories stay so vivid, but he treasures them. In the end, it’s easier and safer to stop mentioning them, to pretend the memories are starting to decay, so that Maria stops interrogating him, so that she thinks he’s finally behaving how he should. 

//

The first time Alice sees Jasper bleed, she nearly screams. It trickles into his eyes and he swears, and she’s frozen in a vision that she cannot escape from. He swipes it off his forehead and sucks on his fingers a moment to swipe over the shallow wound. 

And it’s sealed. Does he have a healing gift?

She doesn’t know. 

But the visions start showing her the things that are to come. The Cullens are still a possibility, but Jasper will be more skittish about joining them, about letting others know about what he is. About having to live with more vampires after South. He’s terrified of Carlisle on so many levels, and the idea of school goes against everything his uncle taught him. 

But she’s gratified that he seems happy when they’re together. That he sees something in her, the lost girl, that maybe he recognises. 

I love you Jasper, and I know that we’re going to be so happy together.

And she does. She loves that he can walk in the sunlight without notice, but he still hates doing it. She loves that he has no special talent for languages, but has still managed to learn Spanish and French fluently. That he’s never learnt to dance, but he’ll dance with her. That at some point she’s going to try to cook for him, and it’ll be a messy disaster and he’ll just laugh until there are tears in his eyes and tell her that he loves her for trying. 

Sometimes she wishes that she could share visions, pass them from her head to another’s because she wants to be able to save all of this for him, to show him that everything is going to be okay. Better than okay; perfect. 

//

Peter is a blessing in disguise. At first, he’s only there to make trouble, only there to test the boundaries and question authority. He hears Jasper’s sluggish heart, sees the way Maria watches over him, and decides that Jasper is the weak link, and he just needs to exert the right amount of pressure to break him. 

It goes about as well as expected, and something about the fact that Jasper is the one that returns Peter’s arm instead of throwing it on the pyre cements something between them. Loyalty, understanding, and a sense of fairness. 

Friendship and brotherhood comes in time. But that evening, as Jasper realigns the joint and explains to Peter that Maria has tried to rip off Jasper’s arm before but the joints are weird because he was already venomous before being bitten, that it didn’t work. Did fuck up his shoulder for a while though. 

Peter is fascinated. That he can be cut and bruised and broken, but they can’t do something as simple as tear him into pieces. That Jasper takes days to heal, and on the long sunny days they stay inside for, Jasper sleeps.

//

She finds him in Philadelphia and, oh, her heart breaks. In her well-loved dress and too-big shoes with the creases deep across the toes, she looks like a real lady compared to him. 

He’s outside in the alley, trying to convince himself to go inside. She’s seen it happen both ways, and that’s why she was late. To make sure that either way, he’s going to find her. She refuses to risk it any other way.

In the flesh, he’s a lot further gone than she expected. Enough that she discards her coat and her shoes as she enters the alley, moving quietly towards him. He’s so thin, and his hair is a tangled mess around his face, and he bares more than one bruise. His clothes are woeful, filthy and too thin for the cool weather. He’s not going to survive another winter like this. 

“Hello,” she says, and when he looks at her, his eyes almost pass as hazel, with the ring of fading red around the pupil. But he also looks hunted and haunted, like an animal backed into a corner. “I’ve been looking for you.”

She smiles at him, and he stares back for a moment before he relaxes a little. “I didn’t realise I had an appointment,” he manages, his voice cracking with disuse. He lets her get a little closer, looking at her bare feet, her green dress that has seen better days, the less-than-clean gloves, and the ribbon in her hair. Oh, and her purse. 

“That’s okay, because I’m here now,” she decides to brazen it out, and goes closer to sit beside him except he stops her.

“You’ll spoil your clothing,” he says, getting to his feet and he’s so very tall. He has to look down at her, and she feels very delicate and precious as he does so. 

“I have a lot of clothing to spoil,” she says honestly, and he still looks uncomfortable. “I’m Alice.”

“Hello Miss Alice.” He sounds uncertain but for her, it’s the most beautiful sound because it’s the very first time that she’s ever heard him speak her name out loud. 

—

[inventors-fair]

Rewind Commentary: To Years Ahead

What a year, captain.

The Fair has been going for a lot longer than I ever though I'd be with it for, and yet, it's one of those moments where you don't think about how long something's been in your life until the rest of life starts moving faster. Like...a suitcase, a microwave, a particular book, the position of photographs on a wall. A set of draft sleeves. A pack you've never opened.

2024 is going to bring a lot more cards and lot more shakeup. The product lineup is as big as it's ever been and the cards we can make are as weird as they're ever going to get. Magic has a way of surprising us more than we can articulate until the cardboard hits the table. For the time being, though, we've got jobs to do, and that job right now is commentary.

When we go into the new year, there may be some upcoming changes to how commentary goes about. I've written a novel's worth of commentary this year alone, and we've reached a point where that's just not sustainable. We'll be talking more about this in January, but in the meantime, we do want to know: what alternate forms of commentary would be helpful for you all? The manpower that goes into writing is daunting, to say the least.

Let us know what you think. In the meantime, here's what I think about the cards this week:

~

@bergdg — Lekti, Naktamun Survivor

I don't know what to call this card past it being generally 'good.' It's a typally-relevant commander that fills a niche, and I do respect that. Jeskai pseudo-impulse is a good constructed archetype for sixty-card decks. Commander-wise? There's this inherent issue of every card having some kind of relevance or impact with no repeats. For variance, I get it, it can make for fun gameplay. Whether or not it feels good to lose one of two important cards makes it difficult to decide whether or not it's worth attacking.

But it's a fine blocker, too. There's a bit of a fun twist where you're rewarded for having both Bird/Phoenix cards AND having noncreature spells, so you can build off of the prowess or off of the fliers, your call. Which one would you pitch, though? I don't think that this is necessary the best benefit for either side centrally. Now if you want to have this as just a "good Jeskai card," then I can futz with it. As for whether or not is has a strictly strong identity in either direction, I'm not seeing that with this iteration.

~

@dabudder — The Darkin War

League of Legends, more like...reading the wiki was definitely helpful here. I have absolutely no history with this franchise or its lore. Deep, yes, absolutely, or at least expansive—impressively so. I think this is one instance where familiarity deepens the meaning far more significantly than it would be with just using guesswork or whatever, because that last chapter made no sense until I saw what the sealing process was for the, uh... I've been awake for 22 hours and forget a bunch of names, I'll admit.

What I like about the design is its clear commitment to commander-focused interaction. Two creatures fighting each other can be extremely powerful even at "sorcery speed," as it were. Even then, I'm not a huge fan of that transformation, not because it's not cool but because it's opening up a whole lot of weird doors. Counters, being permanent, can get messy when they remain on the swordified creatures. What about massive token/counter decks? Blinking? Tracking a board state can be easy on Arena, but definitely not on paper. Conditions that grant equipment cool abilities are nice, but I feel that the complexity you're asking for is more than needs to be handled.

~

@deg99 — Draugki, Immersturm Tyrant

I knew something was weird about this wording but I wasn't sure what. I think the problem is that you're trying to do a zillion things at once that grok but don't grok with wording. Rakshasa Vizier and Old Rutstein want to help. Each one kinda wants to be a separate trigger, and each one also kinda wants to be an "if this, then this" clause, and together... Eugh. "Whenever one or more cards are put into exile from a graveyard, if a creature card was put into..." No, because the "this way" or "that way" wouldn't necessarily work. I honestly don't know how to work with this one.

But, this second paragraph is being written several hours later, so I can say with confidence that I still don't know. Tired-me had something going on. "Whenever a spell or ability exiles one or more cards from graveyards" allows for "this way" to happen, which this card may or may not need to make all these abilities work. It's quite frustrating how well it groks versus the wording that would have to go into it. To be honest, having this be an end step trigger that looks at all the things that were exiled from a graveyard over the course of a turn might make it easier. If anything I truly want to convey how cool a card this is conceptually. I would have loved to have polished this in the workshop with you.

~

@dimestoretajic — Jeskai, The Way to the Eye

I had kinda forgotten that the clans were named after dragons. Were they? ... Okay, research into this reveals nothing so far, but that's how it is. Maybe the new ones were and the old ones kinda were, I have no idea. REGARDLESS. In terms of elder dragon lore, this is kind of a weird one. Even though I'm personally a fan of a big dragon teaching little humanoids martial arts in a teacherly manner, that doesn't feel exactly draconic to me, certainly not with the dragons of Tarkir. I'm not sold yet.

Mechanics are pretty great though. If there's a way to cheat spells, well, this card certainly does that. One free counterspell on each of your opponents' turns sounds amazing. Actually, that sounds awful to play against. Maybe "each of your turns" would be a little better. But the idea is solid! Let's talk about wording, though, and I wanna stress how much Oracle text helps to make these cards better for you. For the second line, you need "instant and sorcery SPELLS" instead of just "instants and sorceries." For the third, I believe it would be worded: "You may pay {0} rather than pay the mana cost for the first noncreature spell with mana value 4 or less you cast each turn." Wordier, but necessary.

~

@hypexion — Prism Shifter

Now this is a fun little evoke trick. Kind of. The thing is, like with Banishing Light and such effects, you'd have to know to stack the triggers in such a way so as to get the effect right and blink your target from the exhume trigger. That said, the "flashback for creature effects" feels like a sweet spot with unearth that you can do for cheaper, and this card in particular feels like a strong contender for versatility. (And, as was pointed out after I wrote this, a strong contender for making sure that you check your wording so this can't exile itself next time...)

The comparisons to unearth will be pretty stark, though—and the inability to attack would be a majorly divisive factor. But, this is still one card of however many, and I think that we're in a place that it's okay to have this kind of mechanic in a set as necessary and flavorful. I wonder where you imagined it and what kind of identity you see, because it's not really worded like Lorwyn's elementals usually are, and it implies color-crystal-y possibilities, and the mechanic itself is kinda macabre but not really... Actually that's another wonder. Why that name in particular for the mechanic? I suppose it makes the most sense. When it shares a name with another MTG card I can see where comparisons would be drawn but there really are only so many words that would fit. Maybe additional flavor exploration would yield a different result?

~

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Unexpected Voyage

Oddly enough, this vibe feels a little unnaturally mean to me—for green, I mean. Green is the color of community, and this card specifically represents a group of...villagers (?) sneaking away from a village for an unknown reason, and maybe they're being chased, maybe they're vagrants and thieves, maybe they're just adventurers, but I don't know what the mood-to-card connection is. Perhaps "mean" isn't the right word that I'm looking for. It's simply off-putting; I don't have the full idea of what you're looking to convey.

What I do know is that the one thing this card could use would've been an off-color kicker. We have anti-search and searching-punishment effects, and those are primarily in black, adjacently in blue and white and kinda red, too. Green has nothing to do with one's ability to search a library by itself, and certainly not with an effect that also locks out things like Field of Ruin effects or whatever. Even if it was, why does the ability read for the next time and not that they just can't search this turn? I don't get this card flavorfully or mechanically; it's Rampant Growth with extra steps that's expecting me to meet it halfway and I don't know how.

~

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Locked Room

So something tells me that you intended to do the whole Oblivion Ring trick here, oui? Sacrificing the room with the trigger on the stack and exiling something forever? Or perhaps that's unintentional... (For those of you not in the know, what you can do with this particular set of effects is something people used to do with Oblivion Ring, where you got rid of O-Ring with its exile trigger on the stack, and so it wasn't on the battlefield when the return trigger would've happened, leaving the Thing in perma-exile.) If that was intentional, then shame on you for the exploit—only because it doesn't grok well, though. The stack is, as I've found, a pain in the butt to explain to burgeoning players.

I suppose for the "return" contest it works fine; the "sacrifice" contest was supposed to be a wee bit weirder with it. I don't hate this card but it sure doesn't sit well with me for the exploit reason and that alone. Otherwise, hey, it's kinda awesome if you think about it from a twist on the Cinderella (Beauty and the Beast?) perspective. With a little nastier sending-away, perhaps. Limited is full of these effects and that's totally fine. The question is what could be done to avoid that exploit. Perhaps two different kinds of sacrifice triggers, one to leave permanently exiled, one to just draw? I'unno, there are lots of options.

~

@just--a--penguin — Karrthus, Essence of Jund

I'm gonna level with you, captain: if I'm sacrificing my dragons, I want a better effect than this at a cheaper cost. If I have to sacrifice three creatures each turn in order to get a big thing, then I want it worth my while. How many dragons do you think it would take for this to be not just a waste of dragons? Maybe underwhelming-ness aside, this card conceptually would be cool. Karrthus is an awesome character—for being a giant screaming flesh dragon, anyway. The fact that he's destroying other dragons is pretty rad for him.

Still, dragons are one of those things you want to keep around. Why would I sacrifice my other dragons if I could instead keep them around? What kind of deck does this card want to be run in? If you run it in a little-creature sacrifice deck that makes lots of sacrifices, you're going to want your dragons to support that, i.e. stick around. If you're running a deck with a lot of big dragons, you'd want them to be impactful beforehand and you probably aren't making that many sacrifices each turn. Y'feel me? This card is pulling in two directions and not quite meeting in the middle.

~

@nine-effing-hells — The Brothers Wittebane (JUDGE PICK)

Once more we step into the territory of thank-goodness-Abel-actually-knows-a-media-property. Y'all would be astounded by how much I don't know. Witches and Alex Hirsch, though? We're right on schedule. I think that this card as well makes perfect sense for the story that it's trying to tell, and I like the fact that, in line with some of the other sagas from Magic's past, it tells the story of a long-ago moment with real-time consequences. Yeah, I know that's what all sagas are supposed to do, but this one feels more apt considering how linearly the story goes and how directly it can be followed. I also just happen to know it better and it's based on a really straightforward section of a story.

It also follows that the simplicity has led to a card that's more or less fine, but not explosively spine-tingling. It's certainly useful and good for deadly-taxey kind of decks—remarkably so, in fact. Perhaps I'm underestimating this in the late-game stages, where you can boardwipe, play this, and your opponent's locked down for a turn while you're drawing removal spells and whatnot. Is this far better than I'm giving credit for? Perhaps! It's happened before. I've also faced down some really frustrating Doom Foretold decks, so, y'know, I've had my share of run-ins with this kind of build. But overall I like this card a lot and appreciate its existence! Kinda want to make double-sided human tokens now...

~

@railway-covidae — Nab

I had forgotten about this contest! I liked it a lot, from what I remember. I think. I know that I was the one running it because it's a weird one. Love what you've done with it, though, great use of an action piece. On terms of having a neat name, that's a success. If I recall, I wanted something that was a little different or out of color for the piece in question, but whatever, this card is still kinda cool.

I say "kinda" because the flavor implied is great and the card's execution could use a lot of work. You've got this part where you're stealing a small artifact (or artifact token!) but not giving it haste, which is still relevant in any format that has artifact tokens. It's so narrow that, at common, it would get passed around the draft pod without having any use beyond sideboarding—and even then I dunno what you'd really want it for. And there's no fun flavor text to boot! Still, the biggest question is: at common, what could this card do to make itself more playable or prominent? How can you keep the effect with the art but lose the baggage of that narrowness?

~

@reaperfromtheabyss — Maroon on the Reefs (JUDGE PICK)

I think this card is more blue than maroon, but whatever, that's just a theory—a color theory. Regardless, the only mechanical thing I would change is from "you don't control" to "your opponents control" in the vein of Bond of Discipline. The way this card can curve out allows for whatever blue 3-4 drops you got to swing on in, and if you're running a second color, you can have a little extra aggro for a turn to really close out games and/or find answers to the massive cards your opponents play. But maybe the Islands are key. Is this worth going primarily into the one color? I'd argue that the amount of stunning says yes for limited.

The Islands being a limiting factor is always going to hinder a card like this, but that's just what happens, really. These kinds of cards like the BRO uncommon cycle will always be a little iffy except in the late-late game. Flavorfully, I really think you could've condensed the flavor text to be more ominous. The "thankfully" there feels almost sardonic in an otherwise serious card, and I don't feel that it's necessary all things considered. The danger of the Hullscrape Labyrinth (which is a pretty awesome name) is what I want to focus on here. Pirates in danger, y'know? More a tale to scare the young sea-dogs.

~

@sparkyyoungupstart — Countdown to Destruction

Power Rangers, on the other hand, is something I haven't watched since I was probably five or six. Hoo boy. Thankfully, the wiki condensed this and the finale was available online. Your art direction being a little more abstract reminded my of the Doctor Who sagas, in a way, with the portrait of the episode being a bit more spread out. I do like how sagas look, which is fun for this card. I'm praising this part because there's a lot mechanically that I'm not quite meeting. As for whether or not this fits the show precisely, I'm not one to say; I think that you did the best you could with what was available, even if I don't get the menace part necessarily.

What we have here is an issue with the downsides. Giving all your opponents' creatures menace on turn five means that you'll be dead before you get to boardwipe unless your opponent is terribly far behind. The fact that you're also sacrificing one of your blockers on chapter II says a lot as well. If your opponent just wants to swing with what they have, hey, that works, and then they'll hold back until their stuff is more-or-less destroyed. The "survivors turn into humans" is fun flavorfully but really doesn't have meaning in any average game. The minimal amount of indestructibility makes this more confusing than intuitive. The long and short of it is that this card would be fun to think about but, in-game, it'll kill you right after the novelty wears off.

~

@squeezyboi — Gavi's Contingency (JUDGE PICK)

I really don't think this is as powerful as Fierce Guardianship. Thank goodness. I hate that card with a burning passion, except not really. This card's still ridiculously powerful if you have a hate-on-sight Voltron-y commander, but not so much that it's comparable to any other counterspell. Plus, it doesn't counter boardwipes and stuff. The fact that it's almost better than negate is still incredible, though, with the added Preordain for one generic more at instant speed. Should this cost 2UU for that? I honestly think it might, but that may be my Legacy brain kicking in.

I don't even think I need to talk about the flavor. It's so good! Ikoria is a complicated world and I wish we had stayed there for more than one set. So many of these worlds needed more than just one set. I'm eternally pissed at WotC for skipping around to these set-dressing one-and-done theme-of-the-week places, but I've said as much a zillion times before. Gavi is a pretty cool character from what I just read up on, and a mother's love is indeed conquering here. This is a moment where she gets to exert a little more power in a way that's heartwarming, to say the least. Commander cards don't get as much love in the story that much, but this one makes me feel a bit better about her, y'know? Good card, good direction, good feelings.

~

@wildcardgamez — Armont and the Beasts (JUDGE PICK)

Reading up on the lore behind Armont and the story involved, this is a really interesting card that passes for a lot more mechanically than it does story-wise, and yet the story doesn't entirely fall flat. Turning everything into monsters is one thing, but then they get more powerful, and then presumably Armont destroys the curse of the monster role. Right? But there's a zillion monster roles and only one destruction, so I guess that's THAT story... Heh. All semantics. Doesn't matter when you have something this strong.

I played an incredible amount of WOE. Trample was far more powerful than I thought it would be. The ability to have a Thrive-like effect, but perma-trample and also holy crap, Tanglespan Lookout—yeah, there's a lot going on. I think in the right shell this card can overwhelm your opponents easily. In many shells, it can overwhelm folks, because again, boost plus saga, pseudo-overrun, yadda yadda. I would've loved to have played with this card! Whether or not that kind of effect would be a bit much for the set is debatable. I'm glad that Auras were the theme above something like adventures for the archetype, though. Much more powerful.

See y'all on the flip, kids. @abelzumi

[evilasiangenius]

‘Dr. Fell, we are very pleased to inform you that alongside the Westcar Papyrus and the Rhind Papyrus, the Actually We Won Papyrus will be known throughout history as one of the great finds of ancient Egyptian texts. Besides that, the Actually We Won Papyrus will be famous as the second-known example of Egyptian war propaganda, after the documentation from the Battle of Kadesh...’

“Bother,” Aziraphale muttered, as he stopped reading out loud. He adjusted his glasses very angrily. “Second? And here I thought I had invented propaganda!”

“Looks like the humans beat you to it,” Crowley shrugged. “At least I can still claim diplomacy.”

“Actually, if you read the rest of the letter, it goes into some depth on the diplomacy initiated around the Battle of Kadesh.”

“So I don’t even get that?” Crowley was offended. “All that work and the humans beat me to it?”

“By about 66 years. But you still got to claim it on your report to head office, that’s all that matters as far as we’re concerned.”

“...head office won’t like it when they find out I didn’t actually-”

“What did I tell you about telling the truth?” Aziraphale said tartly. “In fact, what did you yourself say about reports to head office?”

“That everyone stretches the truth a bit in reports to head office?”

“There, that’s a good angel. Now, let’s forget all about that ugliness while I draft a reply to these lovely gentlemen. Tea?”

“Please.”

x

[bluiex]

OKAY SO

c!DocM77 FANLORE

Warning: This massive fucking wall of text contains discussion of war, violence, seperation from one's family, implied/assumed child death, implied death overall, Entire Villages Burning Down, explosions and people injured in explosions, mild gore if your imagination is vivid though i tried not to describe it too gruesomely, a bit of internalized ableism regarding large injuries prosthetic use, and ✨PTSD symptoms✨! Proceed with caution, fellow blockmen enjoyers.

doc lived a majority of his life in a simple little village in a distant server, working on mechanical projects and tinkering for people. he's very autistic and very undiagnosed.

asp he met a lovely individual- an eagle avian- and they had a kid, that kid being doccy

doc still remembers the way his heart /soared/ when doccy took their first wobbly steps, a few hours after birth

he can also still remember how about a w33k later his heart sank when he saw his name on the draft list

his child isn't even a full 7 days old and he's already being told he's going to war, to fight for a government that's never done a god damn thing for him

he can't say no. he has literally no choice, so his community, who he's all close with, swears to him that they'll make sure his child knows they're loved- that their papa is away for a while but that he'll be back

he's just a regular foot soldier, and that's fine by him. he frequently ALMOST gets in trouble for fucking with machines he doesnt have the authority to be messing with

keyword almost because they always realize 'ah. hes fixed the crucial flaw we couldnt figure out.'

one day he's out on the field being Actively Shot At, and a machine nearby breaks down

it provides excellent cover so he runs to go fix it

and forgets that the fuel tank being shot is also a risk

the fuel tank is shot and the machine fucking explodes

it takes hours for anyone to find him, and when he is found, he's damn near dead already. the left side of his face has been practically flayed off by a piece of metal, and his right arm is just... fucking mangled

they bring him to the triage tent, blah blah blah have to amputate his arm + remove his absolutely brutalized eye

so when they send him home- he is far too damaged to fight- and he finds his cozy little village practically incinerated, still smouldering, corpses everywhere,

he cant even be surprised

but his heart shatters when he finds the little butterfly plushie that his neighbour made for doccy

he wanders, pretty much fucking entirely dissociated, for days on end, until a group of vagrants picks him up. he's so dead silent they assume he's a mute [doc having verbal shutdowns as a result of stress so real]

the first thing he says after Several days,

is his child's name, clutching that little plush butterfly in trembling hands

someone can tell he's grieving, and coaxes him into talking abt his kid

and then someone interrupts halfway with

HOLY SHIT WE MET THAT KID???

and doc very rapidly goes from being almost too quiet to hear,

to extremely loudly stating that THEY WILL HELP HIM FIND HIS FUCKING KID.

now, doccy's not even 3 months old yet

theyre just so fucking lost and confused and scared. they joined the first group of people they could, thinking in 2.75monthold logic that 'everyone ive ever met is papa's friend. i have now met these people. they must be papa's friends. im staying with them now'

when doc and doccy find eachother again he just breaks down sobbing, and the moment doc can, he gets the FUCK off of that server and takes doccy with him

he jailbreaks his comm to ignore whitelist functions, private server protections, etc., and server hops relentlessly until he can find a safe place to stay- which is how he comes across hermitcraft, around early S3

the moment he's on server he's being absolutely swarmed by hermits wanting to know who he is, what he wants, how he fuckin got in

and he's entirely ready to fight all these people off and get the hell out

but then someone spots doccy and everyone immediately pauses

and they start to notice the way doc's entire posture reads as someone with no intent to harm

they see the wild, yet unfocused look in his eye, how fresh his scars clearly are, how clumsily he weilds his prosthetic arm

they take stock of how every time he moves, it is to achieve one if thr33 things:

making himself look bigger

k33ping the hermits away from him

k33ping doccy close to him

they all pretty quickly realize 'this guy n33ds somewhere safe to live'

keralis lets Doc stay in his home while he settles in. eventually he moves out,

into a literal hole a little ways away

and from then on, it's history, they all lived happily ever after*

*doc has major ptsd. there are some days where the idea of being too far from doccy terrifies him. he struggles with his prosthetic for ages before he says 'fuck it' and builds his cybernetics. some days he regrets that decision, as he would like nothing more than to strip the metal from his body. some days he would rather be incomplete, than a twisted amalgam of man and machine.

the first time he hears any talk of war on the server, he panics, and tries to leave. they have to explain to him that 'war' just means 'we get silly'.

he struggles to bond closely with the hermits. some nights he dreams of tragedy. he dreams that he finds his new home scorched into nothing.

but that is what it is. home.

================================

OKAY THATS MY DOC LORE. hehehehhehehehe. bluie ik ur in a state where long sends are A Lot so dont worry abt trying to get to this, just take care of yourself, alright?

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