#SNERK FOR DAYS

[sunny-d-anomaly]

Inktober day two, “Spiders.” I thought it was quite creative, even if it was cheap. Especially since today *would* have been my 10 year anniversary with my disgusting, vile, intrinsically evil ex, so of course it would be spiders, and I’ve grown quite adept at squashing whatever horrors that so-called “person” throws at me. So it’s poetic. 😏

[dani-ellie03]

Found this on my computer, downloaded from who even remembers now.

[suzannahnatters]

I've cranked through the first half of Love Like the Galaxy in under a week and I REGRET NOTHING: how fast can I put myself outside this gloriously mature and well written Jane Austen style comedy of manners with intermittent murder. Reactions to the first 12 eps under the cut because wow I verbose when I happy

I'm 3 eps into Love Like the Galaxy and while "becoming thoroughly absorbed by Chinese Jane Austen" was not on my bingo list I'll take it.

I have trust issues with cdramas after watching GOODBYE MY PRINCESS which was the drama equivalent of the kind of dude who says 'heh heh I like a girl with spirit' but I do really love what they're doing with Niao Niao and how she's had to survive her awful aunt and grandmother (who are like Mrs Norris and Mrs Bennet, respectively) by becoming calculating, distrustful, selfish and utterly devoted to her own cause

LOVED the moment in ep3 where she tries to show her mother, who's this strict Confucian parent, the sort of nonsense she's had to put up with for years by subjecting her to the evil wiles of Aunt Norris and Grandma Bennet, she just outright pointed out the double standards her mother is operating by

anyway we shall see how things turn out! I'm finding the grounded visuals very nice too - everyone's not caked in makeup and jewels all the time, they look very comfy and believable.

oh my the softly besotted look on Torture General's face when he sees her carriage going by

he hasn't seen her face yet, he just knows she's cold, unfilial, and utterly calculating and he's fallen for her for all the reasons that everyone else reproaches her for

episode 6 of LLTG: a dispute over a writing desk has made me cry. what

This whole scene with the dreadful mother holding court and Niao Niao defending herself - so ably that she beings her brothers and cousin to take her side against her mother - GAH this is AMAAAAAZING

I adore that they don't have anyone fingerwagging at our girl to tell her that actually her mother is doing these toxic things because she deep down cares about her (aHEM, My Journey To You) - they're just being really clear that it's all dreadfully unfair.

I also love that the toxic mother is a sword-wielding warrior woman. She's so heroine-coded??? while also being a terrible person? amazing! I love the unexpectedness of it!

snerk I love this celebrity scholar deciding to Bestow a Mark of His Favour upon our girl and she tosses it right back at him

this Prince Xiao enters twirling moustaches he doesn't even have, wow

laughing my head off at the Big Romantic Rescue complete with cape SWOOOOOOOSH

this is great. I feel like I'm watching a faintly swoony BBC adaptation of a lost Jane Austen novel

also I take it back, Niao Niao isn't selfish at all - she's just realised that if she doesn't fight for herself then no one else will.  But she's not making it an excuse to be unfair or horrible to her perfect cousin, even though it would be the most understandable thing in the world

I love her, she deserves the world

ep7: I've only known Wan QiQi two minutes and I would die for her

is it just me or is this smug scholar precisely the type of man we've all come across??? NN not giving him the time of day is EVERYTHING

Third Aunt giving Third Uncle a shave: what a scene. God bless cdramas. Also, the extent to which there is a whole epic romance cdrama happening somewhere in the backstory here is AMAZING

Also: QiQi is a showy kind of BFF to have - showing up late to the party in a bright red dress and instantly pillaging the birthday gifts she brought the princess to deck you out in earrings? chef's kiss - but I'm also SO appreciative of how they're treating Yang Yang! That moment at the banquet early in the episode where Niao Niao, who can't even read, says, somewhat hurt and pettish, "I don't need to learn ANYTHING! I'm good just as I am!" and Yang Yang says, "Yes, you are!" despite being a bookworm since birth? I LOVE THEM

ahaha NN gives a speech shaming the snobby aristocratic girls for looking down on the daughter of a general, and being extravagant, and don't they know all this bounty is due to the emperor and his generals? feels like the show is buying the right to critique filial piety by kissing up to the state

the statism is the one thing I've disliked about the show so far (also didn't think much of NN snitching on her great-uncle) but that's pretty much a constant in Chinese media except for one wuxia novel I read years ago (BaiFa MoNu Zhuan/Legend of the White Haired Maiden), so onward…

"I'm Eleventh Young Master who has admired you for a long time" sHriEKing

he looks so happy too

GO NIAO NIAO BITE HER

Deeply enamoured of the way General Wan has the features and mannerisms of an animated Disney villain

"why is that unlucky person still here? he seems like a lingering ghost" impeccable "Lizzie Bennet wonders why she keeps bumping into Mr Darcy on her daily walk, after she specifically told him this was where she walked daily" energy

well I did not think the show could make me sympathise with the toxic mum, but it did, by dint of showing that the dad is intentionally playing good cop so he can enjoy his daughter's adoration while he encourages her mum to beat her???

I really hope the cruddy dad experiences the consequences of his actions here but even more than that, I'm amazed that the show has found a way to make us sympathise for the bad mum as a person without trying to make her less bad

I'm just in awe of the writing here - it's SO deft and able.

ah, this must be the bamboo forest where they store action scenes - and I LOVE that the band of lady bodyguards gets to stomp the bandits when a lesser show would use this opportunity to bring on the hero and his army of goth henchmen

aw yess! our girl is strategising their way out! It's so delightful to me - this is precisely the kind of leadership/strategy role asian dramas rarely allow to their female characters

now she's getting to command a siege!?!?! all on her own?

and then castigating herself for not being able to save everybody! BABY

on to ep12, which I have heard people cite as the Point Where The Show Gets Good, and given the fact that I've already been elmo on fire dot gif for eleven episodes I'm not entirely sure what everyone else has been drinking but sure! let's see what lies herein

oh this is the GOOD stuff

yes yes, the big rescue, the arrow pulling, all good…what really gets me is that when our girl wants to see the mass execution and Murder General holds her back, it's not bc he's patronising her, it's bc he knows she needs to hear that AhMiao's death was not her fault

this show is justifying tropes I didn't even know COULD be justified…inCREDible

Third Uncle has two braincells and my whole heart

the only thing better than the look of sheer naked yearning on Murder General's face every time he sees Niao Niao or anything tangentially related to her is his determination never to let on how he feels to his two henchmen, who have known since episode two and are eager to help

Murder General hoarding hankies, bits of string, and pencil-ends that belong to Niao Niao like Harriet Smith hoarding Mr Elton memorabilia in EMMA

[seiya234]

the kids were, for lack of a better term, snerking as they handed him a bowl of green m&m’s.

“here you go Uncle Dipper,” Acacia said with the biggest shit eating grin a seven year old could muster.

“we know they’re your favorite,” Hank added.

Dipper put down the book he was reading and sighed. “do you know why i like green m&m’s?”

three redheads suddenly froze still, then looked at each other confused.

“um…. because you can taste the difference between colors with your demon tongue?” acacia finally asked.

“….yes.”

“that’s a lie,” willow very helpfully pointed out.

“and this is a joke that’s above your pay grade- who told you about green m&m’s?”

all three of them at once chorused “grunkle stan”

huh. dipper was NOT expecting that. but then again, the old man had good reasons to hide his computer skills back in the day…

“are we in trouble?” hank asked, and dipper snorted.

“no, absolutely not. say, you three want to eat all these m&ms and prank grunkle stan?”

“YEAH!”

[luna-rainbow]

Hello, hello, long rant incoming

When I reposted this on AO3, I had intentionally minimised tagging and summary because I wanted to archive it rather than attract readers. I didn’t even tag it Steve/Bucky because there just wasn’t enough mention of Bucky in it. Importantly, P*ggy was not tagged.

The user calls themselves “Rebuttal” and their only work is another essay rebutting someone else’s post on Civil War, which they had to post separately because I guess the OP blocked them. So we have a serial offender with too much time on their hands going around to directly suck the joy out of other people’s fandom experience.

They begin with this:

Although I don't particularly care for Steve's ending, this essay does not offer support for a different one.

*Inhales* Honey, can you please Google analytical essay and narrative essay before you unload your drivel on other people? This "essay" is a fic - while there's some character analysis, the emotive language should be sufficient clue that the focus is the story. It’s like reading The Fifth Elephant then writing to Sir Pratchett to argue his “essay on Discworld” is factually incorrect because it offers no support for the idea that the Earth is flat.

Steve is self-sufficient. He is not shown as requiring Bucky as foundational to his being. (…) We do know Steve was willing and expecting to go it alone after Sarah's death and that he is fully confident in his own abilities; he can "do this all day." Bucky's offer at the apartment earns a small smile, not a great overcoming.

I enjoyed how you, at multiple points in your essay, pick at certain turns of (evocative) phrasing while ignoring actual canon mentions. Explain why you deliberately omitted my mention of the canon phrase "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky". Sure, Sarah was Steve's touchstone, but Steve's words clearly indicated that upon Sarah's death, that touchstone role shifted to Bucky.

Steve's "I can do this all day" is said a total of 4 times during all the movies. Each time he says it to a bully (one time he specifically says it to protect Bucky), and never in relation to his emotional turmoil. Also just, factually, he never references "I can do this all day" when Sarah dies can you be real for a sec.

It's mighty rich of you to say a grieving person who had JUST BURIED HIS SOLE LIVING RELATIVE that a) "he is willing to do it alone" - I can guarantee no one who has lost their sole beloved family member feels "willing" in that situation; and b) downplaying the smile that took all of Steve's energy to muster. All I can conclude is you know nothing of grief. (And since you love the word "disservice" so much - your interpretation of the scene is a fucking disservice to CEvans' acting.)

Steve's choice to go to war has nothing to do with Bucky. Steve has tried five times to enlist and stated his reasons, which have nothing to do with Bucky and everything to do with not liking bullies.

Because, you know, saying “I want to join the 107th cos I’m gay for my best friend” is going to go down real well in the 1940s military *snerks*

Can you get your head out of your ass for one minute and consider that people make decisions based on multiple factors? By acknowledging that Bucky is an important factor in Steve wanting to join the war DOES NOT MINIMISE STEVE'S MORAL COMMITMENT TO FIGHT BULLIES.

Steve is also not aghast at hearing Bucky's assignment. - Back this up.

Bucky does not believe in pre-serum Steve as much as pre-serum Steve believes in himself. - Right. *In Bucky’s tired voice* Because simply ~*♫~believing in yourself~*♫~ is going to stop you getting killed. This is a fucking war, not a back alley. Do you know the death rate for US soldiers in WW2? 1 in 40. For perspective, the death rate from coronavirus is currently sitting at 1 in 70.

Whether Bucky went to war or not, Steve wanted to go. - Again, back your ass-umptions up.

Steve was told Bucky was dead. He was going to try to rescue the rest of the 107th. Again, to suggest that Steve's courageous act is about Bucky is a disservice to Steve.

So not only do you remember fuck all about the movie where it doesn’t involve your fave, you apparently remember fuck all about the scenes where YOUR FAVE APPEARS.

P*ggy: “What do you plan to do, walk to Austria?” Steve: “If that’s what it takes.” P*ggy: “You heard the Colonel. Your friend is most likely dead.” Steve: “You don’t know that.”

NOW LOOK THOSE WORDS IN THE EYES AND TELL ME HIS RESCUE MISSION IS NOT ABOUT BUCKY.

Also, Steve wanting to rescue his best friend is a "disservice" to his character? Condolences to your friends and your character, I guess.

It is strange to ignore Steve's interactions with people other Bucky. Okay here we go, we’re finally getting to why this steaming trash heap landed in my inbox. It's Peggy who - I knew it. I fucking knew it. Of course it came from someone who likes Miss I-need-to-make-everything-about-me - appreciated pre-serum Steve at the flagpole - Oh you mean the appreciation she showed by not uttering a single word to him?

Peggy and Erskine supported pre-serum Steve's drive to do his part when Bucky did not. It seems truer to say that they more likely "kept Steve afloat" during his basic training, of which Bucky had no part.

Hold on. *walks off to cackle* *walks back, wheezing*. P*ggy kept Steve afloat? Miss-never-said-a-single-word-to-Steve-P*ggy, “supported” Steve during his basic training??

Again, I urge you to actually watch CATFA, where *checks notes* your fave has her biggest movie role. AFTER STEVE FINISHES BASIC TRAINING, the two of them sit in a car and exchange the infamous lines:

P*ggy: “You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?” Steve: “I think this is the longest conversation I’ve had with one.”

They have, by their own admission, not had a conversation before this, so which bull’s ass did you pull the “P*ggy kept Steve afloat during his basic training” shit out of?

There is nothing in the scenes to suggest he finds it a great miracle. The whole assumption of Steve's reaction seems to be a Bucky-centric projection rather than Steve-centric.

No, honey, I think you are just blinded by your Bucky hate. You looked at a scene where 2 characters (including your fave) claimed that Bucky is no longer alive, and Steve himself said, "I thought you were dead" - and Bucky was, against all odds and expectations of at least 3 different characters, found alive...and said, NAH NAH NAH NAH there's nothing here! There's nothing~here~to~suggest~it's a miracle.

Honestly I think you're the one living in a different plane of projection.

When Steve awakens in the future, his line to Fury is "I had a date." With Peggy, not Bucky.

Pfft he said “I had a date”, not "I had a date with P*ggy". So your interpretation is just as invalid.

And just, realistically, do you really think Steve is deluded enough to expect he’d wake up in time for a dance? And...do you really think Steve is desperate enough that he'd go for a woman who blasted him with live rounds for locking lips with another woman? When in your own words you said he hates bullies?

We do not know what Steve thought as he died, so saying he is content with death is not supported.

How about this -- "we do not know what Steve thought as he died, so saying he is not content with death is not supported". It’s my conjecture against yours and you’ve come onto my turf to be a presumptuous prick.

He has Peggy and Natasha. To ignore these two relationships seems to do a disservice to both characters.

Ah yes, the great relationship with P*ggy, who in 5 minutes of her screen time is characterised by: 1) mocking Steve as “dramatic” when he asks for guidance, and 2) her florid delirium in which he had to pull the emotional labour to placate her, and 3) her being grateful that she's led a great life without Steve.

If oldwoman!P*ggy was such an important relationship to Steve, he wouldn't have lamented to Natasha that "it's not easy finding someone with shared experience".

If there is any lesson Steve should learn in the modern day, it is that Steve sacrifices and Bucky leaves. Once involuntarily with the Snap, but twice voluntarily.

WHO THE FUCK HURT YOU AND MESSED UP YOUR BRAIN. I don't know how you can look at those scenes and pretend that the sole victim is Steve.

(Actually I can, because it's a common refrain from certain shit!stans who can't deal with the idea of Bucky being morally good)

Bucky sacrificed his own freedom and lived time in order to protect other people from getting hurt. And Bucky being involuntarily "Snapped" only counts as "Steve's sacrifice"?? The one who actually dies/gets Snapped isn't making a sacrifice? My gods the logic in this one is strong. (Also by referring to Bucky's death as Steve's sacrifice you have inadvertently acknowledged just how important Bucky is to him but I guess that flew over your head like the rest of this story)

It also ignores that Steve lived five years without all of those people. He had accepted the loss and changed into someone they would never truly know or understand.

Mate…

Do you hear yourself…

YOU LITERALLY WROTE THE COUNTERARGUMENT TO YOUR ENTIRE ESSAY.

Steve lived TWELVE YEARS WITHOUT YOUNG P*GGY. He had ACCEPTED THE LOSS (although, in my mind, it's really no big loss) and BOTH OF THEM HAD CHANGED INTO COMPLETELY UNRECOGNISABLE PEOPLE, not to mention they never truly knew or understood each other to begin with. So if your logic is that Steve has changed too much in 5 years to be around his old friends, why the fuck would he want to be around a woman he last saw 12 years ago and who he knew got an entire happy married life with another man. Eww.

I mean if NTR is your kink that's fine but no need to flaunt that on my turf.

The fun thing about fandom is that canon is open to different interpretations. You could read the tavern scene to say P*ggy is inviting Steve to be her right partner, just as I could point out that Steve’s pointed silence is a resounding rejection of that invitation.

But there is incorrect fandom etiquette, and that’s when you stomp into an innocuous narrative musing and start a ship war.

And I beg of you to learn another word from "disservice".

(The whole pile of horse shit for anyone needing to have their blood boiled)

[kyuohki]

27. I'm actually gonna ask the same thing I asked smaller-comfort. tell me your personal SoS lore for your fics. Your headcanons. I want to know your interpretation of characters and worldbuilding!

I have so, *so* many. I apologize now for the length!

I can't remember if this is addressed in game, but headcanon that Aephorul is extremely skilled at traveling through space/dimensions. Also headcanon that he *can* travel through time as well, it's just more difficult for him to do so (doesn't have a Vial of Time like Resh'an does, but has his own way of doing it.)

Contradictory to canon, Dwellers *can* be killed without Solstice Warriors, but it's extremely difficult to do so (and at extreme loss of life and destruction of the surrounding area). After Resh'an figured out that Solstice magic is the best chance at defeating Dwellers without all the immense fallout, he propaganda-ed the hell out of the worlds to make it seem like *only* Solstice Warriors are able to fight them to mitigate the losses; then implemented his Cult for Child Soldiers(TM) to ensure that those Warriors wouldn't question it. (Honestly, the whole thing is Resh'an's answer to the Trolley Problem).

People who are born *close* to a Solstice, but miss the actual day, have a huge boost to their magical potential. Much higher chance for elemental magic that corresponds to the Solstice they're near.

Borrowed from @smaller-comfort, but Resh'an has a system of puppets on the various worlds/dimensions that deal with *most* of the Solstice Born and deliver them to their Mooncradle/equivalent. Those that he sees have an extremely high potential of success, he delivers personally (Valere and Zale, for instance).

Parents of Solstice Born are given advance warning by the Great Eagle Puppet landing on their home, sometimes even arriving before the parents realize they're gonna have a baby themselves. This is to give the family time to come to terms with having to part with their child. If the parents do not name the baby, then the current Headmaster will on their arrival at Mooncradle.

Minor Mooncradle headcanon: The beard that younger Moraine, Brugaves, and Garl sport is unique to Mooncradle. They start growing it out in their 20s (mustache is optional, but is usually started around 40-50's).

Another Minor Mooncradle headcanon, and Trio Headcanon: Kids keep their hair about shoulder length until they hit their teens, then they can do what they want (though most keep it long anyway). Zale *hated* the long hair, and snuck out to chop it all off with stolen shears (a couple of years before they sneak into the Forbidden Cavern). When he got in trouble, Garl did the same in solidarity (though he managed a much neater cut to his hair); Valere never cut her hair bc she likes the length, though would help Zale and Garl keep their hair shorn short (either by standing guard while they cut it, or cutting it herself (it's usually neater when she does it. Zale usually gets impatient and ends up hacking at it. Eventually the adults give up on enforcing the hair rule for them.

Monsters are on the rise, both because of the ones being developed in Aephorul's Lair and sent out to the game world, and the Acolytes also doing whatever they could to boost them (monster farmers?? *snerk*). A lot of smaller villages/towns get overrun and are either completely destroyed, or people end up just leaving their homes and making their way to larger cities for the protections they provide (why Brisk looks/feels so sprawling and diverse; also why some get desperate enough to try for Lucent (not believing the warnings/tales and getting stuck).

All the cyborgs on Serai's world have actually been around for a long, long time. None of them can really remember exactly how long anymore, due to their trauma of being turned into cyborgs along with all the continuous torture from the Dweller of Dread.

Serai is related to the Queen that Was (going for niece, atm), and part of her desperation to fix everything is because of that (though she can't fully remember *why*, she feels responsible for it all.)

The Queen That Was had been a powerless figurehead for the government in the Megacity, and had made a deal with Aephorul or one of his followers, to grab for power for herself and humans against the other races.

Tentative idea is that Cedric (computer aide to Serai) was a scientist whose experiments/designs were stolen and repurposed into the Catalyst. He learned what was happening, and before he could be captured and forced into the Catalyst himself, managed to upload himself into a computer in Repine (saving his soul from the Dweller). As time went by, he became more like a computer/machine himself until it was just assumed that he is an AI when found by Serai.

Songsters were little guys! Look like an anthropomorphic cat, with a very long, prehensile tail (resembles a cougar/snowy leopard in shape.) Broad shouldered, are very strong, but short and stocky (ranging around 3 or 4 feet in height.) Hands are 5 fingered, but feet are broad paws to aid in climbing (so no shoes for these guys). Very large ears, and their faces don't really lose a kitten-ish look; there is a huge variety of fur types and colors. Clothing is loose and draped when not working/building; more for decoration than protection (they wear more when dealing with other races, to account for differing race stances on nudity). They have specific clothes they wear when building, for fur/body protection (PPE, like little hard hats, special boots, etc).

Songster cities were designed to look like they sprung up with nature, as balanced as they possibly could with their environment. They had magic and tech to make life comfortable, even in the smallest villages. Their tech was pretty advanced, and built to blend in and be unobtrusive.

Human cities lean more to high urban and tech, though they do have many pockets for greenery (parks and the like). Essentially like how Star Trek and Star Wars "utopia" cities are depicted? All clean lines or heavy industrial and super integrated with tech and machines (leaning more towards Star Wars. There are still slums and underlying issues that are swept under the rug).

The Birdmen were not necessarily less technologically advanced, but their religion/culture made it look as if they were. Like the Songsters, they built their structures to work with nature, but with as little influence on the "wild" areas as possible. They have technology, but is integrated into their structures to not be as obvious as the other races; and due to their religion, some technology is simply forgone. (In game the Sacrosanct Spires is very heavy on the stone structures, integrated with nature, but the huge root system and cut branches suggests a lot of it was cut down and back? Possibly something that happened during/after Aephorul's influence). Their preference is to keep as much of their history/religion/culture intact, so they appeared to be less advanced. (Birdmen were possibly dissmissed by humans (and even by Songsters?) as being hidebound to their religion and less advanced as a result, and that might have been a driving force as to why they sided with Aephorul).

The Megacity was built as an attempt at strengthening a developing peace between the races, with the Songsters doing a lot of the design, but all contributing to it's development (definitely prior to the Cult getting a firmer stranglehold on the Birdmen.)

Before Aephorul arrived and set up his stronghold, there were a lot of wars between the Birdmen and Humans, as well as civil wars between Humans. In the height of strength in the megacity, there was ultimately a huge grab for power by the Queen That Was to solidify humans as the ones in charge instead of being governed by a congress of all races.

[swaps55]

Always

Prompt in the Big Place discord server: write a scene using the words survivor, cluster, and friend.

Instead of a scene it turned into a 2k fic, whatchagonnado.

In which Kaidan and Kara Pendergrass have a very ace conversation.

~

It’s late morning before Kara stumbles out the screen door, blinking into the sunlight, to find Alenko swaying lazily back and forth in the porch swing. A smile touches his face as the voices of Shepard and Aslany carry up the hill from the barn, followed by the whinny of a horse.

Kara sits heavily on the swing beside him, disrupting his moment of quiet contemplation, but she makes up for it by handing him a coffee thermos. “I threw out Shepard’s shit and made this.”

“Thanks,” Alenko says, flashing her a grin. He smiles a lot more these days. They all do, really. Even Aslany.

Alenko takes a long, grateful sip from the thermos. No matter how much you love a guy like Shepard, you can’t love his coffee.

“Think the real survivors of the reapers were everyone who had to drink his bullshit,” she remarks, pushing her foot off the ground to start the swing again and tucking her leg underneath her.

“Yeah, maybe,” Alenko says with a chuckle. He always indulges her stupid jokes.

They sit in comfortable silence. The wind makes the trees wave. The orchard is a lot…friendlier in the summer. The leaves and the blooms and the sun and the warmth make it feel a lot different than that cold winter where reaper cannibals and husks crept in the woods.

Now there’s just deer.

“Surprised he got her in the barn,” Kara says, nodding down the hill. After that string of terrible nights sleeping on haybales and keeping a sniper’s perch in the loft, staring at the clusters of trees and waiting for nightmares to emerge, Aslany had sworn she’d never come here again. But here they are.

“You know Shepard,” Alenko says, lost in thought now. “He’s hard to say no to.”

“She trusts him.”

Alenko gives her the look he gives when he’s putting some pieces together she’s not gonna like. “She trusts you, too.”

Kara shakes her head and draws her feet up onto the swing, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. “But she doesn’t think she has to protect him. Me? She has to protect me.”

“We all protect each other. Always have.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just…different with her.” She scowls in frustration. She’s never been good at explaining things. “I can’t take care of her the way she takes care of me. It’s not just a squad thing.”

“Kara, we haven’t been ‘just squad’ in a very long time. Any of us.”

She snerks. “You mean since you started getting naked with one of the squad?”

A flush creeps up the back of his neck. It’s so easy to poke at him sometimes she can’t help herself. “You know what I mean.”

She does, sometimes. But other times…she doesn’t get it at all. She spends about as much time with Aslany as Alenko does with Shepard. If she didn’t have Aslany to spend all her time with and talk her ear off over bad Chinese food that Aslany loves for some reason, she probably wouldn’t spend her time with anyone.

And living alone sounds…well, she’d rather not think about living alone. Too many monsters in her head. Aslany’s, too, based on some of the nights they’ve spent sitting in front of the holoscreen at three in the morning, watching one of Shepard’s stupid B movies and not talking about what happens when they fall asleep.  

Friend doesn’t feel like the right word, which is why she’s always fallen back on squad. But they have no orders to follow anymore, and the only fighting they do these days are chicken fights in the lake. She’s never had a sister, and Aslany shuts down whenever the word ‘sister’ gets thrown around, so that one’s out.

They’ve never fucked. It’s never come up. But it didn’t come up for Shepard and Alenko for a long time before they finally did, and despite all the details Beaudoin shared on the ‘Yang, she doesn’t actually understand how these things work.

She blows a puff of air out the side of her mouth. “When did you know you wanted to fuck him?”

Alenko chokes on his coffee. She pats him patiently on the back until he stops.

“Um,” he manages.

She gives him an expectant look. He hems and haws for a while. Sometimes you just have to be patient while he works things out in his head.

“Why do you want to know?” he says finally.

“Well, at some point you changed from just being squad to sucking his dick, so—”

He holds up one hand to stop her and rubs the bridge of his nose with the other. “Can you just…can you call it…something else?”

“Sucking face?”

“Okay, fine. Sure. I’ll take what I can get.”

He stops talking. The swing creaks. She raises an expectant eyebrow. At first he pretends he doesn’t see it, but eventually he swears under his breath.

“My feelings, uh, changed a few months into the first tour.”

“Damn. You already wanted to fuck him just a few months—”

“No. I don’t work like that. I need…time before that happens. But—” He gestures helplessly. It shouldn’t be so funny to see Alenko so pitiable. He sighs in defeat. “Do you remember Mavigon?”   

“Mavigon.”

“Yeah.”

“The ice storm? That his dumb ass got us stuck in?”

Alenko’s face gets redder by the second. “Yeah. Uh. Well, you know, when it got cold that night and we all had to..."

She dissolves into laughter. “Wait, wait wait wait, no. You wanted to fuck him on Mavigon?”

Alenko’s face does all the stuff it does when he plays out an argument in his head, loses, and concedes without opening his mouth. “Yeah. Okay? Yes. I wanted to fuck him on Mavigon.”

“Still, like, a decade before you actually fucked him.”

“It wasn't a decade.”

Kara shakes her head in admiration and then sniggers. “You are the only person I know who can have both literal and figurative blue balls.”

“Wow, I am really feeling the love and support after offering up some very personal information I’ve never even told Shepard, so—”

“Wait, he doesn’t know how close he came to getting railed on Mavigon?”

“Kara.”

She holds up her hands in surrender. “He won’t hear it from me. On purpose.”

Alenko groans. She grins.

She kicks her feet to get the swing moving again. “Okay, so. What does that…feel like? Wanting to have sex with someone?”

He arches an eyebrow. “Are you wanting to have sex with someone?”

“No. I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. How do you know?”

Now he actually looks thoughtful. “Well. It’s different from me than for a lot of people.”

“You mean Beaudoin?” She snickers into the back of her hand.

“Yeah,” Alenko says, though something sad flicks across his face. Guilt flashes through her. She always forgets that the others still think about his death before they think about his life. “For me I tend not to notice the physical stuff beyond aesthetics, at least not right away.”

“And then, what, one day Shepard’s ass is all you can think about?”

Now he actually cracks a smile. “No. Not quite like that. I just…couldn’t stop thinking about him. All of him. Not one particular piece. Wanted to be around him all the time, hear everything he had to say. When he wasn’t around I just had this…knot in my chest. At some point I started imagining what it would feel like to kiss him and then it, uh. Went from there.”

She scrunches her nose. Kissing Aslany is such an alien thought she can’t even picture it when she tries. Probably not a good sign. “Okay.”

“Why do you ask?”

Her turn to hem and haw a little. She considers lying, but lying never works with Alenko, so she just says it. “I don’t want Aslany to leave me.”

He sits up straighter. “What do you mean?” 

She shrugs a moody shoulder. “I don’t know. She’s my Shepard. But we’re not like you and Shepard. We don’t fuck. We don’t even hold hands, and yeah, I’d kinda like to hold hands sometimes but I don’t wanna get punched and I don’t think I wanna fuck, but I don’t know what it feels like to want to fuck someone, and she does like fucking people and I don’t want to lose her because we don’t.” She stops to catch her breath.

Alenko looks at her for a long time without speaking. She squirms.

“How long have you been worrying about this?”

She stares out at the trees. “Dunno. A while, I guess.”

“Kara. Hey.” He waits until she meets his gaze. “Just because it doesn’t look like what Shepard and I have doesn’t make it mean any less. To you or to her. Everyone’s different. Sex isn’t a requirement for a relationship. Or whatever you want it to be. You get to define it. Even if that means not defining it.”

She nods, and looks back down the hill as Shepard leads his horse out of the barn, Aslany walking a safe distance away. Shepard may be hard to say no to, but even Shepard isn’t going to get Aslany to not be afraid of a horse.

“She cares about you more than most people care about anything,” Alenko says quietly, like he’s seeing a few of his own monsters. “She’s not ever leaving you behind.”

They’ve all seen a lot of shit. Lot of it they’ve seen together.

Shepard leans lazily against the fence, watching the horse graze. He says something and Aslany laughs. Kara’s heart tightens. But…in a good way.

“Thanks, boss,” she says quietly. He puts an arm around her, and she snuggles up to his side. Maybe he’s right. Maybe they’re all more than squad. But squad was pretty good, too.

~

That afternoon they shake the chicken teams up, and it’s Aslany and Alenko against Kara and Shepard in the lake. Shepard complains about her bony ass on his shoulders the entire time, but it’s affectionate, and he does a lot of crowing when they finally manage to dethrone Aslany. After they’ve had enough, Shepard uses his biotics to throw Kara around in the water for a while. They finally climb out when the sun starts to get golden but there’s still warmth in the air. Aslany and Kara lay on their towels and stare up at the sky while Shepard pins Alenko to the ground and makes wisecracks between kisses, grin the size of a planet every time Alenko laughs.

Kara watches them idly, then looks over at Aslany, who ignores them completely. Instead the folds her arms behind her head, her dark hair splayed out behind her head in a wet clump. She closes her eyes and sighs in contentment, her usual standing scowl replaced by not quite a smile.

She might be the most gorgeous person Kara has ever seen, but. Nope. Doesn’t want to kiss her. Or anything else.

“Hey, Aslany. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”    

Kara chews her lip. There’s a cloud in the sky that looks like a pyjack. “Are you ever gonna leave me?”

Aslany lolls her head to the side, the contentment replaced by the look she gives someone who asked a stupid question. “The day you tell me to go, I guess.”

“I’m never gonna say that.”

“Then I’m never leaving.”

Kara grins. “Good.”

Aslany nods in satisfaction before turning her attention back to the sky.

Alenko always makes things make sense. Aslany always makes things so simple.

“Ready to head back to the house?” Shepard asks.

Kara picks her head up. Alenko is still pinned beneath him and looks quite happy to be there. “Dunno, you done sucking face yet?” Alenko gives her the finger, but he’s grinning.

Shepard considers her question. “For now.”

“Then yeah, I guess.” She gets to her feet and offers Aslany a hand to pull her up. They gather their towels and the bag Alenko always brings, because part of him will always be a medic prepared to take care of them when they’re far from home. Shepard starts talking about the B-movie he’s going to inflict upon them when they get home as they walk, Kaidan’s hand gripped firmly in his.

Kara falls into step beside Aslany, like always. But not like always, Aslany reaches out and laces their fingers. It’s awkward, like she doesn’t really know how to do it. Neither of them do, really, and that’s why it’s perfect. Kara beams. Aslany squeezes her hand, with a tiny, tentative smile.

Maybe from some angles, it does look like Alenko and Shepard. From others, it doesn’t. But whatever it is, it’s theirs. And it’s good. And it’s always.

It’s the always part she likes the most.

[triscribe]

That do be a Hazard with long hair x'D

I accidentally cut my hair while trying wrap gifts & i have never felt so dumb in my life

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/740136068340482048/the-funniest-dni-i-ever-encountered-in-all-my-12?source=share

As a House Martell stan, it's been interesting to watch the evolution of that particular corner of the ASOIAF fandom over the years. For a while, because they were less present on the show (and their actual focus on the show was pretty bungled), they were mostly the favorites of superfans who'd read the books and therefore were deeply devoted to the whole ASOIAF universe, and given how much that means memorizing various types of Targaryen incest over the years, were almost never antis. A lot of people were also drawn to that they were the ~sexy, liberated house, as well as there being a fair number of POC who identified with some of the few non-white people in those books who were actually fully-realized characters (in the books, not so much in the show). IME it was usually people who were also shipping a lot of the other popular "problematic" ships in the fandom like Jaime/Cersei and Sansa/Petyr Baelish.

Then, at some point - particularly after the show ended and the fandom shrunk a lot - it got infected with a bunch of people writing long essays about how Daenerys and the entire Targaryen family were inherently "white supremacist" (previously, it had been more common for POC and other fans who focused on anti-racism to stan Daenerys, and point out that what the final season did with her was some white bullshit that tried to conflate killing oppressors like slavers with killing poor downtrodden people) and there ended up being a fandom fight between those people who saw the Targaryens as the more racist house or the Starks, but they all stanned Martells but in a very shallow sort of way just because they were the POC house. It's also worth nothing that Dorne has equal primogeniture - women can inherit, and in the books it's Doran's eldest daughter, Arianne, who is his heir, even though he has two younger sons - and it also is more accepting of LGBTQ+ people and bastards and general "sex outside of marriage" than most of the rest of Westeros, so it attracts a lot of people who are into them for that reason. I mean, I like them for that reason among others, but of course that's going to be a magnet to people who want to prove that they're extra special progressive for stanning them over like, the Lannisters.

Also, probably worth noting, the people in the second group were generally younger. Book-centric fans generally tend to be older IME in ASOIAF fandom. I feel like whenever a fandom is younger, there's more likely to be more anti behavior.

Anyway it was very weird to get back into ASOIAF when I read Fire and Blood and then when House of the Dragon started airing, and feeling like "my corner" of the fandom had become completely unrecognizable in my absence.

Also, I suspect it's probably drawing in some people who just really like Pedro Pascal. (It was better when it was drawing in the Alexander Siddig stans from DS9 fandom, snerk. Although even that fandom has had an obnoxious influx of younger purity-policing virtue-signalling types discovering it these days, writing stupid discourse about how Garak/Garashir is problematic and people should instead ship characters who don't like each other that much and don't interact much one-on-one because the combinations of them are more progressive or something.... sigh! Anyway, probably not helped by the fact that Game of Thrones completely wasted him, even though his character was one of the best ones in the books and a big one that drew me into loving House Martell. He would've been great as book!Doran, but alas....)

I'm also going to say that as others have pointed out, I'll always be mystified by the fact that ASOIAF even HAS antis. If you're that opposed to incest, age-disparate relationships, violence, etc. anything controversial, how can you stan the actual canon of that show? Or the books, which arguably have even more rape and incest and ephebephilia going on. It just seems like you'd have to have a very adversarial relationship with canon to a point that I just don't understand why you don't pick another fandom. Of course, it's probably really just that antis are hypocrites.

--

Hypocrites, yes. But also drawn to material that they're not comfortable being drawn to. The younger they are, the more the cognitive dissonance makes them act out.

I don't condone it, but I do understand it.

[digeethegenie]

It's All in the Cards.

Day 14 - Telling Endwalker (6.0) - Endwalker CW - Wounds, Death With apologies to all Persona users, and @nshi-ao3, in particular.

An intence scowl crossed Yujo's face as she looked at the proped up bed table in front of her. She crossed her arms, deep in thought as she looked at the cards that sat on the table.

The first card was a cartoonish drawing of a chocobo dressed like Emperor Solus in his early years (which was to say it was Alpha in an Emet Selch costume), the second was the same cartoon chocobo running away from a train with a skull on its front, and the last was of a Pink chocobo- a girl, presumably- sitting on a throne.

She thought outloud, her hum ringing through the dorm room. "The Lord of Crowns, Doom, The Lady of Crowns."

Sitting on a seat next to the bed, Urianger nodded before adding. "And their meaning will hold true given thou drew them in astral. As in Upright."

It had been over a fortnight since Yujo and the Scions had returned from their battle at the edge of space. Ever since that day, Yujo, who had fought beyond her mortal limit, was stuck in bed, being fussed over by every healer, churgon and alchimest Sharlia could get their hands on and even a coulpe of practicationers of the healing artes from without.

The problem was that doing nothing; sitting in bed, and staring at the cealing, all day was capital B Boring, and she had the feeling that she was more to die from boredom than complications from her wounds with her fights with the Endsinger and Zenos.

So to that end, when she was visited by the Scions, she asked Urianger for a favor.

"I want to learn Astrology."

It was just something to keep herself ocupied, her mind engaged, and herself moving whilst she recovered.

To that end, the verbose elezan bought her a set of cards intended to help children leran the basics of the arte of divination.

Jokingly, and with a lot more words, he called it a gift for the whole "saving all of existance" business.

That the chocobo in the deck bore a resemblance to Alpha was a conincidence, as the paintings used for the illustrations had been made over 50 years ago.

Yujo, however, couldn't help but wonder.

With a final hum, she spoke, "The Lord represents stability and discipline, in the future slot, it is saying that, even though things are quiet right now, I should still focus on training."

She looked at Urianger who had a slight look of concern on his face.

"When I'm fit, of course!" she said, laughing off the look.

A joke that was a little less convicing when she had tried to sneek off to make use of the training dummies in Labyrinthos. An attempt that was imediately tharted by Krile but not before she could accidently burst open one of her stiches and colapse.

With an 'anyroad', Yujo continued.

"In the present slot, Doom represents… well, kinda what's going on right now, right? Transformation, Change, the Terror of Death and what not?"

Urianger nodded but then interjected. "What many a first time practicationer mistake- and fear- in Doom, is its assocation to death. Upright, it is about transistions. The end of our mortal days being but one of them."

Yujo found herself lost in thought about that, given Metion, The Meteia, and their expereinces with death across the universe. Then she closed her eyes and tried to shake off all the times she both nearly- and did- cross the mortal border herself.

"But your read is indeed correct" added Urianger with a smile.

Smiling back, Yujo focused on the final card. "And the fortune slot has The Lady which…" she blushed slightly. "No, I don't think that makes much sense. It's about fertility and what not. I don't think anyone we know is going to have a child. Do you, Uri?"

Being caught off guard by the question, Urianger blushed and coughed. "Yes, Well, The Cards are but a signpost. So what they represent and what meaning astrologins take from them can be two entirely diffrent things."

Yujo hummed for a moment before she snerked back a laugh. "Could you imagine if this was talking about the creation magicks of the Anchents? Man, could you even think about that, using cards to summon egil or something?"

The idea, catching Urianger off guard, made him laugh as well. "Yes, it's quite preposperous! Using cards to summon! What a silly notion!"

As the two laughed, in another time, another place- a whole other Etheris, even- A young man, of early university age and with the mask of Mistbeard over his head, came to a sudden stop, causing the rest of his party, a well dressed gentleman of simmlar age and a simmarly well dressed and aged mi'qote woman, to stop too.

"Jonkler?" The mi'qote asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Er, no. It's just… I just had the strange and sudden urge to punt both Urianger and a three foot tall lalafell woman and I have no idea why…"

At that, Nashu Mhakaraacca tilted her head, a physical question mark appearing over her for a moment before the three went on their way to meet up with the man the inspector had come to 'Greg.'

[jttwlmkaddiction]

Low key but also high key the reason Wukong never shapeshifts away his tail is not really because he’s lazy (but is a lil bit) but mostly because (he won’t fully admit it but everyone knows) it’s major flex.

“Yeah, snerk, I know you tooootally believe I am what ever I’m trying to be but also check out the tail. I’m not hiding who I am at all. Ever. Why? I don’t need to. I WANT you to notice and crap your pants when you realize who you’re dealing with rn. Go on. Challenge me. Do it.”

Can you imagine anything more terrifying than glancing over in the middle of dinner or at at your headstand in the middle of the night and realizing there is a fly or mosquito or whatever only to realize it has a GD monkey tail swishing around?

Day 2

[stuck-in-2012]

A proper Christman gift

S01E03 Doomed

“I made an exact mashed potato replica of principal coulson!” Sam smiled as he held out the faux head on a tray.

“...and a potato sculptor,” Peter thought to himself.

S01E09 Field Trip

“Hey check it out!” Sam turns over his shoulder to show the coloured sketch he drew to Peter. “Pretty cool right? I’m gonna see if Fury will pay for the spikes.”

S01E17 Snow Day

“Uhh my bad.” Sam frowned down at Luke as he dumped out the sand he intended to use on his now ruined sculpture.

S02E02 Electro

“You just got own-dizzled, old style!” Sam held out the large paper he'd been using for the game of pictionary.

AKA: no one talks about how much of an artist Sam is! / The first holiday episode made me mad, so I added a happy ending.

“Bunny slippers are just… ach!”

Danny and Peter made eye contact at Sam’s reaction. Pete had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing and spoiling everything, though he could see the tiny hint of mischief in Danny's smile.

After getting the oversized hat, Peter looked back at Sam’s disgruntled face, allowing himself to snerk and giggle. Sam made a glare and went to lash out at Pete being an ass but was cut off when Danny also gave a small huff. Peter took off the hat, smiled, and reached behind the couch. “Dude, we’re not that mean.”

Pete pulled out a large wrapped object. At seeing the colourful paper, Sam shoved the gag-gift and box onto the floor. The boy was skeptical given the relation between Spidey and Nova, but Danny was in on it too -and Peter said “we”- so Sam had some trust that whatever was in this box would actually be a gift. The fact that it was a semi large box didn’t hurt his intrigue, either. The box was about two by one foot but only three inches tall, give or take.

Peter stepped over to Sam's place on the couch and handed him the box, Sam's hand bobbed down, surprised at the weight. Not heavy, but heavi-er­ than he was expecting. Peter and Danny both had beaming smiles, they almost seemed more excited for Sam’s gift than he was.

“Ya gonna open it or what?” Ava snarked.

Sam rolled his eyes at her and tore into the paper. The first satisfying shred exposed a leathery texture. Sam ran his fingers over the surface, again surprised, before continuing. Revealed, was a large though thin case with golden coloured clasps and handle to carry.

“A brief case?” Sam had no issues this evening sharing displeasure.

“It’s what's inside the case, moron.” May nudged Peter lightly at his insult.

“We do believe you will be rather fond of its contents.” Danny’s smile had only grown bigger as the case was unveiled.

Sam flipped the latches in sinque and leant back as though something would jump out at him. He opened the case a crack to get a preview of what may be inside and was greeted with some odd shapes and bright colours. When the case was open fully, one would think it was full of cash with how Sam’s face lit up in wonder. His jaw dropped gently as his eyes practically sparkled.

“ih… It’s ok if you don’t like it.” Peter’s brow knit with worry.

Sam slammed the case closed and hugged it to his chest. “Don’t you dare!” He gave Peter a noticeably exaggerated expression of ‘I’m warning you’ and gave an extra lean away for emphasis.

“What is it, Sam?” May asked, almost coy. She knew of Peter's plan to do a gag gift but wasn’t aware of what the proper gift was.

Sam stumbled over words as an unbreakable smile stretched across his face. Not able to get out any coherent words, he opened the case back up and lay it flat on his lap. All along one side was a smooth gradient of coloured pencils. Stretched across the bottom, another pallet of oil paint tubes. White and metallic ink pens, oil pastels, a paint brush array, and collection of charcoal and graphite pencils.

“Damn,” Luke dragged out in approval.

Excited at Sam’s joy over something he did, Peter bounced with an open smile. “Oh it gets better.” Sam looked over in excitement and bafflement. How could this get even better?! “You see the little loops in the middle of the bottom? Pull.”

Sam did as instructed and the inside came out and split into two supported shelves. Underneath was again a full pallet of water colour paints and fancy markers. Sam sputtered and floundered over all the supplies.

“Sorry the top doesn’t open, too.” Peter teased apologetically.

Sam sputtered and waved his hands over the rainbows in his lap looking at Peter with a gleeful face. He, May, and Danny laughed happily at Sam’s reaction to the gift. Sam’s hands hovered over the different supplies, hesitant to disturb the pristine packaging each different material had.

Ava gave a light laugh as she said, “I think you broke him.”Sam sent a heatless glare at the girl before finally audibly laughing. He gave Peter and May an inquisitive look before giving a reverse not in Danny’s direction at the realization. This was no doubt expensive. There's no way the Parkers would be able to afford it without some juggling or over time but thankfully Pete went to Danny about it. If just Peter had busted his ass to make the cash, Sam would take it with no hesitation but seeing as May seemed in on everything, Sam didn’t like the idea of her putting in so much extra effort for something so frivolous. But Danny’s loaded, so forget all of that.

[continue?]

[thana-topsy]

Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @mongoose-bite ! Thanks so much, crunchy. :)

I'm tagging whoever else wants to chime in! I lose track of who all on here I should be tagging lol. Or who might actually want to participate in such a thing.

----

How many works do you have on AO3?

38

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 643,096 words Mostly written within the last 5 years!

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Breathing Water - My flagship fic for the longest time. It still holds up 4 years later! And I'm still simping for Neloth.

Halfway to the Sky - Coming in with only about 30 kudos less than BW, I'm always tickled and humbled and just so honored that so many people like this story.

The Shadow Over Solstheim - This one had the most kudos for the longest time just because it's my oldest multi-chapter fic. Baby's first foray into something more than a smutty one-shot! My writing is unpolished and my lore knowledge is amateurish at best, but it's just so full of verve.

Hollow Men - A fic I honestly didn't expect many people to read due to the subject matter, but one that's near and dear to my heart.

Invictus - The bonkers, off-the-rails sequel to Shadow Over Solstheim in which Topsy discovers TES Lore in real time as they write. I don't think I could ever write something this free again even if I wanted to. I'm too burdened by knowledge (much like Teldryn).

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to almost every comment, but sometimes I get stuck with Comment Paralysis and they just pile up in my inbox until I'm thoroughly overwhelmed. I read every single comment and blush and kick my feet excitedly, though.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm... I don't really do angsty endings. I like pleasant, contented endings, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes open-ended. But I guess Dreamers, my Hadvar/Ralof fic as it currently stands, has the angstiest ending. At least until I manage to finish the final chapter...

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Uhhhh... They're all pretty happy, from my perspective at least. Maybe Finding Mara takes home the gold for happiest ending. (Erandur takes home the gold, too -snerk-)

7. Do you write crossovers?

I have written exactly one crossover and it's the oldest fic on my AO3 (from 2014). Otherwise, they're fun to think about, but nah. Not really.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

If you count an entire series of callout posts, years of harassment, and people jumping to conclusions over a fic they never even read, then the answer is yes.

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

Yes. All kinds, but generally smut with a purpose. "Porn with plot" as they say. I write smut that zooms into the characters' heads, prys open their wants and desires and fears and insecurities. I write smut that can get a little hyper-realistic, to the point of sometimes being kind of gross. I write smut as a form of raw expression, people at their most vulnerable, literally stripped bare. It's one of my favorite things to write because it is an endless exercise in character study, in boundaries, in what it means to consent, and how the lines between who we think we are and what others perceive us to be get so easily blurred.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If I have, they've gotten away with it.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, once! Someone asked if they could translate the first chapter of Halfway to the Sky into Russian.

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

Yes, back when I first joined the TES fandom. Two of my fandom bests at the time co-wrote a couple of stories with me. One is posted to AO3 (Ceasefire), and the other was a horny, whirlwind, feverdream of a fic that the other author and I mutually agreed we would probably never share with the greater world lol. We are still bests to this day and I often revisit that fic in awe and bafflement of our energy.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

It's so tough to choose, honestly, but I gotta go with Neloth/Teldryn, because it just took me by surprise and spun out into something so wild and wonderful.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I never say never with my WIPs. If I've learned anything over the past 5 years in this fandom, it's that I'll pick an old WIP up on a whim. I do wanna get back to my Arvel the Swift WIP at some point. I also started working on a Dark Brotherhood-centric fic last year, too. And so help me Talos I am going to finish Dreamers.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. People talk in my head and I just write it down. It usually ends up sounding pretty natural. And pacing. I feel like I manage pacing pretty well and can make good calls as to when a scene is dragging or we need to skip forward in time a bit.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Wordiness. Relying too much on "feeling" words. Telling instead of showing more than I need to. Repetitive sentence structure. My goal in 2024 is to become more direct and succinct with my writing style.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Eh... I've done it before. I threw in a lot of Dunmeris and Ta'agra back in the day when I was first writing TES fic, but I'd say just use italics and translate what's being said. Or, alternatively, if the POV character can't understand what's being said, don't even use dialogue, just mention that it's being spoken. It's all gobbledygook to them anyways.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Yu Yu Hakusho (in 2004)

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I'm monogamous with my fandom currently, so I'd really love to write something with Cicero, because it's been a long time coming.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

That's really hard to choose. They're all my favorite when I'm writing them. Each fic is its own little relationship for me. I don't write things unless I'm absolutely in love with what I'm writing. So they're all my favorite, in that sense.

[sirianasims]

Meanwhile, Don is taking Luna Villareal out on a date.

“Oh, Moira! You come here often?”

Hey Moira, nice to see you’re on a date WITH YOUR HUSBAND for once.

“Thanks for inviting me out, Don. I must admit, I wasn’t sure if you were actually serious about going on a date. I mean, I’d heard that you settled down with some woman and had kids and everything.”

“Well, it’s true, Luna. I live with my girlfriend Alexandra and our two girls, well, technically only one of them is mine, but that hardly matters.”

Poor Luna looks so disappointed.

“Anyway, we’re in an open relationship, so I’m free to do whatever – and whoever – I want. And so is Alex, of course, although she hasn’t really been taking advantage of it. How is your Lobster Thermidor?”

“I had a great time tonight, Don, and I’d love to see you again… uh, also, are you and Alex… you aren’t married or anything, right?”

“No, but she is very important to me. I may play the field, but I would never leave her.”

Luna what are you doing THIS IS HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE

(Apparently things got so steamy that WickedWhims autonomy kicked in…)

Ahem. Back on track!

“Luna, my sweet – I’m not a one-woman Sim. Even if I left Alex, I could never give you the exclusive relationship you want.”

“But you can at least get a piece of me for now? You’re still very young, we can have fun as long as you want, and when you do find The One, there will be no hard feelings?”

I guess that’s a deal.

After a successful date, Don heads home invigorated.

*Sir David Attenborough voice* “We interrupt this legacy to take a look at a slightly atypical mating display. This teenage male, Alexander Goth, is currently doing sit-ups in the middle of the sidewalk while wearing a suit, in an attempt to woo local female Olivia Kim-Lewis. She does not, however, look impressed with his antics.”

Congratulations on making Dance Team Captain, Don! *snerk*

“Shut up, you know I make this look good.”

Good morning Brie! Today is a special day.

“You can’t fool me, I know my husband is in there RIGHT now!”

I mean, yes he is. But he has a good excuse this time!

Happy birthday, Brielle!

Aww, Brie is really taking after Johnny!

This is where we will end this chapter, as it is getting pretty long. Hopefully we will resolve the Dina situation next chapter!

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[writeforfandoms]

JEN I HAVE AN IDEA

What about shifter! 141 and they meet OC and they just assume that oc knows they're shifters because they never hold eye contact but one day they shift in front of them and oc is just like 'what the fuck?? You guys are shifters??' And everyone is really confused but it turns out that oc is actually autistic which is why they don't hold eye contact.

(As an autistic person I feel like I would do this lol)

-🐮

Lmao oh man that's funny. She's just so confused. Because eye contact?? Ew. No thanks. And she's unintentionally being super polite. This made me snerk so hard. Poor thing has no idea what's going on... of course the 141 are just as confused so I suppose it's fair 😂

[cirrus-grey]

Oooooh!!!! For the WIP game, I’d love to hear more about “The Interpretation of Dreams”!!

*snerk* you've managed to pick one of the very few NSFW fics on the list!

I used to have about 2k of draft on this one, but I lost it when my old phone bricked itself so now I'm down to a bare-bones plot outline. Basically, in S3 Jon gets sent a Leitner of "The Interpretation of Dreams" by Sigmund Freud which forces him to see the, ah, intimate dreams of whoever he last had skin contact with before falling asleep. He is very confused at first because:

A. Ace and isn't attracted to people that way and

B. Pining over Martin, why is he dreaming about Tim hooking up with some random barista???

...but he figures it out eventually.

I do still plan to rewrite/finish this one some day, but currently it's in the pile of "every time I sit down to write it I start comparing it to my memory of the original draft and the new one never lives up", so I might have to give it a while!