#WHY DID THIS POST INSTEAD OF SAVE TO MY DRAFTS. anyways. i have been thinking abt this au a lot for the past few days and i NEEDED to-

[james-spooky]

this is a test

[missionel]

EARTH DEFENDERS G

I came up with an AU for G Gundam, that's essentially MFGG if it were a western cartoon. That means it wouldn't be a Gundam show, so I gave it the name of "Earth Defenders G". I'll explain further under the readmore, but I will mention spoilers! (Not sure how many people care about G spoilers in the year 2023, but you can never be too sure.)

The current Shuffle Alliance is now known as the Earth Defenders. In addition, the ED includes Rain and Allenby. Because this is no longer Gundam, I have also renamed the mechs. Instead of fighting each other, they fight the "bad guy of the week".

The Earth Defenders and their mechs are:

Domon Kasshu and Shining Star / God Supernova

Chibodee Crocket and Roaring Maxter

George de Sand and Elegant Rose

Sai Saici and Raging Dragon

Argo Gulskii and Bolt Striker

Allenby Beardsley and Sailor Nobel

Rain Mikamura and Rising Star

The Earth Defenders report to a boss, that being Ulube Ishikawa.

The Shuffle Alliance still exists- it's just the "old" Shuffle Alliance + Domon as the King of Hearts. Master Asia is still the previous holder of that title. He is also still evil, and has pretty the same introduction and villain reveal as in MFGG. Master Gundam has been renamed to The Master of Darkness, or Master Umbra for short. Wong Yunfat is the main villain of EDG, being introduced as so right away, and appearing as early as a hypothetical Episode 2.

Back to the topic of evil giant robots, the Devil Gundam is of course the true main bad guy of the story, known as The Devil of the Abyss or Abyss Devil for short. It is initially piloted by Kyoji Kasshu, but around halfway through the story he is recovered from the cockpit, alive. The second Life Unit is Dr. Kasshu.

Schwarz Bruder retains his backstory and purpose, and he also lives after Kyoji is recovered + he reveals his true identity. Gundam Spiegel is renamed to Shadow Spiegel.

I am not exactly sure what I will do with the other Gundam Fighter characters. I know that the evil ones will stay evil, but as for characters like Hans Holger and Andrew Graham, I am not sure. This AU is very much still in development.

I really like the idea of a western cartoon version of G Gundam, especially since it's so much different from most other Gundam shows. Feel free to ask me about this AU! I'm open to suggestions as well!

[juuuulez]

Hiii, I hope I'm doing this right! I never made a request before.

I saw your Steve post, so what about Steve with a bit of a shy girl or like a blackcat girl. They are like pining for each other and she just shows it by baking him stuff.

If you don't like it no worries! I love your works <3 I hope you have a great day!!

SO CUTE!!! this has been rotting in my drafts but i think about it all the time…

like steve is a total idiot so he’s pulling out all the regular moves: he’s brought flowers to your doorstep four friday’s in a row, and each time all he gets is an awkward little thank you.

because he’s not gonna fuck this up, right? steve doesn’t want to be a total jackass like he has in the past, so he’s attempting to be a gentleman in order to woo you.

but it just doesn’t seem to be working. not that you seem uninterested, per se, just… not really picking up his hints. not biting the bait.

it’s cute how your face goes all red, and steve would love to tease you about it, for not the fact that you promptly retreat after every interaction.

and maybe he’s starting to give up a little :( to realise that you might not be that into him, that maybe he’s coming across as creepy and should save all this energy.

he’ll be complaining about it to dustin while in family video, munching absentmindedly on some cookies that are hiding under the counter. and dustin’s like, where the fuck did you get those?

“(y/n) made them.” steve would say, blunt and honest, not quite seeing the deeper meaning. “she drops them off when she returns a tape.”

“dude, are you serious?” dustin would be completely mind blown at this relevant of how fucking dense steve actually is.

“what? she bakes a lot, probably just has extra,” he’ll dismiss with a shrug. “it’s happened, like, five times now.”

after some long deliberation, a plan is constructed. yet, after all this time, steve is a little reluctant to believe dustin in thinking you’ve been dropping hints. but he’ll take it, anyway, because it’s the only hope he’s got.

two days later, steve is at your doorstep again. you open it with pursed lips, a nervous expression, ready to accept whatever little stupid gesture he has and completely embarrass yourself at the inability to say anything nice.

that’s why you’ve tried to show your appreciation, with cookies and cupcakes and brownies and blondies and shortbread. not that steve seems to be getting it.

but this time, instead of some colourful bouquet of roses (or whatever he could find in the neighbours front yard), steve puts his hands out to reveal:

a bag of flour.

“um,” he stammers, trying to accept the sheer stupidity of the gesture. “for your baking. you must.. go through a lot of it.”

the blush is all the same, a vision he’s accustomed to now, but the sparkle in your eye is different. this little grin overtakes your face, unable to keep it inside, shuffling awkwardly on the porch to pull the door open a little wider.

as usual, you step out to take the gift, feeling its weight in your hands.

steve half expects you to run away again, like usual, but this time the words bubble up your throat before your anxiety can squash them.

“do you want to come in?” you finally offer. “i can make you something fresh.”

[pumpkin-padparadscha]

What if I just read "The Art of Losing" by @wafflelate a million billion times because it's my favorite.

Anyway the rest of this post is just going to be me going !!!!! so, spoilers ahead

Things I think intensely about:

-how suna is going to react to Gaara deciding to become the kazekage

-how any detractors of his new position are going to be IMMEDIATELY shut down because the "first" thing he does is "contract with a seals mistress to get the dead wastes converted into arable land" (who is going to prove it WASNT a seal? Sunas sealing sucks lol. And technically it did originate from a seal. Gelels seal.)

-how devastated Gai is going to be upon learning literally everything Kakashi went through

-how pissed as fuck people are going to be upon discovering that root seals can apparently block soulmate bonds? I feel like sealing people without their informed consent is about to become very very illegal outside of emergency circumstances.

-how the fuck is cat feeling. Does he believe Kakashi is dead? Does he hope Kakashi is alive?

-nara shikakunand yoshino are about to fucking eviscerate the elder council. Either they were aware of this bullshit or they were criminally negligent. Oh, what's that inoichi and shibi? Some of your family got kidnapped too? Maybe we should bring torture back to t&i. Just this once.

-kakashi is going to be so fucking proud of shikimaru. In his super repressed way. Maybe in a he deserves that legacy more than I ever did if he's feeling self deprecating.

-do you think temari has to sit through a million drafts and revised versions of kankuros shikabane play the more information comes out. Soul mates who were cut off completely from their connection, one believing the other dead, and the other never even educated about soul bonds. Them still recognizing each other enough that Kakashi was kind to her and she freed him instead of killing him. Please kankuro why can't you make the fight scenes longer.

-shikaku seeing shikakos complete shadow transformation and being like "yeah that's insanely dangerous to so much as think about attempting, I don't want to consider how bad things had to be for her to create that. Forbidden jutsu on account of who the fuck knows how she didn't end up falling into the black"

-does Gai feel like he failed Kakashi. Does he swear never to do so again. Imagine him thanking shikako for saving his friend. Imagine Kakashi being shocked Gai still considers him a friend

-hi inoichi this is my soulmate Kakashi, he did not take thinking I was assassinated well at all, do you have any self help books because he hates talking about feelings

-obviously she knows about seals because danzo wanted his own nara level intelligent seal master. Obviously she hid as much of her skill as she could from him because she isn't stupid.

-anyway here's a book a better storage scroll some medical seals and the seal to get rid of roots evil tattoo of shittyness.

-actually now I'm thinking about what if she DOES join suna because Kakashi has trouble feeling safe in konoha or just because being around a shikamaru who never knew her and idolizes Kakashi is kind of awkward.

-if they share dreams do you think she explains her original world to Kakashi after he dreams of cities he's never seen.

-wondering who was the first person to remember the lookalike yoshino nara missing nin that got mentioned in that one report.

-if I think about how nervous Kakashi is going to be the first time he trolls shikako and how he'll feel when she grins or laughs or goes along with it I experience An Emotion™

-"I don't know if you'll like them, but here's other you's favorite books. They make a good social barrier, and you've been looking a little overwhelmed."

-yoshino is going to cry so so so much. Her baby needed her all this time and she never knew it.

-kakashi learning that he was absolutely invited to shikakos funeral and danzo is just a dick who lies

[wings-of-ink]

First Devlog?

Hello everyone...boy, there are a lot of you already, still trying to digest that...

So, I gather that I should do these logs on occasion. I do not know how often, perhaps just when I have a few things to say. I will try not to ramble too much, but my fingies like to talk.

Anyway, I am working on chapter 3 right now. There’s some fun moments so far in it that I hope you’ll like, and we’ll get to meet Zahn, Duri'naan, and then Rundis. I’m trying not to rush because there are some exciting scenes that I’m eager to get to. I’ve outlined them to tide myself over until I get that far. There’s some quiet moments you’ll get to have as well, and right now I feel like that’s what I’m struggling with. Those areas of my story are like bridges to the next, more exciting, parts and sometimes I feel like they fall a little flat. But, I’m trying to keep in mind this is my first draft. I’ll go through it another time or two to perk things up. Those moments are still important for letting the MC get to know each RO.

My mind has been in a million directions lately too, and I’ve had a lot of ‘duh’ moments. I’ve done so much world building since I started this last year (around August/September I think), that I have pockets of important details that I kinda just forgot! So, I plan to re-read all the notes I’ve made and try to also put them into one place. I have some in my phone, in a notebook, and in no less than three folders on my laptop. It’s a wonder I have survived this many years…

What you can expect for coming updates…

-A couple fixes, of course – thank you to those who found some of those pesky buggy bois for me.

-A nicer front page, instead of being slapped with my ramblings, I’d like to actually have a nice start page. I’ll figure it out eventually, lol.

-I’ll be adding a name bank to the MC’s Nameday scene that will also show you what each name means, so if that is important to you, it’ll save you the internet search. If it tickles your fancy, the name selection will correspond in some way to the marks (names meaning "night" or "storm," etc.) so you can theme your MC a bit.

-Extra coding in case you decide to shorten MC’s given name to just “Ravi.” I did not once consider that anyone would do this, and my first play-tester – my own spouse – did….He told me about it since it made some dialog with Oswin make zero sense, and then I published the story without fixing it because I completely forgot about it.

-Different contrast color for dark mode links. I feel like I have drastically improved this with a new gold color. In retrospect, I don’t know why I didn’t use the gold before. I love it as an accent, I use it all over! The blue never felt 100% right, but my brain shut down after thinking about it too long. Here’s a sample and a (M) Zahn tease:

When can you expect an update?

I’d like to make my next update during the Amare Games Festival, ideally containing both chapters 3 and 4 since they go pretty tightly together. This will also insure that you meet the rest of the posse. It’s a tall order for both chapters to be submitted on time, and I don’t want to rush them either, but I’m going to try really really hard, lol. I will focus first on polishing chapter 3, so that no matter what, I can at least get it out in time.

Here’s a link to the post about it:

And this is the submission time frame: open from March 31st 2024 at 11:00 PM to May 1st 2024 at 12:00 AM

As a side message, should you want to read on…

I also wanted to give you all a big, like really big, heartfelt thank you. I have received so many kind messages and comments that I just can’t believe it. I am so happy (and honestly, genuinely shocked) that you’re enjoying my IF, and I’m motivated to work hard so you also enjoy each new chapter of your journey. There’s so many secrets I want to share with you about the world, and I am struggling to be patient myself, lol.

I am not usually a very open or social person, and I was scared for a long time to share anything I wrote. I reached a point in my personal life in the last few years where I just needed to embrace what I loved to do and share it with a community that shares in that love. I encourage you to do the same whether there is a story in your heart, music on your lips, or a paintbrush in your hands. Life is NOT about your 8-5. We may not be able to survive without it, but whatever moment you can, do what you actually love. Put away the those things that don’t matter, the things that stress you - including people, and make time for who you are.

Thank you all and take care!

~Lunan

[nczaversnick]

OC Questionnaires

Okay so @the-letterbox-archives tagged me in not one, not two but 5 of these. So I’m going to do all of them in one post for their favorite character in Project Gemini, Adrian Harlowe. (He’s my favorite too)

What is your favorite thing to do to avoid responsibility?

“Leave.”

If you could choose anyone in the world to be your sibling who would it be?

“Probably Quinn. They are the closest thing I have to family within the military.”

Authors Note: In the previous draft, they actually were siblings

What is the most sublime thing you have ever eaten and why?

“First of all what the fuck kind of word is sublime anyway? Secondly, I ate…science blocks of..not really food for like the first 20 years of my life. Anything that isn’t that, is worth its weight in gold.”

Authors Note: He means genetically engineered processed foodstuffs.

What was the worst day of your life?

“None of your business.”

Authors Note: In my defense the answer to this is an insanely massive spoiler.

What’s your worst nightmare?

“…………..I dream about it. The day I became Gemini. I don’t want to be him anymore”

If a monster asked you your worst nightmare what would you tell it and why?

“Unless that thing provokes me I’m leaving it there hell alone. And even if it does, it’s gonna have bigger problems than asking me about my nightmares.”

Would you give away secret information if tortured? Be honest.

“No.”

Authors Note: This is true. He is specifically trained to resist torture. Even then his sense of loyalty outweighs everything

Who could you trust most with a secret?

“My sister Aurelia. Even Cas knows there are things I told her and not him.”

You have been caught somewhere you should be! Quick, what is your excuse?

“As Gemini I outrank nearly every officer in the city. For rebel activity it’s really a ‘hit first ask questions later’ kind of interaction.”

How good is your sleep schedule?

“If you’re gonna antagonize someone about sleep go bother Iris. She’s the worst of all of us.”

Do you have any siblings? If so, is your relationship good?

“Yes. Aurelia is the reason I started fighting against the military instead of for it. She is the only person who understands me.”

What’s the toughest time you had to endure growing up?

“Uh…all of it? It’s not like being experimented on comes with summer vacation time or something.”

What’s your relationship with your family like?

“Well, we’ve talked about my sister already. My mom is dead. My dad….I met him. Once. Aurelia was coming with me, to help fight for deviant rights like my mom did. We told him he could come with but he said no. I haven’t heard from him since.”

Do you have any hobbies? If so, what ones?

“Not really. Between training and keeping up my cover as Gemini, there isn’t time for anything else.”

Authors Note: After Book 1, he picks up gardening. In later years, he does try to learn to play the guitar. He learns to appreciate music more at least

Do you dream often? What do you dream about?

“…..Yes. Often. More nightmares really. Of the experiments. Of Gemini. Of fire and ice raging until there’s nothing left of me anymore.”

Have you ever been in love?

“Well I don’t have a husband for shits and giggles.”

What is your least favorite thing in the world?

“Oh I mean other than Lucia, the military in general and capitalism, I’d have to say when you’re in a body of water and something touches your leg? That shits the fuckin worst.”

What is your pet peeve?

“When people use big or fancy words to say simple things. Like sublime? What’s wrong with just saying good? Or great?”

Would you consider yourself different?

“Given that I’m not only classified as a Deviant but also as a Zodiac, yeah I’d say I’m pretty fucking different.”

How far would you go to save a loved one?

“As far as I have to.”

Would you team up with your worst enemy if it was your only option?

“It would never happen. She thinks she owns me. But under the right circumstances, I could do it. But she wouldn’t.”

What is the worst insult you can give?

“That I can give? If I stop pushing you to be better than you were yesterday, then you’re a lost cause.”

What is the nicest thing someone could say to you?

“If they’ve got my back that is all I need.”

Are you a jealous person?

“Hell if I know. My husband and his sister sure are though.”

Have you ever committed a crime?

“That’s kind of the point.”

Are you neat or messy?

“Neat. Ish.”

How do you feel about crying? Let it out or hold it in?

“…it’s not about one or the other, it’s about knowing that there’s a time and place for feelings or for focus.”

Who do you live for? Why?

“My family. They are everything.”

Who has betrayed you most?

“Lucia, easily. She lied to me about who I was and where I came from.”

What style of accessories do you wear? Is it willingly?

“I have masks for Gemini and for rebel activities. Also several guns or knives for combat. Other than that….i have my ring. That at least was completely my choice.”

Tagging: @honeybewrites @wyked-ao3 @kittrrrr @zackprincebooks @theverumproject @the-golden-comet @fractured-shield @poppycat-writes @illarian-rambling @finickyfelix @kuebiko-writing @yourpenpaldee @willtheweaver @moltenwrites @davycoquette +open tag

[chaos-monkeyy]

My latest original smut work, and another one that I had a ton of fun with 😁 I'd love to know what you think!

Trans M / Cis M, Explicit (naturally), a little shy of 4.5k words. SciFi/Fantasy, age difference + military rank difference. Also posted here on AO3 with full tags; no archive warnings apply.

Opening teaser:

“This is callsign: Gremlin, I’m going down, repeat, I’m going down! Can anyone hear me? Need search and rescue, send help, I’m going d—”

His own panicked voice, nearly drowned out by the rattling of his ship as the raging storm tossed him around in the air like a child’s toy, was the last thing Kyl heard before everything cut off in a crunch and the world went black around him.

—

The next thing he heard was a forlorn beeping. Blinking groggily as he came to, Kyl lifted his head and looked around.

The beeping was coming from the console of his one-person scout ship and the world was white now, instead of black. Wincing at the bright glare from the snowscape outside, he squinted through the half-crumpled, tilted canopy while the beeping finally warbled itself into silence.

There was nothing out there. Nothing to see but empty, windswept snow stretching to the horizon, the sun riding high in a pale aqua-blue clear sky. The last flickering lights on the ship’s console died a few seconds after the beeping did. Kyl groaned, the sound coming out as a faint croak.

Well, shit.

After a moment of sitting there with his eyes closed against the bright glare, Kyl took a deep breath and unbuckled his harness. He moved slowly, gingerly, certain he had to be injured and just wasn’t feeling it yet— but, to his surprise and relief, he seemed to be fine. Aside from a few strained muscles, some bruises from his seat harness, and just generally being shaken up by the crash landing, at least. 

First things first, then. Take stock. Forcibly pushing away the anxious worry tickling in the back of his mind— why had base gone radio silent on him like that? Had they even heard his call for help? And what the hell was he going to do if they hadn’t?— Kyl wiggled out of his seat and started rummaging through the interior wreckage of his ship.

There wasn’t all that much to search through; he’d headed out on what was supposed to be a routine one-day scouting mission, back by suppertime. He had maybe a day’s worth of water and rations. Two days if he made the supplies stretch. Nowhere near enough to try hiking back to base from this far out, though. Especially not without proper cold weather gear. He didn’t even have a jacket. And where one unexpected, unprecedented, furious storm had hit… Who knew what could come next.

Aside from the food and water, he also had a first aid kit he luckily didn’t need, save for the metallic emergency blanket folded up in the bottom of the kit. Kyl shivered as he repacked the kit minus the blanket, squinting out through the canopy again. Another howling gust of wind buffeted past, swirling up the snow and rocking the downed space craft with ominous creaking sounds. The wind whistled into the cockpit as well, Kyl noted uneasily, cold drafts coming in through the cracked plastiglass canopy and the buckled metal alike.

Well, first rule of survival: stay put if you can. Even if his mayday hadn’t gotten through to base, they had his planned flight path. Someone would find him soon, surely— hopefully— and from what his scans had been showing before the sudden and violent storm had swatted him out of the sky, from what he could see outside… his wrecked ship was probably the only shelter he’d have for kilometers around anyway.

So Kyl found the least drafty corner of the cockpit, wrapped himself tightly up in the emergency blanket, and settled in for what he hoped to hell would be a short wait.

—

It wasn’t exactly short, but it wasn’t too long either, all things considered, before someone did find him.

A little under a day and half after the crash at his best guess, Kyl was jolted out of fitful sleep by a loud banging sound on the outside of his crashed ship. He froze, relief and alarm warring foggily in his brain— what if it wasn’t his people; what if it was someone, or something, else who had found him? They were still exploring this planet, after all— but then a muffled voice called his name.

“Gremlin? Pilot! Answer me, Kyl, burn you!”

Kyl nearly fainted with giddy relief. He’d recognize that voice anywhere.…

[arisenreborn]

WIP (one-shot) Wednesday

No tags, I lied, was tagged by @fangbangerghoul - thank you as always! <3<3<3

I just happened to be possessed by the spirit of writing at 2am again - so it's a much more wip-y wip in terms of I just tossed it out there, first draft - but it is more or less a complete one-shot. Tense is a little weird but I rolled with it. Soft fluffy banter (of the sleepy almost nonsensical variety) and fluff.

"Carry Me" - post-game, Olivia & Emrys (Arisen x Pawn), 924 words.

The hour has grown late again and she is sat hunched at her desk over a nigh-unending pile of paperwork. She will never be a noble -let alone Sovran- who does naught but eat fine food and dance at fancy parties. Even if those were two of her favored past-times. 

She yawns and rubs her eyes, but only looks up from her work when she senses movement in the room. His presence is unmistakable to her, and she smiles even before their gazes meet.

“While your dedication to signing parchment of great import is admirable, I do believe it is well and truly past time you took your rest, Your Majesty.” 

She cannot stop from simply smiling at him; she is far too tired to argue, or come up with a quip. Instead she is all too happy to watch as he gracefully stalks around the desk to her side.

Stubbornness has always been her damning flaw and saving grace, but for him it has grown so easy to yield. She lifts her arms up and he bends himself low so she might wrap them around his neck.

“Will you carry me?” 

A warm laugh rumbles in his throat. “I think you may have grown even more spoiled than I thought you were when first we met.” 

He dips his hands down around her.

“Did you truly think that?” She doesn’t really mind either way, the words simply drift up playfully of their own accord. 

His head bows close, his voice a warm whisper against her neck. “Never truly.” 

“Liar.” She laughs and nuzzles the side of her face to his. He grunts as if in mock-offense, but effortlessly lifts her up into his arms.

“Why, I think I might just be telling the truth.” He says this to her as if he was just discovering something new about himself - and not something he’d probably turned over in his mind a hundred-hundred times before.

He leans down and she reaches out her hand to dim the crystal lamp on the desk. Then he turns towards the sliver of light at the door of the study and moves out into the corridor.

“Is that so? This discovery must be shocking to you.”

“Hah, hardly!” He grins at her, the tiredness around his eyes does nothing to dull the mirth that shines in them. “From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were going to be the most infuriating bundle of contradictions I’d ever encountered in my whole life.”

She smiles first, and then slowly her brow scrunches up. But she is too tired to think further, simply choosing to accept that his every compliment is joined by a complaint. And each complaint only further conceals a deeper compliment - a deeper love. 

“I think that makes us quite alike,” she tells him, and he hums in agreement. Bringing her hand up to the side of his face, she strokes her thumb over his cheek. Her eyes are so heavy they burn with the effort of keeping them open, but the thrill of fondness and delight in her chest makes it hard to even consider sleep. 

In direct contrast, she feels so light and weightless in his arms, even the comfort of their bed might fail to tempt her into such an irresistible ease. 

“Now, tell me sweet things.”

“Was I not just doing that?” He snorts, nudging the door open to their room with his foot. 

“Tell me you’ll keep holding me like this.” She nuzzles her face into his neck and he laughs again.

“You are spoiled. But that ought to go without saying, don’t you think?”

She resists a yawn, but her eyelids have lost the battle. “Say it anyway.”

“Aye, I’ll keep holding you, all night long.” There's a pause before he continues, quietly, like a promise for only her ears: "I'll never let you go."

She can practically feel the warmth of his sentiment in the way his chest swells - and then the rumble of laughter when he adds: “Heavens know if I don’t you’re likely to assail me in my sleep.”

She laughs quietly, shaking her head and pressing her face into him. Her fingers slide up from his cheek into his hair as he lays her down into bed, all but collapsing into place alongside her and half-atop her. She laughs more, but it’s so tired it is nearly delirious, and ends in a sleepy, contented hum. 

“You know, I’m feeling quite tempted to steal the sovran.” He confesses, lips brushing against the softest part of her throat, and she sighs sweetly at the sensation.

“And where would you take me?” She rakes her fingers gently through his feathery hair.

“Nearest town that’s further than anyone knows us.” He grins and she can feel his teeth against her neck. “Far, far away from that nasty desk work.”

“Mmm, you have my permission.”

“Just like that?” He peppers slow, soft kisses up the side of her neck, along her chin, taking a detour to the tip of her nose, and the spot between her eyebrows. For a moment it is all she can do to sleepily soak in his affection - but at last she finally answers.

‘Just like that. Though I do have one request.” 

“Anything.”

“Can it wait ‘til morning?” 

He laughs and kisses her temple. “Aye, ‘til morning then.” 

He shifts and begins to pull the blankets around them, and she cannot help but to think how lucky she is. How lucky and how loved.

[ink-flavored]

Reworking the Plot

BTS Series: ⬅ Table of Contents - Heaven and Angels ➡ Also available on Neocities! P&J Taglist (Check out my Google form to get added): @elegant-paper-collection @auroblaze@zeenimf @vacantgodling @foxys-fantasy-tales Banner art by @auroblaze

In the process of turning this project from a fanfiction to an original novel, I knew the plot was going to need some work. Firstly, a short story I wrote in a day has nowhere near the amount of beef necessary to fill out an entire book, and second, it didn’t even have other characters in it besides the two leads. Clearly, things need to change.

Though I’ve been working on retooling the plot of Pride & Justice for a while, it’s definitely not anywhere close to done. I have the beginning, ending, and general plot beats I want to hit, I have character arcs, I have antagonists, but stringing them all together is the hard part. The middle is quite flabby—basically it’s just a random assortment of cool things I had ideas for, with very little connectivity. I’m nowhere near the completion of a first draft, much less an actual finished manuscript. All this to say: it’s very possible that the things I make note of in this post will change by the time the book is done. I think that’s even cooler for you all, though! You get to see a book happen from its embryo-like beginning stages all the way to a finished product. Usually only the authors get to suffer through that!

Without further ado: here is how I reworked the plot for Pride & Justice. This first chunk will be a play-by-play of how I’m changing the fanfiction parts.

The beginning starts out relatively the same as it did in the fanfiction—Pride is imprisoned in Heaven for attempting to break in through the front door. This time, instead of being dragged off to his execution in the very next scene, he’s dragged into a heavenly courtroom. Presiding over that courtroom is Honesty, and Justice is not only the guard outside his cell, but also a witness to his crime.

Pride is predictably smarmy while Justice recounts his testimony, and even when Honesty sentences him to death, can’t be bothered to do more than sarcastically ask why they didn’t bother to ask for his side of the story. She moves to dismiss that half-question, but Justice stands up and tells everyone he’s right. Without hearing the other half of the story, all they’re doing is killing Pride based on who he is—how is that virtuous? Honesty is not happy about this, but gives Pride the chance to speak anyway.

Pride reveals that he broke into Heaven because he made a deal with a soul in Purgatory who had been waiting over a hundred years to be rejudged by God, and would soon lose that chance altogether. As every multidimensional being in that room knows, souls that fade from Purgatory go straight to Hell (everyone who read Pride’s backstory on Tumblr? Yeah, he was lying). And, as the fine-print of the contract states, their souls are forever entwined until he can get them up to Heaven. So if they smite him here, they’d be killing an innocent soul too. Everyone looks to Honesty to dismiss that claim as false—but she can’t.

All of the angels in the courtroom are distraught, but Honesty concludes that Pride needs to die anyway. Justice, once again, stands up and offers a solution. If they let Pride escort the contracted soul to wherever in Heaven it’s supposed to be, end the contract, and let him leave, literally everyone benefits. Heaven saves another soul from damnation or obliteration, Pride gets his contract fulfilled, nobody dies.

Honesty shoots him down, and nobody disagrees. That soul can’t be returned to Heaven, God hasn’t judged them to be worthy of leaving Purgatory. Justice argues that letting one person in against the rules is better than killing them—on purpose, knowingly. How is murdering one of His children supposed to be in service of God? At this point, the entire courtroom is in shambles, arguing over each other, and everyone is basically split down the middle of how to handle things. Pride is watching all of this very pleased with himself and also curious about the angel that bothered to give him the benefit of the doubt.

To save them from complete disarray, Honesty adjourns the trial and declares they’ll have a second one to make the final decision. Everyone leaves, but Honesty makes sure to call Justice out. As he’s escorted out, Pride listens to her reprimand him for going against God’s word, telling him that it doesn’t matter what his personal perspective is—justice is blind, do as the Lord commands. Justice is clearly not happy about this, and Pride gets even more curious.

Back in his cell, Pride is guarded by a few other angels before Justice shows back up again. He tries to strike up a conversation about how the trial went and how “excited” he is for the next one, but Justice bluntly tells him the second trial is a lie. They’re going to smite him before he even gets in the door. He also mentions they’re doing it so quickly because Honesty is worried “someone” would help him escape. That someone is, obviously, Justice himself, and he does.

Pride and Justice hatch an escape plan to get Pride to where he needs to be, drop off his contracted soul, and leave before he can get skewered by a holy sword. In practice, things don’t go quite as planned. Caught in the middle of his escape, Pride begins gleefully mutilating his way through God’s army. In the meantime, Justice is pretending to try and catch him, none too pleased that his request that Pride not harm anyone went ignored. They have a fake-battle-to-the-death where Justice “chases” Pride off the very edge of Heaven itself, and they go plummeting to the Earth.

Once there, Justice insists that Pride, for all intents and purposes, is dead. He can’t come back to Heaven, or they’re both in trouble. Justice leaves before his angel friends can wonder where he is, and Pride stays alone on Earth. He knows he can’t go back to Hell, contract unfulfilled, not to mention the shame of needing an angel’s help to escape would make him a target for much worse than a death sentence. He stays on Earth, tempting humans to sin in his spare time—which is all of it—until he can figure out how to complete his contract. Because if he doesn’t complete it, he dies anyway.

Eventually, Justice visits him on Earth again, demanding to know what he thinks he’s doing on Earth instead of back in Hell. Pride gives plenty of sarcastic non-answers, while Justice demands he leave. This whole area radiates sin and demonic energy, and if any other angel figures out Pride is still alive, they’re both screwed. Pride continues to be an asshole. The meeting ends with Justice saying he gets one last chance.

The last chance comes around, because lo and behold, Pride hasn’t left Earth. During another argument, Pride lets slip that he has nowhere else to go. Justice, sympathetic and knowing that there’s no way he can keep his secret forever, offers to join him so they can mask their respective demonic and angelic energies. Pride takes him up on that, and they agree to hide on Earth until they can figure out a way to get Pride’s contract fulfilled without setting off every known alarm in Heaven and Hell alike.

This is where my rework of the fanfiction plot ended, and where I had to start coming up with new ideas to fill the rest of the story. I have plenty of broad-strokes ideas in the works right now, still tripping over some details that I’ll list a few of later. Here are the important plot-points though.

Heaven is looking for their not-so-dead prisoner and runaway angel, a mission lead by Honesty herself. She’s determined to wrestle Justice back to Heaven and kill Pride for real this time, but first she has to find them. With the two of them living in such close proximity, their normally easy-to-differentiate energies are nearly identical to humans. The only hints they get are when Pride and/or Justice use their respective powers, a tiny blip of abnormal activity on the angelic radar.

The same goes for the servants of Hell, though for a less concrete goal. Other demons try to appeal to Pride throughout the story, telling him to ditch Justice and team up with them instead. Lust, as we discussed in the last post, is the one that shows up the most, and it refuses to take no for an answer.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As I mentioned before, this has changed a little bit. I’m toying with the idea of Lust enlisting other demons to find Pride for it, and harass him into coming back to Hell. It would make more sense than a bunch of demons randomly wanting Pride as an ally because—reasons?

When they aren’t being harassed by agents of cosmic divinity, both Pride and Justice acclimate to their new “human” lives. Justice finds a human church to attend to reconcile with his recent struggles understanding Heaven’s shortcomings, attends a book club, volunteers, and generally tries to blend in as much as he can. Pride, on the other hand, can’t help himself from causing trouble, not having much else to do, and not interested in making any puny human friends. That is, until, he meets some human friends who can rock with his sensibilities, a tiny group of queer people who can generally tolerate him. His hobbies expand to include weed, clubbing, shoplifting things that food stamps won’t cover, and eventually even learning to paint. This doesn’t stop Pride from getting into random fights, or taking to the streets when he feels like he’s been wronged, causing sin everywhere he goes and turning half the city into a prideful nightmare. He and Justice have a lot of arguments about that last hobby, especially since it sends up a beacon of sin to anyone who can detect it.

When Pride discovers that one of his friends goes to Justice’s church, their activities bleed over to one another. They start inviting each other along to various outings with their respective groups. Over the course of the story, they stop becoming “enemies on the same side out of necessity” and start becoming real friends. They complain together about the things they disliked about Hell and Heaven respectively, and teach each other about what it’s really like to live there. They discover they’ve both been living in, essentially, opposing authoritarian regimes, with different, equally iron-fisted laws that need compliance from everyone to stay up and running.

Interpersonally, Pride and Justice are the oddest of odd couples there is, but they do help each other. Justice has been taught for this entire multi-century existence that he has to be good and pure at all times, to help people, make no mistakes, follow God’s word with no exceptions. Pride helps him be a little less of a perfectionist, and he learns it’s okay to be selfish sometimes. For his part, Pride needs… a lot of help. Justice and his friends are people who genuinely care about him, a completely alien concept to him. In particular, Justice gives him space to feel safe and accepted for once, and offers him the one thing he’d never dream of getting: forgiveness. Eventually, they fall in love. Cue the section of the story where I mash my characters together to make them kiss like I’m playing with dolls.

Sadly, things start going south. The first warning is when Lust becomes obscenely angry that Pride isn’t cooperating with its demands, and they have no choice but to fight and kill it in response. This battle sends up a huge flare for Honesty and her team out looking for them, but the angels are a bit smarter about their choice of attack. Instead of charging in swords-blazing, Honesty kidnaps Pride to use as a bargaining chip. She takes him to a church and tortures him to prove to Justice—once he shows up, radiating holy vengeance—that Pride will never change. He’ll be a demon forever and he’s wasting his time trying to save the unworthy.

Justice, defending Pride both physically and verbally, asks isn’t that the entire point? How is it a waste of time to have sympathy and love for the most unloved thing in the world? How is it against God to give grace to people who’ve made mistakes? He accuses Honesty and every angel at her side of Wrath, calling them all sinners for sitting there watching Pride be tormented for absolutely no reason other than he’s a demon, and they think he deserves pain. If this is God’s will, if this is the justice he’s meant to serve, he wants no part of it.

Unfortunately, this was what Honesty was waiting for. She abandons Pride and says, okay fine. If you don’t want to be an angel, you can be a demon like him. Justice is restrained, fighting against Honesty, who takes his sword to cut his wings off and break his halo, punishment for disobeying God.

Pride uses the last of his strength and rage to tackle Honesty before she can do a thing. Justice warns him not to kill her—it’s what she wants, it will only make things worse—and it’s the only reason Pride stays his hand. He tells her that outright, that he loves Justice more than he hates her, and that’s the only reason she isn’t in pieces. The other angels let Justice go and the two of them escape.

After returning home and recovering, Pride and Justice discover something even more pressing. They’re losing their powers, becoming more and more like humans every day. This wouldn’t be a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that Pride can’t complete his contract without his power—and if he can’t complete the contract, he dies. Even farther from a plan now, all they can do is promise to be with each other until the end.

That is, until one of the angels from Honesty’s brigade shows up to help—Kindness, Justice’s sister. She was horrified by everything that happened in that church, and confessed that there’s a small sect of Heaven that’s been on their side the whole time, too small to make real change, but willing to help however they can. Justice makes it clear that he and Pride are a package deal, no matter what, and she agrees. From there, they hatch the true plan to smuggle the soul up to Heaven.

The plan itself is still hazy for me. I know that Justice gets super-charged with angel powers once he goes back to Heaven. He’s been away for so long that his normal power is extremely potent for a while, and it’s a great help in defending against the inevitable opposition. Honesty will be there, she will most likely be killed, and Pride is able to deliver his soul and complete the contract. Hooray!

Bad news again! Pride is going to crumble into a pile of dust if he doesn’t get back down to Hell ASAP to restore his power. He can’t be in Heaven any longer than he already has—but he makes Justice promise to come find him. Justice agrees, and Pride returns to Hell.

Here, there’s going to be a POV switch to Justice’s perspective, as he prepares to traverse to Hell to find Pride. Kindness and his other angel friends are skeptical, but he insists that he made a promise, he has to leave. He’s not sure if he’ll be able to come back, and it hurts him to have to say goodbye to Kindness after only recently reuniting, but Pride is more important to him than staying in service to Heaven, a place that easily rejected him not too long ago.

Down in Hell, he finds Pride, but something is wrong. In his beast form (which I unfortunately don’t have a solid design for yet, but I promise it’s cool), Pride has also be super-charged with Hell’s power, but this means he’s also overloaded with sinful, prideful, energy, and he’s decided he doesn’t care about Justice anymore. Justice doesn’t take no for an answer, and Pride attacks.

Justice can’t bring himself to actually hurt Pride, so he’s subdued pretty quickly. Before Pride can deliver a killing blow, Justice is able to remind him why they loved each other, and the influence of the sin wears off. They run away together for a second time.

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can see Pride’s beast form here, drawn by AuroBlaze. I’m also changing Pride’s motivation for not caring about Justice, and it’s from the pain of being re-traumatized. He literally fell from Heaven into Hell for a second time which is… not an amazing experience. It takes Justice a while to find him, and in that time Pride convinced himself Justice isn’t coming for him at all. When he does show up, Pride blames him for all the pain he had to endure a second time, and lashes out. I want it to showcase how recovery isn’t linear, relapses happen, but it doesn’t mean you’re broken forever or incapable of healing. I’m messing with it. The rest is basically the same, there’s a fight, Justice is able to knock some sense into him, probably some crying, and then they escape.

The ending can go one of two ways, in my mind. I have a really cool image of Beast-Pride wearing Flaming-Wheel-Justice like a collar, stalking around Purgatory, but I have no idea what they would actually be doing there—other than hiding from Heaven and Hell. The second option is they go back to Earth and live out the rest of their lives as humans, which is the ending I’m sure everyone would want for them by the end of their ordeal. Optional semi-sad bonus: it’s been a few decades since they left, but they haven’t aged a day since the original story took place. When they go to meet their friends again, everyone has aged by 20-30 years and are… slightly concerned that the friends from their youth that disappeared one day have miraculously returned and look exactly the same. That might be a bit too much, though the sadistic part of my heart has entertained it.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I chose the happy ending. They go back to Earth and live out the rest of their lives as humans with their friends. I still love the first idea though, and I might incorporate it into their escape from Hell in some way.

Details I still have to come up with include: how did Pride/Justice find a place to live? Did they steal a place, break in, use magic? Do they have jobs? Well, does Justice have a job, Pride would remain staunchly and diligently unemployed. What do the demons that try and get Pride on their side actually want from him? What are their ideas for getting back to Heaven before Kindness shows up? Do they try any? How do they fail? What’s Kindness’ plan, and how many angels are on their side? How do the other angels take Honesty during all this? Do they actually agree, or are they just following orders?

So! Plenty is subject to change, plenty still needs to be organized into a cohesive story, and plenty will of course be cut for the good of the final draft, but congrats on your first look into the earliest parts of a novel. Thoughts? Questions? I’d love to hear what you guys think!

Thanks as always for your support!

— Annika

[boyfridged]

What do you think Jason would feel about mothers? Considering he was betrayed by one and then would have gone on and had figures in his life like a mother.

since someone brought up sheila yesterday, i just remembered that this ask has been stranded in my drafts for a while! sorry.

some loose thoughts on the topic, in a "chronological" order:

in the 80s canon, jay grieves after willis and catherine the same. while it's safe to assume that willis was (physically) more absent, there's not much indication that jay had any parental preference (neither of them really could responsibly parent him anyway.) so i believe in general terms jay doesn't really differentiate much between parental roles (and that's why, subsequently, my answer is more about parents in general rather than just mothers...)

i have a post talking about jason's parental relationship with bruce here but i just want to add that atp we also don't see jason having any specific longing for a figure of a mother. imo the reason he gets obsessed over seeking his biological mother out is that in this particular moment he does not feel secure in his relation with bruce. i think if he found out about a biological father instead, he would also want to find him. what he wants is simply a stable family (<- which he does have in bruce; but does not trust to be able to keep without robin.)

i have mentioned before that it's very important to me that jason most probably forgave sheila. of course, the fact that he tried to save her does not alone confirm it; he would probably do it for anyone, and so it's more of my headcanon, especially since the contemporary canon nearly completely erased her from the narrative up until cheer. but as i said, i prefer to think that he forgave her, as he forgave catherine (if he even ever truly blamed either of them.)

i like to think about his relationship with talia as a parental one too (ignoring the two infamous pages of the lost days), but there's not much canon material, and freshly post-res jason seems fixated on the idea that he is "no one's son." nevertheless, he is also just still a kid when first in her care, and i do think that they could grow into that kind of relationship throughout the years (despite his best efforts to deny himself the comfort of familial connections.)

tbh one of the reasons for which i headcanon that, compared with other kids bruce has taken in, 1. he is the only one who used to call him 'dad' regularly 2. he is the only one who actually settled into a more 'standard' parent-child relationship with him 3. he is the only one who got formally adopted (which "on page" happened only pre-crisis btw), is because jay had a rather traditional expectation of what a bond with a parental figure should look like (and because bruce wanted to overcompensate while working through on jay's attachment issues). the others were either older or did not have a past that conditioned them for such focus on keeping the parent close, so it did not matter much. i think in terms of parental relationships, jason needs to call them by that name and needs formal ways of them being recognized, or at least this is what his abandonment issues call for. at the same time, it also freaks him out because he was a parentified child before and he doesn't think he should need it, so it's a game of pulling closer and pushing away, testing the bonds.

my conclusion is that i don't have much to say about mothers in particular; i think he has plenty conflicting feelings about the parental roles no matter the gender.

[derpycat02]

Hot Take

Okay so now that I've been on the website instead of the app for a few days I have things to say I think.

The app is better (for me) than the website hands down. Easy. No competition. And no, this is not just because I am used to the app version. I actually thought this out.

Things the website does better than the app (to satisfy you long term tumblees):

I can delete a poll from my post if I accidentally click it thinking it is the listing format option. I do this a lot because listing is different than font type in every document editor ever, and there is no way to remove polls from drafted posts on mobile that I have found. The website puts a big fat red X in the top corner of the poll. This is helpful

Bigger screen = less overwhelm. The information to screen ratio is smaller which is less overwhelming for my skrunkly little brain. Also, since I have the pride theme activated (which was a bitch to try and find) all the extra space is pink!

More customization options. I haven't actually played with this, but it seems to be the thing that most Tumblr users use to say the website is better than the app. I did notice there were more options for themes when I finally figured out how to do that, which was cool. (On mobile, I'm pretty sure there are just 4 themes: light mode, dark mode, tumblr classic, and pride. I could be wrong though)

No push notifications. I have notifs turned on on mobile for all of the polls I follow, so I get like over 30 notifications from Tumblr alone overnight. It's very stressful, but I put up with it because it keeps me from missing voting times and ensures that I can go through and like every post that comes out from accounts that I am invested in. I know liking does nothing algorithm wise. I just like showing support and likes are a nice, quick, easy way to do that. Anyway, without the push notifications, I'm pretty much confined to me my feed, which I've never HAD to scroll before. The way I am now consuming content has become (mostly) more relaxed and less stress inducing.

Text formatting. I like that it's a drop down menu. In the app, It's just a button, and you have to press it repeatedly to get the format you want (this is fonts and listing specific).

Things mobile does better that the website

Navigation. Oh my gosh the app is SO much easier to navigate than the website. It took me less time comparatively to figure out how the app worked than it did for me to figure out how to do most things on the website. The website has been around longer, and therefore has the opportunity to be more complicated. The whole point of mobile apps is to be a simple, accessible way to go about navigating whatever the app is for. It's just easier to use.

Typing in posts. The amount of times my laptop has just randomly stopped typing in the middle of the post is ridiculous. It tends to happen when the "draft saved" bubble pops up, which makes me think it may be a glitch with the website rather than my computer. My computer also does not have this problem literally anywhere else. Also, the "draft saved" bubble, while cute and reassuring, obstructs my vision just a bit. There is so much dead space to either side. Why is this bubble not off to a side instead of right in the middle of where I am typing? It was also difficult for me to find the text formatting option, but this is mostly because I was not used to it.

GIFs. I do lots of propaganda, and to save space on my device I use gifs instead of going on the internet and downloading pictures and finding video links. I'm not always very good with words, and find that images tend to be more convincing anyway. On the mobile app, when I search something in the GIF search bar, it stays there even after I've made a selection. Not having to re-type my search 10 times makes it a lot easier and less monotonous to look for propaganda and fill up a post. This is not the case on the website. As I learned after attempting "Kitbull" propaganda, you have to re-type your search each time you add a new GIF. That got annoying really fast, and I only wound up putting two GIFs when I would normally use all image spaces (10).

Push Notifications. But I thought you said the website not doing this made consuming content less stressful??? I know what I said, and yes, for the most part, it does. However there are a lot more areas where the lack of push notifs on the website make my Tumblr experience a lot more stressful. For one thing, I am missing out on ALL of those polls. I follow SO MANY polls, because I was able to keep up with all of them as long as I had push notifications. I have not been able to vote in many polls this last week because I would have to go through and search every single one of their usernames exactly correct to find their pages and vote in my regular fashion. I simply do not have the time, energy, or memory to be able to do this. I also do not get notified when I am sent a message. I learned recently that most Tumblr users don't use the "share" function on posts, (via) however my girlfriend and I use it all the time. Our feeds consist of different interests that we like sharing with one another, so we share posts and polls back and forth just for funsies. To show that we love each other. Etc. etc. The website does not notify me when I get these messages unless I am actively in the tab, so I don't know when she's sent me something. Same goes for any interaction with my account or on my posts. I cannot see if someone has made a comment or a silly reblog with funny tags unless I am in the app. You know what the website DOES show me? How many new posts have been made. This is CONSTATLY refreshing even while I am actively scrolling and not only shows up in the app but also in the tab information. This is why I have such a problem with this. I understand that computers in general just don't do push notifications, but usually with social media, you can see how many notifications you have by checking the tab above the search bar. There's usually a little number in parenthesis next to the title or name of the social media you are using. This is very helpful for me, since my computer doesn't always give a little sound when I get any kind of notification, so I can just look over and see what I've missed while I was queuing up Spotify or playing Minesweeper or Solitaire. With Tumblr, this number only factors in the number of posts that I haven't seen yet. This number stressed me out, has me constantly refreshing the page even before I am done scrolling, and is not actually helpful in any capacity.

Page Jumping. Both the website and the app are dogwater at not jumping around the page while you scroll. However, the app is slightly less so. Page jumps in the mobile app only happen when an ad loads in where it wasn't before. This is pretty consistent with how any webpage, crappy mobile game, or social media app works on a phone (on my phone at least). When I'm scrolling anything I have to be careful to wait until all ads have loaded before I try pressing a button or I'll accidentally hit something I'm not supposed to. On the website on my computer, Tumblr page jumps every time I reblog. EVERY. TIME. Reblogging is, like, the currency of the realm. It is how things are meant to be done. I don't have the energy for a page jump every time I try to reblog something. That's gross.

Screenshots. This is admittedly more of a device difference than a Tumblr format difference, but it is affecting how I interact with Tumblr, so I thought I should put it on here. If you actually follow me and try to keep up with what I post (which isn't much) you know about my Untitled Bots threads. Essentially when I see a bot follow me, and their name is either blank or "Untitled" I screenshot it, crop it to the word "Untitled" and add it to the thread with a silly quip or lament or goofy photo. However, to make sure I don't miss any, I don't block and report these bots until after I've gotten a screenshot of their profile. Because it is so difficult to take and edit screenshots on my laptop specifically, I have not updated this thread even after being able to access Tumblr via the website.

For these reasons, I have decided the app is better than the website. Thank you. Have a nice day.

[vigilvntes]

Liz!! I’ve been thinking about being Chris’ on again off again (ex) wife and being in his trailer at the start of the show (maybe showering, if you wanna be a lil spicy) and being like oh, you’re back?

(In my mind, I also get to punch his dad)

WAKEJAISJAJSJSISJSJSJS HELLO!!!! i was drunk at work when you sent this and i KNOW i'm late but OH BOY. I WAS LOSING MY MIND OVER THIS. LIKE FULLY. SCREAMING INSIDE. sorry this is messy and totally not coherent and i think i have too many thoughts for this and i can't articulate them very well help (also this was supposed to be posted like. a while ago but turns out i saved it to my drafts instead of posting and i've only just realised so hello)

no but this is such a fun dynamic. like i can imagine they're high school sweethearts who were always kinda on and off and they just kinda got married on a whim like no thought went into it. and being married to peacemaker pre-show events would be HARD. not only is he a literal murderer, but he has a racist white supremacist dad who's always encouraging him to be more like him and he's so dedicated to his mission to bring "peace" that you probably saw his face on the news and on wanted posters more than you did in person. so when he gets sent to prison it's like, the perfect opportunity to get out of the marriage and TRY to move on with your life.

but that's hard, because you were married to peacemaker. no one wants to give a job or an apartment to someone who married and stayed married to a murderer who was tried for WAR CRIMES. so you just... stay living in the trailer. the bills are still being paid from his account and all your stuff is there anyway so why move out????

when he gets back you're in the shower, and you hear the door open but honestly you've already heard that he's back in evergreen (maybe emilia contacted you to give you a heads up to keep him at the trailer because they're coming to talk to him) so you just kinda assume that it's him??? he'd be banging on the bathroom door demanding to know who's been living in his apartment and who's been cleaning it and tidying it and keeping the fridge full while he's been gone and you'd just groan and roll your eyes, getting out of the shower and shouting for him to give you a fucking MINUTE while you dry off. you open the door in your towel and his jaw fucking DROPS. because let's be honest, this man has been in prison for like four years at this point and a. he didn't think he'd ever see you again and b. you look so fucking hot standing there with only a towel wrapped around you. and you're just like "oh hey." cue the mini breakdown about why you're still living here and his finances and how he feels so betrayed that you divorced him the second things got tough even though he was literally in PRISON!

so the whole thing with flag changed him as a person, he killed a comrade and a friend in his stupid mission for peace and he knows it was wrong and yeah. it changed him. he wants better things for himself even if he's not so willing to admit it at first. you're living at the trailer still throughout the events of the show because . hello. no where else to go. having you around would drive him CRAZY because you're his ex wife and you're just sauntering around in your underwear and in his clothes and you're so close to him but still SO far away. he cant touch you like he used to or be close with you like he used to be so he's just. ugh. yeah. going insane. and he realises how much he's missed you. like when he found out you wanted a divorce he was in prison so like, yeah. WHATEVER. he probably wont see you again anhway so why the fuck would he care?? *bursts into tears as soon as he gets back to his cell*. so yeah. having you around is hard because not only is he dealing with feeling like you abandoned him (even though it's his own fault) he's also dealing with the fact that he never stopped loving you.

but you really see this change in him as things progress. you see his vulnerability and how broken he really is and how much he needs someone like you to keep him grounded. he always has needed you. yeah he's still cocky and kind of an asshole but he's definitely DIFFERENT. more like the man you knew before the whole peacemaker thing began and less like the man he became after. i think it'd be the perfect opportunity for you to fall in love with him all over again?? like he comes home after a long day with the team and all he wants to do is have a beer with you and talk about anything and everything and it feels just like it did when you were in high school. it actually feels NORMAL and RIGHT and you can laugh and joke with him and just BE. it's NICE. really nice. of course there's the nights where you have to talk him through panic attacks and deal with his nightmares about what happened in corto maltese. deep talks about the divorce and everything that happened before and he'd probably confide in you that he does genuinely all the things he said and did before he went to prison, and that if he knew what he was doing would end in him losing you then maybe he'd have reconsidered (just maybe. because. bro was deep in it).

and like being so worried about him when you hear about what happened with the butterflies and rushing into his hospital room and kissing him right then and there because you're scared and he's trying to assure you that he's fine but he could've DIED and you can't lose him again, not now. not after you've just got him back.

also i feel like you'd make good friends with vigilante while he's gone. like you cannot convince me that guy wasn't constantly checking on you while chris was gone, even after the divorce like he'd be turning up at the trailer to a. see how things are going and b. check if chris is back yet (with the mask on, obviously). and you'd promise to call him when chris is back in town. so when he turns up at the trailer and you and vig are talking like old friends chris is like wait what??? why are you two so friendly??? did you fuck my ex wife while i was gone??? and he's like NO DUDE THAT'S YOUR EX WIFE! (he's loyal like that). and like. you siding with vigilante when he and chris bicker would wind chris up to NO END ("you're supposed to be my ex wife? why do you NEVER take my side?" "EX wife chris. EX.")

[purecommemasolitude]

Chucked all my thoughts while watching le rouge et le noir for the first time here so have them without show context

Also while missing a good chunk of the show cause I accidentally went on another page without saving the draft schwoopsie

so ding dong is bonheur de malheur with more inexplicable doorbell noises

this man is a MENACE

ohhhh the way the lighting only illuminates mme de rênal half the time during this time is excellent

and then she's an immobile doll for him to position and place bouquets in her hand?? wonderful

the way julien sounds so edgy every single time he talks. king relax

this use of the turntable is quite good but is this man literally climbing a mountain right now

NAPOLEON????

oh putting julien on the top section for the musicians as the first (i think?) actor to do so as he sings about wanting to ascend in his life position... sublime

a) why is his napoleon locket HUGE. couldn't you find a smaller one b) "like you, I'll be the eagle... and she'll be my prey" girl. as far as i can tell at this point in the show you do genuinely like her. why are you describing her like that

NOOO NOT THE MAID

also it's been so long only watching zuka shows that seeing people actually kiss instead of stage kiss is genuinely shocking

"julien... whose portrait are you hiding in your locket?" "i can't tell you... but know it's a man" omg bisexual king 🤩🤩😍😍

I really can't tell if it's a choice here or if he's just really off-time

his gritty voice is fine for solos but i do wish it wasn't present in the love song duet :/ UNLESS it's a hint that he doesn't really love her in which case phenomenal

(Okay now at DLNJVR and it appears he did actually love her and it wasn’t a clever galaxy brain moment. Shame)

glad to see the good old "your character Does Not sing this song but here sing it for the cast recording" trick of french musicals again

ahh the fancy home crumbling once he learns of the affair >>

HE'S GONNA FUCKING KILL HER????????

Okay okay I thought we were going for an INTENSE genre shift right there

Gotta admit I’m not the hugest fan of any of the men’s voices

The house rebuilding itself as he composes himself >>

No Louise :((((( let me tell you if I were her husband I would treat her right

He is SO edgy. Salieri Mozartl’operarock better watch out

DLNJVR actually goes ways harder live than I would’ve thought

His voice works really well for it and her section is very nice

“Admit it, father, you only laugh when you’re with your moody little priest of a secretary. And he’s not even funny.” You’re so real for that queen

Also that line is a very nice way of establishing the timeline

Anyway I love all the women characters this musical should be about them only

Ohh when everyone is still except for them on the turntable >>> I love staging

I forget their names but this couple is also acceptable they’re so fun (it was the Valenods)

Why?? Does she flip pages with both hands???

“Do they surround me because they see me as their prey?” You’re one to talk sir.

Also I thought Sans elles was a breakup song for sure but this does make sense

Misogyny 🤩

The song does translate quite well to stage though I am enjoying it

Wait why is he going to meet her anyway. You just sang about how much better off you were without her

This is such a silly scene I’m a fan

IL AURAIT SUFFIT YEAHHH

LOUISE DD:

LOUISE SINGING THE OUR LOVE WON’T BE AFFECTED BY THE SPACE BETWEEN US LINE AUGHHH

That probably could’ve used more buildup to be effective but I love il aurait suffit too much to care it’s probably my favourite le rouge et le noir song

The way I wrote so much and then it got deleted because it didn’t save. Sigh

I don’t care enough to retype alas

The ones I remember clearly enough will be turned into separate posts

The main gist of it was that I liked Geronimo Mathilde and Louise and not much else

Recontinuing

Mathilde’s dad looks so familiar I must have seen him in something else

Why does Côme always look so sullen

Tbf I assume a lot of it is not being able to see his facial features that well due to the low video quality but like

Girl the way they skipped Geronimo in the cast countdown??

NOÉMIE GARCIA??? I DIDN’T KNOW SHE WAS IN THIS

Aw I like how they’re having people applaud the techies and band as well as the actors :)))

Reprises of the biggest songs at the end of French musicals :)))

Lesbians real

I joke but if Mathilde and Louise had just loved each other and forgotten julien everything would’ve worked out Fine. It definitely would not have but I can pretend

All in all it did slightly disappoint my expectations but overall it was a good time

The music slapped, as expected

And the set design & staging was really neat, and far surpassed my expectations after i saw it was mainly screens

[usersasaki]

hello tumblr user usersasaki 🫵 you will never know who i am! (or who knows lol hi karma <3) this anon has been looking into getting into orv but keeps procrastinating like they do on many other things and so asks you, one of their resident orv likers they know, to uh. idk. but feel free to ramble on about why you like orv so much & why someone should get into it (like me!) so maybe i can finally be convinced to read it Now instead of putting it off for later again and again !! ... or something like that 🥺✨

OK GUYS THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS IS NOT A DRILLLLL AAAAA HELLO U BEAUTIFUL PERSON I THINK IK WHO U ARE BUT RN I'M SO READY TO CRUSH U IN A BIG HUG REGARDLESS OF THAT

ahem. yes. anyways. i'm totally normal abt this, i totally didn't go feral for a few moments before i started typing this. OK BUT I'M SO READY TO TRY TO CONVINCE U TO READ THIS CUZ WHEN I SAY THIS WEBTOON + WEBNOVEL HAS CHANGED ME ENTIRELY. pls bear with me, giving me a chance to word vomit was not a good idea /hj. i'll put everything under the cut :] and i'll try to keep everything as spoilerless as possible so that u can safely enjoy the story when u get to it

i will apologise in advance for the person i've become, this might end up becoming a HUGE post (edit: i think it did, this is apparently at a lil more than 2k words rn cuz i typed this in google docs for fear of tumblr nuking my entire draft and me having to start all over again)

tldr for those who don't want to go through a 2k essay; orv is for you if you enjoy clean art, stories that will break down your initial expectations and surpass them, and things like found family, love (all kinds), and just an emotional rollercoaster in general. prepare snacks and tissues.

i'll start with the webtoon because that's where it started for me! honestly one of the things i look for most when i start a webtoon is the art. and there are times when even if i like the story, if the art ain't it for me, i'll drop the story 😭💀 but orv has such beautiful and crisp art, very edible art HAHAHA (both webtoon and novel by the way but i'll get to the novel in a bit) it makes me go so O.O sometimes. here's an example of the art, you might've seen it somewhere but i'm still adding it here for the pure beauty of these men named kim dokja and yoo joonghyuk AND ALSO han sooyoung and jung heewon (yes i'm gay, no it's not obvious /j). every character in this webtoon is so well drawn and just. chef's kiss okay, so if you like pretty art, you've got that right here folks.

moving on, the story seems, at first, like a very generic action fantasy webtoon where the world of a novel becomes reality and our mc aka kim dokja is the one who knows how to get to the end and he gets to meet his favourite novel’s protagonist yoo joonghyuk and decides to save the world. but as the story progresses on and on, it becomes so much more than that. the storytelling skills have to be applauded because webtoons can't use lots of words and have to convey things more concisely than their novel counterparts but they've done an amazing job of using the right dialogues in the right places with the right amount of impact. AND as of right now, the story is starting to head towards what i'd like to say is the actual beginning of this webtoon >:) that’s all i can say without spoiling some major things from the novel so,, yeah!

another beautiful part is the portrayal of each of the characters, especially kdj, and their different dynamics with kdj. now kim dokja is our mc and the main narrator of this entire thing so we’re quite limited in that sense because all we see and know is what kim dokja tells us through his narration. a lot of posts have accurately pinned him down as an unreliable narrator because he really only ever shows his companions (and us readers) one part of things and we’re all left to speculate about things. each companion holds a different opinion of kdj but all of them are united in the fact that they trust him to help them get through everything. while the webtoon hasn’t had a chance to explore that yet, i’m looking forward to how they will show it to us :] i’d say that this webtoon is worth a read also because kim dokja is the most mind boggling, intriguing and frustrating character you will ever meet. that’s a fact that’ll get clearer as you get closer to the recent chapters of the webtoon, but i love how he’s relatable in the sense that he both makes me screech in awe but also makes me want to wring his neck with how he is sometimes. i love him *holds him by the neck* (affectionately). oh and when i say every character is just a beautiful piece of art, i mean both their literal art and also the way they’ve been written, though it is more clear in the novel as of right now.

NOW i’m gonna move onto the webnovel because i honestly fell deeper into the rabbit hole purely because of the novel. and sing shong (the author of the webnovel) is an absolute genius for the way they have both intricately and simply pushed a single message throughout the length of the novel. i constantly joke about how reading the orv novel has changed my brain chemistry but i’m not joking most of the time because it really did. in many ways, i’m sure this is a novel i will remember for a very long time to come.

the same points i spoke about for the webtoon stand for the novel as well BUT of course the novel is just immaculately written and it deserves a chance of its own. it’s not that the writing of the novel is extraordinarily fancy or anything, it’s actually quite simple reading without too many complicated words but i think that has a beauty of its own. it’s able to convey what it needs to without having 10 pages of description and that’s awesome to me. there are issues with some things written in the novel but as it isn’t a focus or the point of orv (i got this point from this tumblr post, feel free to read through it if you want to because they have written some great points that can’t be said better by me!), it’s still a novel that entertains you to the fullest.

the characters are admittedly more fleshed out in the novel than the webtoon but that’s because the webtoon is still catching up while the novel is complete (it ended with epilogue chapters but recently the author came out with side stories). the relationships are just very detailed and it gives you a look into not only kim dokja’s head, but also yoo joonghyuk and other characters’ heads as well, though they’re not as common because the majority of the story is in kdj’s point of view. i’ve neglected mentioning other character names so far but kim dokja has a set of the most loyal and sweet and sometimes feral companions besides yoo joonghyuk like yoo sangah, who is someone kdj knew before the novel became their world, jung heewon and lee hyunsung, kdj’s trusty sword and shield, lee gilyoung and shin yoosung, his children (not biological but yes). there’s also lee jihye, an avid yoo joonghyuk follower who insults kdj at every turn but cares for him, and han sooyoung, who is portrayed as a bit of an antagonist or an anti-hero (as far as the webtoon goes anyway wink wink). and a lot of other characters you’ll grow to either love a lot or hate with a passion oR even have your opinion take a whole 180 about as you read on and on, that’s just the kinda novel this is.

don’t even get me started on the underlying themes of this novel. this is me being an english major (and psychology major unintentionally, double major woohoo) through and through but i love analysing characters and figuring out themes that come out through the writing. i won’t go too into the details so that i won’t spoil it for anyone who happens upon this post. but there’s the overarching theme of love; not just romantic love but also platonic love, familial love and the most important one of this novel, self-love. another theme i think is quite relevant and important to this story is more easily relatable to people who read often because it goes into how books can change you BUT you can also change books by reading them over and over again and understanding it better. also how stories can save you but you, as a reader, have the power to save stories by reading them. because in the end, a story continues because you read it. OH I CAN’T FORGET THIS, found family <3 if you’re a fan of found family, this is for you, it’s present throughout the story as a small but encompassing theme.

now this could be just me but i get extremely emotional when it comes to my favourite media, so i squeal with joy at happy parts, sob uncontrollably when sad scenes come up, punch my pillows when something makes me mad⏤ you get my point. and this novel gave me an entire rollercoaster of emotions and made me so URGH in good, bad and ugly ways. it kinda brings me back to my point about kdj being an unreliable narrator since the reason why it gets so hard and sad is because this man never tells anyone anything. he takes it upon himself to do everything, much to the annoyance and despair of his companions and us the readers. we know nothing other than what kdj is willing to tell us, not about his plans, not about him, not about his own feelings. and we’re left to guess and guess until everything is laid bare and then we’re still trying to. process everything. yeah i don’t know if this part is making any sense but i can’t really go into detail without majorly spoiling the story. so you’re gonna have to come back to my post once you’re done to be like “ohhh, right this is what they meant.” /j

To move to a lighter and probably my last point, the novel illustrations are gold i tell you. it’s done by a person named blackbox or bb-nim for short and i love just going through their art for fun. of course, if you’re reading it on a website like i did, then you’re not going to see the illustrations side by side so you should definitely check out blackbox’s twitter which i’ve linked here :] you’ll probably also find their art on pinterest. gorgeous art i tell you, BUT BUT BUT there are spoilers here and there so beware if you go digging through their media tab on their twt. I’ll put some of my favourite pieces that are as non-spoiler as possible under this

so. yeah. these are my reasons for why you should read both the orv webtoon and novel. In the end, all i can say is that if you give them a chance, you’ll probably get hooked just as i did. i knew to a certain extent about how the novel was but nothing prepared me enough but i’m not complaining because it is genuinely so good. i’ll add a list of content warnings here that i got from the wiki page because i don’t want anyone to be ambushed by anything they’re not comfortable with reading: graphic violence, death and murder, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, suicide, body horror, dissociation, transphobia (this might be a deal breaker and it would be for me too as a nonbinary person but it’s not a major focus and happens a couple times throughout the story), cephalopods, tentacles (yes these are real content warnings on the wiki HAHAHA), and finally hospitals.

to all of you who actually read this far, thank you! you are a great person for reading through a random person on the internet go on and on about a webtoon and novel, hope you have an awesome day/night ahead of you! if you have any questions about things in the webtoon or novel, feel free to hit me up, i’m always down to have conversations about orv (none of my irls have read it but i will use this essay to convince one of them to give it a chance so wish me luck). anyway, peace out folks! :]

[mybraindumps]

Tumblr was a love affair. I admired the screenshots from afar (read: Pinterest and Instagram) from years. Infact I used to think it was an ancient site, like myspace or Olympia, no longer standing. (That's how everyone sounds here btw. I love it.) I especially love the Tumblr tags. The best kind of goldmine. I was so disappointed to learn that's not how tags are used everywhere. Anyway, I created my account, once, twice, thrice, over the past eight years, but never stuck around long enough to figure it out completely. I am not sure why, but I suppose the blatant vulnerabilty intimidated me. That is, until last year, when I started my first job. I realised I needed an outlet, and my diary wasn't enough. I tried twitter, and a second account on Insta, but they were just... mehh Then I am remember exploring other platforms for a client when I found Tumblr again. And ended up creating this account. The first thing I did was follow all the accounts from the screenshots I had saved. I was so happy, to read their posts in real time and not wait for someone to screenshot it. It took me forever to think of a username that wasn't taken. And to start posting instead of saving like 50 odd drafts. And there was a moment when I realised how naturally shitposting comes to me. And I wondered why I had not been doing it all this while. And now I wonder how I ever lived without dumping all my thoughts. I re-read all my posts today. And even though some of them are cringe af, I wouldn't have it any other way. It doesn't matter if one person reads it, ten people read it or nobody reads it. I love my blatant vulnerabilty. And I love not keeping everything inside. I am not sure what will become of this. I can't rant for all my life I suppose (or can I?) But when have I ever cared about 'to what end?' I don't know why I am writing this? Why 'this' on New Year's Day? I just feel like it I suppose. Or perhaps because I start my new job, for real, tomorrow. Or maybe I want to mark the year I was finally here. Because it has been the best kind of ride. This feels so silly, writing a love letter to a platform. But its so real. To more shitposting this year on this hellsite. Happy New Year 🌻 1st January 2023

[lonepower]

oh I completely forgot to actually post my one single liveblog post i just saved it as a draft lmao. anyway if anyone wants my realtime Romulus Thoughts (tl;dr it's good) here ya go~

oh hey it starts on my birthday!! already a good sign <3

the audio quality on this cam is only a little bad but i cannot understand anyone for Shit. the 2 identical british dudes especially are basically speaking Peanuts Parentsese. i've been spoiled rotten by the shift to streaming and need my subtitles ))):

i really like this actress, she reminds me of someone - daisy ridley or summer glau maybe? she's so cute uvu

oh i want her and Pretty Hair to kiss so bad. she looks like she's shaping up to be the final girl though so i should probably not get too attached to anyone else, rip

ohhhhhhhhhh here we go

man I REALLY wanna know what their homeworld is like. I mean like the actual original world they came from instead of whatever time travel shit or w/e that prometheus was on, idk i blocked it from my memory. anyway there's so much about their design & behavior that seems like they're meant to be amphibious/semiaquatic to me? they're about the right size to fill the same niche as sharks or crocodiles, too...... did hr giger actually think about this stuff or was he just like "hey you know what would be fucked up"

rip bald girl we hardly knew ye. you were facehugged on all those posters anyway so i'm glad you weren't interesting

awwwww, no, man, don't, don't do that, that's not cool. why do we gotta do this. cmon. fuckin nightmarish

 

I'M A SHAM. A FRAUD. I HAD TO DOUBLE CHECK THE ROOT ON WIKTIONARY AND THE PLAGIARISM MACHINE WAS RIGHT. MY CREDIBILITY IS RUINED

girl go see a gynecologist or something i don't think that's a normal pussy pH

hnnNNnggH i'm ngl though that was. hot. also a very satisfying death for my least favorite character. i hope it hurt as much as it looked like it did 🤭

LAUREL IS CANON????? man she was a fun oc i should play around w her some more. love me some xeno gene therapy gone wrong. better hope the canon version doesn't fuck you up the same way<3

LMAOOOO NOT 2 MINUTES LATER!!!! EXACTLY THE SAME WAY! i'm so delighted my cringe nae nae river-tam-expy science-experiment mary sue is explicitly canon compliant now. this is great. oh my god.

Oh This Will Go Well

•HAROLD.............................

oh this is a Cool setpiece that seems very ill-advised

...yep. nicely foreshadowed, too

• HEL FUCKING LO??????? 👁️👄👁️

XENOMORPH YURI REAL. GOD I WISH THAT WERE ME

okay wait on slowmo rewind #4 that's actually the one from before? i'm no less jealous but slightly more confused. xenomorph yuri is still real thank you god 🙏🙌

ohhhhhhh that's why. yeah that makes more sense lol.

oh to be tenderly rescued by a terrifying alien who's only saving my life so they can use my body for their own nefarious ends. who said that

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THEY WERE IN LOVE YOU DICK!!!!!!

also the bishop echo at the beginning was cute but this one didn't land. you can do better. :\

while we're still on the subject tho: i think we do need an Enemy Mine scenario with a xeno now. the yautja got one with scarlex. it's time. i deserve it

Oh here we go. xenomorph yuri real round 2(????)

HEY WAIT NO WHAT THE F U C K

honestly this is just an accurate representation of what normal human pregnancy sounds like to me. having a little creature burst out of your ribcage killing you instantly is Vastly preferable tbh

i think this thing is less unsettling than the newborn but only barely. like 0.4% less unsettling. what the fuck

average white man behavior

i like my idea better tbh. Pretty Hair deserves to be monsterified and Final Girl deserves a terrifying mutated alien gf. we could have had it aaaaaaaaalllllll

I DO appreciate the obvious resurrection parallel though. my black sheep most beloved getting the legitimacy & recognition it deserves 😔✊

in conclusion WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK. resurrection and avp will probably always be tied for my favorites and tbh I would rank 2 a little higher as well, but this was solidly middle of the pack which is a gargantuan fucking improvement. the main thing is that it was Actually Recognizably An Aliens Movie which, after the prometheus/covenant nightmare, is honestly the highest praise i can give. thank GOD