#I'm planning to edit and post most of them but we'll see how I feel once I reread

[mad-madam-m]

50k baby!

After a particularly difficult month of NaNo (why I ever start NaNo without an outline, I will never know; I always struggle more those years), I clawed my way to 50k tonight by hand-writing the last 1000+ words I needed. GO FIGURE. 

On the plus side, I finished multiple stories, including a couple of different WIPs, an original short, and a fic I’ve wanted to write since 2017. So it was a productive month, at least!

Here’s the list of what I worked on this month. Most are finished, only like 3 are not, so uh...I guess RIP my AO3 account as I go through getting these edited XD:

Win a Date with Barnaby Brooks Dragonesque Castlevania WIP The Rescue & Sequel Soulmate AU Marginal Prince PWP Mattia & Karina crack - Barnaby x Reader fic Tiger & Bunny Suit Smut More Trevorcard Smut Recycle Drabble Post-s2 Fic

[natalyarose]

𝓟𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓪 𝓒𝓪𝓻𝓭 - 𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒮𝓅𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓉 𝒲𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒦𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒜𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 (𝑜𝓇 𝒶) 𝒞𝑜𝓃𝓃𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃…♡🪽

This reading is likely going to lean towards romantic themes, but there may be messages regardless- we'll see! Pick the picture you feel most drawn to. It can help to close your eyes & visualise purple to connect with your intuitive sense & pick the 'right one'. Since this is a reading intended to reach many people, discretion is advised but I trust that who is meant to find it will. If you are looking for a more specific message, I do offer personal readings (peep my pinned post).

Let's get into it! 💞

edit: these readings ended up being verryyy hyper-specific so I'm not sure how many people will actually end up resonating with them, but I suppose there will likely be at least a message or 2 to take with you either way if this is where spirit has lead you. If nothing did resonate, that's totally okay!

Group 1 ~ 7 of Wands, the Hierophant, the Hermit

~channelled messages

'is this really what you want?'

'trying to keep the peace'

'a charade'

'rushed to the altar' (likely a metaphor)

This may be very specific, I was trying to brainstorm as many possible interpretations as I could.

For this group I'm seeing an energy where there is a person who is in a relationship or pursuing a relationship with someone solely because culturally/societally it is what is expected of them or what has been planned/seeds that have been sown since childhood. Even being rushed into marriage. There is a feeling of being trapped, 'I don't wanna do this'. For some this is the classic scenario of older family members pushing you to get married and/or start a family before you're truly ready.

For others, this is somebody holding onto a current relationship or an ex solely because you honour the commitment and feel under pressure to keep the 'charade' going, but really you are not happy and either have outgrown this connection entirely, or never were totally compatible in the first place. For some, you may be in the 'talking stage' with someone. You may genuinely like them, but feel socially pressured to rush into a commitment.

It definitely seems like if this is your group, you'll know about it because there seems to be a very conscious sense of friction about it all.. like you're grinning and baring it, but really you're gritting your teeth and frustrated. It could be all internal, but from what I'm feeling it definitely seems like there are other people involved and they're veryy 'in your face' about it.

You could be dating someone or agreeing to something just to get others off your back, when in reality you need more time to figure out what you truly want & what happiness looks like for you.

Whatever it is, I'm definitely feeling an array of situations with these themes for this group, but the message here is to not feel guilty about taking a time out. Distance yourself from these pressuring people/energies, and truly take the time to understand what you truly desire. Don't let anybody emotionally bully you into something you don't truly want. There is no shame in taking a different path, and trust that the path you feel most drawn to is the one that is meant for you.

Not all of us are born to fit the mold we were born into and taught, and it's time you stop trying to appease these external people 💟

Group 2 ~ King of Cups, 2 of Swords, 6 of Wands Rx

channelled messages~

'I wasted my opportunity'

'I'm not proud of what i've done'

'I want to make things right'

Group 2, I'm seeing a person who feels that they really did wrong by you. They feel like they've failed you. They're really not proud of it, and they're thinking about the situation a lot. They may be withdrawing their energy from you/distant from you, but it's because they're embarrassed and think you want nothing to do with them (and that might be true). I'm picking up on a looot of embarrassment, a lot of shame over a bad decision they made. They may have been deceptive about something too. Once again, much like the previous pile, I think if this is your group you'll know about it, you likely know who this is & it does feel fairly recent. For some it's more recent than for others- no more than 5 years ago likely. This person is reaaaally in their feelings about it and so deeply ashamed of themselves. Whatever they did to you, feels to them like a 'fall from grace', like even they thought better of themselves. It's like they wish they could give to you, somehow make things right but they know there's nothing they could do that could make it right.

They see you as very strong and feel it isn't fair that you're baring the burden of whatever it is they've done. I'm not sure they'll admit it or not because again, the sense of embarrassment is extreme, but they are really looking at you and acknowledging that you are 'the better person' and deserved so much more. I think they want to say they're sorry, but they're kinda feeling like words aren't' enough to fix it and they've already shown their character to you so you won't care. Yikes, I'm in this person's energy and it's extremely intense, I feel nauseous... the emotions run deep. They really do care about you, but that doesn't make anything they did to you okay. They are so embarrassed and mad at themselves. I can't specify what this person did because it'd be different for everyone & once again, I think if this message is meant for you you'll know. Whatever they've done completely uprooted a foundation, maybe there was a sense of trust together or loyalty and it's just been totally destroyed. This one might be very specific, but I almost feel like whatever they've done has made them a social pariah or would if it was known to the public.

It definitely feels like you have moved on, it still weighs on your heart but you are very strong and focusing on yourself. The message here is basically that this person is feeling very ashamed of themselves and contemplating their actions, while you''re going on with your life and being the 'bigger person'. Whoever picked this group, if someone has hurt you or wronged you in the past and you've been wondering if they feel any remorse about it, this is a sign that they absolutely do- but I don't feel this means you should reach out to them or go back to them. Again, it does feel fairly fresh and recent.

Just know that you are doing the right thing, you are in a much better place than they are, and this is a huge lesson for them. Keep your head up high and let them feel this shame on their own. For some of you guys it feels like you have a whole new life since this person. Keep doing what you're doing, and I'm hearing 'don't look back'... don't feel bad that this person feels bad. Whatever happened was this person's own karmic lesson. Some of you may be needing to hear this because you may blame yourself for what happened or what this person did to you. Know that what you went through is a testament to your own strength 💟

woo.. that was intense...

Group 3 ~ 8 of Pentacles, Knight of Cups, 8 of Swords

channelled messages~

'please don't make me look like a fool'

'going in blind'

'i feel silly around you'

Okay, group 3 is slightly more lighthearted which is nice. There is somebody- if there is a specific person you asked about, it's likely them- who is attracted to you. It's a very romantic energy, like they're literally looking at clouds or the moon and daydreaming about you. It's very sweet. I also see them studying you- but the catch is, they are sooo nervous. It's funny, it's like they're so nervous to the point that they're kinda pissed off both at themselves and at you. Like they're mad that your presence destabilises them so much. They feel very judged by you even though they like you, but in reality it's all in their head? They do want to make a romantic gesture towards you, but they're holding back/staying quiet about it because they're extremelyyy afraid of rejection. Like they're scared to death. I almost feel as though they're getting panic attacks over it ;(

Some of them are acting like they're not interested in you or being snarky with you because they feel so nervous. I think this person has deep insecurities/worries in part because they're placing a lot of value on whether this works out or not. Like this person is in their heads envisioning a whole future with you. It's as though they have almost like a whole meticulous movie in their head.

I do feel like if you were to get into a relationship with this person, it would be really nice at first, but their insecurity issues would play up a lot. I'm sensing a person who doesn't necessarily intend to hurt others, but when they're feeling insecure or embarrassed, they'll hurt someone else or try to make you feel bad to deflect their own feelings. The energy is reminding me of an ex I had- not to make it about myself but just to illustrate the energy I'm getting, here's a storytime~

he took me to the skatepark and he was about to show me all his ~skater trickz~ and impress me, but I think he hadn't done it in a while or something so his skills were rusty, and he started getting really flustered and embarrassed. Suddenly he was trying to pressure me to use the scooter we brought along, and I was like oh no thankyou, I don't feel like that'll end well- but he kept pushing me to do it. I ended up falling over and grazing my knee really badly, and he just laughed at me and kept walking ahead lmao. It was like he was very embarrassed because his plan to initially impress me backfired, so he wanted to make me feel bad too??

Anyway, I don't feel like this person is intentionally malicious but yeah, they definitely have a crush on you and are nervouss. This could just be a warning that maybe at this stage they have some work to do on themselves.

I feel like you are aware of this person. The message is kinda to just sit back, and be in that state of awareness for now. 💟

Group 4 ~ High Priestess, The Star & the 6 of Cups

channelled messages~

'divine timing'

'you will meet again'

'this is more important than you realise'

Ooh- Group 4, one thing I'll say is I'm personally not sure where I stand on soulmates and that type of thing (I believe in them, but I think I'd need to go within and meditate on it a bit to figure out what feels like the 'truth') but this really feels like a soulmate connection. I'm trying to discern the message here, but first and foremost this spread is highlighting a veryy significant connection. If you've been wondering if somebody is your soulmate, or exceptionally spiritually connected to you, or something like that, this is a sign that they are.

I feel like with this connection, you are already aware that it is significant. You may be wondering why this connection feels so intense. This might go over the heads of some/be a bit 'woo', but I do feel like this spread is alluding to someone you have a past life connection to/is in your soul group hence why it feels so strong. I'm not necessarily getting that you're 'meant to be together' or anything like that, because sometimes we do have strong, electric connections with people but aren't necessarily meant to partner up. There is just undoubtedly a very strong spiritual component to this connection that is being highlighted/confirmed to you. If you no longer have contact with this person and often find yourself thinking of them, I do feel this reading is divulging that you will very likely cross paths again with this person some day.

However, I feel like this reading is intended to give you closure more than anything. Whoever this is for, spirit has been seeing you almost be stuck on this person or very mesmerised by their energy (I'm seeing like a black cat in the night staring at something other people can't see and awestruck, like it's seeing a ghost). Spirit wants you to have this information so that you can essentially, move on with your life and focus on your goals a bit better.

You may find this person ends up in your dreams often and all of that kind of thing. You're attracted to them, but beyond that you're genuinely confused about why they keep popping up in your mind/why this feels so heavily significant. This spiritual connection is felt between both of you.

I also feel like this person and the effect they've had on you, is meant to be a catalyst for something else.

In time all of it will come together & make more sense to you, but for now just keep focusing on your goals rather than being transfixed by this connection.

I also feel like outside of this person, trust in divine timing and know that there are some things you should simply leave to the universe rather than trying to understand everything. Hindsight is 20/20 & you'll have it eventually! Enjoy life & focus on your passions now rather than trying to understand it all at once 💟

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

In which I cling to the last vestiges of two of my favorite shows of the year, write a eulogy for one of the most disappointing, and rejoice over the entry of a new fav. These shows are available for weekly streaming on Gaga unless otherwise noted.

Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

Farewell to a wonderful show. @isaksbestpillow has posted all seven episodes as of last week, so if you've been waiting for a binge, now is your chance. I already said a lot about why I loved this one, so I'll just use this space to urge you again to watch! This show is a goddamn delight.

Takara's Treasure

The main narrative ended last week, but this week we got a sweet little epilogue and one more visit with Takara and Taishin. I enjoyed the brief glimpse into their near future and getting to see Taishin turn 20 with his very first fuzzy navel, though I was a bit sad we got a repeat of the finale's themes rather than treading new ground for their relationship (I could not have cared less about the fujoshi writing RPF). This was a lovely show and I will miss these characters.

Happy of the End

CWs: Assault, child abandonment, child molestation, childhood sexual slavery, dubcon (including between the main characters), human trafficking, rape, sexual coercion and exploitation, suicidal ideation/possible attempt, unsafe S&M practices, violence

A very rough week for this show in terms of the content--please mind the triggers above because these are explicit depictions and it can be hard to stomach. I am waiting to see where this show is going with its themes before I make a final judgment, but watching the fourth episode in particular, some parts felt like crossing the line into gratuitous trauma porn that provided little additional illumination. We'll see how it shakes out in the end, but please take care with this one. I continue to find the characters and relationship dynamics compelling, and I am invested in Haoren and Chihiro's attempt to have a relationship despite the metric ton of baggage they are shouldering between them. Neither is equipped to even have any idea what a healthy relationship looks like, but they see something in each other and they want to try. That tiny bit of hopeful but likely doomed thinking may be all we have to cling to in this story.

I Hear the Sunspot

Sigh. I am sad about what this show could have been. For me, the finale definitely did not succeed at sticking the landing and making the last six weeks of wheel spinning feel worth it, and this show is going down as one of the big disappointments of the year for me. As you know if you've been keeping up with this weekly post, I loved the first half of this show, and Taichi's original characterization, so much. And I don't understand what happened here. The second half has felt like a completely different, confused, demonstrably worse show. Taichi hasn't felt like himself in weeks, the plots with Maya and the job at Sign were poorly grounded, inconsistently executed, and offered little pay off either thematically or in terms of character development, and the romance writing was a complete failure. It was actually painful to see Kohei run after Taichi and confess to him again, and the directing and editing of that sequence was so muddled that I had no idea what I was supposed to understand about Taichi's emotional journey or why this was the moment he was suddenly able to reciprocate. After all that brooding and his big speech about communication, he did not communicate much of anything to Kohei in the end. And I'm supposed to be content with leaving them here? Deeply unsatisfying on just about every level.

I understand from @twig-tea that while the story followed the beats of the manga's first two volumes at a high level, this production chose to remove many of the contextual details that actually made sense of the characters' behavior. It also seems they didn't understand they were setting up character arcs that did not get resolved until a later volume the show will not cover, thus ensuring the story would end at the wrong place. Just a baffling set of adaptation choices, and so much wasted potential. It's a shame.

Love is Like a Poison

But at least we have a new favorite coming in hot a week sooner than expected! I absolutely loved this first episode, in which we meet Shiba, our cold-hearted lawyer with delusions of grandeur and a sexually charged fixation on his house plants, and Haruto, our flirty scammer who has his number. This show is really well written and packed a ton of story, comedy, and deep characterization into its first episode. It's a promising start! For now it’s only available grey outside of Japan; I am hoping it will get picked up for proper international distribution soon.

Tagging @bengiyo to add this week's anime update.

[summeridols]

How to make icons like these:

Flags: Idol system, Bubblegender, Musicstar

Warning: This tutorial relies on the idea that you have some understanding of how to use photoediting software like photoshop, however if something that doesn't make sense then feel free to ask and I will explain it as best as I can.

All the icons we made for this can be found here! Thank you for reading, please consider reblogging this post and the icons because this took forever to write up and the icons take a LONG time to make.

In this tutorial I will make DID/OSDD Aoi Miyake icons.

Anyway let's get into it!

Step one, choose what you're going to make (and gathering resources)

This may seem obvious, but going in with a plan makes these so much easier.

In this stage we consider three things:

The flag and/or colors we want to use in the icon, this is important as it can affect the images used or even the character depending on how similar their colors are

Character and the general colors associated with them, this is important as it can makes the filtering stage easier (or harder) and can make an icon look 'wrong' or 'right' sadly

The border of the icon and how that will affect the icon itself, sometimes they're easy to work with, others not so much. Our method differs from a lot of other peoples so we take more time with them than most others

In this case I will be making DID icons of Aoi Miyake from D4DJ, however due to how most of her cards have a blue tint I will be using the plural peafowl flag by m0dem0n than the original DID flag- This is to save time and make th icons look more harmonious.

We will also be using this mask by i'mjustchillinghere as the icon base

Step two, coloring the middle image (optional step)

This is a lot of guess work and everyone has a different process for this. Essentially we're going to make a PSD that makes the image look better with the colors of the flag.

As shown above we have the flag and the character image, but they don't match completely. The rose and other blue accents are too saturated compared to the flag and the black is too black and the wrong blue hue, the eye could also be a bit greener and saturated imo.

What I like to do is open the image with the flag behind or infront, so I can see the colors I'm working with.

Then I open the hue editor layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue and Saturation). It's very important to clip the hue layer to the image so it doesn't start messing with the colors of the flag (we've had this happen many times before it's very awkward trying to match a color that keeps changing) to clip right click 'Clipping Mask'.

Your screen should then look like this:

Okay so if you need to adjust the screen to get the icon in the center so you can see everything do this now.

Next where the box with the hue options says master, click it.

These are all the color options you can change, in this we'll mostly be using, yellow, green and blue. For other projects blue and cyan sometimes get 'mixed up' and can control both shades so be careful with that.

Other color settings we personally use are: Vibrance and Selective Color (both are located under the Layer option), but in this case I'm happy to just use Hue and Vibrance.

This is what the icons look like:

No color editing | Just Hue and Saturation | Hue and Saturation + Vibrance

Now your middle icon is ready turn off the background layer and save the image as a transparent png!

Step three, preparing the mask for use

So the mask is the base of your icon, however if you clip all aspects of your icon to the mask it looks like this and you can't see the flag.

So what you need to do is layer the mask. This will vary in difficulty, it can depend on how far apart the pieces of the mask are and how they interlink. You could erase the border parts but that takes a lot of time.

This icon is simple because to me there's three clear sections, the middle part, the border and the rose. What you need to do is copy the layer three times and get the wand- I would reccomend having the wand strengh over 100 or else black lines may remain, but this will depend on how close the black parts are.

Hide the top two layers and work from the bottom up. Select all the areas you want to delete, in this case I can only delete the rose (the border is too close to the middle part and would delete that as well) and then hit delete.

In this case, I will just erase the border by hand, and then BOOM, you have a base!

Hide this layer and move to the next, for this one I'm removing the middle and the rose.

For the next layer you can select what's in the layer below and delete it without it impacting the border, which makes the icon process easier, however in this case I'm going to give out the border layers for you here!

Step four, using the mask

NOW you can clip the flag to the layers! We always clip it to the base and border layer.

As for the rose... We make a seperate layer and clip it to those rose. Then (using the eye dropper tool) pick colors from the flag to use to color it in! As shown:

Next step is to add the image you colored!

Go to File > Open and Place and then choose the PNG from your gallery and place it in the icon. Once it's there fiddle around with it until you get the image you want and then BOOM!

Now you have a singlar icon!

Feel free to repeat this as many times as you want and make as many icons as you want.

-

All the icons we made for this can be found here! Thank you for reading, once again please consider reblogging this post and the icons because this took forever to write up and the icons take a LONG time to make.

[therentyoupay]

Hi Kris! I just wanted to say that after reading chapter 7 you and Callie have left me in utter SHAMBLES and AWE with how devastatingly gorgeous the pictures you can paint with literature are. I’m desperately excited to see how you two will be continuing the story although I do have a question that I’m unsure if you’ve answered before. After this broadway oscar winning fanfic has been completed are you and Callie thinking of possibly doing more collaborations or simply just yourself doing more collaborations with other artists and bringing more delicious stories to life?👀👀💞💞

thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely message in my askbox, for saying SUCH NICE AND LOVELY THINGS, and for sharing with us the impact this story has had on you!! 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 calli and i have been working so hard on this project for two months, and it really means a lot to hear how much you're enjoying it. 💕💕💕

future kriscallicollabs??? we haven't answered this question before, and it's a lovely question!! currently, calli and i are 1000% focused on finishing more than you know and getting part ii of the jelsa video ready to post (SO MANY GIFS), so we haven't actively started planning any other collabs! however, when this idea was first planted back in the summer of 2023 or whatever, we braindumped SEVERAL ideas into the original majestic KrisCalliCollab google doc... (more than you know was actually only one of several ideas! 🤣)

there's a jelsa!wildward collab that we really wanted to do but didn't have time to do fully, so we made a bunch of LORE, and i made a baby fic, and some edits: one of our other ideas that we really wanted to do was a jelsa!prequel to her wildward series and establish some lore for the first aegis users! we definitely did not have time to create a full-fledged fic, but LORE WAS HAD (pages and pages on the google doc), and in the end, i made two edits and wrote a little micro-fic for it! in the time of the first keeper... maybe one day we'll expand? 🤣

when?? oof, not anytime soon, because life is upon us 🤣🤣🤣 BUT, calli and i are creative counterparts for life (TWIN FLAMES), so who's to say??? maybe sometime within the next five years?? FIFTY YEARS?? to be determined, but i do not doubt that it shall happen eventually! calli has also been pushing for a zelda/link!jelsa AU for ages and i have not forgotten 🤣🤣 in the meantime, we'll just keep supporting and devouring each other's other projects!!

(also, not sure how many people know this, but i beta-read for wildward! i have been beta-ing the series since its early chapters!!)

other collabs? i've been super lucky to be able to collab with @knightsquall (my name twin) for our kris/xris edit+fic soulmate!AU creation, not in so many words! we made it for the prompt: “the first words your soulmate will say to you will appear as a tattoo on your body at a certain age.” that two-shot is still one of my favorites. 🥹🥹🥹🥹

i haven't done any other collabs, though!! i feel like both collabs just happened organically because i was already friends with both xris and calli before we actually started working on our projects! collabs definitely require a lot of trust, for me, and so while it's possible that other future collabs might happen, i'm not actively seeking any out. 💕💕💕 there are SO MANY TALENTED fanartists out here!! so it's definitely not for lack of good company, haha, but rather just that i'd already gotten to know both people really well, so doing a collab was just, like, the natural thing to do, once we had time for it. 🤣 fic fanart? i am, however, so so so fortunate that so many fanartists have been inspired by my stories 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 i am really lucky and grateful to have been gifted so many gorgeous fanarts, fanvideos/AMVs, gifs, and doujinshi comics across multiple fics and fandoms.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💕💕💕 you can find (most of) them here, or on my tumblr tag (therentyoupay fic fanart) but BE WARNED, there are massive spoilers. 🙏🙏🙏🙏 proceed with caution, haha! i also desperately need to update the fic fanart page with all the new mtyk art, too!

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🙏🙏🙏🙏 thank you so much for this ask!!! we hope you enjoy the final installments of more than you know and part ii of the jelsa video!! 🥹🥹🥹 thank you!!! 😭💕💕

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition) 2x8

So this post is gonna have some casting and location spoilers about s3, as well as book spoilers through book 14: a memory of light.

Thoughts about Egwene as the modern-age counterpart to Lanfear really get into spoiler territory because I think a large part of it is going to come out in Egwene's reaction to Rand moving on from their relationship vs Lanfear's reaction. Lanfear could never get over Lews Therin, but Egwene is going to move on and seek new paths and new relationships of her own. We will probably even (my guess) have Egwene be the one to initiate the 'final breakup' at the start of s3, just like she initiated the breakup in 1x1. I am definitely intrigued by the angle that they'll use for the breakup in s3. Maybe being able to protect Rand here in this episode is going to heal the part of Egwene that has been feeling so guilty over not being able/allowed to protect Rand in 1x8 and she might also then have some anger/frustration that Rand made choices that made it impossible for her to help him. And she wants a partner who isn't going to make choices like that on her behalf.

That they tied in Egwene's striving so hard at the White Tower in with her wanting to protect the people that she cares about also makes it easier for her not to go back to the White Tower next season (as I suspect that she will not; though we'll see - but I suspect that we'll get the arrival in the Waste in ep2 or maybe even the end of ep1). Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne have all seen that there is a bigger fight that needs them right now and going back to train at the White Tower might well be at the bottom of their priority list, even before they hear from Moiraine about what happened in Cairhien.

2. I also feel like the Ishamael-Mat comparison is kinda foreshadowing the Mat-All the Forsaken Who Are Jealous of LTT comparison that we get in a lot of the middle/late books, which we may still get when Sammael and potentially Demandred come into play. Unlike the Forsaken with LTT, Mat is not envious of Rand's high status and title. He doesn't mind being 'in Rand's shadow' and is baffled when Melindhra keeps trying to push him out of said shadow and into seizing the spotlight. He doesn't want it!

Hmm, Forsaken round-up/confirmations. Obviously, we have Lanfear and we had Ishamael. Lanfear will continue to be a presence in s2, I'm currently assuming.

Confirmed:

Moghedien - likely going to be involved in Nynaeve's plotlines, for the most part, I'm guessing. I think she may also take over at least part of Mesaana's plotline. Since all five of the ta'veren are acknowledged as important by the Shadow, she'll even be acting within orders to get obsessed with Nynaeve!

Sammael - Illian is in the picture; I'm guessing we'll get some strong Mat-Sammael compare/contrasts once he's 'on stage'. I'm wondering if Mat will actually be allowed to finish out the Illian plan in the show instead of being yanked away prematurely, and only going to Ebou Dar afterwards? I'm not sure how much we need Mat-in-Salidar in the show. Too soon to really speculate. If we have Sammael... I'm not sure if we get Demandred. They kinda fill the same 'niche' in the Forsaken ecosystem.

Graendal - she just needs to handle chaos somewhere; it doesn't have to be Arad Doman. I think @markantonys suggested the idea of her being the Forsaken who takes over Caemlyn, which is interesting! Both Rahvin and Graendal are big into Compulsion. Not having Rahvin does potentially mean that we don't get Rand balefiring him in order to bring back Aviendha & Mat (and briefly Asmodean, lol), which would be tough to lose. Though they could put that in somewhere else, against a different Forsaken. If they are keeping Rahvin, then Graendal might end up being the Forsaken that gets attached to bothering Perrin, narratively.

Almost certain:

Asmodean - training Rand. I'm hoping he lasts longer in the show than in the books, lol.

Semirhage - taking over Ishamael's place with influencing the Seanchan. But we won't get introduced to her until Tuon also arrives, I'm guessing.

Ishamael died here, so that does imply to me that we're going to get Moridin. I would guess in s5 or s6, to give the rest of the Forsaken time to play on the board for a long while.

Maybe:

The last spot is, for me, a competition between Demandred and Rahvin.

If Demandred - I'm hoping that the show does Taimandred. We haven't seen Taim on-screen, so there's plenty of time for Demandred to kill him and take his place. Taim essentially behaves obsessively jealous over Rand's status in the exact same way as Demandred, just with even worse vibes, lol. They can be combined.

otoh, they already have one of the 'incredibly jealous of LTT' Forsaken lined up for the show, so they might want to bring in another who doesn't really care much about LTT, and do Rahvin instead.

If Rahvin - then he'll go to Caemlyn, but I suspect he wouldn't go there until after Elaida & co have all left the city. Keeping Rahvin in would mean that we would probably be getting Rand balefiring him in order to bring back Mat, Aviendha, & Asmodean.

We do have a pretty healthy variety of motivations among the Forsaken that are lined up for the show, I think. In the books, Semirhage had an alliance with... Demandred and Mesaana, I think, but Mesaana is definitely out and Demandred might be as well, so she might be flying solo.

3. I really love the implication in this scene that Rand is going to potentially design the Asha'man uniforms based on what he was having the male Aes Sedai (including himself) wear during the War of Power.

4. Now that I'm rewatching, I wonder if we're gonna get Rand being treated as a political leader in Falme at the start of s3! Since it may be echoing how Tear was used in the books, as a fulfillment of prophecy.

I love my idea about Caemlyn subbing in for Tear, but Falme really does work for most of that. Maybe something more like... ep1: Falme; ep2: the first split, where Elayne and Nynaeve head off to try to hunt down... idk something, and the rest of the group heads east, ending up in Caemlyn where they meet Gawyn, Galad, & Elaida, ep3: the waste/rhuidean, ep4: tower coup, ep5: alcair dal & capturing asmodean; ep6: battle of two rivers; ep7: nynaeve vs moghedien; ep8: battle of cairhien & the door incident

5. The people of Falme getting saved by Rand in this way also leaves them open to the influence of Masema, who definitely looked like he was Finding Religion at the end of the episode. So Falme may end up being the headquarters of the Prophet of the Dragon. That storyline kinda dragged on in the books in a very annoying way but the bones of it are genuinely fascinating and I think there's a lot that the show could do with it. Because there are two main threads of people who are dangerous due to the Dragon arriving specifically -- there are the people who will hate and fear him but there are also the Dragonsworn who believe that his arrival has broken all previous ties and take it too far due to religious zealotry.

6. Lanfear's full plan, from what I can piece out and with some speculation:

a. Write out a prophecy in blood on the moondial and sell the shattered pieces to Doman, knowing that Moiraine is a likely buyer. She may have done other things to arrange said purchase as well. What I love about this is that it means that she was poking at Ishamael when she asked why he hadn't killed Moiraine, even as she was figuring out how to use Moiraine for her own purposes.

b. Set up an inn in Cairhien and arrange for Rand to stay there. Figure out a way into a relationship with him by taking advantage of his vulnerability. I'm even wondering if all of Rand's bad dreams this season have actually been Lanfear and not Ishamael. I'm pretty sure that the one in 2x6 featured a fake Ishy.

c. I think that Verin & Tomas have potentially been under Lanfear's orders for most/all of the season, given that Lanfear has been invested in Moiraine. And Lanfear being invested in Moiraine makes it... more likely that Selene being a Moiraine cosplay was 100% intentional on her part which is... fascinating. A fascinating look into Lanfear's psychology. I mean, she really did cultivate a very sugar mommy dynamic with Rand.

d. Get most of the pieces in motion... and then her plans get screwed when Barthanes's mom tells Moiraine where Rand went, and Lanfear gets stabbed and temporarily loses her boy. But it's okay! She can adjust her plans! (Theory: I think this is why she had Liandrin talk to Barthanes; she figured out what happened and wanted to punish the Damodred family for ruining her plans -- there really wasn't any actual way for Barthanes to even get to Moiraine to kill her, so that wasn't the real plan; I think it was petty revenge on Lanfear's part)

e. So, Rand goes to sleep and she's able to start working on him. She gets him to agree to go to Falme! Yes! She's so close to her Happy Ending with Lews Therin Telamon Rand al'Thor!

...and then Rand gets captured by the Amyrlin Seat of these new Aes Sedai and Lanfear needs to break her future devoted husband Rand out of jail, ugh, he asks so much of her. (secretly, she wishes he would ask more)

f. So, jailbreak time! With a brief pause to ship Mat Cauthon to Falme. With Lanfear maybe suspecting that Ishamael is wrong about Mat and that things aren't going to go how he expects. She uses Verin to make sure that Moiraine & co are going to go to the Waygate, because she's figured out exactly where she plans to dump Moiraine so that she can play her part of the plan.

There is also some speculation that Maksim may be a darkfriend as well. If he is, then he was also used as a pawn by Lanfear to get another Aes Sedai to help with the plan.

Lanfear also takes this opportunity to further poison the White Tower against Rand, by having his escape tied to a Forsaken rampage on the Foregate.

g. Lanfear has complete faith that Lews Therin Rand is going to successfully take care of Ishamael! That's her man! He can do anything! She just needs to clear the way for him and get him in the right place at the right time, and he'll do the rest. She even makes sure to deliver the Horn of Valere to some of his friends! He's got this in the bag!

h. ...then she makes the mistake of stopping in to say 'hi' to Ishamael and gloat about Rand being in Falme, tipping her hand and causing Ishamael's decision to release the rest of the Forsaken. Oops.

i. Well, Rand has been proclaimed the Dragon (yay!) but now the rest of the Forsaken are free and she's been told she needs to stay away from him (boo!).

j. ...time to come up with a new plan.

6. "I know who kills him. And what he uses to do it."

The wild thing here is that, iirc, it's his unhealable wound that kills Rand's body at the Last Battle, right? Which would mean Min's interpretation of her viewing was absolutely correct -- Mat DOES 'kill' Rand in this episode. It just takes a while before the death actually takes effect. So one of my theories -- that Mat was taking the place of Alivia in being the one who 'helps' Rand die -- that I dismissed because we're way too soon for that... is kinda true?

7. I have to admit, it confuses me when I still see people arguing that Mat is going to need to go to the White Tower to get healed from the dagger. The show made it very clear that he was Not Touching the dagger. His entire plan centered around using the dagger without touching it. And Mat has already spent a lot of time in the White Tower and worked his hardest to try to escape -- why would he go back? Plus, the people making these arguments already know that we're doing book 4 next season. Mat doesn't go anywhere near the White Tower in book 4. And his WT stuff hits some 'rule of cool' buttons but it's not... narratively important (especially if Rahvin didn't make the cut).

Going to Rhuidean and getting his medallion is key to Mat's future developments. And the show has put so much work into his relationship with Rand, so it just seems likely that they would want to build on that in s3 rather than abandoning it so that Mat can doink around the countryside with a variety of companions (it's so bizarre for me to see people prioritizing Mat's book 3 plotline over "Mat enters an alternate dimension to get a special medallion and special weapon that are key to his narrative" - but it's probably the same people who spend, like, ten books hating on the Wondergirls for not being grateful enough to Mat at the Stone of Tear).

8. I do think that we're going to skip Lan's bond having a stop-over at anyone else and have him go straight from Moiraine to Nynaeve. I feel like this stressful period here between the two of them in s2 was standing in for a lot of the tensions that they faced in the books (and that broke them apart in the books) but in the show they are now both on the same page -- they're both committed to "protecting Rand, guiding him" and we know that Moiraine approves of Nynaeve (and that LAN knows that she does) from the end of s1.

They may have some friction next season over the best way to help Rand, potentially, as Rand may be frustrated with Moiraine proclaiming him as the Dragon without his permission, but I don't think it'll get as bad as it does in the books (especially since I kinda feel like we might be 'losing' Moiraine at the end of the season).

9. The fact that we did not see Turak's room of curiosities makes me even MORE curious about whether or not a certain redstone doorway is there. That we ended the episode at the climax of the battle rather than getting any downtime after makes me feel like we are going to have at least one episode at the start of s3 where everyone is together so that we can establish the new group dynamics. That could take place in Caemlyn, like I've speculated, or it could take place here in Falme. They also might have left it open because they weren't sure if they could get this location back for s3 filming, so didn't want to commit to where the doorway might be located.

Given what Rafe & co have said about s3 being a 'closer adaptation' of bk4, I am leaning towards us getting a lot of those early 'book Tear' elements in whatever city we open with next season.

10. I suspect that we may get an Ingtar-ish storyline with a different character in the future. In the books, it is a cool moment, but it's cool because we had time to build up Ingtar's relationship with Rand and Rand was able to offer him a kind of absolution. If we hadn't needed to recast Mat and then restructure the entire s2 plotline, then maybe we would have had that kind of time, but that's the realities of working in television, especially in this, our time of Covid.

We've had a lot of complex Darkfriends on the show so far (while in the books, we only really get Ingtar and... Asmodean, I guess? Literally can't think of any others, lol) and so we might see this plotline pop up again once we have the time to spend with one of our mains bonding with a character who ends up being a Darkfriend.

Potential candidates: Lanfear ("Light help you, Rand al'Thor" - calls upon the Light to give him aid?), Asmodean, Liandrin (via her relationship with Nynaeve)

11. "Lanfear, Lews Therin, and Ishamael were inseparable before the War of Power" kinda implies to me that... Lews didn't meet Ilyena until after the War of Power had begun? I really am curious about what they're planning to do re: Ilyena. She was LTT's main focus in the books, but hasn't even been mentioned by name yet in the show. I mean, in the books, she was one of the classic Fridged Wives ever tbh, so I certainly don't mind some adjustments, but I am VERY curious. And with what the precise timeline of it was, in this version of the story.

12. I'm thrilled that Seta and Renna were killed off, tbh. I'm hoping it means that the second circus plotline is just as dead as they are. It was... genuinely one of the Worst Times that I ever had reading any PoVs in the entire series. But Egwene wanted to kill Renna in the books too! She only didn't because Nynaeve stopped her! And Nynaeve's not here. So all that felt pretty in-line with the book characterization.

And it gives Egwene a big moment here, which is good because... honestly, she doesn't do that much in TSR that I can think of? She... trains, mostly, lol. She doesn't get any huge moments like this, as far as I can recall. That is maybe the one reason that I can think of for sending the Wondergirls back to the White Tower, to give Egwene the Big Moment of her Accepted test. But Egwene's next big thing is really becoming Amyrlin, from what I remember. Am I forgetting some stuff from TSR or TFoH?

Rand has Rhuidean and becoming Car'a'carn

Nynaeve has Moghedien (and maybe Egeanin, if they do that plotline - they might have the Seanchan take next season or two off to 'regroup')

Mat has Rhuidean and visiting the foxes

Perrin has the battle of the Two Rivers

But Elayne is mostly Nynaeve's sidekick in Tanchico, from what I remember, and Egwene is mostly just tagging along with the Wise Ones and training. They can get some cool stuff out of her learning to be a Dreamer but there isn't really a 'climatic moment' in that in TSR or TFoH that I can think of.

(I wonder if the Birgitte bonding might happen next season? because they'll want to show Moghedien's threat level and what she does to Birgitte is a pretty good show of force)

13. Talking about how the Mat & Rand relationship is more complex than Mat & Perrin's -- this is very true to the books, of course, (until Perrin became Everyone's Closest Friend in ToM/AMoL) but it also feeds into Mat being a part of Rand's storylines next season (and probably all/most of s4) while Perrin goes back to the Two Rivers for most of s3. Mat and Rand's relationship is going to be more relevant, so it makes sense to load it up with more tension and more complexity. And given how close they've made Mat and Rand, I suspect that their storylines may dovetail even more in the show than they did in the books (and they already did a LOT in the books). And they might even continue to TALK about all the trauma that they have in common instead of being right next to each other and never having a conversation about it.

14. Mat being Rand's only hope being connected to the Horn and connected to the unhealing wound that will eventually kill him in Shayol Ghul... they really have twined Mat and Rand's narratives more tightly than the books did, which is delightful (especially with Mat being a Hero of the Horn in this version of the story, which means that Mat and Rand hang out together in TAR between incarnations).

It does make me very curious if Olver is going to exist in this version, since Mat is now not just tied to the Horn by ta'veren coincidence but by his own nature. Olver is kinda an easy character to cut, since he only ever does two things: a. gets Mat trapped in Ebou Dar so that he can get locked into his fate & b. blows the Horn in the Last Battle. If they're doing something different with Mat & Tuon, then Olver might not be needed for the first thing. And there's no reason for Mat not to blow the Horn himself in the Last Battle.

Narratively, because they HAVE been winding Mat and Rand's stories more tightly together, it would be pretty unsatisfying for Mat and Rand to separate in s4 (or s5?) and then literally never see each other again until they get a five-minute conversation in, like, ep 4 of season 8, so I suspect/hope that the show will find ways to let them reunite sooner than that. I mean, it was pretty damn unsatisfying in the books, let me tell you.

15. The show did such a good job setting up the Two Rivers storyline for next season, imo. I love that they put together Perrin's two "whitecloaks crimes" into the same issue and that Dain witnessed it first-hand instead of going after Perrin based on hearsay. I think we'll potentially see a real exploration of Perrin's guilt over Laila vs his inability to feel guilty about killing Bornhald next season. Plus adding Faile into the mix is likely going to make Perrin feel even guiltier (and I believe that Slayer is confirmed as well? It's gonna be busy in the Two Rivers for Perrin). I think we might get the 'trap' for Faile next season and it'll be what make Perrin realize that he has feelings for her but I don't think we're getting the quickie wedding. That feels WAY too fast.

16. It's hard to talk about Hopper's death without spoilers! Because this is very much not the end of Hopper's storyline. I'm expecting that Hopper is still going to be Perrin's teacher in the wolfdream, so we're probably going to see him just as much next season as we did this season, if not more. What a good actor in that dog, though, wow. Such a good start towards Perrin at the end. Hopper has been so delightful and I've loved what he's added to Perrin's storyline.

17. @markantonys did a really good post on the differences between why book!Mat thinks of himself 'not a hero' vs why show!Mat does, and I just want to link it here and co-sign. But that's really why this moment in the show, for Mat, works for me so well.

All of the characters, while they do have a core that comes from the books, are affected by the changes that the show has made. And Mat has been particular affected, because the realities of television impacted his character more than most due to the recasting, etc.

But even apart from that, Mat is different because he has gone through different experiences: he's known for over a year that one of them would be the Dragon so when he reunites with Rand, knowing that Rand's the Dragon, he's not going to have the same reaction that he did in the books because he has had time to adjust to the idea and it's not a nasty surprise.

Mat has a different relationship with heroism in the show because we lost our original Mat due to the shooting delays of Covid, and we had to leave Mat behind at the Waygate, meaning that he abandoned his friends out of fear. That profoundly changes his trajectory and means that a lot of work needed to be put into building his character back up again. Show!Mat NEEDS to be a Hero of the Horn in a way that book!Mat never did, because it provides external validation for him coming through the pain and loneliness and guilt and shame that he has been living in for the past few months.

18. After checking discussion on the subreddit, it is GENUINELY fascinating to me how many fans misremember book!Mat as getting his own past lives' memories rather than getting a mishmash of (mostly) war memories from the random people who visited the 'finn. I do think it's possible that this moment HAS been meant to replace that and Mat gets to use his own memories for all his general'ing needs, but it's also possible that these memories are going to fade after a while (and maybe that's the drive that makes Mat go to the 'finn, instead of asking for his memory-holes to be filled, he wants his past lives' memories back?). Mat does have some ancient memories that get triggered a couple of times in the early books (before Jordan was planning to send him to the 'finn, imo, and when Mat was going to be the one to go back to the Two Rivers) but those are not the same as the memories that the 'finn gave him.

19. We're also seeing a bit of LTT foreshadowing here, I think, in seeing how Mat remembering some of his past lives gives him access to fighting skills that he didn't have before. So when Rand starts pulling from LTT's memories, viewers can go back to this scene and connect the similarities.

20. Uno is Gaidal Cain! (from what Rafe has said in interviews) Good for him! I wonder if they're going to split up the 'dream conversations' next season and have Uno be the one who talks to Perrin and warns him about things, since they already have an emotional connection, while Brigitte is the one who runs across Egwene & the other Wondergirls (I absolutely do not remember the timeline of any of that, to be frank). I believe also, from what has been said, that this is not the final Birgitte actress, which is why they didn't focus on her much. Maybe we'll get Uno and Perrin hanging out in s3, and then Birgitte's storyline in s4?

21. I really am wondering how they plan to play out Rand's romantic situation in s3. There are still quite a few show-only viewers who are invested in Rand & Egwene as endgame, but also quite a few show-only viewers who clocked what a romantically-framed introduction that Rand and Elayne just had to each other. I don't want the show to rush Rand and Elayne's romance, so I'm still leaning towards them not starting anything next season, with the focus in the initial episode before they separate being on Rand and Egwene's breakup, and then Rand and Aviendha coming together over the course of s3 but... that really was a very disney-princess Romantic (TM) introduction shot, very "Eric meets Ariel" in The Little Mermaid (someone made the comparison using screenshots).

22. Did Suroth die? We don't actually see a body. This may be a situation where it was left ambiguous because they don't plan to have her in s3 and the actress might not be available when they do need their Seanchan antagonist again, so safest to leave her in a quantum state.

23. I am absolutely imagining the rest of the Forsaken watching Rand and Ishamael's encounter and then immediately fleeing once they see Rand take down Ishy, with Moghedien being voluntold to stay behind to talk to Lanfear.

24. Hmm, thinking about Masema. So Masema watches Ingtar get cut down by the Seanchan soldiers, he watches Perrin's friend Mat open the box to the Horn and then rush off to deliver it. And then he sees the dragon on the tower at the end. So he's seeing this huge difference between what a normal lord can do, and what was accomplished by the Dragon and his people. I'm not sure how in-depth we're going to be going with the Prophet of the Dragon storyline, but we definitely had seeds planted for it here.

25. We also seemed to have an interesting progression of who stands next to Rand, where, and when. Because first Rand is up alone on the ledge (while everyone has a group hug behind him), then we see Mat revealed to one side while Egwene steps up on the other. Then Nynaeve and Perrin join together, between Rand and Egwene. And in the final shot of them, we see that Elayne is standing between Mat and Rand.

I'm not going to put any particular meaning on any of that (at least at this time), just noting it.

It's a great shot.

26. I wonder if Ishy gave the others like, a short presentation on What This New Age Is Like.

That was such a good season of television! I'm really looking forward to what they're going to do with TSR, it's one of my very favorite of the books.

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #4 | 07.31.23

Ahá! What is this?! Ravenstar Games' fourth devlog?! More likely than you think!

Before we start, we want to apologize once again for the inactivity and thank you for your patience. Our master degree has ended as of today, but September 15th is the day on which we must hand in everything we have done during the year. That means that technically, we still have to work until then—BUT we are back on track with Lost in Limbo and our plans for the game, and we are beyond excited!

Without further ado, let's jump right into it! 💜

So of course our most important milestone has been finishing our first key art! Yaaay! 🎉

We'll use this piece as a header for our socials, as well as an overall banner for steam, itch.io, etc. Raquel did an amazing job as always with this piece, and I had the pleasure to assist her with a few details and post-editing! We are so so happy to finally have this in our hands, it has made us feel like FINALLY we can work on our game again! :')

There's also of course the Barbie artwork, which was in the making for a long, long time. It was a silly little thing we wanted to do since Barbie was announced, and Kayden worked super hard to finish it right on time!

<<The Midnight Tower. It was there before our kind took its first breath, and it will be there after the last one is long gone.>>

Not really a background, but not a CG either—let's say this is a small sneak-peak of the demo! This is one of the first things you'll see while playing, and a core part of LiL's adventure; the Midnight Tower, a mysterious entity that seems to be somehow connected to you.

I'm already working on animating this piece; the inky fragments will float around, the fog will move, and you'll be able to join this little raven on his journey to the top! Special thanks to Kayden who was in charge of this one!

You can also see the tower in our key art, if you haven't noticed. It's great to see how LiL's lore and story is evolving and seeing the light slowly but surely! 💜

This month we are happy to show you the provisional main title screen for Lost in Limbo!! 💜 As per usual, I will animate the stained glass wheel to make it spin (like the logo in our webpage, hehe), and the fog will dance around with some nice particles!

All the screens for the game are done and we are waiting for our UI artist to send the files over so we can start programming and do some screenshots. We would have liked to do this during May, June and July (the months we knew would be packed with school work) but this has not been possible as the files have not been sent over to us yet. We hope we can get them soon enough!

These past months have been a rollercoaster thanks to our master degree, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things have been mentally draining for us all because we wanted to work on our game, and there was always the fear of people "forgetting" about our project, (or worse, thinking we had suddenly vanished to never come back), but we had to focus on our grades.

When we started two years ago, we knew this would be difficult, but I think none of us expected the hardships to be this way. To avoid writing a wall of text, let's just say that when you create something, you want to protect it; you want people to see it bathed in the sunlight you see it under, and the fear of it being disappointing or not enough is something that has hit us hard recently because of our inability to work on it. BUT THAT'S OVER!

To end this on a happy note, we have to give our endless thanks not only to you all, for still being here ready to welcome us back, but specially to @crescencestudio (and I, Seyl, am incredibly grateful to them) for being one of our biggest supports during the past few months! We have been struggling besties and talking to them has been one of the few things keeping us sane. SO THANK YOU!!! 💜

[blues-sues]

@xhunterbeatsx

IM SORRY BUT. TUMBLR WOULDN'T LET ME EDIT MY POST SO I GOTTA DO IT THIS WAY

Anyway for Bambi, I decided to pair her with...

Farmer Newt! Who, for simplicity sake, we'll refer to as SB, short for Strawberry!

I really like Bagheera and Figaro, so I plan to keep them, but if hunter wants to keep Sabor and Dinah, they absolutely can!

Onto rambles;

Relationship between parents: I believe that honestly SB and Bambi would be ... An adorable pairing. Lots of playful compliments and I think they'd have very interesting conversations. SB would definitely welcome her with open arms if they ever met, and if any pranks were to be made, she'd find it delightful- so long as it didn't harm any of her crops or stress out her pokemon companions. I think she'd have a very strong affection towards Bambi and definitely asks her to help her with tasks around the farm... Disguising it as her needing assistance but reality is she wants her company.

Relationship with children:

SB; I feel like SB isn't quite sure how to feel about them at first. She probably didn't think it was possible at first, but now that she's seeing them- she absolutely gets emotional. I feel like she's a very gentle parent. Takes everything slowly, and definitely places talking the kids through things at the top of her priorities. She's only ever had a guardian figure via the lab, but she knows now how NOT to parent, because most of the workers sucked, so she vows not to be like them. I believe that Figaro and Dinah are definitely most clingy to both parents and they usually trail after her as she carries out tasks.

Bambi; oh Figaro LOVES her. He will be a nuisance anytime he can just to get her attention and they definitely set up pranks together. Sabor is a bit more hard to get close to, but I think he definitely finds his mom's mischievous attitude silly but tries to hide any giggles or laughs behind scoffs, making him look constantly annoyed. He's just not really sure how to express feelings and tries to be all tough but I'm sure Bambi can definitely see through that and knows when he finds what she's doing funny. Figaro and Sabor however are a chaotic duo, and bc they like Bambi a lot, they definitely are usually around eachother and Sabor is constantly being clung to by Figaro anytime he's around and just overall being harassed LMAO.

Bagheera is pretty neutral to both his parents. Doesn't have much a favorite. He's pretty quiet but you can see him trailing behind sometimes before he immediately hides... He's just a shy kiddo to literally everyone except maybe Dinah. I think they probably pick golden raspberries out in the fields together even when they're not supposed to be eating them.

Children Info:

Figaro, Male, he/him, jolly nature, somewhat of a clown.

Sabor, male, he/him, sassy nature, quick-tempered.

Bagheera, male, he/him, timid nature, quick to flee.

Dinah, female, she/her, naive nature, scatters things often.

Note: Hunter can make any changes with Dinah and Sabor if they choose to keep them! Also, fun fact; all are named after a fictional feline! Figaro is named after the cat from Pinocchio, Sabor is named after the leopard from Tarzan, Bagheera is named after the panther from The Jungle Book, and Dinah is named after the cat in Alice in Wonderland.

[angelosearch]

My little writing progress journal...

Well, today is my first day of class. And Chaos Theory isn't done. I missed the deadline. I spent so many hours writing in the last few weeks, and I still missed the deadline.

One issue is that the more I write, the more there is to write. There are little bits of the story that didn't interest me before that I want to follow the threads of. And, I think, to tie up the end effectively, I'm going to think more about how I will handle part 5. It was just supposed to be four chapters, including the epilogue, but there might be more to it than that.

I've also been stuck writing two very important and action-packed chapters. One might shake out to be 15k words, and I may post it as a spin-off one-shot instead. The other is basically a super long fight scene that I have a lot of cool ideas for. but guys. Figuring out the order of operations in an extended fight is hard. For the first time since I started CT, I wish I could go back to my undergrad and ask my writing professors how to handle this stuff. I know I can figure it out, but it's going to take some time.

And editing! I've been editing stuff like crazy, even the chapters that I was really happy with. I think I've sat with them too long haha.

Lastly, I really put my media blinders on to do all this writing, and so my well has run a little dry. I need to gather some more input to produce compelling output. I also had to step away from CT and write a one-shot for Squall's birthday.

So I posted Chapter 28. I have Chapter 29 written, but it needs to be edited (again). I will hopefully publish it on Friday, but we'll see. Chapter 30 is written and will probably need less editing than 29, but it ends on (maybe) the biggest cliffhanger of CT, so I will want to wait to post it until Chapter 31 is almost done (so the wait between chapters isn't too long).

Chapters 31/32 are a mess (and one of those might become a spin-off). After that, I have a plan for the rest, a few major scenes prepared, and most or all of the last chapter written, plus the epilogue. But I may end up with closer to 40 chapters total.

So... It is going to be hard, but I am determined to balance writing with school/my internship. I will not give up on this project, but updates will definitely slow. And don't be surprised if I write more one-shots and/or finish A Sorceress Awakens before I complete CT, because they will be probably be easier to write when I only have a little time.

As always, I will keep reporting my progress here. For those of you who are on the Chaos Theory train, thank you for reading and your patience and support! I hope you don't mind bearing with me while I take my time landing this plane.

Feel free to bully me in my ask box if I don't talk about CT for a while!! I am unfortunately prone to getting distracted when projects are close to done, but I am also a people pleaser and very responsive to stuff like that, haha.

[unorcadox]

UNORCADOX

howdy, i'm mabel! it's the 3 year anniversary of unorcadox today, so i've prepared a decent bit of surprises. (and yes that means i started this blog in 2020, which is terrifying to think about.) i'll go into those new things under the cut, but first... check out the carrd linked in the header text of this post :3c

sooo soo so so so where on earth do i begin. uhh honestly let me just break down the new stuff first since i can talk about that more easily.

THE NEW LOOK! ok so like truth be told, i've been a faceless blog on purpose up until now. it wasn't until this summer where i actually liked how i looked or had any solid sense of my own aesthetic or what i wanted to look like. it also made it easier to protect against dysphoria and transphobes in the same breath, as no one could ever comment on any aspect of my appearance, or even the mere suggestion i even had one to begin with! but that all changes now, i'm going to actually have a presence on this blog, as it is MY blog and tbh i'm tired of being so faceless on here. that's why i've been doing more asks and non-edit posts recently, and those will increase in frequency. check out the carrd for more info, my sona's ref, and art credits for assets on here <3

mondays -> MUSIC MONDAYS! so it might come as a shock i'm actually a musician in addition to making stuff on here! i've promoted my music a couple of times by now, but nothing all that substantial. sooo, considering that, i'm going to be replacing monday oc posts with a music post! just a link to a song on my bandcamp and a little description about it. i don't really care if these perform particularly well, but i want to give people a chance to actually hear it without having to deep dive through my entire internet history to get it. i also will be releasing more soon-- whether via compilations of older work or new stuff altogether :3

MORE IN THE FUTURE! i have a couple other ideas up my sleeve, we'll see how they pan out but i wanna keep trying new possibilities on here. i think at this point i've proven my consistency, and it's about time i let myself have a little fun and explore my options. these will be announced individually but probably added here over time as this is the new pinned post lol.

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

ok so anyways, i do wanna have the mandatory sappy segment because of course i do. i want to say a couple of things but i'll split them into bullet points again bc yeah i do that.

this year has been really good for me and the blog, in most ways it's been the straight up best year of my life uncontested. not everything has gone perfectly, i had other plans that fell through, but hey that's just how life goes huh. at one point, i was easily projected to hit 20k by the end of the year, and now i'll be happy if i hit 17k lol. tumblr has not been that kind to my blog's growth this year and it's making me consider other options in the future, but everything's so scary rn i don't wanna commit to anything.

as for the blog itself, i've kinda been in a weird spot with it for a while. i've been scraping by on here intermittently for the entire year on and off, and i might have some ways to help keep me on top of the ball during the next year, but i also do wonder how long i can really keep doing this, and how long people will still like weirdcore and my work in particular. i've been considering branching out in terms of my presentation, or format, or style, but i feel incredibly weird about doing so.

in my personal life, this is the year i finally started transitioning and seeking treatment for my most pressing issues. i've finally started dating the love of my life, my best friend of 10 years, and despite some interpersonal turmoil all around me, i think i'm finally finding safe ground and knowing what i wanna do next. i don't really talk about it on here because i'm very private about it, but i've been kinda slowly becoming like a Real Adult Person this year. i didn't really have much of a chance to prior and i still am struggling a lot, but hey i know what i want now!

it's really silly to say but this blog still means a lot to me! it's seen me through the craziest times in my entire life, it's brought me so much perspective and knowledge and opportunities i wouldn't've had otherwise. i wake up every day and go on here and never stop feeling starstruck that people chose to follow me. i know tumblr success means nothing but to me it's the only community i've ever actually belonged to, so thank you all.

ok so like i really just don't have much else to say anymore, so i think i'll end it there! thank you all again, i can't wait for year 4 as it's going to definitely be a crazy one lol. let's hope it's a good one too!

[natlovesls2]

What Was I Made For?

Bob Floyd x Reader

Note: This is based on my recent break up so it's a little personal. This is for all the girls who can’t accept the fact that they can (and deserve) to be loved. We all deserve to be loved and we deserve to be told that we're worth it. I'm so proud of everyone reading this because you're wonderful. Also, no use of y/n. I also didn't proofread this, so it might not make sense. I hope it's alright, but I might edit it another day. This is my first post, so this is scary.

Summary: You don't think you deserve Bob, which leads to your breakup. A look at your relationship and its downfall, as well as the struggle to be happy: and accept love.

Word count: 1.9k

Warnings: angst, bad writing, and grammar mistakes

I used to float, now I just fall down I used to know but I'm not sure now What I was made for What was I made for?

The memories of warm hugs and stolen kisses were just that, memories. Everything had felt so concrete and long-lasting. It's funny how a few bad days could take your whole away. The late-night talks of a shared house, kids, and dogs slowly lose their meaning. You'd lost all of yourself; nothing could stop your downward spiral. You had once wanted to have kids with him. There's no reason to deny that that thought had once made you feel warm and giddy. That was weeks ago, and now you weren't even sure if you wanted to live. The longer you loved him, the more you felt like a burden.

"We should get married," you laughed at Bob's sudden statement. "Not right now, but sometime in the future. We'll get a house together and have kids." He turned on his side to look at you, grabbing your hands and kissing them. 

  "We would have the most beautiful babies, all because of you, my love," he whispered, pulling you into a kiss. 

You had been so sure that your life would be one of domestic bliss. Two kids (a boy and a girl), a dog, and maybe a cat (if you could convince your future husband). Now that the plans meant nothing, you felt so lost. The fear of the future slowly drags you down to the bottom of a deep ravine. The weight of your guilt keeps you there, slowly drowning you with false promises that things will be fine. 

Takin' a drive, I was an ideal Looked so alive, turns out, I'm not real Just something you paid for What was I made for? 

The late-night drives back home after a date were always so magical. Something straight out of a movie with Taylor Swift's: Our Song blasting through the speakers of his truck. You both sang (more like screamed) the lyrics, occasionally turning to one another. At red lights, he would steal a few kisses as you pushed him away, urging him to pay attention to the road. You would always promise more kisses once you made it to your destination. 

  Bob had planned a book date to celebrate your love of reading. You had made your way to the children's section to look for an old childhood book. Now you both stood in the children's book section of Barnes and Noble, occasionally pulling out a book to flip through. "We should get this for our future baby," you said, pulling out a Winnie the Pooh book set to show to Bob. 

"That would be perfect," he responded, wrapping his arms around your waist, hugging you from behind, and resting his head on your shoulder. You spent the next hour browsing the bookshelves and picking books for your future children.

The bi-weekly dates turned into a once-a-week meeting. You found excuses to turn those into monthly dates. Slowly distancing yourself from your sweet and caring boyfriend. It was killing him. Knowing that you would rather lie to him about important family matters than see him for at least an hour. Kissing and holding him began to feel like an obligation. Your disgust with yourself plaguing you as he held you close. Your thoughts remind you that his words meant nothing compared to yours. Who cares if he thinks you're beautiful or worth something? No one else does. Your family surely doesn't think you're worth it. They had given up on you a long time ago. Sure, they hadn't said it to your face; but you felt it. You had wasted your life pursuing their dreams, and they still weren't proud of you. You tried so hard to please everyone in your life, and now you didn't even know yourself.

'Cause I, I I don't know how to feel But I wanna try I don't know how to feel But someday I might Someday I might

“I love you so much,” he whispered between kisses. You couldn't stop the tears that rolled down your cheeks, pulling away to look out the window of his truck. The warm air was suffocating: opening the truck door, you quickly got out. You paced along the truck before sitting on the curb next to it. You silently cried, feeling him sit next to you and reach to hold you in his arms. “I don't deserve you,” you cried into his chest, wishing you could accept being loved. 

“You deserve everything in the world and so much more, my love,” he said, kissing the top of your head. The both of you sat there silently, crying on the curb of an empty park. Neither of you know what to say. You desperately wanted to save the relationship; you wanted to be selfish for once. You wanted to be able to call him any time of day and ask him to spend time with you. The urge to stay up past midnight talking on the phone without feeling guilty about dragging him down was killing you. You wanted to meet his friends and family. You wanted to make him proud; you desperately needed to make him proud. You knew he needed you to be there, but the fear of rejection kept you away. You had one foot out the door.

There was a part of you that knew you could do it. Put on your big girl pants and face your fears, do it just for him. You just needed more time. That's what you kept telling yourself, but he had already been the most patient and kind boyfriend in the whole world. He deserved better than this; he deserved better than you. “You deserve better,” you said, breaking the silence. 

“There is no one better than you. Why can't you see that? I don't want someone else. I want you. I want to grow old with you. I want to be there for you. I want you to be there for me. I want YOU to be the person that motivates me to come home every day.”

When did it end? All the enjoyment I'm sad again, don't tell my boyfriendIt's not what he's made forWhat was I made for?

You sat at the edge of your bed, scrolling through a year's worth of pictures, tears falling down your cheeks. You'd been avoiding your boyfriend for the past month. The relationship had been slowly declining, the two of you choosing to ignore every problem. The most trivial disagreements turn into big nasty fights. Mostly one-sided fights that you started. You loved him so much, and it scared you. You wanted him to see that you weren't good enough for him, so you disagreed with everything he said. 

"I don't want kids," you blurted out one night as you both lay on the tailgate of his truck. He stood up quickly, looking at you, deciding how to respond to your sudden confession. "That's fine," he said, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. It wasn't fine; you knew he wanted to start a family. He only said this to comfort you. You knew Bob would always agree with you, even if it meant hurting himself. 

"I don't want to marry you," you whispered, sitting up. Bob grabbed your hand, kissing them softly, letting a tear roll down his cheek. "We don't have to get married. I'm happy being your boyfriend, my love."

You had typed and deleted your message about 15 times. You were struggling and needed someone to talk to. You knew Bob would be happy to help. 'He's your boyfriend, not your therapist,' you thought before throwing your phone on your bed. How ironic would it be to tell your boyfriend you felt shitty about yourself because you felt like a burden. You couldn't text him. No, that wouldn't make you a chill, not burdensome girlfriend. You started at the Valentine's Day gift he had gotten you, hugging the bear before throwing it across the room. Everything he had ever gotten you served as a reminder that you didn't deserve him. 

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said eagerly, holding out the roses and gift bag. You awkwardly accepted the gifts, setting the roses on the table. They sat there for a week, forgotten and neglected. Bob had gone out of his way to get you pretty pink flowers and left them out to die.

'Cause I, 'cause I I don't know how to feel But I wanna try I don't know how to feel But someday I might Someday I might

Bob sat in front of you, crying into his hands. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Everyone told him that the relationship wasn't worth it if Bob was the only one that cared. He loved you so much, but you had finally broken him. After countless worthless arguments, you had finally broken, Bob. "I can't do this anymore, love," he finally said, his voice shaking as he looked up at you. You nodded, understanding and agreeing that this was too much for him. 

"It hurts so much knowing that I'll never be enough, that this wasn't enough. I just wanted to love you, but you never let me do that. Throwing away our future hurts, but I can't do it anymore. I'm sorry," Bob stood up quickly, removing his glasses to wipe away the tears. "I hope 

you learn to love yourself and to let others love you. I hope you have the best life ever. I'll still be rooting for you," he walked toward the door, turning to look at you one last time before walking out.

You sank to the floor, crying for what felt like hours. You finally got what you wanted. Bob was finally going to get the perfect life he deserved. A perfect life without you to mess it up. Why weren't you happy for him? 

'I'm sorry for everything. I loved you so much' you hit send before turning off your phone. You sighed, wiping your tear-stained face before standing. You had no right to mourn the relationship you destroyed. The only thing left to do was find your purpose.

Think I forgot how to be happy Something I'm not, but something I can be Something I wait for Something I'm made for Something I'm made for

It had been four months since your relationship with Bob ended. You slowly got over your self-worth issues. The situation taught you some valuable lessons. It had been too late to save your relationship, but it wasn't too late to save your future. You focused all your time and energy on bettering yourself and your career goals. You often saw Bob out with his friends; you caught yourself smiling a few times. The smile on his face brings you massive joy. Though you would be lying if you said seeing him didn't bring you sadness as well. All the what-ifs running rampant in your brain. It was too late for that. You had to move on and accept that you had ruined something good. You were fine. You have goals and a purpose in life. You finally know what you're made for; that is the most important thing. You're thankful for Bob and the lessons he brought you.

[cloudymilk04]

Story of a slumber party spook (+ Baldwin somehow)

Tagging @i-cant-sing because their Time Traveler fic indirectly became part of this story and this is probably too long to simply tell in an ask or something. Buckle up for the ride, I’ll also add screenshots at the end of my friend and I joking about this event, Baldwin’s in general, or that TT fic.

Let's set the scene. It was around a month ago when I had a big sleepover with my three best friends (+ my cat) as my family was going to be gone for the weekend. We'll call my best friends Anna, Rose, and Julie (not their real names, all random names they picked).

For some much needed background, Anna and I are big Baldwin IV fans. I'm the only one who has Tumblr and uses it actively so whenever I see something on here relating to him, I'll screenshot and send it to her. However, we both really like the Time Traveler fic by the previously tagged user so whenever there's a new part, I'll message her and read it while telling her what's going on (often feels like watching drama go down while texting your friend about it).

We have an inside joke that we're actually the best of buddies with Baldwin, (as a side note, she’s the one drawn with me and him in my last post) which is why when the time for the sleepover came up, I said something like, "Imagine if we're all partying down and we hear a knock on the door but when we open it, Baldwin comes waltzing in." and just joking about him coming to our slumber party.

Hours passed and time came for everyone to come over. We hung out for a little bit until night fell and we started to get hungry. We decided to get food and bring it back to the house but Rose (the driver) also needed to get something from her grandma's on the way there. Realizing that it would be a lot of trouble to load all four of us into the car, we chose for two of us to go and bring the stuff back and the other two to stay. I had referenced earlier about going to the basement to workout and Anna asked if she could come along too, so we agreed that Anna and I would be the ones to stay behind and wait for Rose and Julie.

I asked how we would be sure to know they had arrived if we were in the basement. Considering it was night time, I didn't want them waiting out there too long and with us being down there, I wasn't sure if we'd hear their knocking. Julie said that she'd call or text when they were getting close to my house so we could be back upstairs by the time they pulled up. We all agreed to the plan and went our separate ways. Rose and Julie leave while Anna and I go to the basement.

I showed her our equipment for a little bit and Anna came up with an idea to film ourselves working out but leave a space for us to edit in Baldwin afterwards to make it look like he's getting his gains with us (this detail comes up later). After this, a few minutes pass and we stop just to stand and chit chat about random stuff when we hear, clear as day, a knocking from upstairs.

It sounded like someone had knocked on the door. We both looked at each other confused and I said, "Is that them?"

She responded with, "I guess?" I didn't wanna leave them waiting so I asked Anna to turn off the lights behind us as we're going upstairs and commented that it's weird Julie didn't text or call. I walk upstairs and notice through the dining room window that it doesn't look like Rose's car is out there. I walk to the front door and there's no one there and so, in the most calm voice I can muster, I call out to Anna that they're not there (later she told me that her heart dropped when I said that).

It should be mentioned that my house doesn't have a back door, but instead, a side door. The side door leads out to a closed off porch. While you can get to the porch from the outside through a door, I knew it was locked so no one could even get to the side door, much less be on that porch.

Anyways, we're standing together and feeling nervous. I checked my phone and noticed I didn't get a Life360 notification either. I'm trying to make sense of it all so I asked if she heard the same thing I did, knocking coming from upstairs. She said yes and confirmed that it was very clear. I remembered how earlier I had joked about Baldwin knocking on the door and so, to lighten the mood, I started being like "Man, Baldwin just wanted to join the party" and "Did he have to show up in such a foreboding way??"

A couple minutes passed as I looked through the windows to see if I could see anyone. Anna and I go to stand in front of the couch when we hear a loud thump come from the side porch. It sounded almost like someone threw their body against it, so I pushed Anna away from the door and quickly said, "I think someone's out there." and had us stand behind the couch.

Right at the moment we heard the thump though, Julie called (very poor timing really). When Anna answered, Julie only said, "Be on the lookout." before hanging up. Which, I should add, was unknowingly the worst thing to have been told at that moment. We talk about how we gotta watch out for two separate things and we stay huddled together behind the couch frantically looking out the windows for either Rose's car or some person or ghost trying to break in.

About 30 seconds passed and we saw them pull up, so I told Anna to wait inside while I go check to see if the side porch door is open and to tell Rose and Julie about what's going on. I go outside and check only to see that the door still looked closed. I give the other two a quick run down and Rose, with a determined look, hands Julie the food, straightens her back, grabs her purse with her pepper spray, and starts speeding off towards the side of the house saying she's gonna check around the place. I quickly asked, "Do you need a weapon??"

She just goes "No" before skedaddling off. Julie and I bring the food in before explaining to Anna what Rose is doing. A minute or so passed before she came back in, saying that no one was out there and wanting more details on what happened. Anna and I explain further and we agree that there probably wouldn't have been enough time for someone to just completely run away and have no one see them.

She also goes to the side porch and checks it out while confirming that it was still locked. Everything's in order.

To get rid of the tension again, I started joking with Anna that it was actually Baldwin's ghost showing up to join the party and that when we go back to watch the workout basement video we took earlier, that we might see an orb floating in Baldwin's spot. I also say that the thump outside must’ve been him falling over since we left him standing out there for too long.

The rest of the night went smoothly and we all had fun, took Julie a bit to feel at ease though (she gets scared easily :( ). Also my cat is completely okay he’s a grumpy old guy so he was chilling in my room asleep

In the end, here's the screenshots of us talking tried to put them in some sort of conversational order, can only put ten pics though. Purple is me, red is “Anna”

[bookinit02]

s5 script info/faq

hi guys! in exactly a week, i'm going to start posting my original stranger things s5 script. here's a general info/faq post for easy reference :)

about the script:

what: this script is designed to be a culmination of my ongoing rewrite series, which is a fanfic version of each season of stranger things, written through the lens of alternating byler pov. since season 5 hasn't released yet, and we've still got a ways to go, i decided to write an original script to base my last installment off of. the script will be 10 episodes, at about 60 pages each, and serve as a companion to my season 5 fic.

where: script episodes will be posted here on my tumblr, and be linked to a pinned post (which will go up in a few minutes). fic chapters will be posted on my ao3, as usual.

when: currently, i'm planning to have at least one post a week: the script episode will release on a sunday, and then the two accompanying chapters on the next two fridays. so, for example, the first few releases will look like this: script 1 on sunday 9/3, chapter 1 on friday 9/8, and chapter 2 on friday 9/15. this gives you about a week to read each new post! of course, you can read however you'd like: script first, or fic first, depending on your preference. i decided to post the scripts first to try and mimic the rest of the rewrite experience: "watching" the show, then reading the fic. if there's any schedule delays due to typical life stuff, i'll let you guys know!

frequently asked questions:

will the script cover every plotline?: yep! with 60 pages per episode, there's a bit of time dedicated to every character, as much as i can feasibly manage. of course, this means that the script will be less byler-focused than the fic series has been (but still more than the original show, lol). but not to worry—the fic companion will add extra scenes and plenty of byler content. this also means that some of the plots will only be accessible through the script, as the fic is entirely from byler pov. but it's still up to you whether you would like to read or not!

will there be any character deaths?: i'm going to answer this right now: there will be no character deaths. i want the script to be realistic, but it's also my version, and i always try to give my characters happy endings :) this doesn't mean that there won't be some close calls, though. we'll have to see. :)

will there be a playlist?: yes! i've spent some time testing out playlists for the first two episodes, and they're both fully completed. they'll be linked along with the script, along with a timing guide for anyone (like me) who likes being insane about the details. playlists are always tricky because everyone reads at different speeds, so i've written out which scenes go with each song, and you can skip along as needed. if you prefer not to listen with music, of course you don't have to—though i will say that most songs are just soundtrack instrumentals to set the mood :) it might be a little finicky, so i'm sorry in advance! i'll always try to perfect them as much as possible before posting.

will you do another rewrite after s5 releases?: currently, i'm planning on it. of course, we have no idea how much longer it's going to take, or what exactly will happen in canon (or in life), but if i'm in a place to write fic, then yes! i'll do a typical rewrite and add it to the end of my series, so you guys can have your choice of endings :)

how do we leave comments?: if you want to leave a comment on the script, i'm happy to receive them in asks, messages, or post comments! you can also leave them on the fic chapters if you'd like. edit 9/1: you should be able to leave comments in the google doc! be mindful of what account you are using, as these comments will be public. for a more comprehensive comment policy, click here.

do i have to read the rest of the rewrite series first?: reading the rest of the rewrite isn't necessary, but it is a good idea. i know it's a lot to read, so don't feel pressured, just know that some things might not make as much sense without the prior context! my rewrite series is pretty canon-compliant, but a lot of relationship dynamics are developed in a very specific way, and we pick up right where we left off at the end of a new place to be from. so, essentially: no, but you'll probably want to.

do i have to read the script?: definitely not. if you prefer to just read the fic, you absolutely can! it'll make sense on its own, you might just miss out on some of the extra plotlines and context.

that's about all i can think of for now—if you have any questions that weren't answered in this post, please send me an ask and i'll edit this post to include your question! i've been working on this project for a few months now, and i'm really excited to share it with you guys :) thank you all for giving it a shot! see you next sunday <3

[waltwhitmansbeard]

hello! a few hours from now, the epilogue of go on, claim my heart, the my fair lady sequel, is gonna be posting, so i wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who has stopped by my lil corner of the internet to read what has become my largest writing project to date. i had no idea what i was getting myself into when i first started writing mfl, especially not half a year of feverish, near-obsessive plotting and writing and rewriting this story that would not leave me alone. a lot of things fell to the wayside as i wrote mfl and gocmh, and i don't regret any of it, because i can safely say that this is the writing that i am the most proud of.

i want to thank @romeoandjulietyouwish in particular for her graciously allowing me to play in her sandbox. no one's mind works like lis's, and as i have said before, she comes up with so many fucking stellar ideas that she leaves crumbs for the rest of us, so i'm super grateful that she's so kind about letting us take those crumbs and make them our own. mfl wouldn't exist without you, lis, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

i also could not wrap this series without calling out the two best readers a girl could ask for, @ravendruid and @crispysnake. y'all are fucking unhinged, but it is the exact energy that every writer needs to keep going. i can't tell you the number of times a drabble or chapter posted that i wasn't particularly fond of that you two completely changed my opinion about. you two are the kindest, most enthusiastic, most generous readers, and i'm so lucky that you're also my friends. please continue to be absolutely batshit in my tags; it's the only thing that keeps me going.

(also @otterlycaleb made fucking ART about this shit, what the fuck what the fuck what the FUCK—)

a hopefully but probably not quick note about the future of mfl: today, like literally right now, i am in the middle of my first day of work at a brand new job, one that will require me to move my entire life halfway across the country, back to my hometown. it is big and scary and exhilarating and everything i've been hoping for, and i feel so, so lucky. this does mean that for the next little bit, while i learn a new job and pick up my shit and drive cross-country, i will probably be less able to write long or short fics, so i hope y'all don't mind me shutting up for the first time in forever. that being said, while i have absolutely no plans to write a third installment in the mfl 'verse, that doesn't mean there isn't more to say (as y'all will find out in like three and a half hours lol). i fully plan on still writing tmwiw drabbles set before, during, and after mfl/gocmh, and i will still be accepting prompts and requests for drabbles set in this 'verse until i say otherwise. mfl will always occupy an inordinate amount of my brain space, and i refuse to not share that with y'all.

additionally! starting very soon (like, maybe tomorrow? we'll see how busy i am, lol), i will be posting to ao3 the entirety of the mfl 'verse in chronological order. every chapter, one-shot, and drabble, in the order that they happened. another massive shout-out to @ravendruid for being my own personal lore-keeper on this; she read every single mfl chapter, tmwiw drabble, and one-shot to help me get this shit in order. the ao3 work will be titled i've come a long, long way (also from "my fair lady" by kaleo, are we seeing a pattern here?), and the plan is to post five chapters a day until the whole thing is up (although, again, with the moving this might get a lil wibbly wobbly). there will be some additional proofreading edits to these chapters (sometimes i can't spell!!) but nothing about the substance of these chapters will change, so this is just for people who like their stories to be told chronologically (fucking weirdos). this work will only be available on ao3, although it will be linked on my mfl masterpost.

ok, i think i am done for now. i have taken up enough of your time, in so many more ways than one. thank you again, if you read every single installment of the mfl saga or if you just read a paragraph. all of it means the world to me, and i know i never would have continued past the first chapter if i weren't part of such a wonderful, loving, generous, brilliant community. i've only been watching critical role for just over a year now, part of the fandom for even less than that, and i can't believe i haven't always had y'all in my life. please continue to love and support each other, and thank you for loving and supporting me.

[acacia-may]

Have asked already? Gosh, I getting tired! 3, 55, 73 and 96 <3

Hello friend! No, you hadn't asked already, but thank you so much for this one! I'd be happy to answer these questions for you!! 🥰

3. On a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy incorporating romance into the average story?

In general, probably a 1 or (a very generous) 2, but I think it really depends on the story. I'll admit I will sometimes use romance as a plot device or just to make jokes and then I have a little fun with it, but I took this question to mean legitimate and serious incorporation of romance, in which case it's generally not my cup of tea and even if it's a pairing that I really like, I don't find a lot of enjoyment in it because I don't have a lot of practice writing romance and really get in my own head & worried that I'm going to mess it up. Meet-Cutes and Established Relationships are okay (because they're not super dependent on me being able to write a compelling relationship progression), but when it comes to writing characters actually falling in love or focusing on them deepening their relationship, I get really nervous because I know that's not my strength as a writer.

This is true even when I have a pairing that I made up myself. I had my sister laughing at me when for my self-indulgent birthday fic, I actually wrote our OC into the story but kept her relationship with her (eventual after a decades long slow burn) love interest platonic on purpose. My sister was editing and there's this scene where they like unintentionally brush hands and she just stops and says, "It's your birthday. You know, you can make this relationship super romantic if you want," but I was like "No. I don't think I will. I like them as friends." Cue my sister just deadpan blinking and pointing out, "You literally made her up just to eventually marry him [under these ultra-specific circumstances]" And yeah, that's technically true, but if it's up to me and what I enjoy writing, I prefer writing them as friends (with like optional, super subtle somewhat romantic undertones). I don't mind the hints at possible romantic feelings, but when it comes to anything overt, I think it stresses me out to write more than I find enjoyment in it.

But that's just me. I have nothing against romance on principle. I just don't trust myself to write it and find more enjoyment in writing even my favorite pairings as friends or in an intentionally ambiguous relationships. I have been trying to push myself to write more romance, but I don't think I'll ever consider it a strong suit of mine and I go out of my way to avoid it. In the series I mentioned above which actually does have a CC x OC pairing in it that's actually integral to the plot, the (eventual) couple didn't even officially meet until literally over 55,000 words into the story. And now they're just going to be friends for like 10 years before any dating happens. The story is just not about that. This is what I mean when I say I don't do romance lol 😅😂

But I do try my best because I want to grow as a writer. It's just when the question asks "how much do I personally enjoy writing romance," the answer is not much at all (even for an OTP or a ship I made up myself).

55. Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Yes. Too many to count 😭 In most cases, I lost momentum, changed interests, moved on from the fandom, or just couldn't figure out how to make the story work. I also tend to get distracted by other projects and ideas. I'd like to return to some of my wips someday because it bothers me to leave things unfinished (especially if part of them had been posted), but we'll see.

73. How do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

Both actually, so it kind of depends. When I'm initially planning/drafting a scene, I see it like a movie (often watching the scenes from the eyes of my POV character, though occasionally watching from the outside like an actual audience). When I'm ready to start writing, I can actually see the words I want to write like I'm reading them. That's generally when I know I'm ready to sit down and get typing (because otherwise I'm just outlining or mapping out scenes in my head).

96. Romantic/social sideplots: interesting or irritating?

It really depends on the work and on why that subplot is in there, but in general my favorite kinds of romance in all of fiction have always been subplots. Honestly, I think if I listed my favorite ships of all time they were all romantic subplots in stories that were otherwise just not about that, and I really liked that because I could enjoy them without them overtaking the story and overshadowing all of the other meaningful (platonic) relationships.

But, on the flip side, I think I am very sensitive to and adverse to "romance for the sake of romance" or just when a ship is shoved into a story gratuitously without it making sense or needing to be there beyond the creators deciding "well there has to be romance somewhere." Like...no, there doesn't have to be romance in anything, ever. In fact sometimes there probably shouldn't be.

Some of my least favorite ships of all time fit in this "romance for the sake of romance" category because it just feels so forced, unnecessary, and uncomfortable to me. But to be fair there are even pairings that I genuinely like & would have even said I "ship," and I still get sour & upset when they get forced together at the end of the story just because it's the end, when I feel they're not ready and/or there wasn't proper build up. In those cases, even though I technically shipped the ship & wanted to see them together eventually, I would have preferred if they hadn't forced it and had just left the relationship open ended.

This is an extremely random example but since I just changed my profile picture to Naomi & Gabe... Elena of Avalor actually did this open-ended ship thing really well imo, and I am immensely grateful that the creators stuck to their promise not to give Elena a canonical love interest at the end since she had so much going on in her life and her story and character journey was never about that. No matter how much I (and from what I've seen, a whole lot of the fandom) want her to (eventually) end up with Mateo, it was NOT the time and this show did not play. They literally had a magical alpaca cut off Mateo's ill-timed almost love-confession at the "expected" (but objectively bad) moment, and it was AMAZING! This was hard core and has my ULTIMATE RESPECT.

So yeah...it's a very fine line between compelling & irritating and understandable & forced when it comes to romance subplots. I think when romance subplots are done well and thoughtfully they can be super compelling and interesting, but when they're done badly or are thrown in there "just because," it's honestly kind of the worst... 😝

When it comes to my own writing, if romance is going to be in there, it is probably going to be a subplot and I hope it's not too irritating lol. 😅 Even in a "romance" story, I feel like the romance is usually still a subplot because it's vying for attention with the friendship between the characters in the ship or their own personal struggles as people or (more often than not) one the character's strained/otherwise complicated relationship with their sibling(s) or family members [i.e. all my fics that have any romance for either of the Spatial Mage Brothers are also heavily focused on the brothers' relationship with each other in addition to their respective romantic ships. I just can't seem to write Finral x Finesse or Langris x Finesse or Finral x Vanessa or ect. ect. without Finral & Langris' platonic brothers' relationship being in there too, at least to some extent]. I find it hard to get into a story when the only thing in it is romance personally, so I prefer when it's a subplot or just one part of a story with multiple things going on.

[rjmartin11]

Just One Kiss

Chapter Four

Pairing: Elvis & female!reader

Summary: Once upon a Memphis time, you and Elvis were very close friends who turned lovers. After he went into the Army, you both drifted apart, leaving you heartbroken. Time passes, and you go on a Vegas business trip with your long-term boyfriend, Edward, and find out that your old lover is performing at The International Hotel. Old feelings surface once again, and you plan on making this a trip neither of you will soon forget.

Word Count: 2.4K

Warnings: I didn't finish this chapter. I'm so sorry.

Author's Notes: Welcome to Chapter Four! If y'all survived the last chapter, let's see how y'all deal with this one! I was doing edits, and somehow, it posted the chapter early. Again, thank you, friends, for all your likes, comments, and reposts. They are all greatly appreciated! If you like this chapter, like, comment, or repost! Let's get to the drama!

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You wake up, and you're back in 1969, tucked away in the comfort of your Eddie's arms. You scoot away from him to catch your breath. You hadn't truly thought about Memphis or the ones you left behind for years.

When you arrived in Florida, your aunt was very welcoming. There wasn't anything she would do for you. You lived comfortably. More comfortably than in Memphis. You worked and toiled to help make ends meet.

You hated seeing your mama struggle to keep you both fed. Your single mother slaving to get all your essentials. It bothered you so much that you started helping with everything around the house. Cleaning behind yourself. Do the dishes and the laundry. Swiping and mopping the kitchen. Clearing the clutter. You were not going to burden your mother.

When you became of age, you started helping as much as you could. You got a job your junior year of school and kept up with your studies. Between work and school, you drifted apart from all your friends. After high school, you had no friends at all. Most were starting families, and others moved away for college.

That's where Elvis and the Memphis Mafia came in. They allowed you to let loose and have fun. Oh, the good times you had. All the parties, music, dancing, and food. They were your escape. Elvis was your haven.

You cried yourself to sleep for a week when you got to Florida. Thinking about Elvis and Anita. You couldn't seem to get it out of your mind. It tortured you for days. Your Aunt Lily was your saving grace. One night, she came into your room and said, "That's enough of that, Y/N. Go wash your face, and we'll talk."

You did as you were told and washed your face. When you entered back into your room, Aunt Lily was sitting on your bed with her hands on your cane placed in front of her. She took one hand and patted the mattress, asking you to sit beside her.

"What boy have you allowed to trouble you so?" Aunt Lily asked.

You look in her eyes with shock. How could she possibly know this? You said nothing to her at all.

"How...how did you know?" You stutter out.

"I've had my heartbroken once or twice in my youth. Boys, do those things hurt us and leave us crying as if we bought it on ourselves." She pauses and looks at you. Taking her hand and placing your chin to look her in the eyes. "Rule number one: big girls don't cry they get even. Don't ever let me see you cry over any boy again. You aren't a little girl anymore. As of last week, when you made the decision to move away from your mother's house, you were a woman. Act accordingly."

So began the lessons of moving on, letting go, and being a woman. Aunt Lily's words rung deep and true within you like a bell. The more you learned, the fewer things hurt. You saw things differently. The world was your oyster, and people were your toys.

You never ever forgave Elvis for hurting you. You allowed yourself to grow into a cold woman for not allowing your heart to heal properly. You used man instead of falling in love. Your excuse, "Men use women. Why can't we use them?" A lesson from your aunt.

Your Aunt Lily was a gentle soul, but you see the broken woman within. She loved hard and got hurt all the same. She married well, and her husband died and left her with a fortune she intended to pass to you. She truly loved your Uncle Martin, but she believed that he was taken from her as a punishment for all the pain she caused in her youth.

You sat in the window contemplating your life decisions. Everything you did in the last nine years led to this. Hurting the one who hurt you. You sip on your coffee and gaze on the window.

You hear Eddie groan and turn to see if he's okay. Oh, Eddie. Dear sweet, Eddie. He's a great guy, but you can't give him your heart. You've guarded it for too long. You don't believe that he'd hurt you, but you can't risk it.

For fear that you'd see Elvis again, you make the ultimate decision to conceal yourself in the room for the remainder of the trip. It's best to play this out safely.

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Back in the Penthouse:

Elvis and Laura are waking up.

"Good morning, Elvis." Laura whispers, running her hand through his hair.

"G'morning, baby. You sleep well?" Elvis asked, kissing her cheek.

"I always sleep well when I wake up in your arms. Oh. I gotta go pee pee."

Laura gets out of bed and rushes to the restroom. Elvis lays his head down on the pillow again. Closes his eyes and wishes you were here with him. He wishes you were both still in room 202. He sits quietly to conjure up a scheme to get you alone to talk.

"Elvis, baby, what do you have planned for today?" Laura calls out from the bathroom.

Elvis hears the toilet flush and the sink water as it runs down the drain.

"I gotta practice for the next show. Make sure everyone's on point. I'll be free for dinner tonight, though." He shouts back.

"That's great."

"What's on your agenda today?" Elvis asks curiously. Laura never truly cares what Elvis does, so he finds it interesting that she asked. He knows she's up to something but doesn't know what.

"I'm going to the pool with the girls, and I was going to ask that sweet friend of yours, Y/N, to come join us."

Elvis, realizing Laura's words, rose off the pillow to sit up in the bed. The plan is forming right before his eyes. He could have planned it better himself, but his hasty girlfriend is planning everything for him. A way for you to just be around so he can get you alone eventually. Laura continues to speak.

"I'm sure she's familiar with most of the wives. The more the merrier. We can even have dinner together tonight, baby. Wouldn't that be fun? I bet you eaten out with Y/N in years."

"Oh, not too long ago." Elvis thinks.

"I'm dying to meet her beau."

Elvis walks into the bathroom as she finishes up her facial routine. He grabs her from behind and looks at her in their reflections.

"Yeah, you should call her. Set up everything. Y/N a bit of a loner. She was really close to the girls' way back when. She may love an invite. But don't push her. If she says no. Just accept it and invite her to dinner. She won't refuse you on a second offer. It's not her way of doing things." Elvis explained, kissing Laura on the cheek.

"Okay. I will!" Laura rushes out the bathroom and begins to call your room.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ💋✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ

Back in your room with Eddie:

"Oh. Good morning, Y/N.

"Morning, Eddie. Would you like some coffee?"

"I'd love some coffee, baby. And a kiss, please." He asks with those fresh morning eyes.

You bring him over the other cup of coffee you ordered and place it on the nightstand. You lean over and kiss his lips.

"Did you sleep well, Eddie? No bad dreams?" You whisper to him, stroking his cheek.

"I slept well." Eddie says, grabbing your hand. "But I can tell you didn't. If you're up drinking coffee before me, I know something was weighing heavily on your dreams."

You look away from Eddie. Thinking about last night and Graceland and your cabin, all these thoughts consume your mind.

"Y/N, come back here to me." Eddie lightly tugs on your hand.

You turn back to look at him, a forced smile on your face. He doesn't have to know your inter thoughts. You can fake it til you make it.

"How's your breast?" He asks, changing the subject for you.

"Oh, it's just fine. All better. That butter took the sting right out." You say placing your hand on your chest.

"Eddie, what do you have planned for today?"

He sighs. Eddie hates to disappoint you, but the truth is,

"I have meetings that start in the next two hours. I'll be off on time for dinner, though. We can eat whatever you want."

"Two hours?"

Eddie nods his head, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, Eddie, baby. All we need is forty-five minutes." You say, leaning over to taste his coffee stained lips and tongue.

He is all for the morning sex and you want to erase all your sins from last night with Elvis. He's a few strokes inside you, then the phone rings.

"Ignore it, Eddie. Please." You beg.

"I'm sorry, baby. It may be important. It might be work wanting me sooner than expected." He says, rolling off of you. You grunt with unsatisfaction. Why does work have to be first? When do your needs get met?

"Hello?" Eddie answers the phone.

...

"Oh? One second, please. Y/N, it's for you? Eddie says, handing you the phone.

"For me?" You ask, confused. Who could be calling you? The only people who are aware of your presence here are Eddie and his work associates, but they don't knowledge you as a friend. The Mafia knows you're here and... Elvis. Oh no.

You place the phone to your ear and answer.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, Y/N. It's Laura!" The voice booms in the receiver. Oh, this is worse. Much worse.

"Oh...ah... good morning, Laura. For what do I owe the pleasure of your call?" You ask, laying it on thick.

Eddie gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom. You're disappointed that you didn't get off, and Eddie practically brushed you off for work. What was the point of this trip if you couldn't really be with him?

Laura continues to speak.

"I feel like we got along so well last night that I thought you might want to come to the pool with me and the Mafia wives."

You hesitate. You know a few of them and were not big on grand reunion with everyone. You planned on staying the duration of your trip in the room alone to avoid Elvis.

"Laura, dear, that's so sweet of you to consider me, but I'm afraid that won't be able to make it."

"Oh no. Why not? Are you sick?" Laura asked.

"Oh no. I'm quite well. I... have plans with Eddie. They will take up my morning."

"No, you don't." Eddie comes out the bathroom drying himself off. He speaks loud enough for Laura to overhear. "I gotta go into my first meeting." Eddie finishes.

You cover the mouth of the phone and speak to him. "Eddie, you said in two hours. Plus, you didn't finish my massage."

"Later. For dinner, baby. I promise." He leans in kissing your forehead.

"She going to the pool!" Eddie yells into the phone.

You widen your eyes as your plans for concealing yourself are thwarted.

"Yes! I'm so excited for you to come!" Laura shouts. You can practically see her jumping on the bed. "You'll love the girls. You probably know a few of them anyway. Have you had breakfast? Come eat breakfast with us."

"Ah. Okay." You surrender to her pleas. This is a battle that's been lost since Eddie outed you.

"Great. Meet us for brunch at eleven in the East Dining Hall. It's private, plus it leads right to the pool."

"Oh, I can't wait." You say with a hint of sarcasm.

"Me either. See you then. Bye!" Laura hangs up, and you hear the dial tone and slowly place the phone on the hook.

Eddie walks past you all dressed up for his meeting. Getting his tie together, he glazes at you. He feels your energy. He grins at you, knowing that he got you out of bed and up for breakfast.

"I feel so betrayed by the one who's supposed to care for me the most." You say.

"You go make some new friends, huh. Eat breakfast. Get out the room. You don't have any friends in California."

"Eddie, baby, you're my friend. I only need you."

"Y/N, baby. You have me. Go make more friends."

"I honestly don't want to make Laura a friend. I believe she's naive and deceitful. There's a chance she's more deceitful than..." You couldn't finish the sentence.

You know what kind of woman you are. You know what you've done. You've conned, lied, and deceived, and you indulged it. Yet it didn't make you happy. It didn't fill up the whole that Elvis practically punched through your heart. It did not mend the broken parts of your soul. It just kept you from crying.

"She more deceitful than who?" Eddie wondered, grabbing your hands to catch your attention.

"A girl I once knew from back home. She wasn't always cold. She was quite lively and sweet. Then your boyfriend broke her heart." You said, looking into Eddie's eyes.

"Wow. What happened to your friend?"

"No one knows."

Eddie kisses your hands and your forehead. "Baby, you need to tell me more about this over dinner. I gotta go now."

Eddie let's you go, grabs his wallet, and heads for the door.

"Have fun with your friends and be good." He says, closing the door behind him.

What he failed to realize is that you were better off alone. Once you leave this quiet room, the game is on. When you leave this room, no one is safe. Elvis and Laura are fair game and don't care who gets hurt. Let the chips fall where they may.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ💋✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ

You arrive at the brunch fashionably late for your entrance. You decided to wear your pink, orange, and white floral bikini set complete with sash and a shear white cover-up.

You see, the ladies gather their brunch plates. Some are seated, and others are chatting over the food selection. You look around for familiar faces, and then you spot her. You smirk and walk over to greet your old friend who's currently sitting with your hostess.

"Well, well." You state, catching everyone's attention. "Mrs. West, as I live and breathe."

The expression on Pat's face is shock and surprise. It's quite worth the price of admission.

"Y/N? Oh my goodness, Y/N!" Pat stands from her seat and runs to you, embracing her long-lost friend from Memphis. You're a bit taken aback. You didn't know how she'd take your presents.

Taglist: @missmaywemeetagain @beeandheroddobsessions @headfullofpresley @everythingpresley @epforeverohyes @plasticfantasticl0ver @pianginferno @powerofelvis @ab4eva @foreverdolly @searchingforgravity @thatbanditqueen @daffieapple @18lkpeters @dkayfixates @epsgirl @richardslady121 @literally-just-elvis-fics @thememphisflash1935-1977 @c-rosenn