#actually...I might have to write a post about magic fruit now

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

ok, so I think this is the first time I've posted a question as such and it's not just a comment but I'll try to be brief. I have to say that I loved the scenario in which they go to the world of Reader, it's very good and honestly I laughed a lot, but now changing the subject, considering that this is a ShadowPeach x reader universe, before the monkeys became warlords and met Reader, who was the one who became yandere first, Wukong or Macaque, because it would be interesting to have a little background on that. Another question is, if Reader can use her magic through artifacts, and suppose they change with her emotions, what if when she discovers that they are actually Wukong and Macaque, her desperation drags her to another world by accident (Perhaps as a method of survival for the adrenaline of the moment) and take him to another world with another Wukong, perhaps the canonical world of LMK, perhaps that of Black Myth Wukong, perhaps that of Monkey King Reborn, and Reader meets another version of Wukong or Macaque and genuinely becomes friends/falls in love with them and they are not Yandere, how do you think things would happen when the monkeys (inevitably) envelop Reader?

Anyway thats all i Have for Now, your ideas really change The chemistry un my brain, Hope you have a nice day

For Reader's ability. That is a really cool idea! A pure survival instinct truly. Now I don't think that she'll be meeting any other Wukong or Macaque in this au. (Maybe if I make another au and a crossover? But not in my main Cursed Warlords AU)

My reasoning is quite simple. Too much drama, okay thats kinda hypocritical I guess since there's probably gonna be quite a bit of drama.

Anyways, the pure survival instinct to get her out of the situation is really cool. In my mind, her dimensional travel ability stems from more of a teleportation type.

Because of this, I believe she would either teleport back to her own dimension or she might just teleport far away from them. Even if far away happens to be on Flower Fruit Mountain while they are away. Maybe haven't decided yet.

Anyways love that idea. Will probably use it at some point for the Reader (gonna make it happen at the worst possible moment too, probably. Hehe~)

>>><<<

Spoilers for unwritten Arc below. I will be writing the actual scenes for this later but since I don't have the time write at this moment a few short points from it will suffice.

Read at your own spoiler risk. This is basically an outline for the Arc. Which is the reason I took so long with this ask, Sorry about that, @bluewillbon! Loved writing this though ❤️

Ding... Ding... Ding...

Shadowpeach Arc Unlocked!!

Hehe~ I have a few ideas for this.

Surprisingly, I actually have Macaque go yandere for his husband before Wukong did.

Wukong is pretty oblivious to romantic emotions originally. He just knows he wants something so he takes it.

Basically a short Summery would be Macaque comes to Floqer Fruit Mountain as a traveler and meets Sun Wukong. The two fight each other because Macaque is an 'intruder'.

However, Wukong isn't going all out at, nor is Macaque. Wukong finds that he likes this new monkey demon, and eventually offers him a place in his troop.

Macaque decides to agree, at first to find out more about this other monkey. He doesn't know how he feels at first and is debating what exactly he wants to do.

As they get to know each other and begin to fall in love, but only Macaque seems to realize. Wukong is as dense as a rock (pun intended)

Macaque is already close with Wukong as his right hand man, he doesn't share his feelings. He can be rather shy at times, and believes that he'll have to fight Wukong to the death or unconsciousness like all of his other suitors.

But even though he believes that Wukong won't accept him, he won't let anyone else have him. If he can't have him, no one can. Will he harm his love? No, he'll just kill anyone who shows romantic interest in him.

Of course, he won't tell him, and the person will simply go missing without another word. Macaque is a great actor and no one will suspect him for a while... until...

Everything comes to a head when someone decides to challenge Wukong to a courting dual in public. Obviously, Wukong would have beaten her easily however Macaque who had finally decided to offer his love and picked out the courting gifts and had everything ready, would not have it.

Not only did he have everything ready, but the girl decided to challenge Wukong when Macaque had planned to. So~ yeah, the girl died... at Macaque's hands.

That is how the two got together, by Macaque slaying one of Wukong's suitors (he had quite a few before he became a warlord) and bending the knee to ask for his hand.

It is only then that Wukong actually thinks of his feelings for Macaque as love. Admitting it to himself as Macaque bends on his knee and promises to stay by his side for eternity.

At first Wukong is furious, his right hand doesn't think he can fight for himself- oh. Oh that's why he did it. This Boi was a blushing mess, because it's at this point that his own feelings hit him in the gut (or rather the point where he actually recognizes his own feelings.)

They soon become completely inseparable, more so than they already have been.

So even though Macaque is the first to go yandere, Wukong is NOT far behind him. Of course, there are some stupid enough to try and woo Macaque as well, only to be slain by Wukong's staff.

The suitors only diminish as Wukong and Macaque become Warlords. It becomes widely known who they are and who they are with. Even if some (very few) are stupid enough to try to get between them, they are quickly ended.

No one will come between them, and neither of them are interested in polygamy... at least not until... you.

[beyond-far-horizons]

The Promise of Shonen...Part 1

the-ancient-dragon-of-the-north I totally get the feeling about feeling disappointed by a Shonen that showed promise. Happened with Naruto, and while I never watched Bleach or Fairy Tale, my friends still talk about how disappointingly they ended. What would you personally like to see in a Shonen and its ending?

This is such a great question so I decided to make a separate post if you don't mind?

What would you personally like to see in a Shonen and its ending?

I wanted to explore this more fully because it might take us to the heart of the problem and also I don't like criticising something without mentioning possible solutions. But please skip to the end to get an actual answer as this good quite longwinded! [Edit: I've had to make this 2 parts because Tumblr doesn't like long posts anymore.]

Background

Anyone who follows this blog knows what a fantasy and sci-fi enthusiast I am. I've loved the fantastical since I heard my first fairytale and Greek myth. I followed that thread to anime via a variety of paths - dubs of animes like Pokemon and Yugioh before I knew what they were as a child and then via Studio Ghibi, but it was really my friend showing me Fruits Basket that got me hooked on anime as a storytelling medium. From there I danced around Shojo and Shonen mainly, always following that thread of the fantastical and mythic. That led me to Naruto almost 15 years ago and that's when I really became aware of Shonen as a genre, its highlights and its less than desirable tropes. I fell in love (and hate) with Naruto and Bleach and later One Piece and at the same time got hooked on Attack on Titan until it hit its Marley reveal whereupon the story lost its edge for me and I eventually dropped it all together. I check in now and then with One Piece and go through revivals of Dragonball Z and Yugioh Duel Monsters which I've always had a soft spot. After Naruto and Bleach ended and the rather unsatisfying conclusion to One Piece's Dressrosa arc I found myself falling out of love with Shonen, until last winter where I caught sight of some AMVs of Jujutsu Kaisen's (JJK) heartbreaking Hidden Inventory arc and against my will found myself investing in it despite everything I'd heard about the harrowing events in the story and the increasingly choppy writing. JJK has just ended in a rather unsatisfactory manner and it's got me reflecting on what keeps drawing me back to the genre and why I keep getting turned off by it.

What I love about Shonen

I think what I specifically love about Shonen is the combat. I love fight scenes and warriors combined with myth, magic and the search for meaning. Shonen, specifically Battle Shonen, really scratches that itch, especially with its East Asian roots it almost always combines martial arts with weaponry and magical combat where as Western media often doesn't do this as well. Plus I love the varied worldbuilding which often takes inspiration from Eastern mythologies and philosophies. Eastern philosophies and religions are a major inspiration to my own spiritual practice, although I also draw on Western traditions as well, however I tend to find Eastern philosophies more advanced so storytelling and life lessons drawn from them can be more profound. There's also an interesting dialogue between Japan and the West which continues to be explored through manga and anime, so witnessing how countries inspire and comment on each other and their art styles is cool.

In terms of art style and visual characterisation, Shonen can have some beautiful to downright outrageous character designs! I have a real weakness for beautifully drawn male characters like the Uchihas from Naruto, Byakuya Kuchiki from Bleach and lately Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru from JJK, but you also get gorgeous female characters too. One Piece's designs are always varied and interesting, like I couldn't imagine myself falling for a 10 ft tall, sadistic dude dressed like a flamingo, but Doflamingo is so fantastic from his backstory to his voice acting that you just get swept along. I particularly recall Bleach as having some stunning panels too, Tite Kubo really knew how to make a manga look good.

But really it's the visuals combined with the storytelling that draws me to Shonen. It's hard to quantify how much it's inspired me as a writer/creator, but I love how archetypal it is. With its focus on differing ideals, fascinating magic systems and bonds, Shonen often for me physicalises the emotional conflicts of life. I'm particularly drawn to stories that try to tackle the hard questions like Naruto's focus on the cycle of hatred or JJK's reflections on humanity's negative emotions being like cursed spirits. How bonds and rivalries can positively and negatively affect such dynamics and how we as readers and fans can potentially learn from these relationships and their interactions with the world around them. As someone trained in Jungian psychology, the mythological symbolism is often writ big, especially in common tropes like the rival or the villain being the main character's 'shadow' and how coming to terms with them is often about coming to terms with unacknowledged aspects of oneself. Naruto in particular was very good at this - Talk no Jutsu gets a lot of slack, some of which is valid, but I still find Naruto an excellent counter to some toxic tropes that dictate boys and men can't talk through their problems. I liked how Yuji - JJK's MC has a similar sort of empathy.

Continued in Part 2....

[hergan416]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @leviathiane thank you for thinking of me 🥺 I barely even feel like a fic writer at this moment, even though I keep writing fic - I wonder what that says about me 😂

I will answer this across all pseuds, including my omorashi pseud.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

72 (what the hell? when did I have time to write 72 things??)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

277,511 I like statistics, so it's fun to me that that averages out to around 3850 words per fic. Nearly none (ok maybe 10ish?) of my fics are 4k words. Considering I have 18 fics under 1k and like 5 fics over 10k though - i see how this happened.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I am currently only really actively writing for Moriarty the Patriot, and I have previously been active in One Piece and Yugioh. I do have at least one fic from each of those two fandoms that I hope to come back to and finish, so I'm not fully out - just not currently writing there. ...I also have a pseud that exclusively contains a failed attempt at chronicling my magical kitties save the day campaign. There are other fandoms on my AO3 account but these are either alternate universes for my fanfic for one of those three fandoms, or archived tumblr meta analysis.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Well here is where the fandom bias comes in I think. Or... perhaps just that the small fandom I'm only consumed by very rare pairs. 5. Sanji's Respite (Rated T, cigarette smoke, platonic lawsan, One PIece 4. Shared Nightmares (Rated T, platonic lawbin, One Piece) 3. Doctor's Orders (Rated E, law/reader, omorashi, watersports, very inappropriate use of devil fruits (your organs be outside you now), D/s dynamic, One PIece) 2. Law's Introspection (Rated T, sequel to Sanji's Respite, please don't ask me how the sequel has more kudos than the first fic in the series, cigarette smoke, platonic lawsan, One Piece) 1. Conquest (Rated E, fighting marines as foreplay, competition, kidlaw, One Piece)

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

Yes! I love talking in the comment section as a reader or a writer - it's so fun to talk about the characters we love, and fic is a good place to do it. There are so many smart fic writers out there too just UGH I've gotten so many cool reading recommendations, both original and fan work from my readers, and honestly those conversations are a major draw to actually posting at all for me. I am a little shy, but if you are in my comment section, it feels like it's probably ok for me to talk to you.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If I didn't write alternate endings for the Emergency Contact series and consider this the alt ending the "true" ending, I'd say "Choke on My Words, Swallow Them Faster." (T-rated bad ending hanahaki fic from MTP angst week) -- SO many dead characters. But I think that the real answer should be "Lex Talionis" (E-rated katamar 'temporary character death' fic for OP).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This was fucking hard. I don't know that I write particularly happy endings. There are fics with resolved sexual tension. Fluff fics where things weren't ever sad to begin with. And a LOT of hurt and angst and badwrong. BUT I think I'm going to go with "Date Night" (Rated T, bondson, Moriarty the Patriot). James might get shot and there might be some tension because of it, but overall it's actually pretty hopeful and cute, the plot elements are treated pretty lightly, especially for me, and James & Miss Hudson are honestly pretty cute together, even if the world might not protect them and they know that.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I don't think I really get hate. I have had confusion/surprise before. I've had people who had wildly different interpretations of what I wrote than what I planned on writing. But never true hate.

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

Bahhahahahahah do I write smut. DO I write smut? It's not like 35 of the 72 fics are rated Explicit and another 14 are rated Mature. I write SO much smut al;kjdflk; I .. do not know how to succinctly answer "what kind." Unless you want like M/M & multi but ALSO there is a little het in my x reader stuff. There is a fair amount of more normal smut, a good amount of omorashi, and LOT of violent/consent violating/incestuous smut that is designed to leave you horny and uncomfortable about it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not usually as a rule but I do have a single true crossover between One Piece and Yugioh which is currently abandoned. I don't think it was particularly crazy, and it was my longest fic until Poison Paradise came around.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. I don't know who the hell would be crazy enough for that tbh. I think if you are clout chasing you would choose something less fucked or more finished.

12. Have you had a fic translated?

Nope.

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

Yeah! I co wrote two fics for Sherly week this spring. @cawcawkarasu helped me with alpha reading and direction + art for the fashion prompt, and @vitya-nikiforova co-wrote the fic we submitted for the "indulgence" prompt (porn tea)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Such an short, innocuous question. What the fuck. AHHHH NO don't DO this to me. Prideshipping, yugioh. katamar, one piece. FUCK don't make me choose just one moriarty the patriot ship - basically any combination of the moribros & holmes brothers that isn't mylock or sherliam could probably be a top ship. Willis? Alwill? Sherlilouis? Sherlouis? Something like that.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but you doubt you ever will?

Hahahaha jokes on you that's so many wips. I guess I'll just list the one piece and yugioh fics I'm still holding out hope for: Chronology: A Case Study (the tattoo kaiba fic LITERALLY HAD THE LAST CHAPTER WRITTEN FIRST WHAT THE FUCK HERGAN. JUST FINISH IT ALREADY), Exothermic - I have a grand plan and it would be great to implement but I just don't have spoons for One Piece right now. Honestly Seek and Ye Shall Find also - it would be nice but i've given up. Live Stream too - the coding is just too much for me even though I know a lot of how it goes. And actually there is a yuumori fic here too: Welcome to Paradise. I suspect that I'm not going to want to return to pregnant Albert very often, unless somehow I get pregnant a second time and feel like I need to write about that experience. LOOK YOU ASKED A CHRONIC NOT FINISHER OF FICS WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO SAY

16. What are your writing strengths ?

I think my writing tends to focus well on individual experience. I like to use physical sensation and limited perspective a LOT in my writing, and I feel like it is often very vivid and compelling.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sticking with it when it gets difficult/I lose interest? And also probably just "happy moments." I definitely am not a great tooth-rotting fluff writer.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I don't mind the concept but I have had very little reason to do it. French would fit with the Victorians, but I just. am not a good French speaker. I don't think I would do it with any regularity.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uhhhh fuck if I know. Lemme check FFN. Dear god. Uhhh I guess its a poem for something called "Midnighters"? I don't remember writing that tbh Or even what that fandom was.

20. Favorite fic you have ever written?

Oh damn I read this as "best" fic that you have written when I read your responses Depths, and I was like "oh I know that answer" but favorite? Ugh why are these HARD You know what. Poison Paradise is my pet fic and it has so many more words than any other chapter fic i've attempted. I really really want this to be the on that I finish. So let's choose that.

Thank you so much for asking. If you have gotten to the end of this or if you are @user-needs-new-hyperfixation @eternallaughter or uhh idk who else to tag right now I've been writing this post for nearly 2 hours now & feel like it, go ahead and do it too.

[dnangelic]

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘɪᴄᴋ ᴜᴘ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛ ᴍᴜꜱᴇ(ꜱ) ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ?

biting the bullet and saying why not! i usually avoid protagonist types because i get intimidated by the amount of detail and canon i feel like i have to memorize in order to properly do them justice, same with more 'popular' charas/muses giving me more personal pressure to be a portrayal worth.... something?? respect and validity?? attention and friendship from my mutuals lmao 😭 but considering dnangel was painfully niche (despite the way everybody and their mom at least recognizes it) and about half the series was only in japanese anyways, (let's see you try to find full-length dnangel LN translations that aren't mine) AND it's been like 30 years since the series started, i figured i'd have nothing to lose if my tried my best with daisuke. dai's always basically been my first magical girl (boy-) exposure and for that i'm very grateful. i still remember how beautiful sugisaki's art was to me even while being shook that dai was falling off a cliff in vol 2. my whole life might as well have led up to this point is basically what i'm saying-

ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ?

nothing much beyond the obvious taboos/what's in my rules. although, i don't really like if it a muse relationship doesn't go anywhere and stagnates at something like making fun of dark or daisuke nonstop. yeah they can be your funny guys, but don't suddenly ditch me or go off in an ooc post rant if that funny stuff takes an actual serious turn. i try to incorporate a lot of facets into dark and daisuke both, so i get frustrated when people solely try to force them into shallow facades of themselves. humor's great, but there's a point where people have to take daisuke and dark's feelings seriously too, or else i won't feel reciprocated, and i'll start losing respect for portrayals and muses.

ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ?

i just like writing in general really. if you write with me i really enjoy it. thank u so much💐✨. being able to take dark and daisuke out of their somewhat limited canon and put them through certain experiences or in front of certain personalities that i'd otherwise never ever get to see is very fulfilling for me, especially since the series probably won't get anymore updates in the future (holding out for an anime revival but for now i'll take the brand new 2024 drama cd.) if we're talking deepest indulgences... off the top of my head, i really like it when dark gets to be actually intimate with others without worrying over the curse or keeping any secrets for daisuke, which includes him being with even younger muses who just kind of marvel at him and look up to him be it as an older brother type figure or not. on daisuke's side of things, i'm just like sugisaki lmfao- i like it when he gets to do things and actually prove to muses that he's a) capable and unstoppable when he tries and b) actually kind of an impulsive hothead underneath all the anxiety dkjfkgjk.

ʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ?

i wish i was the sort of person to spitball silly little headcanons out one after another but i'm not. most headcanons i have usually fulfill some kind of thematic or relate directly to canon; dark's skin being ice-cold and marble-smooth is all headcanon, him having fangs (sharp teeth) and claws is very very arguably headcanon, (as in, canon never comments on either or, but let it me known my dark absolutely does have these features,) all to better suit and exaggerate his role as 'the beast' and something inhuman, on the scarier and supernatural side of things. daisuke tumbling locks as a (quite telling to the perceptive) habit with his hands is headcanon, and so is his and dark's shared appreciation for fruits/sweets --- it's part of the fractured fairy-tale motif, but also the biblical, which both often have overlapping dealings and warnings in regards to sins, temptations, and pride, a la eating the apple / the gingerbread house. dark and dai are both the tempers and the ones tempted, but they're also thieves and possessive saviors; their eyes are kind but covet, their hands are cold but their smiles are warm, they clutch at and take anything that isn't theirs but often for the sole sake of keeping and protecting it. most of my headcanons end up revolving around that sort of thing.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ɪɴ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴏʀ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʟᴀʏ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ?

my surroundings are endlessly noisy so i usually have something playing. it's also why i write better at night during dead hours because it's quietest, but by then i'm usually worn out and just want to sleep 😂

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʟᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʀᴇᴘʟɪᴇꜱ ᴏʀ ᴡɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇᴍ?

i'm a winger. if i focus too long on quality for literally every single interaction i'd never get any replies out, but i do enjoy writing more complex/dramatic replies for mutuals whose styles better suit it. this is why my writing style shifts around between asks/responses/mutuals sometimes, although sometimes it's on purpose. dark's responses can seem far more complex and grandiose than daisuke's at times, but that's because mentally, daisuke's much younger and simpler and much more emotional/energetic. if i'm really inspired by a response but don't have the immediate time to sit and focus on a full length reply, sometimes i'll just jot down a sentence or two i want to use so i don't forget into my notes app, and it's usually smooth sailing from there.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ꜱʜɪᴘᴘɪɴɢ?

romantic? it's not my priority, especially since my standards are very strict. i refuse to get into a ship that feels empty because forcing something i don't actually feel for is the fastest way to kill off my muse. idc about kisses and i sure as hell don't do smut, my muse (both of them, dark included at least physically) is a minor, but if something happens naturally (which isn't at all impossible, this is daisuke i'm writing here,) then i'll roll with it and see where it goes. really it's not daisuke developing an attraction to another muse that i'm afraid of, just annoying muns or getting a negative reaction to potentially introducing any kind of narrative conflict. i like some drama. i like some figuring it out. i like depth touching depth. daisuke's entire life/series begins with him literally being rejected by his first crush on his birthday and he's part of a buy one boyfriend get one free package alongside dark; he's always got a lot to figure out. so i guess my advice is really don't ask me to ship unless you're fully prepared to understand what exactly that means with daisuke.

romance aside? i love daisuke having mentors. or rivals. or people he attaches to as a sibling or some kind, given he's a lonely single child already used to being immensely responsible. or i like seeing him being stuck in complicated situations and putting other people into complicated dilemmas because his alignments are all over the place. he works with criminal muses, law-enforcement related muses, magical-related muses, inter-dimensional related muses, art-related muses, older or younger, nobility, there's sm you can do with him, he can go just about anywhere. i enjoy this.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀʟɪᴀꜱ/ɴᴀᴍᴇ?

tsun

ᴀɢᴇ?

💀 im getting older....

ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ?

mar 20th

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀ(ꜱ)?

black, red, hey wait a minute-

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜱᴏɴɢ(ꜱ)?

i'll talk about for dark and daisuke specifically - dark is always those moody, weepy sounding vkei or jrock (duh) songs while daisuke gets all the cutesy, lovey-dovey, high-energy jpop music. throw in the occasional mix of the two (like metal covers of high energy pop songs) and i've got all the vibes i need. go into my audio tag and maybe then you will Understand

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴍᴏᴠɪᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇᴅ?

half of sonic 2 (i didn't get to finish it because it was on a plane flight ---)

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ꜱʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇᴅ?

i haven't watched any shows in FOREVER 😭

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ꜱᴏɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪꜱᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ?

halyosy's snowman (the rerec ver) (thank you project sekai)

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜰᴏᴏᴅ?

p...pizza....

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜱᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ?

fall right when it's riiiiiight before winter.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴛᴜᴍʙʟʀ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ?

mutuals that have stuck with me for yrs are all my best friends. mutuals that are nice to me now are also my best friends

tagged by @primordyalsoul ty sumin!!!!!!

[cordeliahrose]

Spring Equinox

The spring equinox takes place between March 19 and March 22. That may be the official date, but when does spring really start? When do you begin to notice that it's spring?

As we come into spring we start to notice things. Leaves growing back on the trees, birds coming back again, bugs starting to come out, maybe even flowers sprouting. But the weather is still quite cold, and we may think, Is it spring already?

I began to notice the incoming spring at the beginning of March. Birds were out rustling in the trees, butterflies, wasps, and bees came out, and my young blackberry bush began to sprout leaves. The weather also got about 10 degrees warmer. For me, this was the start of spring. But I still choose the celebrate the equinox on the official date. Why? Because I always have, and because it gives me to prepare.

And that's what the spring equinox is all about. Preparing to take action towards the goals you set during the winter. It's a time of sowing seeds, literally and metaphorically.

How Can You Celebrate The Spring Equinox?

Sow your seeds

Literally: plant the fruits, veggies, herbs, flowers, or whatever else it is you plan to grow this season. Get your hands in the dirt and connect with the earth and the new spring time.

Metaphorically: Set the intentions you have for this coming season. Quarterly goals are great for all areas of life. What goals do you want to accomplish in the next 3 months? Make a plan for what you're going to do to accomplish them. You might chose to keep your goals aligned with the spring season. In this case, here are some ideas:

~ New ideas and projects. That new art project you see in your mind, or that new business idea you've been dreaming up. Maybe someone asked you to collaborate on an idea, now is a time to say yes.

~ Growth. Personal, business, family, any goal you have that involves something growing and/or improving.

~ Gardening. Maybe you want to start a small garden, or add a new plant to an existing one.

~ Community. Litter clean up projects, community gardening projects, fundraisers for causes around your area. Spring is a good time to bring the community together.

Have a picnic or cookout with family and/or friends

Celebrate the spring time with your family and/or friends. Cook or bake some foods that are in season at this time and enjoy the weather together. You can find tons of lists with a quick search about what foods are in season. You can also visit a local farmers market if possible!

Spring cleaning

This is definitely one you hear all the time, but it's a good one! What better way to bring in the new season than getting rid of the dust and clutter from the previous? Here are some ideas:

~Physically clean your area. Your house, your yard, or even just your bedroom. Make a project of it if you'd rather. Pick a different area to clean each day, or whatever time block works best for you. Write them down on a checklist with the day you plan them, and check them off when you've done them. This will actually help you stay motivated for it too, every time you check one off the list.

~ Cleanse your area. Whether it be with smoke, sound, crystals, words, or whatever other method you choose to use.

~ Switch up or tidy up your altar if you have one.

~ Clean out your inbox. Emails, text messages, social media notifications, clean out everything you don't need. Unfollow those people who mess up your feed, block those negative messages, unsubscribe from unwanted emails.

Spend some time outside. Go on a hike, watch the sunrise or sunset, visit a local park. Stargaze after dark, look for constellations and planets. There's a couple of good apps that help with this, Skyview and Stellarium. I personally use Stellarium.

Do some magic. Spring is a great time to do manifestation, workings around friendship, love, and community, workings to bring in abundance and wealth, workings for health, and workings to aid in personal growth. I'll be posting one of my favorite spring time workings soon!

Give spring time offerings to the deities and spirits you work with. Flowers, leaves, acorns, honey, fresh fruits, baked goods, milk, spring inspired art.

These are just a few ideas that come from my view of spring. I encourage everyone to look at how they view the spring time and figure out what works for them!

[creepylittlelady]

I need to know more about Lazari in your AU

She deserves more content from fans

Hi! I'm so sorry it took me so long to answer this ask, and also thank you for sending me an ask in the first place! I love answering questions, even if it takes me a bit to respond :3

I agree with you, Lazari deserves better. I mean like, even her own creator did her dirty man, SHE HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!! Her concept is so cool and her own comic did her SO DIRTY. I hate the treatment she gets from fans too.

Yeah I get it her comic was terribly written and was the origin of the 'I HAVE CRAYONS AND PAPER!!!!!' meme and the characters were poorly written and the lore was inconsistent and the fanservice was weird and the story/tone was ALL OVER THE PLACE. But like, don't take it out on my baby Lazari please she deserves better.

I wanna do some more silly headcanons of her this time around, I might make a separate post on more serious stuff about her ;)

So, let's get cracking!

Lazari Headcanons!

-She's on the Autism Spectrum, diagnosed and all :3. She also has ADHD, also diagnosed! She's the representation we deserve to see in this fandom lol.

-She's Chibiworks. Okay, let me explain:

SO, when Lazari first came into the Mansion, she was just an 8 year old girl with demonic tendencies who was abused by her hyper-religious mother who hated her. She hated herself, she was shy, and she believed that she was nothing more than a monster, a mistake. But all of a sudden she goes from that to the DAUGHTER OF THE EMPEROR OF THE UNDERWORLD, a literal DISNEY PRINCESS (cuz yk she's his daughter), and now she literally lives in a Magical Forest in a Magical Mansion of Serial Killers, Ghosts and Demons.

She thought that the world around her was super interesting considering she never got to see much of the outside. She loves drawing, so she drew about it. She drew about the potential greater stories unravelling around her, making her own characters based on concepts she learnt about whilst exploring.

She made I Eat Pasta for Breakfast as a way of letting her imagination go wild around this new environment she found herself in. She made characters to interact with the people that already existed, and gave them purposes.

(Btw, several of the weird stuff and the not kid-appropriate scenes in the comic are retconned out of this version.)

She also made Creepy Frozen Pasta, just saying. She also wrote The Seer. She wrote every Creepypasta comic in existence. Found a cool Creepypasta comic series? Lazari wrote it.

-She LOVES drawing. Her artstyle is very much manga-inspired and she loves creating her own OCs, which are littered throughout her work. A lot of them are directly based on concepts, such as many of Zalgo's followers in IEPFB being based on the idea of Zalgo having a cult of personality around him.

-She's definitely an animation meme kid. I'm deffo self-projecting but she is the DEFINITION of the weird kid. She makes animation memes of everyone in the mansion. She makes animatics of actual stuff that happened. She makes amateur dubs of her own comics.

-Manga is her biggest hyperfixation. She collects TONS of them, and directly draws panels from her favourite manga to improve her drawing skills. Her favourite Manga series of all time is Fruits Basket :3. Her room is basically just all of her drawing scattered around the place.

She specifically likes Horror and Shoujo anime, despite the fact that they're basically polar opposites. Alongside Fruits Basket, she really likes Madoka Magica!

-She definitely makes AMVs of her favourite animes. She deffo writes terribly written fanfiction about her favourite anime couples kissing and giggles whilst writing it.

-She's also a Gacha Life kid FUCKING FIGHT ME SHE DEFINITELY MAKES GACHA OCS. She definitely stays up until 2am with Sally watching 'Hated Child turns into Hybrid Princess' videos. Lazari gasps in shock every single time and Sally is just sitting there extremely confused.

-Sally is her best friend. She lore-dumps to Sally all the time about her special interests, and Sally listens intently and nods along. She even writes notes about the lore of her favourite series! Sally is a super supportive best friend, and any time any of the ghost kids make fun her for her autistic behaviour she puts them in their place.

-Despite this, the two of them argue a lot, because they're kids and just of course they do. Fun fact! The reason why Sally only appears like once in IEPFB is because Lazari initially wrote her in, then the two got into a fight and she took her out of the story. They made up soon after but Lazari thought it would be too awkward to add her back in and Sally just accepted it.

-She has a very unorthodox form of common sense. With that I mean she has none at all. Once the mansion was on fire, and Slender screamed at her to get up and evacuate. Her reaction? She told him to leave her alone and let her sleep.

-She really likes Vocaloid, and her favourite Vocaloid isn't even a Vocaloid. Her favourite, uh, singing bank, is Kasane Teto! She claims that her robotic voice (before the SynthV AI transfer) was pleasant to her ears.

-Her favourite Vocaloid Song is Kasane Territory, because of the animation meme of course >:D.

-She also definitely tried to make a Storytime Youtube Channel but everyone in the Mansion made her delete it because she was sharing personal information about them all. Like genuinely she'd be like 'SO THE OTHER DAY MASKY AND HOODY WERE ON A MISSION FOR SLENDERMAN AND THEY KILLED THIS ONE GIRL WHO LIVES AT THIS ADDRESS IN THIS STATE'.

She has like zero concept of Internet Safety.

-She's a massive Melanie Martinez fan. She got Sally into her music, and back when Melanie Martinez was like just getting popular she'd sing all of her songs super loudly in the shower. Once Slenderman referred to the house as a 'Dollhouse' and Lazari screamed 'DOLLHOUSE BY MELANIE MARTINEZ? HEY GIRL, OPEN YOUR WALLS, PLAY WITH YOUR DOLLS-'.

-She used to be a massive Roblox kid in 2017 and was also an MSP kid. Christ she was on so many virtual worlds, she was even on Animal Jam sort of.

-Fanon Masky, Hoody and Toby were invented by her. Fanon Masky was made PURELY out of spite for him. The first time they met was not pleasant, as he called her a brat. Lazari vowed to humiliate him in every way possible from that point forward. She found out that he hated children, hated Slenderman, hated Cheesecake, hated the texture of Crayons, and hated jokingly being called a twink by Toby.

All of that combined? You got the Crayon-having, Cheesecake-eating, Skinny, Scrawny, Slenderman dick-riding Fanon Masky that we all know and love. The other residents found out about this strange new version of him and it became so popular she drew individual fanarts of him and handed it to all of the residents. Even Slenderman has a picture of Cheesecake Masky on his Office Wall. Somehow Masky didn't find out about this until a long time after the fad ended.

In my AU Hoody is a selective mute who doesn't verbally communicate with anyone besides the Proxies, so he was deathly silent when he first met Lazari. She misunderstood this as him just being shy and so Shy UwU boy Hoody was made.

Fanon Toby is just a sarcastic persona Toby puts on to piss other people off. She misunderstood this as his REAL personality and alongside the waffles thing that Jeff and Ben always mentioned (Toby stopped liking Waffles long before Lazari came), Fanon Toby was made.

-She made the Dollmaker (yeah he exists) make her plushies of everyone in the Mansion + The Zalgo and a few of her OCs. What does she do with them, you may ask? She roleplays with them with Sally. They've made a bunch of random ships with this, and now they're both avid Slender x Zalgo shippers. They also ship EJ with a lot of people as he has such a versatile personality, but they mainly like EJ and Jeff.

Lazari also found out that Masky was sort of intimidated by Nurse Ann so she shipped them very vocally in front of him.

-She's a massive Sanrio-girl, and her favourite character is My Melody :D. She's watched the entirety of Onegai My Melody at least like sixteen times already.

-She tried to learn Japanese, and failed miserably. She can sometimes read Hiragana if Kagekao writes it really carefully.

-Her own handwriting is really terrible, almost illegible. It's a gift to be able to read anything she writes.

-She's a part of the Mansion's Literature Club, and Ben nicknames her the Natsuki of the club, as she's always insisting that Manga is literature.

-She argues with Slender, as he believes that comics and Manga shouldn't be considered literature, as they're all pictures and barely any words. Lazari TO THIS DAY debates him about it.

-About her demonic urges, they're manageable as long as you give her a random body part to chew on every once and a while. She doesn't lose her control like she once did when she first came, and she's not as dangerous anymore. She's like a saint compared to EJ.

-As she's a half-demon, she has some godly amount of brute force strength. She can carry someone thrice her size and force open any door, no matter how many locks are on it.

She also has an incredibly high pain tolerance. Once she got scratched up pretty bad by EJ when he was in a particularly bad Demonic State, the girl didn't even notice until Lulu noticed.

-About Lulu, she was actually assigned to show her around when she first arrived at the Mansion! Lulu had told Slender earlier that she wanted to take charge of whoever came after her, and has a really good relationship with Lazari. She's one of Lazari's favourite people.

-Her relationship with her dad is...strange. On one hand when she does get to visit they generally have a nice time, however due to how much she reminds him of his deceased little sister, sometimes he'll accidentally call her 'Lily', which dampens the mood a little bit.

-Stripes ADORES her. The two sisters are very close and Stripes just loves her so much, she even made her her Teddy Bear that she's famous for carrying around :3.

-She had a phase where she called herself an irl Yandere. Thankfully she stopped after like a month but it was very funny lol

-She loves Nightcore! And Trance Music, oddly enough. One of her favourite songs is 'Be Alive!' By Stian K. (Search up the song. If you recognise the song from a certain animation meme of her then you deserve all of my respect).

-Her favourite food is Chocolate Strawberries.

Okay, if you want to ask some more serious lore-related questions then go right ahead and I'll answer! I just have so much of Lazari since she was one of my comfort characters when I was little and first got into Creepypastas. I see a lot of myself in her and I'm so peeved that the fandom either completely ignores her or dislikes her, like she's got so much potential! She's an incredibly important character in my AU actually, and one day I'll make a post detailing her correlation with the greater story :3

Hope you enjoyed! If you're new to this blog and are just seeing this post, then I have an AU named 'Puppet Strings', with its own lore and interpretations of the characters. If you're curious, come check out my blog and you can ask me questions!

[prodigaldaughteralice]

1, 2, 7, 15, 18 from this ask game

Thanks for the ask~!

1)What was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

...oh, man. It's lost to the sands of time and I'm not sure if I ever even posted it anywhere, but I'm pretty sure my first fic was a Fruits Basket songfic based on the Juliana Hatfield song Might Be in Love-- it was several years post-canon, with Tohru returning from a study abroad in America and thinking about getting home to Hanajima. Yes, I've been doing femslash rarepairs since I was thirteenish apparently.

2)Do you participate in any writing events or challenges throughout the year? If so, what do you like about them?

Not for fanfic generally-- though I'm in the Nimona Big Bang now (as you know~) and I've written for a couple charity zines. For original work, though, I do participate in NaNoWriMo every year, which I find a super helpful way to create a whole bunch of new work to edit later. It's great to have externally imposed deadlines as well as a community of other people who care about what you're doing!

7) Which part of writing do you struggle with most?

The way my brain is wired? It's producing words in the first place. It's so goddamn hard to just sit down and make it happen. I have definite activation-energy issues, especially with things I care about/enjoy. Once I've got a draft out, I actually really like editing, re-ordering things, expanding things, it's just putting that first spate of words out there that I find really difficult.

15)A Hollywood producer tells you that they want to film just one of your fics. Which fic would you want it to be?

Hahaha well I have original stories that'd be much better suited to it, but of my fanfics, I think We Sing it Anyway is the one with the strongest film-like narrative arc. Also there's a lot of imagery in it I'm really pleased with.

18)What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Honestly, I'm really pleased with the Grom fight scene in I Fall Behind, because fight scenes are always really hard for me but I think that one came out really nice. I enjoy using the witch magic in fun ways, and figuring out ways to make bard magic go on the offensive was really fun. And tricky. I'd initially meant to write it from Raine's POV, but it felt very "and then this happened and then this happened" so moving it out to Lilith's and then Eda's POV let me use how they were feeling about it to break up the action?

[lycorogue]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Originally started by @izanae. **EDIT: Seems izanae was also tagged by someone, but didn't state who. So I'm not sure who truly originated this questionnaire... Thanks for the tag @tree-reads

The "original" Fic Writers Ask thread (that izanae started) was getting lengthy (by nature of the game), and I was about to double its size (by nature of my writing style). But please go and check that thread out to see how other wriblrs answered. You might find a new favorite that way!

Alright, let's get to it.

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

49 (really? It feels like I have so many more...) You can also find me over on FFN and DA still, and I do post my stories here too... just... FYI.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

357,107* *I feel like I should clarify that the 49 stories and 357k words is since I started publishing fanfic in 2010. I feel like this doesn't seem all that impressive now... (also... holy hecken! I've been publishing fanfic for 13 years!?)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Miraculous Ladybug (31), but I originated in the "Hey, Arnold!" fandom (7*). I've also written for Fruits Basket (4). I have a couple of D&D fanfics - 1 each for 2 of my D&D characters, and I have written one story each for the following fandoms: - Left 4 Dead/Jonathan Coulton's song "Re: Your Brains" - Graceling Realm series by Kristin Cashore (specifically, the novel Bitterblue) [Rated: Explicit] - Ender Series by Orson Scott Card (specifically, the novel Speaker for the Dead) - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (the LoZ franchise is one of my main fandoms... I'm shocked I haven't written more for it...) [Told in 1st person] - An all-OCs fic set in the X-Men: Evolution universe *I have more HA fics over on FFN that I didn't port over because they aren't completed works.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Woven Heartstrings Summary: Chat Noir needs a Christmas gift for Ladybug. Marinette is a very crafty and creative person, so Chat Noir asks her for some help in making a gift for his lady. While hesitant in aiding Chat Noir's attempts to woo her superhero self, Marinette reluctantly agrees. Although, after a week of working side-by-side with Marinette, Chat Noir's not so sure he wants to gift the scarf he's making to Ladybug after all. Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell? Summary: Marinette is not coping very well when she's magically transported into her older-self's body, and discovers she's now married to Adrien Agreste. [Unofficial companion piece to Remember That Time When... by @mostlovedgirl-writes ] Peeping Tomcat Summary: Something called to Adrien, and before he knew it, he was addicted to sitting outside Marinette's window as Chat Noir; just watching her. His voyeuristic habit needs to stop, but things have gotten far too complicated now that he realizes he's growing a crush on her. [Story told in 1st person; non-sexual voyeurism] I Was Thinking of You Summary: Girls' Day derails when Marinette realizes the male lead of a romance movie reminds her of someone other than Adrien. [Lukanette story] Is it True? Summary: Marinette instantly regrets confessing her feelings for Adrien. He decides it might be time for a confession of his own.

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

Always. I may run out of spoons and miss a comment for a little while, but I make a point of going back and still replying eventually. Even if it's months later. EDIT: I neglected to copy/paste the whole question originally. So, here's the answer to the why/why not question. I make sure to respond to all comments because people put in the effort to read my story and then tell me how they felt about it. I NEED to send the love right back to them. I need them to know that their words matter and warmed my heart. (That said, even if you don't leave a review, I do love you, Reader)

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Despite my friends teasing that I'm "the queen of angst", I actually don't have too many stories that don't end on a hopeful note. So, if we're going "pure angst ending" I only have two: Unsent Letter for the Fruits Basket fandom and True Husband for Speaker for the Dead (Enderverse). Both are shorter stories of people believing they are unworthy of love, pity those who do love them, and believe they have sinned and are deserving of being miserable. If you want to stick within the Miraculous fandom, I'd say I'm Not Allowed to Love You [contains s4 finale spoilers]. That was angsty enough that I had to end on a hopeful note via an epilogue that I added to the closing author's notes.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh goodness! As mentioned, I try to end just about all of my stories on a high note. I was able to narrow the 49 stories down to 8 with a fluffy, happy ending. Out of those 8? I think Woven Heartstrings has the most optimistic, love-filled ending? Everybody is just showing their love and appreciation for everyone else (even Adrien and Gabriel... written pre-Chat Blanc, I believe???). It's just a lovefest story. Runners Up categories: - Favorite LoveSquare Fluff winner: I Just Wanted to Kiss You - Happiest Lukanette content winner: I Was Thinking of You - Happiest Family Unit winner: Build Your Own Luck - Happiest Platonic Love winner*: The Truest of Friends *excluding Woven Heartstrings - Happiest "I'm probably going to rework this as original fiction" winner: I Don't Care [a Gabriemilie story written before s5 lore drops]

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have been so so SO lucky that I have not. My heart goes out to you writers who do. :'(

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

I have written smut 3x (working on a 4th). I published 1. I am cishet, so I am vanilla and write cishet. Smut is also a rare genre of writing for me to venture into. So rare that my current "smut" story is more "plot with eventual porn" than it is "porn with(out) plot". The sex is a significant character development moment in 3 out of the 4 stories I wrote. The 4th was more of a character study for a pair of OCs. No shade on the "porn without plot" folks. Those stories are so fun and indulgent and I appreciate them so much. My brain just won't let me pare down to that style no matter how much I try. It's like "Nope. Must have character growth. Throw emotions into this mess!"

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one?

I think I've only attempted to write a crossover once... and it was not a very successful result. It was Arnold Shortman and Helga Pataki from "Hey, Arnold!" in the world of Familiar of Zero. Helga was Louise and Arnold was her familiar Saito.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Uh... I don't think so???

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge (although I'd be down if someone wanted to translate any of my works). That said, Woven Heartstrings does have the only non-English review I've received (it's in French). So.... maybe someone translated it into French without letting me know??? I just assumed the reader knew enough English to understand what I wrote or otherwise used a translating service....

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

Three different times. One was partially published. Prior to the Hey Arnold Jungle Movie officially being made, @chibisunnie and I attempted to write up a fanscript (is that how we met? I can't recall....). My friend Ronoxym and I have also attempted to write two different X-Men OC stories centered around his OC Devon. Although, in both cases, it was more he wrote the story and then I kind of unintentionally hijacked it???? The incomplete co-written fic that I actually attempted to publish* was one of the two I wrote with Rono: Please, Let Me Explain. *not published on AO3; on FFN and DA only

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

That I've written for? Love Square. Specifically anything where Marinette is herself instead of Ladybug: MariChat or Adrienette. They just remind me so much of myself and my husband. Fave in general? My OTP of OTPs is probably Gambit and Rogue from X-Men. I tend to refer to my husband as Gambit to my Rogue. (Are you sensing a theme as per my relationship vs my shipping tendencies?)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

My poor unintentionally abandoned "Hey, Arnold!" epic What is Truly Meant to Be. It is on FFN and DA only.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I am frequently told that I keep the characters and world so in-character/canon-accurate that my stories read like "lost episodes" of a show. I'm also fairly good at dialogue and conveying emotions.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

- Naming things. Titles. Naming a McGuffin. Coming up with superhero/villain names. etc. - Anything with a LOT of action in it. Be that fight scenes, chase scenes, or sex scenes. I'm someone who can picture things in my head as clear as if I were watching a movie, and I try to convey what I'm seeing to the reader as if I were writing visual media such as a show/movie or comic. This usually leads me to micromanage the movement of the characters and the action ends up feeling clunky and repetitive. - Allowing the characters to get physically hurt in a way that professional medical treatment is needed. Broken limb? Stab wound? Concussion? Injured eye? Poisoned? Nope. Can't do it. Mental block tells me "no". - Write short, sweet, concise stories/drabbles/ficlets (can't you tell?)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Huh. With the exception of proper nouns (such as Chat Noir), I'm not sure if I've used non-English words that aren't just borrowed words within English or words most English speakers would know anyway (such as enchanté, cómo estás, or dōmo arigatō). I know I italicize thoughts, so I don't know if I'd italicize a non-English word to signal that it's a foreign word??? I'd assume the readers would know that already. I think, if I were to ever use a foreign word within dialogue it would have to depend on the circumstance. If the foreign word or phrase is important for the POV character to learn, I may include it along with a translation. Otherwise, I may just state that the characters are speaking in this other language and then write it in English so my readers have a better chance at understanding what is being said. Also, I am far from multilingual, so that would help me avoid translation errors.

19. What’s the first fandom you wrote for?

Technically, I think it would be X-Men???? I think I came up with X-Men OCs and storylines for those OCs back when I was in, like, 5th grade????? Then I did some Batman fanfics in middle and early high school. Mostly solo roleplay/dressup in my basement because I was that nerd still playing pretend by myself when I was 16. First fandom I published a fic for? If you don't count play-by-post RPGs*, then my first published-online fanfic fandom was "Hey, Arnold!" *the play-by-post game was for Batman.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

YOU'RE ASKING ME TO PICK MY FAVORITE CHILD!? Unlike parenthood, I GUESS I could put effort into actually answering this.... I've got it narrowed down to 4. These are the 4 I have probably reread the most. Two of them are the stories I wrote as kind of fanfics of @mostlovedgirl-writes 's fanfics. Take what you want from that, but, basically, I guess I love living in the worlds MLG creates??? The other two finalists are my personal headcanons for Miraculous Ladybug. Headcanon stories: Build Your Own Luck - cute little Dupain-Cheng family bonding story about the origins of the lucky charm bracelet that Marinette gave to Adrien. Forever in Darkness - What Plagg's life was like with his previous holders, and why he thinks Adrien is the best one he's had. Inspired by MLG: Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell? - How Marinette spent the night before heading off to NYC. Unofficial companion story for Remember That Time When... Rolling Thunder - Adult Marinette and Adrien stumbling their way into a romantic relationship, finally! Based off of Finding Yourself in the Details Honorable Mention to my longest story and first completed chaptered story: Peeping Tomcat

Phew! That... was a LOT! Thanks for sticking around until the end! It was fun going back through my portfolio.

All that wish to answer this, consider yourself tagged!

Official no-pressure tags for: @mostlovedgirl-writes, @captaintoomanybattles, @thetauruspixie, @livrever, and @cyhyr

[gible-love-nibles-archive]

Dust on an Old Machine (Pt. 2)

Oh boy, I had a lot of fun writing this part. Do I think it's OOC? Yeah, a little. But I can explain my thought process in another post.

Word Count: 777

Tag List: @crickiss @caracello @librarian-lover @halsdaisy @potionomic [If you want to be added/removed from the taglist, click here!]

Also this one has actual spoilers for The G.reat A.ce A.ttorney: R.esolve + TW for talk of death

Eurydice couldn't sleep that night. Maybe it was because she voted to sleep on the couch in the main room, but it was sufficiently comfortable. No, her mind was too busy, racing too fast. After the news, how could she not be?

…How long had it been? Ten years since she was at the University of London. Ten years since she’d seen him in the flesh. One year since she last heard from him. And now he’s crashed back into her life, by being the perpetrator of an elaborate magic trick to send a man to his grave (if Ryunosuke’s proposals were correct).

What on earth had happened to the Enoch Drebber she knew?

Lying in bed wasn’t going to answer anything, she decided. So she slipped out of the house… and into the night.

…

No one was awake at this point. You'd have to be a similar kind of restless, or perhaps be some kind of criminal. Thankfully, it seemed like the excitement of the Great Exhibition tired out most everyone in London.

Eurydice walked down the streets with purpose, with a goal in mind. Or, at least she hoped.

After Enoch was forced to leave school, the last thing they promised to each other face-to-face was that they would keep in touch by writing letters. And it was fulfilled for a number of years. Though it wasn’t as simple as it initially sounded.

His letters came to Eurydice simply enough through the postal service. It was her sending to Enoch that posed a problem.

Mr. Drebber was frequently on the move in London, and he never stayed in the same spot for long. From his job opportunities, he explained in one letter. He supposedly had a main workshop, but he never gave her the address. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her; it was that his clients often wanted strict confidentiality.

The solution?

In his letters to her, he’d put down an address (often somewhere secluded) and instructions at the bottom on where to leave her reply. He was very meticulous about it. It seemed to work, as she would get a reply from him not long after.

…

After a long time walking, Eurydice slipped down an inconspicuous alleyway. The last address Enoch told her to send him a reply.

She was about to sit down on an empty fruit crate—her feet were killing her— when she noticed an envelope barely sticking out from a space in the wood.

She hadn't seen one of these in a year. It was no coincidence one would show up tonight, of all nights.

She picked it up and opened it. Inside, just as she hoped, was an extremely neatly written letter in black ink.

“Eurydice—

I know you have associations with that Eastern lawyer: the one who has taken up defence of one Albert Harebrayne. I have no doubt you were there at the trial and heard him announce me as the engineer who built his machine.

I must implore you: do not involve yourself anymore with this matter. I have lost a great multitude of things over my life. You are one of the few things I haven't lost despite everything.

I think I can comprehend your feelings on the matter, but please: I will explain everything once the cogs of this operation have stopped turning and the dust settles. We might just be able to settle into a new normal. We could see each other again... after all these years.

I just ask you to play your part: stay silent and passive. Do not tell anyone of your relationship to me, and do not contribute any more than you already have. I don't say this to be cruel to you; I say this to protect you.

Again, I will explain everything to you once this is over. Until then,

E. Drebber"

It was just like him to be two steps ahead: already knowing about Ryunosuke and the entire trial. But… he was trying to protect her? That put a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“He must be the mastermind behind the accident then,” she thought grimly. But why? Drebber was many things, but he was no wanton murderer. He was too smart, too calculating. No, if he were to kill… he would have a very good reason, at least in his mind.

There were too many unanswered questions. Not just from the past few days, but from all the time they’ve spent corresponding. And she would get to the bottom of it… one way or another.

Eurydice sighed deeply and tucked the note into her pocket. "I'm sorry, old friend... but I'm afraid that's just not possible."

[thomine]

POST-FIC TALK: like a ripple in a pond

Basic Stats

pairing: heizou / reader

time: i started working on this fic a day after valentine's day... so this fic took months.

total word count: 18k words, close to 19k words. i know... i'm shocked myself... but it makes sense considering this fic had 6 drafts. 5 drafts just for fleshing out the story and the 6th to touch up on the 5th draft.

deviation: 4/5

*deviation from original is on a scale of 1-5, 1 being there was no change and 5 being it was completely changed.

⠀

Notes

i was so close to giving up on this fic. but i badly wanted to write something for heizou and this was the only idea i had for him. i didn't want to add any more wips, lol. but, somehow, after my friend briefly lamented about the heizou drought, i had this conviction that i would get this heizou fic written. i partially did the heizou hang out and suddenly, the story i was battling with for 4 drafts came together in the 5th. it's not magic, but writing really feels like magic sometimes, haha. wrote 4k words in one sitting, and then proceeded to add and adjust it for the fic to be what it is. i'm really excited to share this because i wanted to break through and write longer fics, and this is proof that i can do it! so i'm really happy!

⠀

Deviation

now, with 5 drafts... you might be wondering... what the heck happened? a lot. a lot changed and a lot stayed. you can check out my thoughts as i worked on the story through this tag on my wip blog.

this was originally supposed to be a valentine's day fic, because i had this idea of using valentine's day couple promotions. the idea was fake dating, with heizou and reader pretending to be a couple to get some delicious katusdon, only for heizou to not appear for the next year. that year, reader, determined to get the discount, went with a random stranger they could rope into their plan. it worked, but unfortunately, the rules changed the next year where couples have to prove their relationship. this made heizou kiss reader and they go back and talk about the kiss because, surprise, surprise, both of them actually liked each other!

but the reason why it was not working was... the more i wrote, the harder it was to justify why heizou disappeared for that one year. and details were just not aligning with each other. for example, a year's time is very long. so what if someone appears with different partners? a lot can happen in a year. and i couldn't write the ending scene where reader comes to their senses and realise they do like heizou.

as i was fumbling for ideas, i remembered the titles that a good friend of mine gave. one of them was LIES, AND THE TRUTH THEY REVEAL, so i started leaning more towards the idea of reader lying about their feelings.

unfortunately, that did not work out too well. but, one day, as i was just chilling, i had this sudden thought that... when you're infatuated with someone, sometimes you'll lie to yourself to go to certain places so that you can bump into them. it's a little bit like stalking but this point is for another story. i tried to expand on the idea that reader was visiting places that heizou would be... but heizou was really hard to track down... like. he would only be found if he wanted to be found, so reader's efforts wouldn't be fruitful (unless i went full stalker route with the story, which i played around with for a while). this was the start of the 4th draft iirc…

at one point i decided not to have a kiss scene. (sorry, my only idea of romance is kissing.) as i started expanding on this idea of "going somewhere in hopes to bump into the person you like"... somehow the kiss scene came back, LOL.

playing heizou's story quest really helped as i managed to pick out traits he liked in a person, as well as his mentality and attitude towards some things, which also sort of explained why the first idea didn't work out for him. probably another character, but not heizou.

welp. so in conclusion, the story deviated a lot. the kiss scene stayed, and reader's reluctance to admit they liked heizou also stayed. or more like liking heizou is a dangerous game, something i wrote half-heartedly in one of my earlier drafts. i even shared that snippet but i wasn’t sure why i felt that paragraph was good. i guess that's the core of the fic?

⠀

Title

some might have realised that... the title in my WIP masterlist is not the same as the title i ended up going with. another title i considered was UN-CON A CON MAN. however, the story somehow did not involve a lot of lying at all? or at least, if i were to use the titles for a story, i would like it to have more lying and scheming involved, which this fic does not. so i went through my list of titles and stumbled upon LIKE RIPPLES IN A POND. i don't really know why i was drawn to it, but i chose it, and it made draft 5 really smooth.

it was only during the beta phase did i think deeper about the connection between the title and the story. i quite like the implications because what i came up with was... in heizou's point of view, ripples can only happen if another ripple happened. like, there needs to be a sequence of events, which ties to his disbelief in coincidence. a lot of the fic talks or briefly mentions how reader and heizou meet each other again. everything is supposed to feel like a coincidence but if you think about it, it's not. it's because of a previous action that laid the foundation for the next, and the next.

for reader's point of view... i added it somewhere in the story but they are compared to a ripple because their actions are small but make a large impact. the character of reader is someone pretty submissive or unwilling to hear their own feelings, so they have a lot of pent up emotions and desires that they don't voice, and this is something only intuitive and observant heizou noticed in the story. (bertha doesn't count because reader had to say it for her to be like... oh... oh man :( you need to speak up!! she probably would not have learned of this if she didn't pester reader about them rejecting her invitations to tour the city together. i don't know if i made that clear.)

do i wish i incorporated the title more closely with the writing style? a little, but at the same time i wanted the fic to focus more on the mystery than the poetry, and i do not have the skills to weave both poetic prose with the sense of... mystery. if that make sense.

⠀

Overall

again, sometimes writing feels like magic. i don't really know how to explain how i got from one point to another. most of it is done by instinct or feelings that something is right and something is wrong. another thing is... sometimes i don't even know the meaning of some decisions until much later, when i can piece back the dots. it can be really frustrating to write like that, but i think it's also equally satisfying because you'll be surprised by what you can do.

i hope to be able to write more fics like these! and also be able to sharpen my eyes to eventually write long fics more smoothly. or to also train myself to have a bit more control in senses so i can be more directive with writing rather than just "go with the flow". (balance is good.)

this is probably the most i've written for a story. it's pretty encouraging, haha.

[ardathksheyna]

On So-Called "Feminist" Writers

So Sarah J. Maas is considered a feminist writer, huh?

Yeah, and I'm sure Andrea Dworkin was really a pro-sex-work/pro-trans feminist in disguise.

For those who don't get sarcasm, here's a hint: Dworkin wasn't. SJM isn't a feminist, and Stephanie Meyer is really a man *snark*. Yes, I'm being an asshole, but the thing those three have in common is that they've pushed forth and promoted toxic femininity, and essentially set women back—Dworkin in particular.

I've already ranted about Andrea Dworkin being the prototypical man-hating feminist, so I'll leave that alone for this post.

I know I missed the SJM hate-train by a few years. I think had I found out about Rowan earlier when I was still trying to work on Silent Shadow back in 2013, I would have jumped on that bandwagon then.

Or probably not—there's a greater likelihood that I would have ignored it since after graduating in 2010, I could never find the time to work on Silent Shadow like I wanted. I was too focused on leveling up my coding skills and nurturing the beginnings of a now fruitful long-term relationship. In fact, it was in 2013 that I decided to lay Silent Shadow to rest—a decision that I realized earlier this year was a bad one and might have saved my mental health by giving me a creative outlet other than writing code.

Sarah J. Maas has what I've started to call the Anne McCaffrey syndrome—creating powerful women but nerfing them by needing men to complete their lives and save them—sorry to both ladies, relationships are two-way streets. Sometimes the man does the saving, sometimes the woman.

Basically, it's nerfing strong women by using their relationships. It's lazy writing and it's an unrealistic trope that should have died out years ago.

As much as I loved the Talent series and the Dragonriders of Pern, those were the first books on the chopping block when I had to lighten my treasure trove of books for the move. The concepts presented in both series were nice enough for 15-year-old me, but had worn flat by the time I was in my late 20s.

As far as protag likability, looking back on it, I think Anne McCaffrey suffered in that area as well. I didn't like how Lessa seemed argumentative at times for no reason, or Anghariad's (yes, another character named Rowan) "fit throwing" (the opening of Lady in the Tower—from Get Off the Unicorn).

Actually, the other thing that bugged me about Lessa was her relationship with F'lar—something I didn't catch when I was 15 but made me go "hold up" when I was in my late 20s.

The only female Anne McCaffrey protagonist I like—and she may not have been written by McCaffrey, but by Elizabeth Moon (who actually has military experience and you can definitely see it in the book)—and that was Sassinak.

Side-note: Sassinak struck me as a woman that could easily stand next to Kirk, Picard, or Sisko if she were in the Star Trek universe.

The biggest problem with Stephanie Meyer was promoting a relationship that by even the standards of the day when the books were published, was considered toxic and abusive—scratch that, that dynamic was considered toxic twenty years before Twilight came out.

The biggest problem I have with authors that are considered "feminist" like Maas is that they continue to push shitty gender stereotypes at a time when we as a society need to grow beyond what defines a woman's place or a man's place.

Comparing Sarah J. Maas with another YA author—Mercedes Lackey—who actually writes about strong women and doesn't nerf them in lazy ways. I ended up loving her books—at first, it was her almost scientific approach to the magical system of Velgarth. Then it became the introduction of gay characters at a time when there were very few in the media.

What Lackey did with Valdemar was basically take the good parts of America and put it in a fantasy setting where you have an incorruptible group of people who protect those good parts.

It's not a surprise that despite her short-comings, Mercedes Lackey has been an author that has stuck with me well into adulthood. Though honestly, Glen Cook and his approach to fantasy with The Black Company runs a very close second.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Hiya, I'm currently trying to find some inspiration for a fairy tale based concept I have and I was wondering if you knew any fairy tales with poisoned or cursed food? I know there's the obvious Snow White or Hansel and Gretel, but I thought there might be some more obscure ones you know. If not, it doesn't matter too much. Thanks so much for all of the fantastic content you give us all, I always look forward to seeing your posts on my dash!! Xx

Hmm, food is very important in many fairy tales, myths and legends. But it’s usually how one deals with food that carries a curse, rather than the food itself.

I know a First Nation tale from what is now called British Columbia (possibly from the Tsimshian or the Gitxsan, but sadly the children’s book I know it from doesn’t say) that tells of three brothers that share responsibility as leaders of a large settlement. But when a terrible winter with a terrible hunger comes over the land and a stranger clad in a bearskin comes to visit, the two elder do not give him anything to eat. The youngest brother does share his food, even though he hardly has anything left. The stranger turns out to be the Prince of the Bears, true sovereign of this land by the river Skeena. As punishment he turns the unfeeling elder brothers into bears and tells the younger brother that only he is fit to rule a people living on his land.

In Andersen’s “The Girl that stood on the load of bread” a vain girl throws a good loaf of bread into a puddle in the marshland so she can walk across without dirtying her pretty shoes. She sinks into the swamp and has to work for the marsh woman who cooks up the summer mists in her brewery. (I choose not to remember the rest of the tale, I don’t like it much.)

The German fairy tale “The Hut in the Forest” tells of three girls who, one after the other, all get lost in a forest and end up as guests in the secluded home of an old man, who lives in the woods with a hen, a cockerel and a cow. The two eldest girls cook for themselves and the old man and make a bed for only themselves, which cause the old man to mournfully lock them in the cellar. The youngest of the three, however, fed the animals first, then cooked for herself and the old man, and made sure to make two beds. The following morning she wakes up in a palace and a handsome prince explains that he and his three attendants had been transformed by a wicked witch and that for her kindness, to animals as well as people, he wishes to marry her. So the sisters get freed from the cellar, the parents get summoned to the wedding, lessons are learned and happiness is had.

The only stories that come to mind where it is the actual eating of the food that carries the curse, are stories that have to do with, well, women having pregnancy cravings.

The most famous one nowadays is probably Rapunzel, in which a woman has such a craving for the leafy greens growing in the garden of a neighbouring witch, that her husband is willing to go and steal them for her. This, of course, results in him getting caught and having to promise the witch custody of their unborn child.

Another reoccurring trope, that I mostly know from Scandinavian tales, is the queen who is told by a witch or wise woman to eat one of two things to get pregnant. Usually flowers, but occasionally onions. She always ends up eating one and liking it so much she eats the second one too. The repercussion is that she gives birth to not one, but two children. One of which is beautiful and obedient and one of which is troublesome. Such is the case in “Tatterhood” where the eldest princess is wild, loud and unkempt and in “Prince Lindworm” where the eldest prince is, well, a giant serpent-dragon.

None of that seems like what you asked for, but I hope it can be an inspiration either way! Also thank you very much, I’m so glad you enjoy my blog

[takuyakistall]

to yuu.

Note: I wanted to write short HCs for each character as they wrote the letter when I finished reading everyone's thank you messages (◕ᴗ◕✿) ! All of them are very cute and I couldn't help but get some midnight rot so I had to write it down. Here's the link to the post where every message is listed down. Before you start reading, just a heads up, most of these are written in a romantic light. I also recommend reading the letters themselves first before heading here.

Characters: All students + Grim (Excluding Ortho)

Riddle Rosehearts

"Dear friend," Riddle thought that it was the most appropriate way to address you—or at least, that's what his brain is trying to make him think. Ever since overblotting and you helping him snap out of his frenzy, he had difficulty in labeling what exactly you were to him.

Before everything, you were supposed to be just a mere acquaintance to him and yet here you were sending him gifts out of the blue. The general "rule" towards receiving gifts was to give the giver your thanks. Albeit the better option was to thank you personally, he thought that maybe a letter would be better so that he can sort out his thoughts.

Friend. He nodded, proceeding to write down the rest of his message until he realized that this was an opportunity to invite you to tea with him under the pretense of paying you back for the gift. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he continued writing.

Surely, you would accept his invitation, right?

Trey Clover

"Hey you," was that too casual? Too rude sounding? Trey shook his head as he stared at the two words. He hadn't been expecting a gift from you and frankly, he was more than a bit surprised. Though perhaps he hadn't read the "gift" part when he suddenly started writing down questions about what you liked.

He immediately started thinking of how he should pay you back—gifts? He doesn't know your taste that well. Favours? Hmm, he's not too sure about that one. That's why he decided to ask, if there was something you wanted—he'll do his best to find it for you. A tempting offer, right?

It seems like you have to tell him that this wasn't a trade.

Cater Diamond

"Helloooooo," he started off. The extra amount of Os he used was proof that he's trying to take this occurrence casually. Though in the inside he was absolutely beaming. Gifts never fail to put a smile on his face, especially if it came from someone you didn't expect to give you a gift or someone special to him.

In this case, it was probably the latter. He took a small break as he stared at your gift, wondering what he should write. A small smile took over his face as he picked up his phone and snapped a few selfies of him with your gift with a caption before hitting the post button.

"Received a gift from a dear friend, isn't it amazing? ♪"

Deuce Spade

"Friend," Deuce rarely got to experience receiving gifts from friends to one another judging how his past years were spent as a delinquent. To say that he was happy to receive one from you was an understatement, he was over the moon.

He felt the need to mention it to you with a huge grin on his face. He thought of various ways to give you something back as he let out a small hum, he felt like he was having a field day. He signed the message and told himself that today was going to be a great day.

Ace Trappola

"Hey you," Ace was terribly suspicious of the fact that you sent him a gift out of the blue. Were you trying to buy him silence over something you did? Were you trying to convince him to do your homework for you? A lot of questions springed up inside his mind but not once did he think that it was just a genuine, sweet gift with no ulterior motives hidden beneath.

He knew that you would get mad at him if he continued to suspect you so he said that he was kidding in all caps with three dots after that—which didn't help his situation at all.

He felt awkward trying to convey his feelings like this and he ruffled his own hair as he told you that he just needed to tell you something later, when you're face-to-face. That would make it easier for him to speak.

Leona Kingscholar

"Good day," Leona uncharacteristically typed. He felt like he was being held at gunpoint by his past etiquette teachers as he tried to think of an appropriate response. If it were up to him, he would've just slapped a "thank you" on a piece of paper and asked Ruggie to give it to you.

Though he thought that perhaps it was better for him to actually put in effort for once. Even if it seemed like his so called effort seemed like something he just stole from the internet—that was more than enough, right? He'll just put his signature at the bottom and ask Ruggie to give it to you.

Ruggie Bucchi

"Hey you," a big grin took over his face as he wrote down his first few words. He wasn't as experienced as other people when it came to writing down messages of gratitude, he once tried consulting Leona about it—asking how to make it sound decent only to be met with an answer that went like: "Just put whatever."

And that's what he did! Truly, he's thankful for receiving a gift. For a split second, he wondered if he should share it with the people back in his homeland. Though he pushed that thought to the back of his head as he signed the bottom of the paper with his signature. He'll figure that out once he gives the letter to you.

Jack Howl

"Friend," he doesn't know what to say it's embarassing. Even in letters, he still manages to retain that straightforward yet somewhat roundabout personality of his. A tinge of embarrassment seeping through the letter.

He wished he could've just talked to you in person instead but alas, he was stuck here trying to rack his brain for words. In the end, he felt like it was best to keep it simple—the slightly demanding tone at the end was the result of him getting flustered at the thought that it's possible that it could be a date between the two of you.

Azul Ashengrotto

"My dear friend," Azul couldn't count the number of times he had crumpled a piece of paper and threw it into the trashcan only to get a new one—rinse and repeat. Jade and Floyd had to stifle their laughter when they saw how distressed he was over a single message. Though, perhaps that was the fruit of his unconventional feelings towards the giver.

He didn't want to sound too stiff and professional to the point that he sounded like a robot but also, he didn't want to sound too casual to the point that you might find it weird. He had to let out a small sigh as he ruffled his hair, another piece of paper thrown into the trash can before deciding that he should just play it safe and give you a free drink.

Jade Leech

"To my dearest," oh no. His hand slipped and accidentally made his greeting more intimate than it should be, he could go back and change it but—fufu, where's the fun in all of that? His lips tugged up into a smirk as he continued writing, knowing full well that what he was implying would evoke an interesting reaction out of you. But, if that wasn't enough to stir you up a bit then why not put a little more something? He was a prick this way.

He spotted an empty space on one of his shelves in the corner of his eye, glancing at it for a few seconds before an idea popped into his head. A smile that barely showed off his sharp canines, hidden beneath his gloved hand.

"Truly. Would I lie to you?"

Floyd Leech

"Little shrimpy," he grinned. Floyd was in an especially good mood today after receiving such a thoughtful gift from you. He played with his pen in hand, spinning it around as a distant look took over his face when he tried thinking about the reason why you gave him a gift out of nowhere.

Knowing that Floyd pays a little more attention to you than others, he was bound to be curious and he was more than eager to find out—there's always a reason behind someone's actions, after all. He tried expressing his intent to get the answer out of you which came out a little threatening but if you saw the look on his face there's no mistaking that it was an even bigger threat than you initially thought.

Kalim Al-Asim

"Hey love," Kalim was as straightforward as ever. Not a single filter as he wrote down his raw feelings. There was no reason for him to hesitate especially now that he was practically about to shake from pure joy—he was incredibly close to signing the letter and hopping into his magic carpet to give it to you personally but Jamil was there beside him to stop him if he ever does that.

Though that didn't mean that it was gonna stop him from wanting to ask you out on a magic carpet date with him, he'll just have to explain to Jamil when you accept his invitation. That is assuming you'll accept, right?

Jamil Viper

"Dear friend," Kalim practically forced him to write a letter back to you. Jamil wasn't an ingrate, he knew when to show gratitude when it was appropriate but he preferred thanking you in person. He had to settle for this in the meantime, he thought that maybe he'll just invite you to Scarabia to talk about what he could give in return.

He hadn't really expected a gift from you, especially with all the trouble he might've caused you due to his overblot. Though he didn't think it was all that bad. In fact, he felt a little relieved that you didn't hold any grudge against him.

Vil Schoenheit

"My dear," Vil had an unmistakable smirk placed upon his lips. The choice of words he wrote managed to give out a slightly smug vibe as he stared at your gift on his desk. Impressed by your ability for finding him a suitable gift, he decided to give you a little bit in return.

His smirk slowly turned into a gentle smile as he imagined your face probably tearing up at the thought of him giving you a signed card, he couldn't help but put an offhanded comment near the end. But it was quickly followed up with a single bit of rare praise from him.

Rook Hunt

"Hey love," Rook was always one to act dramatically whenever he had the chance and even in letters, he managed to sound dramatic. As soon as he realized that you had sent him a gift he started gushing about how wonderful it was and how inspiration was raining down on him like tiny droplets.

What's a better way to let his raw emotions out than poetry? That's right, this man wrote you a poem expressing how he feels because of your gift. He almost forgot to say his gratitude because he got carried away but thankfully, Epel pointed it out to him before he could give it to you.

Epel Felmier

"Dear friend," he rarely got any gifts from anyone outside his relatives so when he saw you give him a gift, he was excited to say the least. There's always a certain joy you can evoke in a person when you give them a gift it was almost euphoric for some. He thought that it was sweet of you to give him a gift and decided to give one back with a small message.

Friend. For some reason, it felt a bit off addressing you as that but he quickly shook his head and shot down that thought. As for his gift, he prepared a little something he made himself. Hehe, he's quite proud of it too!

Idia Shroud

"@YOU" it was interesting how Idia didn't bother changing to formal speech when he decided to give you a thank you message for your gift. He's typing the same way he would to his friend, namely "Crimson Muscle", but perhaps that was because he didn't know of any other way to talk to you without sounding unnatural or weird.

People would normally not even think about giving him something and yet you gave him one. He couldn't help but smile a bit when he said how you were a bit of an oddball—he came up with various nicknames for you inside his head. Most of them being different words for the term "weirdo". Yet they always had a hint of affection whenever he would think of it.

Malleus Draconia

"Dearest," Malleus started off. It was rare that he received gifts from people outside his family or nobles back in the Valley since a lot of people found him intimidating—terrifying for some, even. He was glad that you felt comfortable enough around him to show simple gestures such as these. Upon receiving your gift, Lilia noticed how it came from you and urged Malleus to write his thank you message differently from how he usually writes it.

Did you perhaps know of the legends surrounding the Thorn Witch...? If so, then maybe he could sneak in a little joke. The gift of beauty and the gift of song—ah, nevermind. He pursed his lips slightly, he'll just handpick a gift for you himself. A small gargoyle statue, maybe. Or he could ask the other members of Diasomnia to help him.

Lilia Vanrouge

"My dear," his lips formed a small smirk. Lilia appreciated all surprises, big or small. Though, in particular, something about your surprise gift made him more excited about it than usual. Was that just his old age getting to him or was it something else? He couldn't be bothered to think about it that much.

As a form of gratitude, he weighed his options. It was either giving you a gift back or letting you ask a favour of him. He thought the latter would be more acceptable until an idea popped into his head as his eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. He knew you didn't know what it exactly meant but he gave you his signature nonetheless—he'll leave you to figure out.

Silver

"Hey you," Lilia taught Silver that it was common courtesy to show gratitude when someone gives him a gift. He tried thinking of countless ways to say thank you with his old man bugging him to ask you out on a date instead in the background. In the end, he paid Lilia no attention and instead went with the standard short message and giving a gift back.

He urged himself not to fall asleep as he typed out his message even though he already let out a yawn without him noticing. He glanced at the screen blankly, wondering if he forgot to add anything until he slowly felt himself snoozing off. Head resting on the keyboard and typing out whatnot. When Lilia arrived at the scene, he didn't bother waking him up and just sent the message as it is.

Silver was so embarassed the next day and refused to talk to Lilia temporarily.

Sebek Zigvolt

"Human," he didn't even try addressing you as anything else other than that even in letters. When he found a gift lying by his room, he was a tad suspicious but loosened up when he read the tag attached to it. As stated, it came from you and the gift was meant for Malleus—wait, what. Sebek scrunched up his face as his eyes scanned the words printed on it.

"To Sebek Zigvolt" This was a mistake, right? Sebek was a bit flushed but quickly shook it off by saying how it was probably a subterfuge or whatever that was. There was no way it was for actually for him, right? Surely, you must've sent this in hopes of hearing more about the great Malleus Draconia. Right?

That is... Wonderful!

Grim

"Dear underling," it was cute how he made an effort to write you a letter despite being in the same dorm wherein he could just talk to you directly. But perhaps he was so touched to the extent that he wanted to do this—did you give him tuna? He struggled thanking you properly and ended up boasting about how he was going to be the greatest sorcerer.

Even though he called you underling at first, he couldn't help but soften up a bit. That didn't sit right with him somehow, he didn't know why. He let out a groan as he racked his head for a more appropriate word until-!

Partner... Sounds about right.

[addude]

SCP Biblical First Family

Got bored so gonna post up some ideas I have for biblical first family in the SCP. I intend to add these as SCPs later but gotta write them so that will take time Anyway…

*Adam had three wives, Lilith the first, Eve the third.

* The wives nor the children speak of the second. They will not speak her name, they will not describe her. They will at most acknowledge her as the second wife or simply as her. They aren’t sure if she is alive or dead. 

* Lilith didn’t want to have children, though called their mother she never actually gave birth to any of the kids. 

*Adam insisted that his children all consider his three wives as their mothers equally. 

* The children in order of birth Qayin (Cain) and his twin sister Luluwa (Lulu), Hevel (Able), Awan (Ava), Atzurah (Azura), Set (Seth.)

* Neither Cain nor Able are aware their other siblings have survived to the modern days. Seth is aware that two of his sisters are alive but never speaks to about them to the Foundation so they won’t be contained. He sees no need as they bring no attention to themselves and are no real threat.

* Lulu has some serious issues against Lilith. She adored Lilith like her real mother but as the oldest she remembers when Lilith left not only their father but her. To make things worse, she knows her father essentially named her after Lilith. Luluwa just being a derivation of Lilith.

* Eve did eat fruit from tree of wisdom and the tree of eternal life. Now she has knowledge she shouldn’t reasonably know and simply can’t die. She has mostly spent her time trying to protect humanity from anomalous even before she got involved with the foundation. 

* Eve is not a fan of traveling over water. If you were drowning for 40 days over and over again you wouldn’t be a fan either. 

* No member of the family will ever willing face the Gate Guardian. The picture would give many nightmares. Coincidentally if anyone plays SCP-2137  near them it will begin to speak Sumerian and has caused Eve to have a panic attack.

* Ava is one if not the first magic users,  she’s continued to practice and honed her skills over the centuries. A lot of modern thaumaturgy is based on her discoveries and teachings. 

* Ava looked up to her brother Cain, seeing him as someone she could relate to someone she could connect intellectually with. It broke her heart when she heard about what happened with Able. 

* Ava still loves her father but she fears him. She knows what he became and has actually worked on a spell that might be able to stop him. She is not eager to test it. 

* They all miss Azura, one day when they were children she went missing. No one found a body or found out what happened. Even centuries later it haunts them, they never got closure. 

* Lulu knows the origin of Cain’s arms. 

*Azura has dark blue eyes, to the point of having them look purple, she says the same thing as Elizabeth Taylor. She has black and white hair, she claims its Marie Antoinette  syndrome thing. No one is sure if she knows what that is.

*Azura has a close relationship to the Wondertainments. She calls Isabel Izzy and Reginald Reggie, and sometimes by his real name. Isabel calls her Wow. Their relationship complicated. Azura did pick the name Isabel.

* Ava in the modern era has actually earned multiple doctorates, thought she will admit the history ones are kind of cheat since she lived through history.

* Lulu is a charming and playful young woman. It would be possible to confuse this with some anomalous ability, but she just someone who knows how people work and what to say to get the right reactions.  

*Eve takes special measures to try and protect anomalous children. But in the end she is only one vote of 13.

*Eve actually checks in on SCP-53 regularly, as her anomaly doesn’t affect her being a reality anchor. The council knows this and allow it as they would rather have 53 forming a bond with Eve instead of being solely influence by 682.

* Lulu knew Thomas Edison and  Helena Blavatsky and together were involved with his spirit phone invention. 

* Ava looks down on the Serpent Hand. While she understands their good intentions she believes that world finding out about the anomalous would be disastrous. She also avoids the library, as she’d rather craft spells on her own and just wants to avoid alternate universe stuff.

* Azura actually ends up meeting up with her grandma fairly regularly.

*Eve has fallen in love a number of times. She's married, men and women, and occasionally raised families. It hurts her when they die. She remembers each and every one.

*Eve and Lord Blackwood were a thing, neither getting too serious because they had their own responsibilities and lives to live. Though if they ever stop to talk about it, they would consider slowing down even for a bit.

*Adam might have more children.

[marengogo]

DYNAMI-CS part 1: Run BTS Special Episode

CRUEL - by Jason Wang  [MAGIC MAN (not released yet)]

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

–🐺–🐺–🐺–

The boys are back in town and I for one have missed Run BTS so so so freaking much. Now, I know that this is a jikook blog, HAJIMAN (but)! In any relationship, environment is fundamental. Every member in BTS has been a big part of what jikook’s environment is made of, aaaand added to the fact that I’m very much and very strongly OT7, this is for me a perfect opportunity to keep up with all of them, while also educatedly look into their present relationships with each other and others. Basically, I will take any occasion I can to speak about any of them 😜.

So let’s start, shall we? Here we have the birth of this new baby, as RM so eloquently put it, with a brand new opening song, which, well, I mean (... with the song being BTS’ RUN BTS…) I think it is safe to say that this opening will be around for quite some time; wouldn’t you?

Now … I feel like I shouldn’t have to point out the following but I will, mainly for those who might take everything the boys say without properly using some critical thinking first, and also for those who maybe haven’t been around the bangtan scene for a minute and need a little context. Context is another fundamental part of relationships btw and doing the appropriate research for actual content and facts is our responsibility, btw. Just quickly putting that out there 😬 … So for example, when Hobi/Jay and Tae are said that it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other, they actually didn’t mean that they hadn’t seen each other in 10 months, as with a little bit of research we would know that: They were together at the White House on the 31st of May, and even though Tae had been to Paris end of June and this was filmed beginning of July (around the 12th I believe), so if anything as a group of 7, they hadn’t been all together for 1 month and a couple of days. NOT 10 MONTHS.

In addition, Yoongi also mentioned that they all, except for RM because he apparently left early, had the chance to taste some honey from Jin. Now this was an actual private outing they’ve had and was verified by the boys themselves as we, thus far, have no picture/videos/ anything to testify to it, except for their word of mouth.

Right before Yoongi mentioned Jin’s, aka Fruit Basket, honey, they also shared that he gave J-Hope some watermelons. Jin posted a picture of himself with watermelons a week before they shot this episode. This, and added to other outings we know they’ve had, shows how even if they don’t meet all seven, they definitely hang out in pairs at least.

It may come as a surprise to some but, Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook are different people, who might share some likes and dislikes amongst each other, but most definitely have different beliefs and ways of thinking, which makes them approach situations, relationships and life in general differently from each other. Just like you and me. Reason perhaps why, someone like Hobi would maybe mention the watermelons, something ARMY has witnessed on Jin’s IG so can relate to, as opposed to Yoongi, who mentioned the “honey receiving day” something ARMY had no clue about. 

And here comes my first little JKK_OBSERVATION_1.mg (mg = Marengo Go, yeah, that's me, so MY observation, MY opinion 😜). JK was playfully offended by the fact that he didn’t receive a watermelon from Jin, and asked him why, to which Jin gave him a reply and JK left it at that, which I would think he was satisfied with the answer, or really didn’t care too much. Now, do we remember another recent instance in which JK was playfully offended? …

During The Festa Dinner 2022 JM was talking about the songs he was working on and it turned out there were already a few of the members, who have heard it, but not JK, to which, just like he did with Jin he resorted to playfully questioning why he hadn't heard it yet. JM did answer the questions straightaway, just like Jin had answered the watermelon question, but apparently JM’s reply wasn't acceptable to JK, who resulted not only to mockingly keep telling him how offended he was but ending with requesting an apologies; all … in good fun, right Jimin? 🤡.

Moving on, back to the fantastic 7 and how they are different people. Remember when during RUN 97 episode Tae was just not thinking like the rest? Same happened today with Hobi to a relatively easy question, the white tail gave it away, if you ask me, but most definitely Hobi’s mind was somewhere else, perhaps he was thinking too deeply, after all they did go from from the Schrödinger’s cat to a mere deer 😅.

I’m emphasising the difference between each other, and their thought processes associated with certain events as it seemed to me to be the common theme of this episode, ironically enough, as this was supposed to be an episode that “proved” how alike they think, and unfortunately I can already sense people taking this a bit too seriously on the bird app … but let’s not digress! 😬

After the writing telepathy game that scarred Hobi well enough (lol), they played the movement telepathy game, which my dear RUN producers, I’m sorry to say but this was a bit of hard, like the “Someone who dropped their phone on their face while laying down”, really?? (made them do some hella funny stuff though ngl, so I guess mission accomplished on that!)

Other than lots of laughter, this game had a very cute moment that kinda brought JM and Bam “together”. The question was to imitate “a puppy that met their owner for the first time after one week”. As we all know they are almost all owners except for JM (and Jin as far as I know) so I guess they all tried to imitate their dogs, even though according to Tae and RM their dogs are not that interested in them (omo! … 😂😂😂) now the cute part was how JM’s tail wagging brought to mind Bam straight away (as shown in the following tweet) https://twitter.com/Jessiimochi/status/1454231885035544582?s=20&t=g56A6aVRyGH6XUkVEL3dwA as well as how he could see Bam in Jk’s imitation. Cute cute cute.

Now game number 3 was very well thought if you ask me. Not only did it had the members go down memory lane but it also provided us with more insight of how each of them think. The first task of this game was to go to a place where all the members have real fun. Now if you think about it properly, each member's definition of fun is different, so not only did they have to sort of abandon their perception but try and figure out what the others will think and hope for the best! Literally ... it is still a game after all so winning is the whole goal.

And here is where I will conclude this already incredibly long post (so sorry, but I was really excited 🙃) with another little JKK_OBSERVATION_2.mg  except for Hobi and Yoongi, who went respectively to the Olympic stadium and the Han river (..the Han river really sent me ngl 😂😂😂) all the other members kinda had the same thought processes. Jin, JM and Tae had the most emotional encounter when they all met by the old dorm (eventually joined by RM) and JK who went to Lotte World, was however not the only one to have had that thought as RM and Tae had the same feeling, in fact, I thought Tae would have changed his destination to Lotte World, him and JK always had a blasted over there!

Now for the JKK part of this whole thought process, there was no way in hell that JM was going to choose anything that had to do with amusement parks as a definition of fun for all (as himself and Hobi would be automatically out, being not to fond of rides 😬😬), but I found it funny that perhaps JK might have thought that regardless of the fact that JM is not a big fan of rides, the fact that JM still keeps the ticket of the first time they all went to Lotte World, most have meant something? Aaaand tbh ... I wouldn’t fault him for thinking so, would you?

(here is the link to this vlive: https://www.vlive.tv/video/144299).

ANYWAYS! Looking forward to part 2!!

For now, good night to all

Marengo.

[blossom-hwa]

Stardust - CHANGMIN

So like. This was the first full scenario I wrote for TBZ and I can’t believe I wrote this before actually even STARTING No Air, but whatever! It was cute! I couldn’t help myself but I didn’t want to post this before No Air so that’s why it’s late

Thank you to @deathbykpopboys for helping me put this scenario together! Honestly I don’t think I’d ever write anything without sunny hhhh she’s always so great with ideas <3

Pairing: Changmin x fem!reader

Genre: fluff, a little angst if you squint, teacher!au

Triggers: alcohol, cursing

Word Count: 2.7k

Changmin sometimes thinks you’re a little too perfect to exist.

TBZ Masterlist | No Air | Touching Stars | Breathe, and Live

Friday nights are always fun, for Changmin. Friday’s the last day of the work week and kind of blends into the weekend, and because he’s a schoolteacher, he (sort of) gets the weekend off. Sure, he might be making lesson plans or writing reports or doing other important, not fun things, but he also has his stolen moments for dance or shopping or things that he doesn’t have time to do during the week. He’s free, more or less.

The last Friday night of each month, though, Changmin enjoys the most, when he, Jacob, and Kevin meet up for cheap food and drinks. And as much as Changmin likes to wreak havoc on the lives of his fellow teachers (mostly by scaring the wits out of them with dolphin screams and horror movie masks), he really does enjoy their presence in his life and appreciates them for it.

They haven’t a missed a night so far, not since that time Jacob was out with the flu and Kevin had a family emergency. And even though Changmin’s definitely done and said some stupid (read: really embarrassing) things while under the influence, the pros of each night always end up outweighing the cons. So if Changmin wakes up the next morning with a hangover, well, that’s just a side effect of having some fun.

But sometimes he has thoughts. Thoughts that he’s repressed so well he might not even register them, but that exist nonetheless. And Changmin, sadly, is a truthful drunk. His thoughts come spilling out of his mouth, mostly unfiltered, whenever he’s had enough to drink.

And this week, Changmin has been having thoughts. Thoughts that he isn’t sure he wants to spill.

If he drinks, they’ll flood out. It’s the way Changmin works – he’s had enough experiences with alcohol and his brain that he knows what will happen. As he stares at the soju bottle on the table, he knows that if he drinks, he’ll probably regret it in the morning. Not necessarily because he’ll remember what he says – his memory tends to get a bit spotty even after a round of light drinking – but because Kevin definitely will.

Normally, Changmin would praise God for Kevin's ability to remember drunk things. Coupled with his inability to lie, it makes for so much potent blackmail. Sure, Kevin makes Changmin and Jacob swear not to talk about anything he said under the influence, but Changmin isn't an angel the way Jacob is. If it came down to it, he'd sell Kevin's secrets for a single corn chip and some entertainment.

(Okay, not really. But the point still stands.)

If he complained about this to people, they’d probably just laugh and say something about how Kevin is a precious pure meme, that he’d never sell out Changmin’s deepest thoughts for anything. After several years of working with him, though, Changmin knows better.

(He’ll just say that sometimes, Mr. Kev Kev isn't the happy-go-lucky meme-y little boy that everyone likes to make him out to be.)

So maybe Changmin shouldn't be drinking tonight. There isn’t necessarily a lot on his mind, but he’s been thinking of things that he doesn't want spilled just yet, and drinking will only make that possibility a reality.

Isn’t that what alcohol is for, though? To make those worries disappear, if only for a short while? The soju beckons at Changmin, even more so when Kevin actually opens the bottle. Eventually, he throws caution to the wind and fills his own glass.

It’s a clear night, mostly. A bit cloudy, but no sign of rain, and there’s a pleasant little breeze that feels cool against his cheeks. Sitting at one of the small tables outside of the restaurant, Changmin loses himself in the food and the conversation.

After an hour, Jacob decides he needs to leave because he’s supposed to meet with his family the next day and can’t get too plastered. Kevin calls him a noob while making a face, but Jacob, being the angel he is, just pats him on the head on his way out. Privately, Changmin thinks Kevin is much more of a noob than Jacob, but the alcohol hasn’t addled his mind enough to say that out loud just yet.

At some point, though, the world becomes pleasantly muddy. Changmin can register what’s going on at a distant level and he probably shouldn’t drink too much more, but he takes a last shot anyway, just as Kevin asks a slightly slurred “How’s life with Y/N?”

A stupid smile stretches across Changmin’s lips. “Kevin, oh my God, she’s perfect.” He grins, the breeze cool against his flushed cheeks. "She’s so beautiful, it doesn't make sense that we exist in the same world."

Kevin mutters something that sounds like "whipped" and "so soft."

Changmin is sure that if he were sober, he would've attacked his fellow teacher by now, but his tipsy haze is too pleasant to interrupt. He just wants to keep talking. "Kevin," he whines. "Pay attention."

"Okay." Face flushed, Kevin puts his chin on his fist. "'M listening."

"Y/N’s so beautiful." Dimly, Changmin is aware that he's just repeating himself, but he can't help it. The point needs emphasis. "Kevin, she’s so amazing. So much more amazing than me. So smart. Did you know Y/N knows like ten programming languages?"

Tipsily, Kevin shakes his head. "What... what's a program."

"Computer shit." Changmin plays idly with his shot glass. "Doesn't matter. So smart, so nice, so... lovely, Kevin. Y/N’s good at everything. She cuts fruit for me when I work late and make me go to sleep. She doesn’t know anything about dance and tries to help anyway. She works so hard and never takes anyone’s shit and she always knows when I need time alone or when I need comfort.” His mouth draws down into a slight frown. “She’s like... she’s like..."

Why is it so hard to come up with something to explain you? Your entire existence defies definition. How can he even find something comparable to the way you sparkle in his eyes?

Ignoring Kevin’s gaze trained on him, Changmin slumps over the table, eyes gazing out at the dark night. A few stars manage to glitter past the clouds and the piercing lights of the Seoul skyline.

Stars. Something tugs at the back of Changmin’s brain. Stars. Sparkly.

An image of your smile pops, unbidden, in his mind. Your bright eyes glimmer. Like stars.

Oh.

Stardust.

Yes, stardust.

You're like stardust, warm and gentle and... magical. Magical to the touch.

"She’s like." Changmin hiccups. "She’s like stardust, Kevin. Stardust. Perfect. Warm.”

A tear trickles down Kevin's cheek. Changmin has exactly two seconds to ready himself in his drunken haze before Kevin launches himself at his purple hoodie, loosely grasping at the soft cloth as he fully encases Changmin within his arms. "Ji Changmin," he sobs, muffled, "that is the most adorable thing I've ever heard you say."

Even sober, Changmin doesn't think he'd know what to say in response to that, so he just stays silent. It's not like Kevin would even hear him over the sound of his overemotional crying.

Anyway, Kevin's hug feels nice. Warm. Changmin doesn't think he needs to speak words at the moment, he's too comfortable. It's not the same as being in your arms, but he'll settle for it now. He burrows a little deeper into his friend's hold.

“You little child, you,” Kevin sobs into his shoulder. “You’re so sweet and small and warm, I can’t believe you exist.”

Changmin doesn’t feel like replying. There’s a bubble of something growing in his chest that he can’t entirely decipher right now, and his brain has focused on that. It’s some sort of emotion, he thinks. It doesn’t feel very pleasant.

His head gets pulled out of Kevin’s arms. He whines a little, annoyed by the lack of warmth, but he doesn’t really have the presence of mind to do anything but sit there limply as Kevin starts shaking him back and forth, still wailing about how “adorable his little Ji Changminnie is.”

The bubble keeps growing as Kevin keeps shaking him. It doesn’t feel like vomit – Changmin knows that sensation a bit too well – but it makes him feel a little sick. A little upset. The bubble feels suffocating, cold, but it also burns.

Not vomit. He doesn’t feel nauseous. But still unpleasant.

Kevin goes back to hugging Changmin into his chest, which soothes the bubble a little bit. The soft warmth of Kevin’s sweater smooths the burning and takes away the edge of the cold. But the bubble still stays as Changmin rocks back and forth in his friend’s hold, blankly trying to decipher the stupid emotion growing in his heart.

“There’s a bubble.” The words slip out of his mouth just past Kevin’s ear. “There’s a bubble in my chest.”

“Bubble?” Kevin pulls back slightly, flushed face confused. “What bubble?”

Changmin vaguely gestures at his chest as best he can with Kevin’s arms partially trapping his hands. “Here. Doesn’t feel good.”

Kevin’s eyes squint. “Need to vomit?”

“Nooooo,” Changmin whines. “Kevin, it’s a bubble.” He pauses. “Think it’s an emotion.”

He hears Kevin suck in a breath. “I can’t believe my precious little Scorpio child is finally feeling emotions,” the older boy says in a stage whisper, loud enough for at least the next two tables to hear. Changmin has enough presence of mind to slap him. “Hey!”

“It hurts.” Changmin’s lips pout deeper. “I don’t like it.”

“Aww, no, baby.” Kevin pats his head – a little too hard, but Changmin can deal with that. “Why does it hurt? What emotion is it?”

Changmin racks his brains for the word. It’s not a good feeling, so he tries to eliminate the good words as they pass through his mind. Not pleasant. Definitely not happy. Not calm, either.

Sadness? Maybe that’s part of it, but it’s not specific enough. Anger? Not really.

Fear?

Changmin isn’t scared of many things. He loves horror movies and thinks possessed dolls are cute, and it’s hard for anyone to really startle him. Fear is not an emotion that regularly appears in his repertoire.

But this time…

“I’m scared.” The two words slip out of his mouth, quiet, lonely. “’M scared, Kevin.”

Kevin pulls back again. “Changmin, you’re never scared.”

“I am now.” He purses his lips petulantly.

“Why?”

Unconsciously, the corners of his lips turn down even further into a blank pout. "Sometimes I think Y/N’s gonna leave. Slip through my fingers."

Even tipsy, Changmin can tell there are more tears welling up in Kevin's eyes. "But… you love each other?"

"Y/N’s stardust." Changmin's pout deepens. "Too perfect. She’s gonna realize that, that I'm not... I'm not good enough but she’s too nice to say that so she’ll just slip away." He hiccups again, feeling his cheeks burn with drink, fluttering his fingers loosely to make sure Kevin gets the point. "Like stardust."

Kevin remains silent for one, two, three seconds. Changmin takes that time to drain the last little bit of soju left in his cup.

Then Kevin nearly knocks the cup out of his hand when he literally grabs Changmin and forces him to curl up into his sweater, nose buried in the soft folds of cloth. “You beautiful, pure little child, you,” he coos, patting Changmin’s head (still a little too hard, but Changmin really doesn’t feel the need to deal with it right now). “You small little child. You poor, small child. Y/N is so in love with you, there’s no way she’ll ever leave.”

“Stardust,” Changmin reminds Kevin, words muffled into his sweater.

“Stardust,” Kevin agrees. “But good stardust. Gonna stay with you. Never going to leave.”

Changmin doesn’t remember much of what happens after that. He knows that they eventually pay for everything and Kevin’s partner picks them up (well, they were the one who was supposed to pick the two of them up. He doesn’t actually register the driver’s face, but Changmin hears Kevin calling them “love muffin, better than Beyonce,” so it’s probably them. He refuses to acknowledge any alternatives), but he’s too drunk and too tired to process anything else.

Somehow, he wakes up the next day curled up in his bed, forehead threatening to split from the dull pain. Mentally, he thanks himself for closing the shades before he passed out last night (or was it morning? He isn’t completely sure when he got home) so that the sunlight isn’t adding to his headache.

Get up, Changmin, he tells himself, summoning the strength to swing his legs out of bed. Step by step, he exits his room and slowly brushes his teeth before heading toward the kitchen for a bottle of water or something to get rid of the pounding in his head.

Changmin’s so out of it that he doesn’t register the smell of something cooking wafting out of the kitchen before he’s almost in it. He finally stops, confused, just in time to see your head poke out from the kitchen entrance.

For a second, Changmin just stares at you, brain buffering as he tries to come up with a suitable greeting in his hungover state. There’s this look on your face that Changmin’s muddled mind can’t seem to decipher.

Oh, God.

You look like you’re about to cry. 

He panics. What did he do wrong? Did he say something bad last night? He can’t remember anything – how badly did he screw up, what the hell did he do –

Then you leap at him, much the same way Kevin did last night, and bury your face into his shoulder.

“Ji Changmin,” you say, words muffled into his rumpled shirt, “I love you so much.”

Changmin’s mouth can only come up with a confused “huh?”

You pull back, eyes shining with tears, but mouth stretched into a beautiful, beautiful smile. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember what you told Kevin last night,” you say teasingly, though there’s a hint of uncertainty in your gaze.

Slowly, slowly, the events of last night begin to piece themselves together in Changmin’s brain. Every single stupid word he said to Kevin in his drunken stupor comes flooding back in one massive, jumbled mess.

He blushes.

“Ji Changmin.” You cup his puffy, red cheeks between your hands, voice trembling. “Listen to me. I’m not leaving. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to slip through your fingers and, fucking, I don’t know, fly away. Because I am not perfect, I am not stardust, but god, I – you’re perfect for me. You are good enough for me, more than good enough for me. You are perfect, and I’m staying here forever. You’re not going to be able to get rid of me. Understood?”

“But –”

“Understood?”

Changmin stares into your shining eyes. Even with you standing right here, hands cradling his face with the gentlest touch, he can’t quite believe you’re real and not just some beautiful figment of his imagination. Slowly, slowly, one of his hands rises to touch the fingers resting against his cheek. Just to make sure this isn’t a dream.

Solid. Warm.

Not a dream. 

This is real.

He nods dumbly, a stupid smile spreading across his face. “Okay.”

You crush him close again and this time, Changmin’s arms automatically move to wrap around your waist, pulling you flush against his chest. He can feel a few tears soaking into the fabric of his shirt as you hold him tight, so tight, and he smiles, one hand coming up to pat your back.

You’re here. You’re here, alive, solid, real. He can feel your warmth against his body, feel your hair tickling his skin.

You may be ethereal. You may be something completely out of this world, beautiful, divine. You may be sparkling, glimmering, brilliant in the morning sunlight. You may be made of stardust, something too perfect (he’ll fight you on that) to exist on earth.

But now, with you wrapped warmly in his arms, Changmin realizes that even though you may be stardust, that doesn’t mean you’re going anywhere.

A tear slips out of his eye as he smiles.

If you enjoyed, please don’t forget to reblog and leave a comment to tell me what you thought! Thank you for reading and have a lovely day <3

(1 reblog = 1 cheek pinch for changmin idk why I just think that’d be fun <3)