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pfctipper · 6 months ago

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thinking abt dick winters (as usual) but specifically the contemporary evidence of him in the context of damian lewis describing him as 'not without ego' and this post

aka i am absolutely fascinated that web’s main description of him is ‘big and hard and aggressive’

January 1945 letter from Johnny Martin to Bill Guarnere: 'Our CO is now Lieutenant Speirs from D Company. I think he’s the best one we've had yet'

Webster, Parachute Infantry (based on his wartime letters and notes he made in the late 1940s): 'A big, strong young man with sandy hair, he had won the Distinguished Service Cross in Normandy [...] Captain Winters jumped out of the ditch. “Let’s go! Let’s hear a little noise! Kill ’em! Kill ’em all!” [...] Our old Captain Winters, the medal-winner, who was big and hard and aggressive, seemed like the kind of man who would stay around forever. Now he was gone [as company commander]'

Speirs, THE OPERATIONS OF THE 2ND PLATOON D COMPANY, 506 PARACHUTE INFANTRY (101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION) IN THE VICINITY OF CARENTAN, FRANCE 11-13 JUNE 1944 (1948): 'The E Company commander, Lt Winters, was struck in the leg. He was not evacuated, however, and in spite of a stiff and painful leg, stayed until ·the end of the campaign'

speirs features a lot more than dick in parachute infantry, which is partly because of the parts of the war it spans, but probably not what you’d expect from watching the show and seeing how that puts him on a pedestal. also that webster and his particular brand of disdain for a lot of the military and its pettiness and regulations specifically really liked speirs but seems to have been fairly ambivalent about dick is interesting

plus there are dick's wartime letters to deetta in hang tough, where he comes across as. well. the top goodreads review appears to have mistaken it for a epistolary wwii romance novel and knocked off 1.5 stars for misogyny, and i think 'superiority complex' and 'temperamental' would just about cover the rest

so. clearly perceived as a good officer, but not exactly how he comes across in the show or the books. i think dick was absolutely not without ego ('I knew that I was a better man than most of the officers whom I had met, so I flirted with joining the commissioned ranks' in Beyond is a pretty good summation) and a very strong personality. as per ambrose, dick had the initial idea for band of brothers and presented him with folders of information he'd already prepared in anticipation that someone would want to write that book one day, led on collating most of the information from the other men, and along with lipton went through the book 'line-by-line' before it was published to 'correct' information provided by others

and i think that ego really informed both what is / isn't included in the show and how the audience was meant to understand what is included (the shaving scene in bastogne, the nco mutiny)

which in itself has very interesting implications for how nix gets portrayed in the show and in the books given that, by virtue of not engaging with ambrose and then passing in 1995, he's pretty much entirely invented based on information from dick. given that a lot of the show is serving dick’s ego, it’s interesting that nix’s characterisation doesn’t, really. he’s just kind of there

lots to think about. more exploration of egotistical dick please

#nearly tagged this as 'bee thinking about dick as usual' but that felt too on the nose #dick winters #band of brothers

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scotianostra · 11 months ago

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On February 24th 1303 the Scots, under Simon Fraser and John Comyn beat an English force at The Battle of Roslin.

Now most of my history is self taught that I have picked up over the years, I was brought up near Roslin and my mum did take us there as bairns and told us all about the Chapel, the Apprentice Pillar and The Holy Grail, this was 30 years before Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code novel, so with all that you would think that I will have been told all about The Battle of Roslin?

Nope not a thing, I knew about Stirling Bridge, Bannockburn and Culloden, as well as other battles but I can't recall my mum ever telling me about Roslin, so what I know is all learned over the past 20 years or so.

Fought between the Scots and English during the Wars of Scottish Independence and was a Scottish victory, but it does not figure in many history books and few people up until lately have even heard of it, yet the figures involved, especially on the English side, make it one of the biggest battles ever on Scots soil.

This was during the Wars of Scottish Independence, according to the stories I have read it was more of a fight over the love of a woman rather than a pure Scotland v England "match".

Lady Margaret Ramsay of Dalhousie, who had become betrothed to the handsome Sir Henry St Clair, they of the Knights Templar folk. Enter your typical English arrogant guy in Sir John de Segrave, a seasoned campaigner in many a Scottish battle. Sir John is said to have fallen in love with oor Lady Margaret on may visits to Dalhousie Castle, on hearing of the impending marriage in a fit of jealousy decided he wanted the Lady for himself so sought out to sweep her off her feet and defeat the Scottish army all in one fell swoop.

It's a great tale and sounds like a Hollywood film, but there never was any Lady Margaret Ramsay and we know that Sinclair married one Alicia de Fenton. So that's the romance bit debunked.

What I have also read out about the battle is that Segrove split his army, of 30,000 troops, into three groups, to me this is more believable, well splitting the army, the numbers in my mind will have been a lot less. Anyone who knows the landscape of Roslin Glen will know that it lends itself to the theory that in battle on big force would find it difficult to gather there. The English army in three divisions was also common in armies at the time. The terrain in Roslin in the middle of winter would have made it very difficult for a large army to manouevre, so with that I am pretty sure the numbers have been exaggerated, put it this way, if 30,000 English were defeated at Roslin it would be bigger than Bannockburn.

This brings me to my third point about the battle, why are no accounts of it from people present at it? Well that is easily explained in the fact that one of the commanders of the Scots was John "The Red" Comyn. It's a well know fact that history favours the winners, and we all know that The Bruce and Comyn were bitter rivals so it would be natural for any records of the battle to have been erased by Bruce. Well that's my take on it.

A couple of other details often written about the battle is that William Wallace was present, Wallace by this time had given up the Guardianship and at some point was said to have been in France, when captured he was in possession of a "safe passage" letter from The King of France, so was he there? Again I refer to my local knowledge in that along the River Esk that runs through Roslin Glen, towards Hawthornden Castle is a cave we know as Wallace's Cave, so there is a connection somewhere down the ages with our favourite Scottish patriot.

One as wee story regarding The Battle of Roslin is about the Cistercian Prior Abernethy of Mount Lothian to the west of Balantradoch, the Templar headquarters in Scotland, it was about 5 miles from Roslin, Abernethy, the monk, had been a Templar, a warrior, who had off his armour and lay down his sword to spend the remainder of his life praising God. Now the warrior priest's blood rose again. The life of prayer, compilation of Gregorian chants was abandoned. God had called the Prior to the defence of Scotland. As men prepare for battle each pray to whatever God he knows "let us be victorious."

Monks on horseback were sent to raise the alarm and warn the Scots of the danger facing them, they would have said a prayer for the Scots troops before the battle, as was normal, but another legend is that as the Scottish Army grew tired during the third stage of the battle. Abernethy is said to have been crucial with his local knowledge of the Glen, he also directed the Monks to erect a huge St Andrews Cross on the Pentland Hills, as the Scots tired the Cross was set alight and the Abernethy pointed towards it, saying it was a sign from God, it rallied the troops and the Battle was won.

You will have maybe heard other versions of The Battle of Roslin, a lot of this is my own take and by no means historical.

#scotland #scottish #history #Midlothian Roslin #Battle #First war of Scottish Independence

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lurkingshan · 1 year ago

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Intergenerational Trauma Challenge - 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

It’s winter and I’m huddled up in my house hiding from the cold weather, so obviously this is the perfect time to tackle another entry on the intergenerational family trauma challenge list. This week I finally watched 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us, a Thai drama about Wang, a young man just coming of age who is desperately seeking answers about his father’s death; Sasiwimol, Wang’s very complicated mother who does not want to dig up the past; Inthawut, his father’s best friend who has been hiding from it for years; and Siam, the black hole at the center of this story.

Before I dig into the trauma themes, let me just say that this show is excellent, if not for everyone. It has a very intentional style that makes it feel like a stage play—the writer is a playwright—and it’s basically eight episodes of very intense conversations. It’s not a romance and there’s an intellectualism in the writing that I found kept me at an emotional remove from the characters even as I marveled at how well crafted the dialogue is. And the dialogue is very important, which is why the translation of this drama is much stronger than we typically get from Thai productions—the words matter. It’s also loaded with visual metaphors and is all around beautiful to look at, and the three main performers are fantastic. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes theater, stories about complicated families, or beautiful and talented actors showing their work. And more than anything else, this show does incredibly strong thematic work and its messaging is on point: this is a story about how noble idiocy ruins lives.

So, with that said, onto the trauma! Spoilers ahead, and I am assuming anyone reading past this point has watched the show. Some themes you’ll see in this one: taboo, denial of queer identity, homophobia, filial piety, and lots of emotional manipulation. Shoutout to @bengiyo and @twig-tea for reading this to make sure I didn’t miss anything in this complex story.

There are two main sources of intergenerational trauma radiating down toward Wang: the absence of his father, Siam, and his intense relationship with his mercurial mother, Sasiwimol. The story is structured around Wang’s determination to seek answers about Siam—both who he was and how he died. He has grown up knowing a certain story: that his parents met and fell in love in college but divorced when he was young, that his father loved him very much despite not staying with his mother, and that his father was an alcoholic who died in a drunk driving accident. Shortly after his father’s death, his mom put him in boarding school so she could focus on her career and became a weekend parent to him—as she was not around to structure his day to day life, their relationship became more about her taking him on fun adventures and spoiling him when she had time off, treating each other as best friends instead of like a mother and son, and never talking about Siam. He has always suspected there was more to the story of his parents that he was not being told, and as he has grown up, come into his own queerness, and picked up on his mother’s casual homophobia and obsessive devotion to compulsory heteronormativity, his suspicions about the secret his mom was holding became sharper.

Enter Inthawut. Inthawut was Siam’s best friend, and with nothing to go on but a set of old pictures, Wang has an instinctual certainty that he is the key to the secret he’s seeking. And thus he engineers a way for he and his mom to “coincidentally” stumble onto Inthawut’s property and get invited to stay a few days in his isolated home, at which point Wang begins his campaign to figure out what the hell happened between Siam, Sasiwimol, and Inthawut at any cost.

One of the things I find most interesting about this story is how much the plot hinges on Wang going against Asian cultural norms in his pursuit of the truth. He is not respectful to his elders. He does not maintain filial piety and deference to his mother. He refuses to restrain his emotions. Instead, he is pushy and relentless and emotionally manipulative (all tricks we can plainly see he learned from Sasiwimol) and Inthawut doesn’t stand a chance against him. And so, because Wang explicitly acts against these cultural values, the truth comes out and the trauma is no longer suppressed.

And in the end, it’s a simple, if desperately sad story: Siam and Inthawut were in love, but Inthawut was battling internalized homophobia and deep-seeded fear and so he relentlessly pushed Siam away and toward dating and then marrying their friend Sasiwimol. And when Siam, miserable in this heterosexual relationship he never actually wanted, finally snapped and confessed his true feelings, Inthawut rejected him and ran away to study abroad. Inthawut was running due to his own fear, but he also had noble notions of somehow protecting Siam from his own queerness and told himself that if he was gone, Siam would accept his heterosexual life. Of course, that did not happen, and in the fallout of this rejection Siam sank further into alcoholism and died soon after. Inthawut’s reaction was the exact worst fear of all gay people who work up the courage to confess to a friend they have developed feelings for: outright rejection, abandonment, and destruction of the relationship. And in his mind, he did this to Siam “for his own good,” a fairly textbook execution of the noble idiocy trope. In the aftermath, we see how Inthawut has isolated himself, part in penance, part in self-protection, and intellectualized his way to a romantic construction of his own cowardice that he tries to convince Wang is righteous.

But Wang is deeply affected by how the denial of his father’s queerness ruined his life and is absolutely not having any of Inthawut’s self-denying bullshit, and this is where things get messy, as both Wang and Inthuwat seem to start seeing Wang and Siam as interchangeable and they develop an emotional entanglement that is deeply unhealthy, to say the least. Wang wants to understand Siam so badly that he starts to be him, and Inthuwat is so desperate to address his regret and shame that he starts to see Wang as Siam, as well. Wang also uses this attachment as a way to shock his mother and forcefully bring her real feelings about Siam and Inthawut to the surface. Despite Wang’s many loud protestations to the contrary, I don’t believe that he and Inthawut actually love each other. They are using each other to work out their trauma about Siam.

And they’re not the only ones! Sasiwimol seems to have her own psychological confusion about Wang as he relates to Siam, and their dynamic is very strange as a result. She refers to Wang as dua-eeng (and has taught him to do the same with her rather than calling her “mom”), a Thai endearment that literally means “self” but is often used between lovers. They have a very physically affectionate relationship that often had me grimacing in discomfort, and she clearly sees Wang as both a source of pain—because he is so like Siam—and her one source of comfort and happiness. She is a successful woman by any standard, but she’s also desperately lonely, hanging on tight to Wang as her only companion in a way that often veers into overbearing, and deeply wounded by her past with Siam and Inthawut. It was through her own friendship with Inthawut that she pursued Siam in the first place, and she clearly feels betrayed not only by Siam, but by Inthawut, both for getting in the way of her relationship with Siam and for leaving them. Her feelings about both men are complex and the story never fully spells them out, in part because Sasiwimol never does. Determinedly not thinking about what happened between them is a big part of how she copes, along with sublimating her suspicions into homophobia, which she perpetuates quite intentionally in her work via production of heterosexual romance propaganda.

Wang clearly loves his mother even as he is frustrated by her prejudices, her desire to control him, and her tendency toward emotional manipulation. He is a perceptive kid and he has studied her closely; he understands her very well and can often predict exactly how she’ll react to a situation. Which is why his decision to announce baldly to her face that he is in love with Inthawut—not only coming out as gay but declaring his intention to move out of her home and in with a man 20+ years his senior who is deeply entangled with her own trauma—felt very intentional to me. He knew what kind of reaction that would get from her, and he wanted it. And sure enough, Sasiwimol crumbles at this repetition of her trauma and the perceived disloyalty of Wang choosing Inthawut over her just as his father did. The rest of the emotion she’d been holding back comes pouring out, resulting in the three of them finally airing out everything that lies between them and everything they are feeling about the Siam-shaped hole in their lives. And once she breaks down, Wang is able to forgive her for the grievance she’s caused him and ultimately decides to remain filial and continue living with her, because he does not actually want to punish his mother for what happened to his father.

So, in the end, where did the story leave us with all this trauma? I can’t really say that any of these characters have healed, but I do think Wang kick-started that process, at least for himself. He got what he needed most out of this little scheme: deeper understanding of who his father was and why his life took such a drastic turn. He remains caught in the dysfunctional dynamic with his mother, and I’m not sure he’ll ever fully break out of it, but at least there is more honesty between them now about what they’re dancing around. She now knows he is gay and she has to accept it to keep him with her, and given that he has backed off from asking her to accept something much scarier than that, I do think she will find a way to make her peace with it. Inthawut is the character who seems to have progressed the least, standing firmly in his stasis and remaining determinedly alone with his pain, though the show leaves us with a note of ambiguity that suggests he may someday find the courage to move on.

The messages of this work are clear. Internalized homophobia and denial of your own queerness are poison for your soul. Rejecting a loved one “for their own good” is an act of cowardice and selfishness, not an act of love. Hiding from and sublimating your trauma will never allow you to heal. Refusing to process your pain will only lead to you pushing it down on the next generation. Ultimately, this story told us that bravely looking ourselves and our trauma in the face and confronting our truths head on is the only way to begin to heal, and that running from them only leads to ruin.

#180 degree longitude passes through us #thai drama #intergenerational trauma challenge #shan shouts into the void

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critmaswishingtree · 3 days ago

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Final Week for the Wishing Tree

One more week to go! Time to put those finishing touches on those fills and hit publish!

As a reminder: You can add or edit a work after the collection closes, but you can't upload a new work. So if the fill got a little longer or more complicated than you anticipated, you can upload what you have, and add the rest in a new chapter later.

Still have time? Want to make someone's day? Check out all twenty-seven unclaimed prompts under the cut, and see if you can write or draw something for them! It doesn't have to be long, a drabble will do.

You can claim any of those prompts here!

Candela Obscura

Title: Fic or Art: Relationship or Characters: Candela Obscura, Evelyn White, Jacqueline "Jackie" Renoux, Jacqueline "Jackie" Renoux/Evelyn White Potential Fill Ratings: Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

Would love to see more of the ladies from Circle of the silver screen getting into trouble... And maybe some stramy romance as well?

Campaign Crossovers

Title: Outsider POV M9 + Ring of Brass Fic or Art: EIther Relationship or Characters:, Ring of Brass, The Mighty Nein & Essek Thelyss, The Mighty Nein & The Mighty Nein, POV Outsider, The Mighty Nein as Family Potential Fill Ratings: Not Rated, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

I would love a story of the ring of brass watching over the mighty nein and their hijinks from the astral sea

(Can include ships but doesn’t have to) (If so please essek/Caleb and Essek x Jester friendship also empire siblings )

Title: Keyleth and Vilya or Korrin talk about Vax Fic or Art: Fic Relationship or Characters:, Keyleth, Vilya | Viridian, Korrin, Potential Fill Ratings: Not Rated, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences Description of Prompt:

Keyleth and her father have both had to deal with their past love coming back, or not quite being able to move on from that experience. I'd love to hear what Korrin or Vilya has to say about the Vax situation.

DNW: Korrin or Vilya being depicted as a bad parent (they can be complicated, give advice, and make mistakes, but I'd like it if it seemed like they tried their best.

Title: The Mighty Nein | The M9 as a Candela Circle Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Candela Obscura, The Mighty Nein, Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature Description of Prompt:

The Mighty Nein as a Candela Circle solving a caper in Newfaire. That's it. That's the prompt. I don't have any ship or character preferences, though I'd prefer to focus on the Mighty Nein sans Essek (mainly because there are already very good Candela crossovers with Essek).

Title: Kash & Zahra | CR3 Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:, Kashaw Vesh, Zahra Hydris, Zahra Hydris/Kashaw Vesh Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature Description of Prompt:

Was anyone else screaming WHERE IS MY BOOOY at all this Vasselheim stuff and famously no Slayers' Take input on the whole war going on? What's Vesh's stance on the moon situation? Is Kash staying out of it? What's this doing to Zahra, whose warlock pact involves A moon, if not THAT moon, specifically? I'd love a fic that deals with how they're coping in Moonmageddon.

Title: Vilya and Keyleth at Winters Crest Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:Keyleth & Vilya | Viridian Potential Fill Ratings: Not Rated, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences Description of Prompt:

It'd be nice to see them be able to be a family and together again.

DNW: too much angst

Title: Fic or Art: Any combo of Essek, Caleb, Ashton, Dorian, and/or Orym + size shenanigan smut Fic or Art: Either! Relationship or Characters:, Essek Thelyss, Caleb Widogast, Ashton Greymoore, Orym, Dorian Storm, Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Orym/Dorian Storm, Ashton Greymoore/Orym/Dorian Storm Potential Fill Ratings: Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

Any combination of these guys, as few or as many as you like but someone changes size for some reason. The how and the why is totally up to you.

DNW: rape/noncon, scat/watersports, feet stuff

Title:Artagan/literally any male PC or NPC: your choice smut Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Artagan, The Traveler Potential Fill Ratings: Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

Literally Artagan/The Traveler with any male PC or NPC from any campaign. My favorite chaos fey deserves to get some! Feel free to put him any encounter you want.

Some ideas: - Artagan finally grips and chokes more than just Vax’s neck. - Percy hates to admit it, but he’s really curious about what he’s read regarding fey intercourse. Artagan is all too happy to participate in a hands-on experimental study. - The Traveler shows Fjord just how powerful he really is, and how much joy his “tricks” bring. - Artagan observes Fearne, Orym, and Dorian as they journey through the Feywild and watches as Orym or Dorian (or both?) sneak away to take the edge off. (Does Orym and his high perception eventually realized that Artagan is watching him/Dorian? Does Orym know the whole time?)

DNW: rape, scat, piss

Title: Chetney and the Tombtakers Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:Chetney Pock O'Pea, Lucien, The Tombtakers Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature Description of Prompt:

Technically Chetney only spent a short time with the Claret orders in 843, but that timeline never made much sense anyway and it's not like Chetney hasn't lied about other things. There's definitely a world where they were all in the Claret Orders at the same time. Or maybe they just ran into him in the Savalirwood at some point.

I'd like some creepy fuckup to creepy fuckup interaction.

Title: Hey we saw you from across the campaign, Imogen/Laudna/Yasha/Beau Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:, Laudna, Imogen Temult, Yasha Nydoorin, Beauregard Lionett, Laudna/Imogen Temult, Beauregard Lionett/Yasha Nydoorin, Beauregard Lionett/Imogen Temult, Laudna/Beauregard Lionett/Yasha Nydoorin/Imogen Temult Potential Fill Ratings: Not Specified Description of Prompt:

After the frequent jokes in c3ep111 I think Imogen deserves to get railed by Beau. If Yasha and Laudna are involved or just aware is up to you!

Do not want: cheating/infidelity

Title: Kingsley during the Solstice Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:Kingsley Tealeaf Potential Fill Ratings: Not Specified Description of Prompt:

What's Kingsley up to during the Apogee Solstice? Is he on Darktow? Is he even aware of what's going on?

Bonus points for including Marius or Orly

DNW: Kingsley with Molly's personality

Title: Bells Hells meets the Darrington Brigade Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Bells Hells, Darrington Brigade Potential Fill Ratings: Not Specified Description of Prompt:

I want to see these two crazy crews meet with resulting shenanigans.

Bonus Ideas: -Ashton fanboys over the Owlbear -FCG meets Tary and Doty -FCG's hate of birds vs Lionel being a Duck Totem barbarian -Buddy calls the witches pretty, they tell him about Pretty

Campaign One

Title: Vax at his job and things going well for a change ft the Matron Fic or Art: Fic Relationship or Characters: The Raven Queen & Vax'ildan Potential Fill Ratings: Teen And Up Audiences, Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

I don't have any strict requests for tags, but I'd love to see a fic of Vax doing some champion's work, either in his VM days or after he ascended. I would love to see him have a good day at work for once (lol), and maybe have a nice conversation with the Matron? Up to you. TYIA!!

Title: Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Vax'ildan, Keyleth, Keyleth/Vax'ildan, Happy Ending, Potential Fill Ratings: Not Rated, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

Any rating… Vaxleth in canon getting their happy ending please

Title: Grog and Scanlan whump Fic or Art: Fic Relationship or Characters: Scanlan Shorthalt & Grog Strongjaw Potential Fill Ratings: Not Rated, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature Description of Prompt:

I love the friendship between these two in the campaign and I'd like to read something with a bit of hurt/comfort (with a side of canon-typical shenanigans). Can be anything from expending on a canon moment to something completely original. Does something befall Grog? Scanlan? Both? Pre-canon/canon/post-canon? Author's choice!

Title: Anna Ripley/Cassandra de Rolo Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:Anna Ripley, Cassandra de Rolo Potential Fill Ratings: Not Rated, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

this ship deserves art or fic because it has potential basically anything, any rating, any tags, complete creative freedom but please make Cass over 18 if you'll do smut

Campaign 2

Title: Dairon and Essek have an awkward conversation Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Dairon, Essek Thelyss Potential Fill Ratings: Not Specified Description of Prompt:

At Beau and Yasha's wedding, Dairon quickly recognizes Essek through his disguise. Dairon not-so-subtly informs Essek that they know he stole the beacons, and that it's only as a favor to Beau that they're keeping quiet about it.

They also find common ground by commiserating about hating parties.

Title: Cree/Lucien | Backstory fic Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:Cree/Lucien Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature Description of Prompt:

I am always demanding more Cree/Lucien content, specifically of them pre-stream. Can include references to TNEOL, but I would rather Brevyn just be omitted entirely from the narrative please and thank you.

Prompt ideas:

- Cree and Lucien as kids in the Run - Cree and Lucien in the Orders - Lucien showing the tome to Cree for the first time

Not interested in PWP, but I'd be fine with porn with plot.

Title: Caleb Widogast | Caleb leaves the Mighty Nein after the Iron Shepherds Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Caleb Widogast Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature Description of Prompt:

Liam mentioned Caleb leaving the Nein was a real possibility. I'd love someone to explore that idea. What would he do, instead? Would he go back to Trent? What if he ended up having to go up against the Nein because Trent considers them loose ends. I'd love an unhinged Winter Soldier-esque Caleb story. Whatever ending is fine. I would just really love someone to explore the idea of early canon Caleb being forced to abandon the Nein and find other ways to achieve his goals and what sort of dark path that might lead him down.

Bonus points if you can include references to The Dark Tower and Roland's own journey, since Liam has said that the two have similar mindsets early in their narratives.

Title: Caleb/Neo-Somnovem Lucien + Caleb has a smutty dream of the Neo-Somnovem Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:, Caleb Widogast, Lucien/Caleb Widogast, Explicit Potential Fill Ratings: Explicit Description of Prompt:

Sometimes, when Caleb dreams, he dreams of Lucien. He dreams of the muscular, powerful body of the Neo-Somnovem’s form and what it is he could do to Caleb.

He’ll never admit to a soul just how attracted he was to that form. With Mollymauk and Lucien’s easy charm and all of that raw magical power, it’s like magic catnip for Caleb. He can’t resist.

Caleb yearns for those pleasurable dreams when he revisits the Neo-Somnovem.

DNW: rape/noncon, scat/watersports, feet stuff

Title: Shadowgast, Caleb meets the family Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:, Essek Thelyss, Verin Thelyss, Caleb Widogast, Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast Potential Fill Ratings: Not Rated, General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature, Explicit Description of Prompt:

It's been implied that Caleb has met Verin before, and I'd like to see what that looks like!

+ the two of them meeting without knowing one another's relationship to Essek + Verin flirts with Caleb, because who can resist the dirt wizard? + Essek and Caleb aren't together yet, and Essek is prompted to make his move on Caleb because of Verin's flirtatious overtures + Verin attempts to give Caleb a shovel talk (despite Essek being incredibly powerful in his own right)

DNW: anything that necessitates and archive warning, dead dove, AU

Campaign 3

Title: Marwa - what's she up to? Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Marwa Endalia Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences Description of Prompt:

What's Marwa up to these days? I miss her.

Any ship, any other characters DNW: Anything permanently bad to happen to Marwa.

Title: FRIDA/FCG - FRIDA finds out that FCG is dead Fic or Art: Either! Relationship or Characters: Fresh Cut Grass/F.R.I.D.A., F.R.I.D.A. & Deanna Leimert Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences Description of Prompt:

Someone finally tells FRIDA that FCG is dead. Maybe Deanna helps them through it?

Title: Ashton/Marwa | Awkward date Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Marwa Endalia/Ashton Greymoore Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, Mature Description of Prompt:

I really wanted Ashton and Marwa to have at least one awkward date before everything popped off. What would that be like? I must know.

Smut not necessary. I'd prefer it to be fade to black, but if your heart leads you to awkward smut, I would not be disappointed. I would just rather it be more humor than titillation.

Title: Relvin Temult's POV Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters: Imogen Temult, Relvin Temult, Liliana Temult, Imogen Temult & Relvin Temult, Liliana Temult/Relvin Temult, Potential Fill Ratings: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences Description of Prompt:

I'm just wondering what he thinks about all of this. Could be when Imogen was young, or during the campaign, or anytime in between.

Title: Will Lives! Bonus points for Will/Dorian/Orym Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:, Dorian Storm, Orym, Will | Orym's Spouse, Orym/Will | Orym's Spouse, Orym/Dorian Storm/Will | Orym's Spouse Potential Fill Ratings: not specified Description of Prompt:

What if Will survived the attack? Can be canon divergent, canon compliant, or straight up a different AU or a modern setting. SFW & NSFW both welcome.

Go feral!

DNW: major character death & other warnings

Title: FIC or ART: Fearne: Therapist to the Gods Fic or Art: Either Relationship or Characters:, Fearne Calloway, Asmodeus the Lord of the Nine Hells, The Raven Queen | Matron of Ravens, Corellon the Arch Heart, Pelor the Dawnfather, Lolth the Spider Queen Potential Fill Ratings: Not Specified Description of Prompt:

Okay okay okay. I don't think this is going to happen. But. Caleb mentioned that the gods could just sort out their own problems, right? The gods should decide among themselves what they do, maybe with a mortal arbitrator/relationship counselor/family therapist.

Who is the person in Bells Hells that would step up to the task for being a family therapist to the gods? Fearne. She's already a professor princess.

I wanna see what this would look like.

Could be primes only or primes and betrayers.

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finnlongman · 2 years ago

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Keep thinking about that one KJ Charles interview where she's talking about the challenges of being a historical romance novelist when you sort of believe the whole aristocracy should've been executed, and the delicate balancing act of writing historically accurate and interesting characters who don't have awful politics and values. And, crucially, she challenged the typical rich love interest idea by asking, "But where does the money come from?"

Once you think about it, you can't stop thinking about it. Every historical romance I read now, I can tell whether the author has thought about it. Sometimes they've thought about it but tried not to deal with it and hoped we wouldn't notice that the rich aristocrat probably owns a plantation. Sometimes they've actually dealt with it. And sometimes they have not considered it and It Shows.

But I also don't want historical novels where characters have modern sensibilities! I want them to feel historical... I just also want the "desirable" characters to not be, you know, involved in the slave trade or whatever, because that seriously undermines everything the book is doing to make them seem attractive. (One does not generally read this flavour of historical romance for morally grey antiheroes, and even if you did, that would be a fairly tasteless way of developing such a character, imo.)

I really enjoyed a detail in one of Cat Sebastian's books where the love interest is a Quaker, and he refuses dessert because he's boycotting sugar. It's a way of signalling to us that this character has particular values, but one that's rooted in the historical context and doesn't feel like a modern character wearing period clothing. His Quakerism also influences a few other details – his use of first names rather than titles, for example – but it's not a major plot point and he's no intense political campaigner. It's just one facet of his character, and one that made me like him more.

This sort of thing becomes a problem, too, with medieval settings and retellings and anything where you start having to deal with kings. A king of some tiny little pseudohistorical country whose major concerns revolve around not getting invaded and ensuring his people survive the winter is a very different prospect from a king intent on conquering his neighbours and expanding his glorious kingdom, of course. Still a king, though. What do you do with that, if you're someone who doesn't approve of kings?

I ran into this problem with a book I was working on a few years back, and it's one of the reasons I shelved it. I was trying to write a book about community and friendship. I was also trying to write an Arthurian retelling. And while a brotherhood of knights is a great starting point for a story about community and friendship, in order to have knights, you need to have a king for them to pledge fealty to. Problematic. My Arthur figure did not believe in hierarchy, but the story demanded that he perpetuated one anyway, because it was baked into the building blocks of story I was using to build mine. Eventually I realised I could not write that story as an Arthurian retelling without stripping it of everything recognisably Arthurian, and set it aside to be remade into something else.

I still think about this, though. I think about my Bisclavret retelling, which by necessity has a king in it. Bisclavret is a story about feudal loyalty, about oaths, about hierarchies. Take that away and you no longer have Bisclavret; it is a story that cannot exist without a king for the knight-wolf to be loyal to. Does that mean that as a story it always inherently supports a monarchist ideal, though? Or is its portrayal of kingship (a relationship that is, crucially, reciprocal) sufficiently detached from colonialist systems of monarchy to be distinct from those?

What systems and ideals form the assumptions a story is rested on? What happens once you start to question them? Can you still tell the same stories once you ask where the money comes from, or why the king is owed loyalty? Or does there come a point where you realise there are ideas woven into the very fabric of those narratives that you can't see past?

I don't have answers. I'm just thinking aloud. Thinking about having written a book with a king who isn't the bad guy, and what that means when I approve of neither kings nor hierarchies in general. Thinking about writing the past with the eyes of the present. Thinking about the unexamined assumptions in so many historical novels I've read, and how it feels as a reader not to be able to stop examining them.

(I have also read a number of contemporary romance novels where, after working my way through half an author's backlist, I've been forced to acknowledge that despite everything, the author does in fact think rich people are inherently attractive. Not sure what the solution to that one is, but it's certainly a different, if related, problem.)

#writing #historical fiction #historical romance #kj charles

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yurimother · 2 years ago

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Lesbian Found Family Visual Novel 'Good Luck Baby!' Released

On March 6, Noodletub Games released its new Yuri game Good Luck Baby! on Steam and itch.io. The all-ages mystery kinetic visual novel was funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign last year.

Set in 2002 Japan, Good Luck Baby! follows high schooler Hifumi Tanaka, who seems cursed with misfortune. Thankfully, her luck starts to turn when she meets Kasumi Itou, a sunny delinquent with a heart of gold. But just as their mutual crush begins to bloom, the girls find a surprising sight awaiting them on Kasumi's doorstep... a baby with wings and a halo!

Together, Hifumi, Kasumi, and their friends must embark on the journey of a lifetime to solve the mystery behind the baby and evade the clutches of the ruthless Empress Metis.

The developer describes the game as "A heartwarming, comedic, and emotionally-driven Yuri visual novel about love, found family, and saving the world. With an unforgettable cast, dramatic romance, and laughs galore."

The game includes 13 CG illustrations, 36 unlockable extra scenes, dynamic background, multiple Yuri couples, and a jukebox featuring over 70 tracks of the game's soundtrack. Good Luck Baby also features two bonus routes, "Spring 1902" which tells a dramatic tale of two women defying fate together, and "Winter 200X" which is an alternative timeline in which the villainess Empress Metis takes control of Earth.

At 150,000 total words, the developers estimate that the game includes 16 hours worth of content. It is available now for $14.99 on Steam and itch.io.

Noodletub Games is an indie duo consisting of two queer women, C.S. Lowell (writer) and OSENA (programmer). Both lifelong fans of video games and immersive stories, their goal is to create interactive fiction that anyone can enjoy. They worked on this title with artist @mpmrpjb. Good Luck Baby! is Noodletub's third game, proceeded by The Ghost of You (2018) and the adult visual novel Love Bakudan (2021).

Source: Correspondence with developers, press kit, official Steam page

#yuri #news #visual novel #video games #gaming #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+#queer #gay #wlw #gl #girls love #yuri game #anime #lesbian #lesbians #Good Luck Baby!

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zillanovikov · 4 months ago

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I'm currently taking applications for: chapter-by-chapter beta reader of my WIP.

It's called Women's Wrongs and it's a queer fantasy Regency-inspired gothic novel with mathematicians as wizards. It's very silly.

When I write new works I like to have people who read chapter-by-chapter and cheerlead and tell me what they like so a) dopamine hit of comments makes me keep going, b) I know what readers enjoy in the story and I can write more of the good stuff.

Happy to do it as a swap for beta reading your writing, if you are a writer.

Here's the first two paragraphs so you know a bit of what you'd be getting into:

It was at the close of her eighth failed season that Elizabeth Cowel began her quiet campaign of poisonings. Elizabeth, known to her friends and relations (two non-overlapping categories) as Liza, was fluent in flower language, a gifted mathematician, mediocre pianist, and, at seven-and-twenty, entirely on the shelf. Her murders, such as they were, were not committed on behalf of the Social Reformers, or the Anarchists, or any of the various permutations of strategic alliances within the Old Guard, infinitely mutable as their loyalties inevitably proved themselves. They were a proof of concept. After the loss of Lady West, Sir Chase, and Duchess Osipova, Liza declared herself satisfied and resigned herself to a quietly miserable winter at her aunt's estate, practising her sums and variations.

On Liza's twelfth birthday, her negligent governess had left a calculus textbook in a stack of maudlin gothic romance novels, on a shelf that proved itself in easy reach of hands no longer those of a child. Heedless woman! Governess Maggie gave no concern for the impact of either on a susceptible mind, and less for their combined effect, and we shall offer Maggie the same disregard, for this is not her story. What concerns this tale is that, by the time of the setting of the full moon, Liza had taught herself how to integrate a Taylor series, recite a proverb to ward off ghosts, and calculate the span of life allotted to any living thing.

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utilitycaster · 1 year ago

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I'm so kdhdkdjdkd jazzed about the fjorester proposal !!!! But something that popped up pretty immediately that baffled me was these like... cope posts i guess? Of how "beau and jester should cheat leaving their partners for eachother and how dw guys marriage is just going to spice up the inevitable affair" and it's not even treated as a joke and Im just confused? Like i got into cr2 by the time it was over with so idk what it was like waiting for releases, but why after all this time do people hold on as much as they do? Do they like the story or not?

So I will be totally honest: I am not above checking the blogs of those I know hold terrible opinions, for a number of reasons both reasonable (keeping an eye out for potential harassment; inspiration for meta; my genuine enjoyment of analyzing fandom trends) and less so (schadenfreude and sending DMs that say Can You Believe This Idiot) but I actually have not seen this! To be clear, I would not be surprised it was out there - heaven knows this was a refrain during late Campaign 2 and in the leadup to the two-shot - but I thought that most people finally gave up in late 2022 after the two-shot made it clear the existing relationships are still very much in place. Granted I, as always, rarely go on Twitter.

Anyway. I think some of it is just that people whose enjoyment of works hinges on their ships becoming canon, rather than that being one of many facets to their fandom, also tend to not know when to give up just generally (you can look around this website and still find people hopping mad and/or pining for resolution regarding shows that ended before Campaign 2 even started). I think most of them did finally give up and leave, which is probably healthier for both them and the fandom, but there will probably be a dwindling number of holdouts who will gasp out on their deathbed fifty years hence "Beau and Jester should have been together" to a politely confused hospice nurse.

To actually answer your question, no, they do not like the story. I know I've been very hard on people who seem to only be able to enjoy fiction through a lens of either shipping or intense projection of the self onto existing characters, but in my defense, I'm right. This is a whole separate post, which to be honest I've kind of already made several times, but the usual complaint about the Campaign 2 noncanon ships (echoed in the complaints about Campaign 3 primarily by those who do like the canon ships thereof) was that they would have happened and been flawless and perfect but for that Pesky Plot, ie, the story. Unless the entire point of a story is a romance (eg: the genre that is cleverly titled "Romance") romance is always optional.

I also think, to be honest, Campaign 2 attracted people who were patient. This is a good thing! I think that, for example, people who are not entirely feeling Campaign 2 13 episodes in are valid, because I was similarly enjoying myself but not entirely won over by the plot yet, and it was only a combination of that patience and the burgeoning character dynamics that kept me going (plus the fact that watching week to week is a lower commitment than a binge). Granted I think if you fully give up at that point you are weak and will not survive the winter and should probably go watch Michael Bay movies or Bluey, but that's a separate point. Anyway. Some people are patient beyond a point where it is rewarding or even neutral and pass into a realm of showing up to the Story That Has Fjorester and Beauyasha In It muttering "I hope this doesn't have any fucking Fjorester and Beauyasha". I don't know how to help them, nor do I particularly want to, but I do know that not going on Twitter has been super helpful.

One final note: again, haven't seen the thing you mention in your ask yet in relation to this one-shot and not for lack of poking around Tumblr at least; but I have seen people who were deeply bitter about Campaign 2 but are still around for Campaign 3, though not a ton, and this was also frankly true of people who loved Campaign 1 and have not really cared since but still stick around. There's a weird zombie problem in the fandom; you get people who are very invested in being a fan of Critical Role and can't seem to leave, but haven't actually been happy for literal years, either because they were ultimately only fans of Vox Machina, or the Mighty Nein, or a specific ship within that. It is actually something I try to be cognizant of because I was very cautious about becoming that during the stretch when I was more frustrated by Campaign 3 than I am now. I think, ultimately, it's a conflation of one's fandom with one's external identity and I don't know how that happens or how to fix it but that might also be a factor: people who really don't like the show and haven't for years and are grasping at a thing they think would fix that and make them happy again, and refuse to admit it might be time to move on because that would mean they need to change their conception of themselves.

#answered #Anonymous #follow for more amateur fandom sociology #critical role spoilers

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llycaons · 2 months ago

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Section Four: Part XII

Things that might have been: canon divergences/retellings - includes works with pre-ep50 get-togethers

*Tether by Annerb

summary: post-sunshot AU where lwj is cursed to be in proximity to wwx at all times or become extremely ill. this one is a long fic and a real slowburn, but the development and the characterizations are absolutely incredible for everyone (except a few slipups with wq and jc’s interactions) and it really feels like the commitment to a healthy and freely chosen relationship ala cql. VERY cql-faithful, even when it comes off a little silly. despite a few bizarre plot choices (just stick with it) and rather annoying failures of communication, this is an exceptionally well-done and elaborate work and I do recommend it highly - I do think it's all worth it. it has a few more chapters left, but the author is updating frequently and it’s a completed work. work issues: none, but there’s some…weirdness in how the stygian tiger seal (which is referred to as ~the amulet~) is treated, as if it’s really completely evil. the lack of allowed for gray morality was a little frustrating. author issues: none that I can see

*Odd Geometry by maziodyne

summary: sunshot AU where wwx was not adopted by the jiangs, and is instead a healer in yunmeng, using his unusual qi powers to treat the community for no fee. elemental magic co-exists with cultivation, resulting in a unique and complex magic system. the lead-up to and entirety of the sunshot campaign - and indeed the entire fic - is extremely well-researched the characters are on-point, the ocs are super fun, the action scenes are heart-poundingly exciting, the romance is gentle and tender, the pacing clips along, and the relationships are teased out with incredible heart. absolutely a must-read. mixed canons with characterizations leaning towards cql work issues: none author issues: none! my mutual wrote this and I beta read it!!

*Tie Your Heartstring Up Tight by athena_crikey

summary: non-cultivation AU where lwj is a wu, something like a shaman who spiritually interacts with nature to provide guidance for his sect and balance to the world. he’s asked by jc to find a missing wwx, so he leaves his isolated little home in gusu to go on a journey with a strangely intelligent black hare he takes as a familiar this work is a real treat. so atmospheric! fantastically evocative descriptions of winter landscapes, wonderfully fun relationship banter and chemistry, a unique and yet authentic and well-researched setting, a satisfying little character arc for lwj as realizes the error of his ways and works to account for his mistakes, a thematically appropriate story for our main characters, smooth writing and a clean, fresh style. somber and grounded and sincere for the most part, just as lwj himself is, with wwx’s bright playfulness and sense of humor bursting through now and then. I have mixed feelings on how the conflict at the end was resolved bc I don’t think it fit the themes perfectly, but on the whole I found the ending quite satisfying work issues: ngl this xue yang was literally a homophobic stereotype. extremely suggestive and flirtatious in a pushy and repulsive way, implied to be perverse and unwholesome because he was wearing makeup, treated as though he was sexually predatory…it was really weird. he didn’t act like that in the book or any of the shows! author issues: omegaverse, forced courtesanship….egg-laying? just thought I’d mention that one but honestly I don’t even mind, uh one where wwx has to provide a dowry. like. ugh, why?

*here is a map with your name for a capital by zerodignity

summary: the second in the series that contains his hands keep turning to birds and flying away from him (him being you) postres, wwx and lwj are traveling while trying to solve the mystery of the cursed arm. lwj is full of feelings he doesn’t know how to name and embarrassed of the potential of them not being returned. wwx is likewise nervous to be vulnerable, and has an unnamed gender dysphoria to boot their conversations around wwx’s identity during and after they get together are really lovely and poignant. I liked how wwx’s dysphoria during intimacy was managed. I also appreciated how inexperienced lwj was. overall a unique concept with impeccable cql characterizatio the one odd thing is that lwj went from extremely insecure and unsure about wwx’s feelings to understanding exactly why he acts the way he does and being determined to tell him how he feels after just one drunken confession scene. the change was so abrupt as to be jarring the tag about ‘sloppiness in regards to consent’ concerned me but I think it was referring to them kissing while wwx had been drinking. during the actual sex scene there’s nothing to worry about. they went slowly and listened to each other really well and respected each other’s boundaries. it was sweet. work issues: see above - drunk kissing author issues: xy/xxc

*come home to my heart by occultings (microcomets)

summary: post-sunshot, wwx and lwj run into a curse that makes them bodyswap! not weird about it at all, mostly lighthearted and silly and sweet romantic angst. almost funny enough to almost be a comedy, but at it’s core youthful and joyful and tender. I smile so big reading this… work issues: none author issues: allusions to cnc. sex pollen, genderbends

some nights we open up the flood by WhenasInSilks

summary: wwx and lwj's post-yi city meanderings on xxc and sl, leading to a tender get-together. atmospheric and poetic. very strong parallels that haunt wwx, and lovely characterizations there was meant to be a second chapter where they have sex (I guess) but it was never written, but the first chapter is tidy and functions perfectly well on its own work issues: none author issues: song lan/xy, xxc/xy, niyao, xiyao. one of their works has 'rape/noncon elements’ tread with caution

while covered in mud by merthurlin

summary: a BM fix-it fic where nhs decides he has a moral compass and shows up to prove to his brother than the wens aren’t a threat. humorous and fun, although rather ooc in premise. the nhs and nmj are so charming in this one, and it’s heartwarming even if it’s not very likely work issues: none author issues: xiyao

hey brother by fensandmarshes

summary: a series focused on trans wwx that follows cql canon, by a trans author.. I liked all the works, but my favorite is you may think you’re winning but checkmate - so raw and devastating. lwj is trans too! work issues: none author issues: none

a quiet room, a night, a dawn by BarbV

summary: a sweet little get-together fic set during the snowy scene in the jingshi. pretty straightforward and nothing particularly remarkable, but the dynamic and dialogue is very similar to how imagine it would go. very gentle, very tender work issues: none author issues: none

*To love you is to know myself by natcat5

summary: oof, what a monster. essentially a retelling of the story from lwj’s pov. it blends novel and cql canon, which wrecks havoc on the characterizations, but the resulting characters and story are so interesting. I like the writing and dialogue quite a lot, and the ending is incredibly satisfying. it skims over things in canon we already saw, so its not too repetitive. also, the title rules unfortunately the section that covers the first siege of BM just drags on so miserably and for so long that I really had to apply myself to make it through. worth it, but whew. also the very end of the main fic has some really nonsensical and contrived conflict but overall it’s a solid work the second work in this series, where wwx and lqr have a confrontation postcanon, is absolutely phenomenal and my favorite fic, bar none, about their relationship mind the notes - when wwx is talking about some ghost women he brought back, he implies sexual violence in their history work issues: none author issues: none

*A Silent Song by SpicyReyes

summary: Deaf wwx AU that otherwise follows canon. this is handled really well, imo. author is working from familial experience and the integration of a Deaf character into canon feels realistic and grounded. it only covers a few scenes in the CR arc of the show before being abandoned, but it’s still worth a read. I would have loved an entire retelling; it was so interesting and the characterizations for everyone, especially wwx, were spot-on work issues: none author issues: none

*Wangxian extra scenes by deliciousblizzardshark

summary: a series of extra scenes slipped into canon, in which wwx and lwj get together far earlier. the series starts back in the cold pond cave, with snippets up until the sunshot campaign. young wwx and lwj are really cute and lwj’s melodrama is endearing and VERY funny, and I like how conscientious and kind wwx is compared to how callous he’s often written despite struggling with a lot of internalized homophobia, lwj is a lot more communicative than in canon, and wwx knows what he wants, so their attraction and regard for each other actually goes somewhere. of course, by the sunshot arc that makes everything even more painful. I like how the emotion was written, and the angst in the last few were just so on-point. also the lwj pov in the last work was darkly hilarious. cql canon work issues: none author issues: none

Covered By Frost and Snowby Siamesa

summary: novel-verse AU where a-qing is taken in by lwj after being attacked and left for dead by xy. I love her in this - even after for living for years with the lans she’s still sneaky, a liar and a thief, slightly manipulative, and cynical. because of her street smarts she feels protective of the juniors and of characters far older than her, including lwj. since she’s so different from the gentry and since she has such a personality, her relationship with lwj (and the rest of the lans) is genuinely unique in anything I’ve read. I also liked the way her past trauma is treated, and how she actually does impact the plot. imagining a world where she survived is so rewarding work issues: a-qing is physically disabled in this one, which I liked most of the time, but her method of communication is often treated exactly the same as speaking, which is annoying because speaking doesn’t have the same mechanics or restrictions author issues: this fic is faithful to novel canon dynamic so all the wx scenes stressed me out. it seems like there was no drunk sex scene which is a relief, but it has everything else + the trope of ‘these adults are so stupid and they need me, a teenager, to get them to admit they like each other’ which made me cringe along with the above, wrote something tagged ‘dark!lwj’ whatever that means

Resilience. by Vrishchika

summary: short novel-based time-travel fix-it in which, four years after wwx’s death, jc uses an array to return to the sunshot campaign and tries to arrange for wwx to be killed by the wens. his actions change things in ways he doesn’t expect. jc is very much his angry, entitled, and homophobic novel self, so the way that his and wwx’s relationship deteriorates as wwx sets boundaries and seeks better treatment for himself with other characters is extremely satisfying. a comforting and honestly quite warm little fic where everything goes right for wwx, nobody dies who didn’t have it coming, and all is well. author uses the phrase ‘silver eyes’ a distressing number of times tho work issues: spoilers ig but lwj goes back in time as well to try to stop jc from hurting wwx, so his eventual relationship with wwx feels slightly creepy to me since this is an older lwj in the body of his younger self and wwx just. doesn't know I guess author issues: genderbends

Warmth in the Snow, a Light in the Dark by names_for_dusk

summary: one part of a longer series that I didn’t find much interest in. already-together wwx and lwj talk, and then sleep together after the snowy jingshi scene. it’s sweet, they’re nearly married. there are some hiccups along the way when wwx isn’t ready to be as vulnerable is lwj is, but they’re working on it. and wwx glad to be alive and present. the first two parts of the series are alright, but the rest look bad work issues: none. there’s slight experimentation with using force during intimacy that freaked me out when I first read it, but when I went back I realized it was honestly fine author issues: wow this person has a lot going on…dubcon, sl/xy, jc/wen ning, all the juniors together, xiyao, niyao

Ask Me Again by moonlitten

summary: not a very memorable plot - typical lwj stays at BM and it solves all the problems - but I’m including it because it’s the only fic in this list that was based on the donghua. this is apparent through the language and characterization choices the author makes, which are rather different from either novel or cql canon. a unique and at times bizarre experience that I quite enjoyed work issues: none author issues: none

This Tornado Loves You by etymologyplayground

summary: a getting-together fic set just after wwx and lwj escape koi tower. there’s no plot, but the style is really fun and I just love the way wwx’s personality is written. strictly novel-verse work issues: not too serious: - wwx admits to kissing lwj when drunk and lwj admits to the pm kiss. obviously it’s good they came clean because they didn’t in canon, but I really don’t like that they did it in the first place, and it wasn’t treated as seriously as I would have liked. neither of them minded! author issues: genderbends

Back to Start

#fic recs #section 4 #part 12 #this one needed some attention for sure #this might actually be why I had to do this. this is LONG

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 1 year ago

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tuesday again 10/3/2023

september was not kind but we're back with a real making section babEY and lengthy all other sections

listening

SHIFTED by Jolynn J Chin, a progressive jazz (?) piano piece that changes time signatures on every bar. i am led to understand this is a massive technical achievement but more importantly to me it sounds cool as hell. this is a little funny bc pianist friends occasionally complain that the technically challenging pieces that are fun to play aren't that fun to actually listen to. spotify

youtube

the artist uploaded an explainer video that went well over my head but i have no music theory background. i know that not every video with a lady patiently talking through a problem on a whiteboard is going to be a physics video but spiritually this is a physics video to me

youtube

how'd i find this: spotify discover weekly

reading

lee winter's The Fixer. perfectly fine technical quality of writing but absolutely bizarre plot. there will be spoilers for this book bc i cannot talk about this book without them.

A naive activist is hired by a corporate villain but doesn’t realize it. Cue one awkward farce, a twisty puzzle, and the slowest of slow burns in this opposites-attract, ice queen romance. Nine years ago, aloof, icy Michelle Hastings chose career over love. She’s now living with that choice as she rules a secret corporation catering to the rich and powerful. Enter Eden Lawless. The guileless activist finds it a bit weird being employed by a mystery organization to bring down a corrupt mayor. But, hey, she’s up for a challenge. Much harder is getting her beautiful new boss out of her head. The pull between them is electric.

this was not the fanfic level of mean woman i prefer. this woman is a bit of a tsundere boss with some past regrets. like yeah her Company does awful shit but she herself is a very restrained sort of James Bond villain level of icy polite.

unfortunately the actual plot itself is so fucking bizarre.

one of my two concerns: the author is not Jewish but has written Michelle as such, and employed sensitivity readers. i do not know that it is in the very best of taste to have a Jewish woman as the head of a shadowy, textually evil, para-governmental organization pulling strings behind the scenes for the rich and powerful.

the other thing that really threw me is that the series of events we are concerned with, a mayoral election in small-town uhhhh maryland??? i have returned the book and cannot fact check-- seems to be a very thinly veiled rehashing of the 2016 presidential primaries. but as a mayoral campaign.

there is an obnoxious redheaded used car salesman who is running for national publicity for his used car business and writes nasty jingles about his main opponent, a very unpleasant woman who nevertheless gets things done but WAS a slumlord and DID ruin our activist Eden's life. everyone in the county is in her pocket. things are running quietly and well in town, and her platform is solar. the solar farms would take up literally all the actual farmland in the country and (spoiler) she is defeated bc the townspeople think this would be an eyesore and not actually bring that many jobs to the town. again, i stress this is a small town mayoral campaign. they are a college town but it is an EXTREMELY small lib arts college. she has the correct idea about renewables but downfall is that she personally is reprehensible and is going about renewables WRONG!!!

our main character Eden sinks this renewable energy plan bc, again, in college, legally-not-Hillary-Clinton got her dad fired from the local hospital and ran them out of town bc of Eden's protests against her slumlord activities.

then there is the objectively best candidate, a retired pediatrician in the very early stages of dementia who is sort of a puppet candidate for his wife, the actual political mind who hired the evil CEO Michelle's company through a shell company in order to sink her husband's opponent. VERY weird setup.

this was indirectly recced by a big name romance writer who would would not appreciate being tagged lol. i will not be reading the second half of this duology. too much stuff that made me go WHUH???

watching

The Big O is a 1999 and then 2003 detective noir mecha anime. i have never wondered what batman: the animated series would look like if it went in a different retrofuturist direction and put bruce wayne in mecha, but now i have that answer.

this show looks good as fuckin hell. there are SO many dutch angles and dials and gadgets and switches. there's a cut in the first episode that doesn't translate well to screenshots, to the interior of a luxury apartment building and the water in the pool is sloshing around as mechs fight outside.

ive only seen the first three episodes but im having a marvelous fucking time. very importantly for me, there is a robot who is a child but notorious womanizer Bruce Wayne Roger Smith isn't fuckin weird about it.

how i found it: this post reblogged by @ouroborosenso ! the line "You're a louse, Roger Smith." got one short sharp bark of laughter out of me, and a bone dry sense of humor is an excellent selling point. it's available on the internet archive (dubbed but no subtitles)

playing

im having a grand old time with g/enshin's new area. my shit did kind of get rocked with the revelation that the prisoners-- okay let's back up. the player character gets sent to prison on false charges so they can investigate something for the chief justice. backing up farther, the watery land of Fontaine runs on magic energy produced during its court trials. this incentivizes them to make the court trials full-on fucking dramatic productions with very little care for like. victims. once convicted (fontaine feels like it has a near 100% conviction rate, very much like japan) prisoners go to an underwater prison that is a more steampunk version of bioshock. these prisoners make the automated clockwork humanoid police force, as well as the automated clockwork police dogs. there is a panopticon.

the economy in the prison (cannot believe this game that wants me to spend money on anime waifus so i can watch their skirts billow teasingly in the wind while i fight big monsters also wants me to think about prison economies) anyway the economy in the prison is scrip-based. you get one free meal a day but everything else runs on scrip. apparently many people choose to stay in prison after their terms are up bc they have achieved some sort of power and stability there. says a lot about the surface world, don't it? wish we SAW literally any of that in the surface world!

i guess being very overt about drawing from a fifteen year old game is like. kosher? so many other games have drawn from bioshock, but genshin draws so heavily and frequently from Breath of the Wild that it was a little jarring to go from the last area with the cute little korok seed knockoffs and a lot of thinking about academic misconduct to somewhere with a flavor of politics i think a lot more about. as you travel throughout the land of genshin impact, you are quite involved in big diplomatic incidents and overthrowing various baddies, installing the correct people, things of this nature. i think this new land of Fontaine is the most overtly political in that literally all of your time here is spent thinking about exactly how this country's administration operates. it's not a real "hey look we've recreated the Torture Nexus" situation yet but i am curious about what sort of themes the next expansion will be chewing on. im also not quite done with the second of two giant quests that take place in the prison so stay tuned.

bonkers fucking game. wish it wasn't gambling based and didn't have to adhere so closely to chinese restrictions. wish literally ANY outlet was regularly covering this insane lore hiding under the gacha and grind systems

making

the goddamn couch covers are finally done. they are 9x12 and 12x16 100% cotton drop cloths from Chicago Art Supply, and im quite happy with their quality (evenness of weave, normal selvededge, normal seams). i used rit all purpose dye in fuchsia (hot bucket method with colorstay, more on that later) and the itajime triangle method of shibori dyeing. this involved folding the fabric accordion-wise, folding it like a flag, then sandwiching it between two triangles of wood or plastic with many many many rubber bands or twine.

it was a right fucking bitch to prewash, dry, and fold these fuckers. mack was deeply unhelpful. if i need to wash them in future i will be visiting a laundromat.

i could not procure enough dye locally for the recommended 1 packet per 1 lb of dry fabric (4 and 8 pounds respectively) so i did a .75 strength dye bath, since i wasn’t trying to dye the entire thing perfectly and evenly. i think you could probably do a half or quarter strength with more time and be fine. the photo on the left is the smaller dropcloth after a half hour in the bucket (unfolded in the washer to reduce. well to just reduce many problems) , and i did not like that high of a contrast bc i did want some color on all the fabric. so i unfolded and dunked the whole thing back in for literally thirty seconds and it promptly sucked up the rest of the available dye molecules, making it lower contrast than i wanted. so it goes.

i didn’t like how even and neat the triangle motif was on this go round (when deciding on colors and patterns for this project i was thinking about coral and pink cow print but did not want a literal pink cow print couch), so for the next one i did a much worse job folding and was way more aggressive with the rubber bands. i also folded it in half lengthwise to make the accordion folds easier for myself, something i did not do for the smaller one.

and here she is through my balcony screen door after an hour in the dye bucket and a wash with half the recommended amount of fixative to get it to bleed a Little for better coverage of the fabric but keep it lower contrast. i am not completely thrilled with how this came out bc i feel it reads a little sorority girl tshirt. im not sure if making the motif/triangles smaller would have helped any, and even though i was not folding it in half every time you can only fold something so many times before it becomes extremely cumbersome.

couch before the cushion, the cover loosely on the couch. i am going to safety pin and tuck the shit out of this but do not currently have the bandwidth to actually sew it. we’ll see how this goes! kind of a pain in the ass and physically taxing but not a lot of actual hands on time, and now the dyeing bug is out of my system.

preview of next project: i am going to repaint this somewhat shabby globe bar with northern hemisphere constellations :)

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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forgedbondspod · 7 months ago

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We are somehow almost at the end of our cast/character shout outs. I don't know where the time went, I feel like I just started these. Today we're talking about the goddess Demeter and her voice actor, the stupendous Asher Amor-Train!

Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and seen as the reason the seasons are the way they are. In myth, after her daughter Persephone is taken by Hades (willingly or unwillingly) Demeter spends so much time searching for Persephone that the world turns cold and the crops begin to die. After the deal is reached that Persephone will spend 6 months on earth and 6 months in the Underworld, Demeter still continued to grieve during the period we now know as winter, killing all crops and leaving the world cold and snowy. She's a bit dramatic! Which makes for good podcasting! Demeter is a goddess who almost wasn't written into the show as an actual character. There were going to be references to her originally but the references just kept growing and growing until I got to the end of the second arc and went "Damn I need to write her in here for real". She's a bit of a bitch in our show <3

Our goddess of the harvest is being voiced by the phenomenal Asher Amor-Train! You can hear their work in Tell No Tales which I know I keep mentioning but it really is just that good. When I mentioned that I was writing Demeter in for real, Leanne connected me with Asher and the rest was history. I'm so excited to be able to work with them and for y'all to hear what they're doing with Demeter

If you would like to support Asher and the rest of our incredible cast, you can visit our indiegogo campaign!

And to Asher specifically: I feel so incredibly lucky to get to work with you. When Leanne told me you might be interested in playing Demeter I got. So excited. You're an astounding VA & I can't wait for everyone to see what you've done with Demeter. She sucks! But you're amazing

#pines notes #forged bonds #crowdfunding shenanigans

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kelexdeauthor · 2 months ago

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Cryss of House Kreegl and his best friend, Qylar, have been hiding on Earth for three years—to avoid his scheming parents dead set on a royal match. After losing a bet where he couldn’t say ‘no’ for one day, he ends up signed as a model. All thoughts of retribution for Qylar’s embarrassing punishment are forgotten when he meets the enthralling Marketing Director of the queer underwear brand who first employs him.

Struggling to recover from a painful breakup, Alex Parker busies himself with his massive, holiday ad campaign, already two months overdue. The last thing he needs is to lose the model cast in the role of ‘Santa Daddy’ the day of the shoot. Thankfully the agency sends a last-minute, newly signed model to save the day. The minute Alex takes one look, he knows Cryss is perfect for their Santa—and unlike any man he’s ever met.

Alex doesn’t mix business and pleasure, throwing a wrench in Cryss’s plans of seduction.

When Alex backs himself into a corner at work, Cryss makes a move. He’ll fix Alex’s problem, if the human agrees to celebrate the entire holiday season by his side. Together that close, however, Cryss’s secrets and tentacles are bound to come out. ___________________________________________________________

This 115,000-word MPREG/EggPREG story is filled with holiday festivities, frisky tentacles, and a lot of heat.

TW: scene of sexual harassment/assault Tinsel and Tentacles 2.0 is multi-author winter holiday M/M tentacle romance collaboration. All books in the series are standalones but may be connected to some authors’ pre-existing worlds. Each book in the series brings festive fun related to a variety of winter holidays and explores the many delightful ways tentacles can be naughty and nice!

#mmromance #bookish #bookworm #gayromance #booklr #mpreg #mpreg belly #mpreg kink #male pregnancy #eggpreg #ovipositor #ovi kink #tentacleromance #tentacles #monsterfucker #cuffing season #forced proximity

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critmaswishingtree · 10 days ago

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Two more weeks!

Do you, perchance, have a New Years Resolution to try to draw or write more? Want something easy to start with? Check out our prompts!

You've got two more weeks to submit prompts, claim anything that calls to you, and post! On January 16th, the collection will close and the authors and artists will be revealed!

Go here to add your own prompt! Go here to claim any prompt!

Fills

Prompts

Italicized means that there's a claim on it already * Means there's a fill (You can claim a prompt that has already been claimed, or even filled, but consider if there's an unclaimed prompt first)

Candela Obscura

Jackie/Evelyn getting into trouble

Campaign Crossovers:

Kingsley during the Solstice

Bells Hells meets the Darrington Brigade

Hey we saw you from across the campaign, Imogen/Laudna/Yasha/Beau

Chetney and the Tombtakers

Any combo of Essek, Caleb, Ashton, Dorian, and/or Orym + size shenanigan smut

Vilya and Keyleth at Winters Crest

Kash & Zahra | CR3

The Mighty Nein | The M9 as a Candela Circle

Keyleth and Vilya or Korrin talk about Vax

Outsider POV M9 + Ring of Brass

Shadowgast and Dorym

Cassandra and Laudna - Talk about Delilah*

Vax + Slitch workplace comedy*

Vax’ildan/Will of the Air Ashari: Will meeting the Champion at his death*

Yasha versus Earthbreaker Groon*

Campaign One

Vax at his job and things going well for a change ft the Matron

Keyleth/Vax, happy ending

Percy/Vax’ildan: kissing (and more?)

Grog and Scanlan whump

Anna Ripley/Cassandra de Rolo

Vax/Grog Smut

Vaxleth Slay the Princess AU*

Keyleth/Vax, mistletoe*

Campaign Two

Dairon and Essek have an awkward conversation

Cree/Lucien | Backstory fic

Caleb leaves the Mighty Nein after the Iron Shepherds

Caleb/Neo-Somnovem Lucien + Caleb has a smutty dream of the Neo-Somnovem

Artagan/literally any male PC or NPC: your choice smut

Shadowgast Sex Club Fun

Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast: Shadowgast in-world romance novel smut

Essek/Eadwulf snowed in

Essek Kryn Winterscrest

Jester and Artagan Celebrate

Shadowgast -- Caleb verbally demolishes someone at a presentation and Essek is into it

Astrid/Wulf/Caleb Soft and Sweet

Drow Rapier Proficiency

Shadowgast -- Simulated Exhibitionism via Illusion

Shadowgast - Overeating (can be kinky or h/c)

Caleb Widogast/Essek Thelyss cozy, adoring smut

Astrid & Wulf | Disagreements

The Tombtakers | Caperfic

Astrid and Essek*

Essek/Eadwulf Duel*

Campaign Three

Will lives!

Marwa - what's she up to?

Fearne, Therapist to the gods

FRIDA/FCG - FRIDA finds out that FCG is dead

Ashton/Marwa | Awkward date

Relvin Temult's POV

Dorian Storm/Orym: clothing

Orym/Dorian Storm lazy day

Lieve'tel/Cerkonos

Essek and Verin in Vasselheim

Veth deserves a minotaur for Critmzs

Laudna and Bella - Reunion or Rememberance*

Go here to add your own prompt! Go here to claim any prompt

Thanks to all participants so far, and you've been thinking about it - you've got time to start now!

#critical role #critmaswishingtree #cr fanart #cr fanfic #prompt meme

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