#also a random scholomance

[echoofawind]

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

Thank you very much @naomijameston for the tag!

I didn't include any of the round robin writings that are posted with my account tagged. I focused on works I fully wrote myself. (And I skipped the drabbles this time).

I wait for the rushing in my ears to die down. A Safehouse in Applecross Peninsula

Fun fact: Writing Safehouse, I channeled the same vibes I get when I read @naomijameston's Memories Bring Back You

2. Xenobiologist Log Stardate 46358.2

We are two days from our scheduled resupply stop at the Planet Hogsmeade. There's No Place Like Home

3. I've always been able to kill mals with ease. I can't kill this

4. "First Round's on me!" Septima cheered, hurrying over to the bar before anyone could get an actual order in and effectively trapping them all at the table to wait on her return. Unintended Overtures

5. 1993 (3rd year)

"You've figured it out, haven't you, Hermione?" Lupin inquired, a touch of impressed pride in his voice. Finally 39

7. “I want to get something that will make him laugh,” Hermione commented as she picked up a bag of gummy penises that were supposedly strawberry-flavored. Clone a Wand

8. The Hall hummed with decorative enchantments. Fire and Feathers

9. Hermione couldn't believe it: after three years of pining over her coworker, she was days away from her third date with Severus Snape! All In (a gift for the incredible @hermioneclone)

10. Two Months:

“Two months of summer vacation is nothing! It will fly by in an instant." Severus minimalized. Waiting for You (a gift for the incomparable @naomijameston)

Secret WIP Bonus:

“It’s okay, bean. You’re safe now, ” Hermione crooned at the badly scratched Kneazle yowling to get out of its magically reinforced carrier.

(I wanted to include this bit because I wrote this line years ago once again channeling NJ because I love when she calls us 'bean' as a term of endearment. I put that easter egg in specifically for her 😽)

[marmolita]

Lita's Kinktober/Promptober 2024!!

Okay let's do this thing!! I haven't found any official kinktober prompts list so I'm making up my own. I will provide three choices of prompt for each day (2 kinks + 1 trope), and if you want me to write a ficlet for you, please send me an ask with the day, prompt, and ship that you'd like it for and I'll put it on the list!

At this time, I'm open to writing fic only for the fandoms/ships/characters listed below. If I change my mind and add more fandoms I'll update this post. If you think you know me well enough to convince me to write something else you're welcome to come talk to me about it!

Who can send requests?

Literally anyone, anon is turned on as well. I would ask that you only send 1-2 requests to start, then if I don't get very many I'll take additional requests!

What info goes in my request?

Please include the day you want, the kink or prompt you want from that day's options (there are three choices for each day), and the fandom/ship you want. It's fair game to say "any prompt for XYZ ship" or "any fandom for XYZ prompt" or the like, but please give me a little bit of direction instead of just "idk any day any prompt any fandom" because the whole reason I'm doing this is that I can't think of stuff on my own. 😅 If you would like the work to be gifted to you on AO3, please give me your username. I'll tag you on tumblr when I post it as well, unless you specifically tell me you don't want to be tagged.

How do I send a request?

Put it in my ask box please! If you don't have a tumblr account you can also find me on discord and DM me there (marmolita), or go old school and email me, marmolita42 at gmail.

What fandoms and ships can I request?

Note: in all of these, "Other" means an OC that I invent to match the type of person/thing of your choice (e.g. "hunter" or "diner patron" or "Galbadian army soldiers" or "mindflayer" or something like that). I will not write reader insert fic or fic for OCs of other people's creation.

For prompts that aren't sex-related (like "office AU" or whatever) you don't necessarily have to provide a ship, just some characters.

FFVIII: Seifer/Squall, Seifer/Squall/Rinoa, Squall solo, Laguna solo, Seifer solo, Seifer/Ultimecia (including Ultimecia possessing others), Seifer/Other, Squall/Other, Laguna/Other

FFXV: Noctis/Prompto, Noctis/Gladio, Noctis/Luna, Noctis solo, Noctis/Gladio/Ignis/Prompto, Noctis/Other. I may be open to other Noctis ships as well, except not Ignis, Ardyn, or any Kingsglaive characters.

FFVIII/FFXV Crossover: Any combination involving Squall, Seifer, Laguna, Noctis. I could be talked into other characters if you have a really good idea.

Dune (Villeneuve): Paul/Duncan, Paul solo, Paul/Bene Gesserit, and I could be talked into something involving Chani or Stilgar, possibly. Keep in mind I have not read the books.

Scholomance: Orion solo, Orion/El, Orion/mals

Supernatural: Dean/Castiel, Dean/Benny, Dean/Jack, Dean/Claire, Dean/Mary but only for "something made them do it" type prompts, Dean/Amara, Dean/Other, Dean solo

Marmalade Boy: Yuu/Satoshi, Yuu solo, Satoshi solo (yes I realize this is a very random fandom to include but hey if I'm willing to write it I thought I should put it in here lol)

Prompts

I'll cross these off as they get requested.

UPDATE: all have been claimed, thanks everyone!

1. Orgasm delay/edging, Fisting, Sex pollen

2. Electrostimulation, Vore, Omegaverse

3. Exhibitionism, Impact play, Arranged marriage

4. Voyeurism, Uniform kink, BDSM AU

5. Omorashi, Mind control, Enemies to lovers

6. Train molestation, Tentacles, Dubcon

7. Royalty/nobility kink, Intercrural, Magic made them do it

8. Sex work, Bondage, Bad guys made them do it

9. Bruises, Collaring, First time

10. Knifeplay, Sex toys, Oh no they're hot

11. Gunplay, Face sitting, Friends with benefits

12. S&M, Overstimulation, Unwilling attraction

13. Voice kink, Body worship, Truth serum

14. Competence kink, Incest, Guilty attraction

15. Leather/Latex, Breathplay/choking, Trapped together

16. Pegging, Free use, Captured by the enemy

17. Bukkake, Dirty talk, Sex as part of job duties

18. Rimming, Object insertion, Enemies with benefits

19. Frottage, Anonymous sex, Undercover as lovers

20. Waxplay, Begging, Fake Dating

21. Glory hole, Chastity, Amnesia

22. Fucking machine, Clothed sex, Tabloids/gossip

23. Praise kink, Mirror sex, Office AU

24. Humiliation, Sex tapes, Hate doing the thing but have to do it to save someone

25. Sensory deprivation, Manhandling/Rough sex, Child soldiers

26. Cloning/selfcest, Size kink, Power imbalance

27. Noncon, Dehumanization, Seduced by the villain

28. Double penetration, Slut praising, Horrifying revelation

29. Gags, Virginity kink, Under the influence

30. Threesome, Face fucking, Normally reserved character gets to be sexy/horny

31. Orgy, Public/semi-public sex, Fighting as foreplay

(if you want to steal my prompt list for your own October fest go for it!)

[glittertomb]

Current Obsessions 🌸🍄🐸💜🌿🌼

(Haven’t done one in 3 years, I think, and I have half an ounce of energy right now but here goes)

Scavengers Reign… an animated science-fiction show about a beautiful but dangerous planet with unusual biological mechanisms… watch for free here

Winternight Trilogy… a historical fantasy series spun with Russian fairytales, old gods, and curious creatures… rent on Libby with a library card

The Boy and the Heron… I know the latest Ghibli got some mixed reviews, but I’m just giddy to have another super magical film from our favorite Japanese retiree, and understanding how this film relates to his legacy and his son makes it much more emotional for me… it will be on Max at some point or watch for free on fmoviesz.to

Southern Reach Trilogy… I realized that the Annihilation movie was loosely based off of these books, so I had to know more about this quarantined (but ever-expanding) area where strange and psychedelic phenomena occurs… these are probably also on Libby

The Scholomance Trilogy… re-reading one of my favorite magical series in which students navigate a deadly world where monsters and even their own school seem to be coming for them at every turn… the first audiobook is available for free with a Spotify premium account, or just find them on Libby lol

Dave the Diver… explore the deep seas by day, run a sushi restaurant by night, and more… I dunno, I play it at my sister’s house so go look for it on Steam

This last one is kinda random but I’ve been really into Ito En teas at the moment… I usually get the giant bottles of unsweetened green tea from my local Asian markets… I’ve also been drinking a lot of giant bottles of unsweetened Aloe because I’m a giant ball of inflammation but I couldn’t find my brand.

So, the end! I hope these give you comfort as we wait for spring! If you’ve been feeling gloomy, stir-crazy, or otherwise glum, remember to keep taking your vitamin D and keep your chin up, cause spring is so close we can almost taste it. 🌸 ~love, laue

[ladyhindsight]

all I can think about is how interesting seeing shadowhunters like you mentioned, from other cultures, even like smaller countries in Europe would be (I might be biased, but Eastern European shadowhunters sound so interesting?? like how would that work into how they work, locations, local downworlders, other groups, politics etc), how much can you get from a handful of families lol I read the og books a while ago and only heard about the prequels/latest book trilogy and left it at that, felt stale

The opportunities of implementing culturally and socially/societally completely different Shadowhunters are endless. I don't think Clare has capability as an author outside her usual shtick, but imagine! The fact that the Shadowhunters operate globally but so little of it is utilized in any degree is ridiculous. Will mentions Helsinki Institute in Chain of Thorns and? Finland also has Shadowhunters but what of it? Filomena, an Italian Shadowhunter, makes appearance in Chain of Iron but her role is to basically die, and we learn nothing of Italian society of Shadowhunters. Eastern Europe, the most of Balkan or South America or Asia, the whole continent of Africa—none of these actually or conceptually exist in the Shadow World. And no, random characters from such and such places making appearance does not count.

What this mostly tells me—aside from the fact that Clare has never given much thought to her world-building—is that she isn't in love with the world she has put together. She likes it only to the point it serves her romance stories with a fantasy backdrop, for which these brand new concepts as the Scholomance, Centurions, the Iron Tombs, warlocks not being able to grown their hair after stopping aging, telepathic faerie rings, werewolf-typical eyes, and new aspects to magic and the Marks for instance come along only once they sort of brush relevance to the story she is writing in any given time.

[tys-kitty]

Hey!

This is so random and you're one of the biggest TSC accounts I could find.

I'm looking for a quote I saw on Tumblr: "Ty said, "I'm so sorry, Livvy." Essentially he's apologizing for making Livvy a ghost I assume? There were also a few that involved Livvy and Ty's povs. I can't for the life of me figure out where they come from and I'd love the help! Thanks!

Hello my lovely!

First of all, this isn‘t random at all! I love receiving any form of questions from you guys!🥹🫶🏻

And yes I absolutely know which quote you‘re talking about because I just recently read it (hehe)! It‘s from the book „Ghosts of the Shadow Market“ which is a collection of short stories that mainly follow Jem on his search for the Lost Herondale! It involves many different stories from various POVs, including Livvy‘s! Sadly, it doesn’t include Ty‘s POV but you get to see a lot of him and his life at the Scholomance through Livvy‘s POV!

P.S. It also includes a story about Kit settling in at Cirenworth with his new family from Jem‘s POV which is absolutely adorable!

I hope this helps!🥰

If you have any more questions, feels free to ask!

Love ya!

[thebellearchives]

Hello-hello Belle! I think I’ll be a nosy Jo instead… 🤭

So… 7, 19, 44? 💖

Sweet Joooo hiii 🥹🖤!! love to see you around again 🫶🏻!!

7. do i have any tattoos

i do! i have a big fearless rune (from the shadowhunters books) on my left arm! also have a small capricorn constellation on my back but i wanna get rid of it 😩

19. a fact about my personality

i’m a pro hater 💃🏻 discord girlies gave me a pro h8r badge, im always finding something to complain about 💀 the other day i went on a rant about how much i hate automated lights in public bathrooms, like hELLO?? IM STILL HERE I WAS JUST CHECKING MY PHONE HELP 😭

44. random fact

OMG AS AN INTP THIS IS MY TIME TO SHINE did you know Solomon is linked to a school of black magic in romanian folklore? It’s called the Scholomance and it’s even mentioned in Dracula! Bram Stoker wrote about Dracula attending the school at some point 💃🏻

also since i mentioned shadowhunters i think Cassandra Clare also mentions something about it in her newer books but i didn’t get to those 🥲

[trans-girl-uchiha-itachi]

so i don't think i post abt this on here much but i have this folder of like a dozen different (broadly mediocre and quarter-baked) hinataverse crossover concepts, because i love to put hinata in Situations. there's this whole MCU crossover branch that is well enough fleshed out that i keep branching ADDITIONAL crossovers off of it whenever i watch an action movie. i don't think anyone has ever seen any of them except @combat-epistemologist; for the most part i haven't bothered to give any of them coherent plots so most of them are just, like, Hinata Experiences Culture Shock.

but anyway i was rereading the scholomance crossover just now (whose existence i vaguely alluded to here) and -- the problem with this, right, is that the scholomance books are sufficiently tightly plotted that it's hard to wedge a hinata in there without completely wrecking galadriel's character arc. and also that hinata is kind of too OP to fit in well with the setting, which is another common structural issue with these AUs. it's not Good Content, it's just noodling around with the concept "what if the scholomance yoinked hinata during the freshman induction at the end of a deadly education, and hinata is incredibly mad about it because she was In The Middle Of Things". there ARE SOME REALLY FUNNY BITS though and my current favorite is just the entire concept of itachi's isekai adventure to modern japan.

itachi is trying to find hinata, right (this is a non-massacre AU, or more accurately the massacre interrupted AU i alluded to in the tags of this post; you see why it's impossible for me to post 80% of my shit with the dependency web i've got going on). hinata has Mysteriously Vanished and itachi was forced to cram a five-year course of study on advanced fūinjutsu into like three weeks in order to track the space-time jutsu that yoinked her THIS far. he seriously contemplates stealing the kinjutsu scroll and resurrecting the yondaime with edo tensei if he can't figure out the necessary sealwork himself. his general emotional state can be summed up thusly:

he doesn't know what a car is and he talks like a nobleman from the sengoku period and he's been yote randomly into -- well, i haven't quite decided where yet, because that would require a good deal more historical research than i really feel like doing for this fic (in particular: what the hell is going on with kyoto enclave), but either Literally The Middle Of Shinjuku (funny, but then he probably finds tokyo enclave too quickly) or a random patch of countryside (wherein he almost gets himself isekai'd again by truck-kun within the first 15 minutes). but eventually he DOES manage to gaslight gatekeep girlboss his way into tokyo enclave --

[larkral]

20 questions for fic writers!

Thank you @orange-peony and @wellbelesbian for tagging me in this game! I feel sure that others have tagged me but I have become incapable of reading my activity feed.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

14! This feels both reasonable and correct. (one is a self-meta and one is a round robin fic)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

204,176 this feels correct and unreasonable.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Carry On, In Other Lands, apparently Check Please though I haven't published the thing yet.

Historically I've written for X-men the movie and Battlestar Galactica (BSG). Most of the fics in my profile are for BSG, and all of my X-men fic was on ff.n 🤷

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos

Number 1 is Good at Something by a ridiculous margin. Number 2 is A Dangerous Affinity by a normal margin Numbers 3-5 are fics in a series I wrote for Battlestar Galactica: Proof Positive (third in the series), Proving Grounds (first in the series), and Prove that you can do it better (second in the series), which I posted 8 years ago. So they've had a while to accrue readers.

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

I do... most of the time. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and don't respond for a while. I intend to respond to comments, I don't always do so.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A BSG fic called Grief. Which is actually about how horrible it feels to realize that your grief has lessened over time.

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

I suppose this is a deep spoiler, but I think A Dangerous Affinity has the happiest ending of anything I've written. It's happy for the characters (who don't die) as well as for the crossover setting it's based in.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? The only thing I'd consider borderline "hate" is when someone bookmarked a fic I adore (An Arranged Meeting) with a long comment that included both of these phrases:

"you have to buy some changes in personality depiction" and "the random timeset of the vignettes is hard to follow."

And, listen. If you are reading a deep AU and you can't understand why people who have a meaningful change in their early professionally formative years might end up as different people, I don't know what to say to you. Also, like, I wrote it nonlinearly. That was on purpose! I love nonlinear narratives, I would change nothing.

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

Yeah. Yep. All kinds? My BSG ship was het, I've written some femslash for Carry On, as well as a...um, fair amount of mascslash (is this a thing? I'm going with it), and in my Check Please fic there's an orgy, so. Lots of kinds of smut, though, as others have mentioned, I tend to trade in tender smut above all else.

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

Yeah, those 200k words up there? 125k of them is a Carry On/Scholomance crossover/fandom fusion. But the characters don't cross over, so... Shrug.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

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

nope, but I *want to*

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

God, this is a hard question! I cannot. I will not. Pacey/Sage. There. Now you know.

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

I started writing a story in BSG that was based around the idea that Kara was adopted by Tigh and Ellen, and I wrote some stuff I really really love for it, but I lost the mojo around BSG around the time I was starting on that story.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Figurative language.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I really have to be yanked into the story I'm writing. It's difficult for me to find motivation to write unless the story is dragging me along kicking and screaming, or I've got some kind of external motivation to write. I feel very lucky to have had a lot of

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

I think it can be necessary. I did it in ADA, and it was necessary, and I added translations in the title so it showed up on hover and end notes. I think that sometimes it's done when it's not necessary and then it bugs me, but as long as I'm being given adequate context to continue reading on, I'm happy. It's hard to write because inevitably when you're doing it, it's because someone is a native speaker/fluent, but likely you as the writer aren't, so you need to get someone who is to advise, which is not easy to do in fandom. I've been lucky to have friends and connections who can help with those things, but it's not a given.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

whispered Animorphs.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Good at Something. Closely tied with Holsom Timeloop/Friday Prime, which no one but @petedavidsonscock has put their eyes upon, and it's not yet finished, but I love it so much.

I'm tagging @fireinmywoods, @shrekgogurt, @petedavidsonscock, @facewithoutheart, and @cutestkilla if any of you haven't already done this

[mymaleficaria]

mthedm ---> mymaleficaria

Hi gang! I've had this blog since high school, but somewhere in college it fell into disuse and disrepair. I've been itching to get back on here, as a space on the internet that's not...ya know *gestures at the Twitter-sized elephant in the room*. But I also wanted to go in with a fresh coat of paint and reintroduce myself to y'all, maybe even make some new friends (or enemies. That could be hot.) A lot has changed!

Wait, why do I follow you?

Statistically, you followed me because of Wolf 359! I was big into podcasts back in the day, WTNV, Wolf 359, all those. I also wrote some Wolf 359 fics and was semi-active on the discord. Still fondly remember the show and might reblog fanart once in awhile, but it's not the direction this blog's going to go, so feel free to unfollow if what up I'm to now isn't your jam.

What's this blog about now?

Wouldn't you like to know, weatherboy? Frankly, I'm ADHD as fuck, so that'll vary by the day, but I have a few fandoms (do we still say fandoms in the year of our lord 2023???) that I've been into lately.

Dimension 20: I started watching D20 a little less than a year ago, and it entirely took over my life. It's just a series that's so robustly funny, wonderfully told, and never fails to make me smile. I'm especially fond of ACOC and Fantasy High.

Dracula Daily: I'm in this shit for the long haul! I think Lucy and Mina should kiss, but that's neither here nor there.

Game of Thrones/HotD: This show ended in a trash fire, but it literally lives in my head rent free. The political intrigue, the drama. Ugh. I'm a targ girlie through and through, so I've been eating up HotD, though it's nowhere near as good imo. Am also currently reading the 1st ASOIAF book.

YA lit/Whatever I'm reading/watching: I've read almost 50 books this year so far, and am frankly, insane. Bonus points for queer reads! Not many people to talk about books to irl, so might ramble about them on here instead. Also watch a lot of random TV drama and some anime.

Writing: I'm a fanfic writer, and a fiction writer in general, so I'll post stuff about writing--complaints, story snippets, link to my fics, etc! Headcanons and all will be found here. I've also copyedited before, which is like writing but if you get even more nitpicky about it.

Personal/Whatever the hell I feel like/My D&D Games: Life happens and sometimes you want to scream into the void. Ramblings, jokes, whatever. I transed my gender in the past few years and sometimes I'm mad about it! I also just graduated college! Madness! I play a lot of TTRPGs, and I'm usually on brainrot for one of my characters at any given time.

Why's your new username that?

One of my favorite book series is The Scholomance by Naomi Novik, and in the series, Maleficaria are the horrifying monsters that threaten to kill the students every day, and what is tumblr if not a place full of vile, evil beings? Plus, it means you all can call me Mal.

Anything else?

Nope! Other than to feel free to drop me a line and say hello, especially if you want to scream about D20. I'm p alone in this brainrot irl, so I'm pretty much always down to talk about the Bad Kids... especially Adaine and Fabian. I'm also always down to take fic suggestions in my asks! This show genuinely lifts me up when I'm down, so sharing it with people is one of my favorite things.

My fics (shortlist):

In Sweetness, There is Violence: Angsty ACOC one-shot about if Ruby had made a different choice in the finale. Obligatory Caramelinda Caramelinda-ing.

the words i speak are wildfires: A HOTD one-shot I intended to be smut, that ended up instead being more like a romantic sapphic moment of healing between Alicent and Rhaenyra. What can I say? I like childhood friends to enemies to lovers.

Stay Stellar: An unfinished (and, very likely, discontinued) 15-chapter high school AU for Wolf 359 that I wrote with an old friend. Featuring some truly crazy shenanigans, a lot of embarrassing Kepcobi moments, and a surprising amount of theatre.

[eishtmo]

The Scholomance in Minecraft: Final Tour

The build is, for all intense and purposes, done. Now for the final tour.

Okay, let me be blunt, I can't post this here. That tour is 147 images long, not counting the one I'm reusing from the book. So I really insist if you want to see the whole thing, go visit the Imgur post. That said, I did figure out how to do something quite interesting, and I will be sharing it only here, along with some random thoughts and notes. So, who wants to see a map of the Scholomance in Minecraft?

The program is called Mineways, and it lets you extract the data from any Minecraft world, and do all sorts of things, like build import it to 3d modeling software, 3d print it, or just generate some maps. We'll start at the top and work our way down.

This view was almost standard for much of the build and still how I think of the school as a whole. I never removed much of the access stuff I used for building, so you'll see things like that inside the core throughout.

So the school is roughly 120 blocks tall, which puts it at about 40 stories tall. Minus the library and graduation hall, that means climbing from the Senior dorms to the library is climbing about the equivalent of 27 stories. The seniors had to have one hell of a work out just to get lunch, let alone the gym runs. The only thing holding them back from being full on Olympic athletes is the fact that they were malnourished!

I did some math at one point trying to figure out how many books the library could contain, and surprisingly they have figures for how many books fit in a cubic meter. My math (possibly wrong) came up with 116 million. Google claims there's only 156 million books total. Now this is possibly wrong (I may have messed up my math), but it's still crazy how big the library actually is. I still can't get over it honestly.

Maleficaria Studies got me wondering something: Who made the mural? The only ones who would ever see the Graduation Hall and it's inhabitants would be graduating seniors, and I doubt many took the time to sketch the scene. And even then, how did it get back into the school? And then up on the walls in a way that could be torn down and turned into wire? More than that, what was the original purpose? When they planned for it to be for 800 male enclavers, did they need it to be what it became? Or was it just an auditorium/theater and at one point they had bands or were performing Shakespeare or something?

Speaking of those early days, I think it's pretty clear there had to be some communication from outside the school to inside, if only to the artifice itself. After all, they had to have some way to tell the school to halve the room sizes so it could support more students.

BTW, while writing this, do you notice how there's a couple blanks spaces for the bathrooms along the bottom? Yeah, I missed two sets of bathrooms. I did go back and fill those in, I just didn't redo these maps.

Speaking of bathrooms, I decided to make the interior restrooms unisex while the dorm ones were gendered. Why? My theory is that because the dorms were designed to be re done on a regular basis it wasn't hard to fix but the interior ones couldn't be so easily changed, so instead of separating by gender, they just left them unisex as they couldn't do anything else. So why no urinals? After all it was originally an all boys school. Mostly it was easier to build, but also because I really couldn't find a ratio between urinals and toilets, and only got annoyed me when the one reference I found said that for all male locations there should be more toilets/urinals total than one for all female or even mixed populations. That might explain a lot if that's considered the standard in the building industry.

This image actually shows the grid and vent work in the alchemy labs as it's difficult to see when you're in the school. I really just wanted to point it out. I used this floor to figure out the numbering system for the rooms in the school. As shown here:

I did make an effort to stick to this map, but I'm sure I messed it up somewhere.

I have a theory on the construction of the school. We're told that the doors were meant to be the thing to get people to invest, in the larger project, but was it all in one go? I think maybe not. Sure the grad hall and gates came first, then they suggested maybe we could build another floor, and then another, and then why not just build the whole thing and before the enclaves knew what was happening they were building a world wonder. Feature creep at it's finest.

The vent work in the Workshop is almost impossible to see from inside the school. I managed to find one spot, right over the power hammer for the final tour post and it's only barely visible. Here though, you can see the whole thing. It's the grey line that runs through it.

The labyrinth isn't quite as wild as the images in the books displayed, in fact it's quite regular from this angle, but when you're inside, getting lost is probably the stupidly easiest thing that can happen. It was mostly intentional, of course, but I'm surprised how well it worked and how easily I got turned around.

I will also say I'm so happy with how the gym ultimately turned out. Oh it could be better, but the stark difference between it and the rest of the school is something I really wanted to make clear. Also if you look close to the edges of the gym and workshop, you can see the current and old shafts, I never did remove the old ones.

The Grad Hall has the most leftover bits in the school. The multiple extra shafts, the remains of the lines for the levels of the landing, and square base of the whole thing. I would love to say I left it as an easter egg or something, but really it was one part laziness and one part really freaking dark down there. If I couldn't see it and know it's there, no one else can see it at all.

Of all the parts of the school, we know both a lot about the Graduation Hall, and almost nothing. It's shape is only hinted at, the general arrangement (entry doors on one side, exit on the other) is vague, and we really don't know where the shafts come in at all. My original build actually had the shafts going up toward the middle of the school, making the whole thing quite narrow indeed, but this felt much more likely to be true. This version feels more right, even if it still remains a bit too small. But only a bit.

And now a gif from the top to bottom. No it doesn't have every layer, but it has a lot of them.

Well that's the end. Link to final file below. Please feel free to download and explore it, modify or just play inside. And if someone gets a server of this running let me know. Hell let me know whatever you do with it, I'm straight up curious.

And since there's a chance she's reading this, thank you for the wonderful series and hope my build came at least pretty close to what you imagined, even if was made in Minecraft.

[thebibi]

Imagine having watched a few Dracula movies and shows and then going "OK let's read the book" and plot twist! No one is anyone's reincarnated wife?! There is only a probable reincarnated cowboy as the main couple's baby, both of who almost never appear in any of the media.

I think A LOT of people were confused that there was no reincarnated wife love story 🤣

I think its even funnier because like, it makes no sense for Quincey's spirit to pass down into their son? But if you're being sentimental then everything goes I guess!

Bizarrely enough before I read the book even I didn't really believe in the reincarnated wife part, but because I was really into Hellsing, I DID believe that Dracula became a vampire because he cursed God and condemned his soul for revenge against the Ottomans. Extremely wild and problematic. (Also how random?) Scholomance is so much funnier but woefully underdeveloped.

[optionalcausality]

Dreams with recurring themes are an Experience, for sure.

I haven't tracked it closely enough to know if the MIT dreams tend to follow the academic year, or cluster around those times when I would have been participating in a lot of LARPs (as a player or as a writer/Game Master). The geography is a distorted but familiar version of Cambridge or MIT, or along the Charles River or Mass Ave. Usually dorms are rearranged physically, like East Campus and Baker might be partially buried underground, or Random Hall and East Campus might be fused together.

I am generally there on a mission. Missions have included "guide a bunch of lost frosh/pre-frosh to the safety of campus in the middle of a sudden blizzard," "deal with an invading army while figuring out my brand new magic powers", "figure out the maze of Escher staircases/teleport platforms and get in and out of main campus to deliver a message or collect a package," "climb many stories up a ladder inside a dangerous area and get research notes that I left behind."

On one memorable occasion, I was cast as El from the Scholomance trilogy, with MIT playing the role of the twisty halls and open-to-the-Void auditoriums of the Scholomance.

Sometimes I have to sign up for one more class in order to graduate. In the real world, I graduated almost a decade ago! But in the dream, if academics come up, it's because I have one more class or one last semester to go.

I also sometimes have "moving house" or "vacation trip" stress dreams, where a common theme is arriving there only to learn there has been some snafu. Like I have to wait a day to move in, or the place is pet friendly but for some reason they lost the relevant paperwork, or I am at a hotel to volunteer for a convention and am assigned to work two events at once and may lose my room if I don't somehow run both events.

Note: I have genuinely enjoyed every convention that I have volunteered at, and I have no idea what prompts that particular stress dream, but brains are funny sometimes.

The weather is changing, and I am dreaming of Superior again.

It's not always; not even often. But enough that the dreams linger through the day. And it's not the same dream, either, it's different in little ways. Sometimes the beaches are rough pale sand with the treeline far away, retreating from the surf; sometimes it's wave-tumbled round stone, sometimes it's foliated shale, the rocky lakebed teeth chewing up the driftwood;and sometimes there's no beach at all, just the abrupt cessation of forest where the water begins. Always, I am at the shore, and the world is going wrong.

The sky is low and grey and green and roiling, but I don't look up, because there is always something closer, more desperate, that must be dealt with first. Years ago, it was a creaking grey wooden house, warping in the wind and sparking suddenly with fire. Did you know that house fires are loud? They're deafening, like something roaring with hunger, never stopping to inhale. Sometimes the burning house is Vermilion Station; sometimes it's just a twisting old thing that I cannot find the doors to. Usually I am not alone, and I am trying to get someone else out. Sometimes it's a stranger; sometimes it is someone long dead in the waking world.

Sometimes there's a pier, slick wet concrete or smooth-worn wood, old enough that the grain is worn into grooves. The pier juts like a spine out into the lake, and I am running down, yelling into the wind at a ship tossing in the dark waves, unheard over the storm. The ship is sometimes a steel mammoth full of cargo, sometimes a billow of white sails. Always it is just at the edge of capsizing, far beyond my reach. Often, the storm overhead begins reaching down, turning and turning into a tornado, into blinding flare of lightning, into a white curtain of blizzard. Sometimes, over the howling storm, I hear a different rush of water, like some flood is crashing down the Porcupines, heading towards the shore.

And the water is always black and endless, which is how I know it's Superior. Jagged white-capped waves, icy wind and no hint of salt in the air; spray that touches your face like sleet. The dreams are often long, often confusing, always hurried, but they always end the same way.

I am at the edge of the water, looking north, and the horizon begins to bow upwards, as whatever is in the deep water begins to rise, lifting the lake on its back, bigger than a ship, bigger than a city, displacing water but moving so quickly that the whole surface of Superior is bulging upwards, breaking closer and closer to the surface--

(watching on the shoreline, I am not afraid. Fear is what came before this. Now that it is coming, I am only waiting. I am only a witness to whatever comes next)

--and always, before it breaches, I wake.

It is October, and Superior is calling.

[whimsyandbooks]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We find ourselves right back at Scholomance, starting El's senior year, and the School has a whole set of plans in store for her and her unconventional group of wizards. El forms an alliance with Liu and Aadhya, while Orion occupies the not-yet-boyfriend spot with a deal to ignore romance now and explore romance "if we make it out of here alive." Senior year is notorious for being the most perilous, cranking up the danger to prepare students for the treacherous graduation gauntlet. However, this year's schedule springs some surprises on El, and suddenly, she's handed everything she's ever desired, only to discover that maybe she didn't truly want it after all.

El still wrestles with her prickly personality and those maddeningly long inner monologues, but this book had me completely hooked. The groundwork laid in the previous installment, with all its foreshadowing, combined with the faster pacing in most parts of this book, made for a lightning-fast read.

“The Last Graduate” felt swifter because there was less info-dumping through inner monologue to explain the school's intricacies. Don't worry, there were still a few drawn-out moments, but they were far between, and the story's momentum kept me pushing forward to uncover the answers. El's character has become more likable in this second book of the series. It's heartening to see her growth continue, and it carries on throughout the narrative. Despite some people labeling this series as a romance, it plays a minute role, and the book would remain just as compelling without it.

The ending delivers a massive cliffhanger, but it's the kind you see coming from a mile away – not in a negative sense, but in that satisfying, "I love Novik's use of foreshadowing" way. Overall, I found this book even more enjoyable than the first installment, mainly because there was less time spent waxing poetic about the Scholomance's inner workings. I particularly appreciated the character development, not just of El but also her alliance and the rest of the cast. If El's inner voice grated on you in the first book, you might still encounter it here, but rest assured she's grown and is much more relatable now.I currently have a one week wait at the library for the third book “The Golden Enclaves” and it has already become excruciating. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with this Advanced Reader Copy.

[semisomni]

once again i am on a quest to give myself nightmares (aka free horror movies just for me!)

[razzle-dazzle-13]

Other random things to love about Naomi Novik’s ‘The Scholomance’ series.

1. We only meet one religious character, but it’s played straight. Yaakov is Jewish, his faith doesn’t stop him from using his spells, and at the end he even is wearing a prayer shawl. El describes it this way, “but I saw Yaakov go past with this head bowed and rocking slightly wearing a beautiful worn prayer shawl whose fringe was shining with light, his lips still moving even as he walked, and when he passed me, he looked up and I felt a warmth like the feeling of Mum’s [a famous spirit healer] hand stroking over my hair, calming and steadying.” (page 377 of the hardback version of ‘The Last Graduate’). 

He incorporates his faith and magic together. As someone religious who also love fantasy, how cool is that? Usually people write faith and magic being at total odds, or religious people straight up ban any media with magic in it, but why not both? Especially in a story where magic is a natural gift.

2. We get a totally diverse crew of kids from all over the world, of different ethnicities and it never feels forced or pandering. Novik doesn’t bash you over the head with their ethnicities, where they come from either plays a role in the complicated world of enclave politics or we find out from context clues. It’s very natural and doesn’t feel like she was just checking the boxes or trying to show off how open and understanding she is just for brownie points. The characters, even the minor ones, all feel real. 

3. She created a really cool system of magic and then didn’t get bogged down in giving us a lot of incantations to remember or fantasy languages to try to keep up with or even really dramatic descriptions of different hand movements or glyphs to keep straight. You can picture what you want which I think is very effective in terms of storytelling and also writing. 

4. I can’t help it, I love that El is apparently destined for terrible things, her very affinity (another fun feature of the magic system) is huge destructive, grisly spells to kill and/or enslave people. Her love interest, Orion’s affinity is killing mals. Meanwhile El is just trying to not become a terrible dark enchantress and Orion is this larger than life hero figure, until they become more than that. 

5. It’s one of the few truly original series I’ve picked up lately. Yeah, magical school and all, but it isn’t at all like Hogwarts. 

[spacecasehobbit]

Just to start this blog off right (by which I mean establish the high likelihood that any original content posts of mine will consist at least 80-90% of me throwing random headcanons and theories into the void for a wide variety of fandoms with little to no prompting), I figured I'd make my first real post by adding my two cents to a woefully tiny fandom I have recently found myself dragged into by the power of excellent writing. I read the first book in Naomi Novik's Scholomance series recently, was immediately hooked and read the second book as soon as I could get my hands on it, and now I have to wait until September to find out how the series ends in Book 3.

It's a small enough fandom that I've also already checked out what fanfic there is for it on ao3, plus the fandom tag(s) on tumblr now that I've made this blog, and... I am surprised? That no one seems to be talking about what I assumed was the most obvious theory by the end of TLG? About Orion?

I see some theories that he's a mal, and I can see the logic for that theory.

But... I thought it was obvious that he's a maleficer.

To be fair, a maleficer who is likely on track to become a mal. A very specific type of mal, moreover. The type of mal that, currently, we don't know where they come from/how new ones come to be. The type of mal that all the other mals run away from, the type of mal that is constantly hungry, constantly seeking to consume whatever's in its path.

And yes, Orion seems to be largely a decent person so far who does care about keeping other people safe in a somewhat detached and impersonal manner, but even that fits. After all, this type of mal doesn't actually kill its human victims. In fact, it keeps all its human victims alive... forever.