#MOD MUSE IS SO SORRY

[thenightpool]

rinharu wrapped 2023

We almost can't believe it's already time to bring out the kadomatsu again! 2023 just raced by, didn't it…?! Let's take a moment to look back on everything Rin & Haru (and their fans!) have achieved this year.

🌸 Archive of Our Own

The Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka tag on AO3 now holds 3,674 works!

That means 173 new fics were posted this year. (There might've been more than that, but it's hard to keep track of creators privatising their older fics!)

And the Night Pool's AO3 collection is up to 90 works!

.

🌸 The Night Pool

Here at TNP, we revived @sakurathon, a cherry blossom-centric event! This year, the event received 40 works by 19 lovely participants.

Since it was such a big success, we're bringing the event back on April 27th & 28th 2024.

°•. ✿ .•°

We also held the aquatic-themed Unleashed Blue, during which 20 participants created 51 (!!) otherworldly works for us.

With permission of the creators, we lovingly collected them in a 400+ page commemorative zine. You can download it on linktree

°•. ✿ .•°

Writers filled an impressive 35 prompts during our prompt meme Make a Splash! that we held in honor of Haru's birthday.

Read the fills on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

Rin & Haru's Big Warm-Up, our monthly prompt event, received 16 new works on AO3 across the year & more on socials.

Check out our collection on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

We also kicked off rinharu fandom's very first bang: MEDLEY!, a mini + reverse hybrid bang that will start posting in March!

(Psst. Sign ups are still open for a few roles!)

°•. ✿ .•°

We held 3 training camps – super fun writing retreat weekends – over on our Discord. We have 4 more retreats planned for 2024!

If you'd like to join us for the next one(s), here's the info

°•. ✿ .•°

We posted 33 new fanart translations!

Here's the link to our masterlist

°•. ✿ .•°

And finally, The Night Pool beat out Harurinralia to win our Ultimate Rinharu Moments Tournament that we held back in April on both Twitter and Tumblr!

.

🌸 Other Fandom Events

It's been a busy year!

In July, @starstarfairy hosted Wave Of Memory (@rinharumemories) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Free! The event ran in two wave on tumblr and Twitter and combined polls, fan memories, and all types of fanworks.

@sweetheavenfics helped us run the RH-friendly @soumako-week in September!

@ryu-outsider hosted the month-long daily prompt event Free!cember here on Tumblr. It welcomed the entire fandom. The event was promoted by eleanorenchanted and run via hashtag.

And @rinharuweek ran for a full 10 days this year in celebration of the show's anniversary! They are just wrapping up.

.

🌸 Official News

Free! turned 10 in 2023. Omedetou gozaimasu!

Free! The Final Stroke Part 2 broke all of the series' previous records in the box office, bringing in over 1 billion yen

It also finally made it to Crunchyroll.com for the US & select others

Miyano Mamoru & Shimazaki Nobunaga fed us (+ fanartists' inspiration) well by shouting "HARU!!" and "RIIIN!!" at each other before hugging passionately during the 10th anniversary event at the Saitama Super Arena

We got tons of amazing new art; including a cover illustration for Free! The Band Live's Ever Blue performance in Yokohama, Animedia's July W-cover, Sweets Paradise's promotional art, and Kyoani's 10th anniversary event's illustration

Rin's ripped jeans (+ THE ANKLETS) in the Matsukiyo & Cocokara's Top Of Summer collaboration launched a thousand fanworks

Matsuoka-senshu, Nanase-senshu, Kirishima-senshu & Yamazaki-senshu represented Mizuno at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka

Spoon2Di recently restocked volume 78 & 85 on their webshop, and Akiba Pass Shop opened pre-orders for some gorgeous tapestries featuring said art

Karatz, Bikkuriman Choco, Iwami & DECOL all bumped Rin up to 2nd place in character listings (where he belongs!!)

Last but not least, KyoaniShop bankrupted us all by releasing amazing new merchandise (and also did not try to hide that Rin is the Free! series' 2nd protagonist, either…)

--

Thank you so much for being here with us in 2023. We hope it has been a wonderful & creative year for you. Here's wishing you an even more rinharu-filled 2024!

[mutantkacheek]

personally, im feeling (Very Cautiously) optimistic about the neopets buyout? netdragon shut down jumpstart, so it would have died otherwise. i guess that’s better* than it just dying.

on crypto: i’m glad they seem to be dismantling/repurposing any work done on neopets metaverse. dominic law, the guy who bought neopets, was the head of neopets metaverse at neopets before he bought it out, hes like an investment guy as far as i can tell(?), and the pc gaming article about the buyout mentions he was talking about how neopets is perfect for web3 gaming on twitter within the past few months. obviously that’s a bad look. however, looking at his linkedin profile, his background doesnt seem super tech specific to me, and from what i can tell the metaverse/nft/crypto bubble is bursting anyways. with the announcement they’re shelving any nft projects for now, i’m hopeful they truly dont plan to pursue any more in the future.

i get the impression from the faq that they are genuinely interested in pumping money into the website itself, moreso than netdragon/jumpstart were. i’m not really against them developing more apps or w/e if they’re genuinely restoring the site and creating content for it as well.

i may eat my foot on this though, only time will tell

[rpmemegraveyard]

Never threatened to feed people's writing to A.I, just poor wording on my part.

Cool, you're still a fucking loser for going 'oh, (mun) doesn't interact with everyone' to another party who raised their concerns after being told by said mun 'no I won't make an AI for my character'!

Fuck out of my askbox, dude. You could've kept your mouth shut and interacted with c.ai without causing a stir. When has ANYBODY in that rpc even alluded to making character ai for their characters for public consumption? Cool, apologize all you want, but my points still stand. I think the ask itself at the very least made people aware of this possible threat, and again. It is possible a dipshit in another rpc has made this threat to indie writers in a different scenario.

AI has no place in the RPC.

[eoncafe]

IM NOT DEAD. ill take requests for tadc so...send them in

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

just watched the new Haunted Mansion with my mom and listen I know he's a dickbag but DAMN if Alistair Crump didn't give me some Kuro villain vibes

love the look, love the accent, love the backstory, black magic bits almost reminded me of Aleister (which is funny considering the similar names)

but unlike our Aleister, I wanna kick Alistair right down into his grave too

loved your performance mate but BYE BITCH

[ask-the-all-consuming-void]

Sonic said once that every world has its end, and so we should live life to the fullest in the time we have. Any thoughts on that?

I think that he is a hypocrite.

[arachnoheaux]

psa angel's not a poor little thing who needs help all the time↷

[kitakami-zorua-kin]

Togekiss mail: a basket full of macarons that look like dittos with different facial expressions

Huh - wha- uh. Alright, I guess...? Thanks! I'll share these with the rest of the Ruchbah Squad - the kids are gonna love these... ... Oh shit Ortie's gonna kill me there's no way it's this late in the day already - forgot to eat lunch again, shit-

Thanks! For the uh - the macarons, they're - they're real cute. The rest of the squad'll love them. And- unintentionally, thanks for knockin' me out of the hyperfixation.

[general-kalani]

"Cover them up Slut."

"Make me."

[bee-bee-kyuu]

I... Perhaps.

I'll... Sleep on it, perhaps.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY BLOG AND MY PINNED POST

WHY IS IT FURRET THEMED???

SO I GUESS I CAN NEVER LEAVE ROTOMBLR FOR A FEW HOURS. GREAT.

And yes I had fun SULKING to myself in a cave. 10/10 I will do it again.

[time-traveling-slime]

Hi there, my name is Amaranth Fujinami, but please call me Ranni!

I recently moved to Nimbasa, Unova from Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh, and I’m living in an apartment with my boyfriend, his brother, and his brother’s girlfriend, as well as my two adopted kids, Kiki and Tripp.

As a little about me, my sister is currently the reigning Champion of Sinnoh, Dawn Fujinami, and I’m recovering from some memory problems at the moment! My starter was an Eevee, her name is Star, and my second pokémon was a rowlet, named Sequoia. I’m also hoping to do the Unovan gym circuit this season!

While I’ll be the main person answering questions, I’ll also let my kids answer from time to time! I ask that you be respectful, and throw as many questions at us as you’d like!

Below is a list of my pokémon and my son’s pokémon!

My pokémon:

• Star, female Night King morph Umbreon, Starter

• Sequoia, male Decidueye

• Mint, male shiny Decidueye

• Pykrete, male Icicle Raiment morph Glaceon

• Magnolia, fighting type Lilligant

• Petrichor, male Sea Smoke morph Vaporeon

• Cyubie, female Bergmite

• Princess, female Sneasler

• Ash, female Cyndaquil

• Typhoon, male Wet Wood morph Oshawott

• Needles, male Qwilfish

• Raine, male goomy

My son’s pokémon:

• Cooper, male Riolu

• Gelato, female Alolan Vulpix

• Smoke, male Kantan Vulpix

Magic anons: Off

Pelipper mail: On

//Ooc under the cut! Please read!

Hi there! I’m the same mod running real-team-aqua and milquetoast-appreciator, I am in fact an adult, but two of the three primary muses for this blog are not, so risqué questions should be directed to Ranni!

At some point I’ll be liveblogging Ranni’s journey, where her last six pokémon will be unveiled!

Ranni is an original character and incredibly self indulgent with a lot of the verse’s worldbuilding backing her up! Questions about her family, past, and origins and very much encouraged!

Sorry that I wound up using official art for some of the pokémon, but I didn’t feel like giving myself a stroke trying to make something that I feel wouldn’t be my best work!

[aziraphales-library]

Hello! firstly, thank you for your dedication its all so wonderful, I’m very grateful for this account since it can be difficult for me to search for things comfortably, the work you do is lovely<3

I was wondering if there were any canon compliant fics you could direct me to? Just casual stuff built upon the foundations of canon, maybe flashbacks of believable interactions Aziraphale and Crowley could’ve had, or a hangout set after S1 thats not necessarily romantic, but still with that lovable tension they have together in canon! It’s hard for me to find fics that aren’t inherently sexual or that show that intricate relationship they’ve built over the years instead of just mentioning it,,

any p.o.v., I’m also fine with both ficlets and multi-chapter long fics :] Sorry if this ask is too specific!

Hi and thank you! Okay, so I'm hoping these are the kind of fics you're looking for. Various levels of romance and feelings, but all inherently about how they care for and communicate with each other...

De Amore by Aethelflaed (G)

Aziraphale has come to Paris to find the answer to an important question: What's it like to be in love? Crowley's not sure why he wants to know, but he's willing to discuss it to make his angel happy...

Papercut by Mirach (T)

When Aziraphale calls Crowley to tell him that he is hurt, the demon rushes to the bookshop to find a perfectly healthy angel - with the exception of a tiny papercut. But Crowley knows - it’s not about the papercut at all. The papercut is just an excuse.

Twin Suns by IneffableDoll (T)

“I thought you were gone,” Crowley mumbled, and it was almost cliché, it was almost the kind of sentimental rubbish he would’ve moaned at had he heard it from someone else. But they were the rawest words he could manage. He’d thought Aziraphale was gone. That was all, and it said everything. *** Directly following their celebratory meal at the Ritz, Aziraphale and Crowley clash with the feelings that struggle to settle after everything they’ve been through. And, in so doing, learn to rely on and communicate with each other in new ways.

The Innovation of Friendship, and the Capacity for Non-Abstract Love by AnonymousDandelion (T)

Crowley and Aziraphale through the ages as a pair of affection-starved walnuts fall in platonic love/friendship, struggle to understand their feelings, and struggle even more with expressing those feelings to each other. Featuring six thousand years of loneliness, mutual pining, musings on the nature of friendship and love, and ultimately a happy/hopeful/hug ending.

Something to do with these sacred words by Solshine (T)

Crowley confesses early, and Crowley confesses often. Aziraphale never knows quite what to say.

Between the Lines by cyankelpie (G)

Crowley took a gulp of ale and gestured with the mug. “Love’s a big word. How can you be sure? Humans mistake these things a lot.” “Angels don’t. If they knew I could feel it, maybe they’d try to tone it down a little.” Crowley stopped moving. Aziraphale was still talking, but he couldn’t hear over the pounding of his pulse in his head. “You can feel that?” he said, when he regained enough of his composure to put together a sentence. “Yes, I—” Aziraphale broke off just for a moment, and his eyes flicked down to the table. “Yes, I can feel it, Crowley.”   (It's hard being two supernatural entities on opposite sides who are in love with each other. It's even harder knowing that those feelings are returned, and that acknowledging it openly would be disastrous.)

- Mod D

[forbidding-souda]

Hii!! May I please have some headcannons with Gundham, Kazuichi, and whoever with a gyrau s/o!!! Please and thank u!!

Gundham Tanaka and Kazuichi Souda with a SHSL Gyaru S/O

here's another gyaru s/o fic i did with mondo, shinguuji, and kaito! it was rather recent too since when was i posting in 2022 what the fuck. i didn't add any characters because i realized i had three that i have already done so there's more mwahahahahaha

i love gyaru's rawr rawr i'm so excited to write this ty anon

-Mod Souda

Gundham Tanaka

❤ It's clear you two are a couple. You both have a very eccentric way of speaking which makes you guys such a good couple wow, nobody is surprised when you tell them you're together. They can probably guess that. With you two having voluminous hair and heavy eyeliner, it's as if your aesthetics were compatible. Though being in two different subcultures, the overlapping stylistic details adds a charm to the times you've walked together hand in hand. Your both overdramatic way of talking makes people group you together.

He departs from the barn, quickly making his way back to the main building, where you wait on your phone. He doesn't have to look for you. Your appearance is eye-catching. Your loose shirt, a more casual one, is heavily wrinkled from how quickly you put it on this morning. You're not even wearing any of your iconic belts. You wanted to join him despite how early it was. Your eyes flick up to his once you hear him approaching. "Are you done?" You ask. You turn your head towards him, makeup still perfectly done (you focused more on that then your outfit, which you did last). Before he can respond, you squint at his name tag. "That's cute." He grumbles and unpins it. His mind was too busy for a proper conversation. He was logging all of the animal's names in his head and the medications and treatment they needed it. While you two walk, he places his hand on the small of your back, a simple form of affection to tell you he was still paying attention. But when you yawn, it breaks his thought process. "You're tired?" You nod. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yawn like that." "Nonsense. Perhaps we can arrange an hour of slumber." You nod. "Can it be more than an hour?" He hums, thinking for a second. "As many as you need, my dear enchantress."

❤ Oh my god if you wear more dark colors or purples (else a goshikku gyaru) you could absolutely be the same color palette as him. Purple and black pleaded skirt with eyeliner in your waterline omggg. Or a zip-up with skeletons on it.

❤ He absolutely loves your style, he adores anything vaguely alternative and subnormal. Ur definitely getting some more romantic nicknames like "my muse" or "my agony".

❤ Ya ya ya it's unhygienic but you can share makeup if you can't find something (aka you probably left your eyeliner in your purse but completely forgot).

❤ You will scream and cry when you tease your hair and then you go to visit animals with him and a giraffe just starts licking it.

❤ But the hamsters love your hair / wigs.

❤ You can probably convince him to wear more eccentric earrings.

❤ And necklaces. Omg matching necklaces. From the one dogtag he wears, you can convince him to wear a chain or a bunch of layers of silver.

❤ I doubt he has social media so he doesn't see your persistent presence, but he will take pictures of you with the animals for some posts.

❤ When you start using a bit of his lingo online no one questions it.

❤ Also in the scenario thing above I fought the urge to say you were playing dress to impress.

.

Kazuichi Souda

❤ He was so nervous around you. He wasn't as bold as he was with Sonia. He'd give you compliments and then promptly walk away after you say thank you. It takes you and your boldness to finally get him to have a lingering conversation ("No, no, you get back here"). He's such a charmer, you loved the conversations, and whenever you gave him compliments back he was fighting the urge to completely melt.

❤ You post a lot of photos of you two together. You just love his pink hair and it tends to fit your layout perfectly. Some of them aren't just cutesy selfies, it's things like him with his jumpsuit tied around his waist as he's too focused on his work to realize you have your phone pointed at him. He's started to do the same to you. Taking pictures as you're posing yourself for your own camera. You love the candid photos he takes of you so much you end up posting them instead. He loves your online presence. He's gonna pick up the slang you use and it's gonna be funny LMFAO.

Upon entering the house, he spots you sitting on the couch with a sugary snack in your hand. You immediately smile. "Sorry," you say, "I couldn't help myself." He was planning on a real meal for tonight, but of course, you've indulged in the popular snacks you love so much. At least your well, that smile on your face says as much. He kicks off his shoes, leaving them scattered by the door. You study him for a moment, wondering if his sour mood is because of you or whatever job he had outside. "Are you good?" You ask mid chew. He eyebrows furrow a bit and he nervously scratches at his jaw. "I lost the necklace you gave me." "What?" "I took it off and I don't know where it went, I'm an idiot." You place your snack aside and stand, approaching him. "Dude," you place your hands on his cheek. "It's not that serious. I have a thousand of them. I'll get you another one." "But you gave me that one." "And I'll give you another 'that one'. You worry too much." He sighs, placing his forehead against yours, the small thunk drawing you back, but you don't pull away. He's constantly fearing offending you or disappointing you. But you always assure him that things are alright. The simple things he stresses over are never things that will push you away, and he needs to understand that.

❤ He loves it when you scratch his back with the long, decorative nails. Or when you massage his scalp when he's trying to sleep. His small, half-awake hums are soooo cute.

❤ He'll want you to do his hair. He trusts your stylistic abilities with his life. You're not going to be able to do the dramatic makeup on him, nice try. But hair yesss. He'll want to add small braids to your style as well.

❤ His work is a little too messy for you and if he gets motor oil on you you're gonna fight the urge to throw a fit. On your yellow shirt? Kaz. You piece of shit.

❤ ^ Frantic cleaning-related google searches.

❤ ^ On the rack beside the front door, you keep your shoes far away from his.

❤ He gets you a lot of those glitter, bajeweled (or whoever it's spelled) reusable cups. He uses them a lot for himself though. He wanted an excuse to have them, and you definitely figured this out LOL.

[theofficersacademy]

Sorry! But this is going to be a long one.

With 100 skill points and my 5th year anniversary coming tomorrow, I think it's time I do this. As of today, I will be dropping Celica from TOA. I had been coming to this decision for the past few months now, and at least wanted to reach the 100 point threshold before I did. She's made it so far, after all!

These last five years of writing Celica have been an ABSOLUTE joy, and I'm grateful to each and every person who has written with her, and have helped me to better appreciate this character I've genuinely come to adore. But I also recognize my passion in exploring her simply isn't as strong as it used to be, and though she is still VERY much a beloved character to me (my favorite, of anyone in FE), I think it's time for a break.

I've experienced so many things with her in TOA, and Celica was the first muse that taught me the joy of being wholly passionate about a character. That wasn't quite something I had experienced before, and I'm grateful for the experience of finding this group, discovering her, and coming to know that amazing feeling.

I can be nothing but satisfied with such an amazing run. Thank you all for the memories, and for caring about this beautiful girl along with me. Till next time!

Celica has been dropped and is now available!

- Mod N

[morningsharksworld]

Here’s some Headcannons of Firecracker and Hazard between requests cuz i started to think about them again 👹✨

Misunderstandings and Distance

- At first, Hazard assumes Firecracker dislikes him. They rarely spends time with him during the day, is often too groggy to hold a coherent conversation, and seem perpetually distracted when they do cross paths. Hazard mistakes this for disinterest or even outright annoyance, leaving him hesitant to approach them.

- Unbeknownst to Hazard, Firecracker spends their nights obsessively tinkering with bombs, traps, and other gadgets, often losing track of time and energy. By the time the sun rises, they are utterly spent, sleeping through most of the day to recharge. Their standoffish behavior isn’t intentional—it’s just the byproduct of their chaotic schedule.

- One evening, Hazard stumbles upon Firecracker in their workshop, surrounded by a chaotic array of explosives and half-finished projects. He finally realizes why they are so hard to pin down. Instead of being upset, he admires their dedication and recognizes that they’re more alike than he thought—both are relentless in their work, even if their methods differ.

Small Gestures and Surprising Tenderness

- As they grow closer, Hazard begins to notice that Firecracker often falls asleep while sitting up on their work bench, their wild long hair an untamed mess. One day, on a whim, he starts braiding their hair while they nap. At first, it’s a joke to see how long it’ll take them to notice, but it becomes a quiet ritual for him. While braiding, he talks to their unconscious or semi-conscious form about anything on his mind—plans, past missions, or just idle musings.

- When Firecracker eventually notices, they are more amused than annoyed. They start pretending to sleep just to hear him talk.

- Once Hazard confronts them about why are they so distant, Firecracker sheepishly explains their nocturnal habits. They even offer to adjust their schedule to hang out more, though they quickly realizes it’s easier said than done. Instead, they start leaving small gifts for him—handmade explosives, tools, or trinkets—on his workstation as their way of showing appreciation.

Firecracker: “Sorry I’m not around much. Here, I made you a grenade. You know, to say thanks.” —F.C.

Hazard: “A grenade? That’s... thoughtful?”

- Despite their differences, they’re fiercely protective of one another. Firecracker often jokes that they don’t need a bodyguard, but Hazard keeps an eye on them anyway, especially when their back modifications act up. Similarly, Firecracker always has Hazard’s back in a fight, setting traps and creating diversions to give him the upper hand.

- Speaking of Firecrackers body mod. Firecracker’s cybernetic modifications are an essential part of their identity, but the maintenance process is grueling. When the screws in their back loosen, it causes increasing discomfort—sharp pains that grow worse the longer they avoid a tune-up. Despite this, Firecracker hates showing weakness, even to their closest allies like Hazard.

- Hazard, who has learned to see through Firecracker’s bravado, doesn’t let them stubbornness slide. Whenever their condition worsens, he insists on escorting them to Touch Up. Eventually, Hazard wins out, either by appealing to their practicality or simply dragging them along with a mix of exasperation and concern.

[flash-cannon]

Hi!! Intro post!! Yes.

I'm Alvina! I guess you can call me Vi? I'm a Contest Star in Hoenn! Well. I'm going to be. I'm getting there! For the most part I just work at a pokemart

I prefer Clever Contests! I think they're cool! Not to be confused with Cool Contests. That's a different one.

Me and Ace- my Skarmory- are gonna be FAMOUS! Just you wait! And Clover my Oddish is going to help!!!!!!

Uhhhh. Might share some Mystery Gifts on here! For my friend! For her research. Yeah!

Oh and! She/They for me! Or none at all!! YEAH!! okay sorry gotta go

//getting into Contests in Emerald, so I figured making a character to help me through this would be fun lmao

Pelipper Mail is on! MA! Are off! No NSFW! Mod and Muse are both 18. Any blog with any canon can interact!

Blog ran by @skrelps-cafe.

Reference for Alvina! (Base for clothes by oxse.)

Playlist that is subject to change