#and then I’d incorporate the backstory slowly

[whenthegoldrays]

So the more I tinker with Hardwick House, the more I feel that the story I want to tell doesn’t really lend itself to the novel format? I’m trying to tell a more episodic story, little moments all coming together to form a big picture, so I feel that it’d work best as a tv show or a webtoon or perhaps a series of graphic novels or novellas.

(A webtoon or graphic novel series actually sounds amazing, but that involves, you know, artistic skills which I don’t have 😅)

[sinsinsininning]

A little bit softer

Chapter 4

Eustass Kid x crew mate!fem!Reader

This includes Kid’s POV of the end of Chapter 3 while the reader is in the shower. 😳

Also to clarify, Badger is a made up character, I didn’t feel like incorporating a cannon character into the reader’s backstory. I spent literally 2 seconds on the name and even less time on a vague description of him which I’ll post later.

TW: swearing, voyeurism, masturbating (both male and female)

~~~~~~~

After you left him on the deck, Kid ate slowly, thinking out the details of his next steps. He had no idea where this bastard, Badger, was or even what he’d look like.

Plus the West Blue was crawling with dangerous crews and the notorious 5 Families of the West, headed up by Capone Bege. Not someone Kid was on good terms with and, depending on how deep into the West they’d go, someone they’d likely run into.

While Kid would prefer to just make this a quick mission, so they could double back and enter the Grand Line, he was excited to think of all the practice the crew would get fighting all these other crews. It’d be good training before they entered the New World.

After finishing, he pulled out the maps and started charting again. Wire eventually returned to join him and the two worked quietly. Kid was making a list of things they could get while in the West Blue when Wire spoke up.

“So what’s this Captain’s name?”

“Why’re you asking?” Kid growled. “Just chart the stupid map.”

“I’m nearly done, I just need to know where to find him, then I can finalize the map. Right now I’ve just got it charted how to get there while avoiding marines bases and included supply stops. But I need a specific area to finish.”

“His name is Badger.” Kid said after a beat.

“Is that his first name or last name?” Wire asked.

“The fuck if I know. His name is Badger, he’s in the West Blue, and I’m gonna kill him. Make the map.” Kid blustered for a moment, he felt a little silly, all this effort and he didn’t even know who the guy was. Fuck he didn’t even know if you’d been honest…. Nah you were nearly crying, you wouldn’t lie like that. Wire sighed heavily and Kid nearly smashed the table.

“Ok, I can’t finish it tonight, but I’ll go through some logs and see if I can get more info on him.” Wire relented, knowing the captain was at his limit. “We should be able to make it to the next island tomorrow, I’ll do some more digging then too.” Kid grunted an acknowledgement, head down as he finished his list, pen nearly tearing the paper.

Wire stood and started putting the supplies away, he glanced at his captain.

“Boss… you know-“ He paused and considered himself, Kid glanced at him with a scowl. Better play it safe. “Just let me know if you need anything, you know I’d help.” Kid bristled at that, but just grunted again to dismiss the tall man.

He doodled a few sketches of his projects on the list, trying to clear his head. Eventually he puts everything up and leans against the railing, watching the waves and night sky.

After an hour or so, Heat joins him to take his watch shift, but brought a few beers for his captain. Kid downs his first two quickly, then nurses the next one.

“It’s none of my business,” Heat starts off.

“Then don’t fucking bring it up.” Kid snaps.

“But I think we should get rid of the sniper rookie.” Heat continues, eyes on the coast.

“What? Why the fuck do you think that?” Kid stood to shout at him. “Thought you two were buddy-buddy?!” He could keep the jealously out of voice.

“She’s alright. But she’s soft.” Heat isn’t phased by the shouting. “She won’t make it in the Grand Line. We can’t have that type of weakness.”

“Quincy’s soft. Wire’s soft. You questioning my authority huh?” Kid gulped the rest of his drink and tossed the bottle behind him. “You think I keep a weak crew?! That what you’re trying to say?!”

“The only thing she’s got going for her is she’s cute.” Heat added nonchalantly, Kid was fuming.

“Fuck off like she’d want your ugly, stitched up headed ass!” Kid grabbed his vest, forcing the other man to look at him. “She’s staying, she’s a good sniper and a good crew mate. Fucking question me again and I’ll fucking throw you overboard!” Heat grinned and Kid felt like he’d been caught.

“I get why everyone’s been fucking with you lately,” Heat chuckled. “It’s fun. You’re so biased for her, I’m a little jealous really, wish you’d defend me this hard.”

Kid wanted to shout again but he felt like he’d reveal too much. Well, more than what he’d already done. His face was hot and he felt deflated, but he released Heat with a shove.

“Maybe if ya did your job and not play mind games I would.” He finally says, Heat resumes his watch. An awkward silence falls over them.

“It’s not that bad, Boss. Trust me it could be worse. Imagine you liked Pomp? He’s fucking insane. I heard he sold his ex husband’s kidney for cheating on him in a dream.” Heat tried to console his friend, not his forte, but he felt a little bad at his trick. Kid let out a short laugh.

“Fuckin’ hell that can’t be true…. Can it?” He started on his next beer, sitting back down. They laugh together again.

“I don’t actually think we should get rid of her. Just sayin.”

“I know.”

“Yeah she’s soft, but she saved my ass that last fight, shooting that guy trying to creep up on me while I was taking care of Reck.”

Kid just hummed in response, still hesitant to say anything about her. Heat noticed.

“I promise it’s not that bad.”

Silence.

“I don’t think she’s scared of you, not really at least.”

“I heard what she said to you.”

“I think she’s scared of her ex captain. Should make her sit down with Wire, he’d sort her head out.” Heat lit a cigarette, offering a pull to Kid who shook his head.

“Not a bad idea. Just don’t want anyone knowing how-“ He paused. “She can go to Wire but I’m not gonna make her.” He said finally, Heat nodded in understanding.

“You can’t say it, I gotcha.”

“I can’t say it first.” Kid sighed, finishing his last bottle.

“Makes sense. Don’t worry,” Heat claps his hand on the captain’s shoulder. “It’ll happen.”

“Since when have you gotten this mushy?” Kid sneered. “I hate it. Go back to minding your own business.” Heat laughed as his captain got up. It was past midnight and he was tired.

He made his way down the halls, he needed to return his dishes or else Killer would bitch at him all day tomorrow. He placed them in the sink, then a thought struck him. Quickly glancing in the fridge, your plate was still there, all wrapped up nicely.

You hadn’t eaten since breakfast, he slammed the fridge shut. Fuck, you probably hadn’t finished your shit yet. He stalked down the halls towards your make shift shop room, irritated that you’d not finished yet and had still not eaten.

A small part of him was excited to have an excuse to talk to you, even if it was just to bitch at you. Maybe he’d walk you to the galley personally, to make sure you followed orders. Maybe he’d sit with you as you ate too, couldn’t let you try to skip out. After that he’d grumble at you for making him stay up late to babysit you, even though he chose to do it.

Then he may as well make you go to bed. His bed. With him. Obviously to make sure you didn’t try to sneak back to your project. He’d keep you pressed in his arms all night to ensure you didn’t try anything.

Fuck he needed to stop, he was hard in the middle of the hallway. He adjusted his belt before entering the shop room, hoping it’d hide his arousal. Somehow the shop was empty, all the weapons cleaned and stacked up correctly. He looked around for any mistakes or mess you’d left behind, anything that’d allow him a chance to speak with you.

But the room was spotless, everything put away correctly. Then where the fuck were you? He wondered if you went to bed right away, tempted to check your bunk. He headed toward it, pausing when he passed by the bathrooms, steam pouring out the door.

The doors to the bathrooms all had hatches at the top that opened to allow steam to vent. He was a little impressed that the hot water still worked after everyone’s showers.

With you in the stalls he didn’t have any excuse to bother you, you’d finished your work and unless he wanted to wait until you were out to force you to the galley, he was out of luck for tonight. Kid turned to go when he heard you moan.

Oh fuck.

He glanced around the halls, no one could hear you or see him palm his cock over his pants. You weren’t generous with your noises, obviously trying to stifle them, but some slipped out.

Your groans and whines sounded frustrated, like you couldn’t work how you wanted. He reached his hand inside his pants to grip himself, jaw clenched almost painfully to avoid alerting you. His mind filled in the gaps of what he couldn’t see. He pictured walking in and offering to help you reach your climax, since you still seemed to struggle.

He thought about how’d you’d look right then if he did, wet and naked, probably surprised and shy. Maybe you’d try to cover yourself, until you’d realize what he was offering. Or maybe you already knew he was there, confident he’d join you. Maybe you’d tell him exactly what you wanted from him.

He’d let you boss him around, at least at the start, but after you cum once or twice, then he’d be in control again. He thumbed his slit right as you let out a different moan.

Oh. That one was much more satisfied, he didn’t know what changed to make everything work for you, but he was pleased. He stroked himself faster now, checking the halls quickly, then held his ear to the open hatch. Your whines and moans were breathier, much more high pitched. He squeezed his cock, picturing it was you. When he closed his eyes and really focused on listening, he swore he could hear how wet your pussy sounds.

Your moans are getting faster and he tries to keep up, hand pumping hard to get himself off. Finally you let off a loud moan, cutting yourself off halfway through in a pathetic attempt to be quiet. He’s not quite there yet, so he moves his hand fast, but freezes when you turn of the shower.

Shit you were done. He was fucked.

Without adjusting his pants he quickly walks down the hall, his workshop is closer than his room. It’ll have to do for now, it’s not the first time he’s jacked off in there. He gets the door closed and locked before resuming.

Part of him is irritated, his high was so close just to be edged back. But more of him felt a little proud, you’d gotten off before him, as you should. Yeah it wasn’t like he’d gotten you to cum, but it still stroked his ego. He thought about that as he sat down, hand around himself again, stroking quickly.

He wondered how many times he should make you cum before he did. Hell how many times should you cum before he even fucked you with his cock. At least two times on his fingers and maybe three times of his tongue, that seemed fair.

He rubbed his tip harshly as he thought about your sounds, they were so sweet and full of emotion. Kid could basically read your mind from how expressive you were, so open and honest with your lewd moans. He could tell when you were close, when you were struggling, and even when something clicked. He wondered what it was that made you moan like that, thinking of ways to extract that info.

His climax caught him off guard as he thought about you. He came across his hand and chest with a groan, some of his spend getting on his pants. As he came down, panting as he leaned back in his chair, he could hear you walking down the hall.

Leaping up, he tucked himself back into his pants, grabbed an old rag to wipe the cooling cum from his hands and chest. He knocked over the chair and toppled a few tools in his haste. Your steps were quiet but he was hyper aware of you as you passed the door.

After a few minutes of quiet he finally exited, going straight to his room and laying face down on the bed. He wanted to shout but settled for smothering himself until he finally dozed off.

[mrs-lockley]

(I'm definitely not procrastinating)

⭐⭐⭐SPAMMING YOU WITH STARS NYEEEEEOW ⭐⭐⭐

⭐⭐⭐

I wanna learn more about your Kapangpangan fic! I need crumbs please I'm begging KAJHSDKJAS Anything you wanna share! (Also love love love your work and your support! Literally you are so kind HNNGGG)

Hehe thank you Nelly! I'm actually struggling with part 2 right now so this will help me sort my thoughts out! I'll do 9 facts for each star 😘

Where the Spirit Meets the Bones was partly inspired by the Little Mermaid. I was surprised I haven't seen a Little Mermaid AU for Namor, so I decided to write one! I debated on making her a Sirena because I did see a few Sirena/Mermaid fics in the tag, but after doing some research, I decided to settle on Sirena because I felt that a Sirena was right for her.

The title and premise of the fic is inspired by the song ivy by Taylor Swift, my favorite song from my favorite album by her (Evermore is her best work and completely underrated, imo). The entire song screamed Namor to me and if you look closely at the lyrics, it'll give many hints to more of the reader's backstory. 👀👀

Speaking of the reader's backstory, it's been hinted at throughout the first part, but she was human before she became a Sirena. How she became a Sirena and why the ocean spared her life will be revealed in part 2! She may seem sweet in part 1, but she has just as many skeletons in the closet and darkness like Namor. She's just better at hiding it.

Originally I was going to have Namor and our Sirena meet when she rescues him at sea because she was intrigued by the wings on his ankles and pointed ears. But I scrapped that idea because I wanted more of a slow burn and build up before that meeting. That’s when I got the idea of her finding Namor visiting his mother on the seashore and leaving behind the jasmine flowers as an offering.

Although he did not know what our Sirena looked like when she rescued him, Namor painted jasmine flowers in his cavern to mark that that was the first time he was nearly discovered by humans in a foreign land, but was saved by her.

His original intentions were to learn more about her to see if she was a princess or goddess that he could have diplomatic ties with, so he restored her necklace with vibranium and offered two Talokanil pearls as a possible token of diplomacy and courtship. But all that changed when he and the Sirena meet face-to-face for the first time. It was almost love at first sight, but it was definitely love at first sound. 

I went back and forth on having it be a standalone, but then I decided to make it a duet. I have several ideas for part 2 that I don’t want to spoil too much, and depending how long it is, I might make it 3 parts if people are still interested  👀 It would take place over the course of the 20th century and lead up to modern day 

Part 2 will go more in-depth about their relationship, and I may or may not be planning on incorporating the bakunawa as a metaphor for their relationship since I already did a lot of emphasis on them meeting under a bright moon 

Ultimately I made the reader a Sirena Kapampangan because while I do love reading Filipino!reader fics, I felt a little isolated because I don’t understand a lot of Tagalog. My parents only spoke Kapampangan at home (I can speak a little bit (but understand Kapampangan fluently), my mom made me speak English when she spoke to me in Kapampangan so I wouldn’t struggle with English) so I struggle with grammar sometimes and don’t really know which is my first language. I did pick up a little bit of Tagalog from watching TFC and most of my Filipino-American friends are Tagalog. We would do Taglish with each other but I’d get my Kapampangan mixed up with Tagalog words and get frustrated with myself for not knowing Tagalog, but also feel incredibly guilty because I’ve heard that back home, Kapampangan is slowly dying out and I want to preserve it. I can’t read or write Kapampangan and some of the Kapampangan terms I used in the fic, I had to double check the translations to make sure I spelled it right. This is getting a little personal but even among my Filipino friends, I always felt like the odd ball and a fraud because we don’t know any other Kapampangans here in the States (and a majority of my immediate family are in Pampanga). So this fic is really personal to me because for once, I feel a bit more included in the Filipino space. The Asian diaspora is real and even my Fil-Am friends feel it too, so we try to learn more about our history. It’s just even in the Asian-American community here in the States, Filipinos are still looked down on by our East Asian cousins that I still struggle with my Southeast Asian and Filipino identity. Doing research for this fic has made me want to learn more about my history, specifically Kapampangan history, which sadly I did not learn much about from my parents because  growing up they did not get a chance to teach us much about it since they were working to provide for my Ate and me. So in a way, this fic is really personal and self-indulgent because this is the kind of fairytale that Little Me would have wanted to read. This fic is a fairytale for my younger self and other Filipino girls, not just Kapampangan, to read. It’s a love story for our younger selves.

[captainsspnanon]

C3E38 reaction

Reaction will be written a bit funky, apologies.  I watched most of it last night and finished it just a bit ago.

I suspected we’d still get the resurrection ritual, and I’m glad we did.  I admit I’ve missed these, and am not adverse to having a few throughout a campaign.  Biggest thing to say for this is I really do like how FCG is turning out.  He was a bit harsh during the ritual, they even used a forceful spell to try to bring Laudna back.  I didn’t doubt Sam’s ability to make a compelling character, but I did underestimate him by considering that the twist of FCG attacking Dancer and being an Aeormaton was the extent of it.

Marisha spoke in the 4SD about how she was looking forwards to playing Laudna a bit different after this experience.  I’m looking forwards to see how she chooses to incorporate this into the RP.  Laudna still felt basically the same to me this time around, but her changing of the Form of Dread I’m sure will lead to more growth and RP.  (I both am and am not surprised that Delilah isn’t fully gone.  I’d have been surprised if she was considering how much Marisha probably tied into it for the backstory and expected RP.  Again, looking forwards to see how Marisha utilizes this to further Laudna.)

Vex and Percy once again feel completely on point for me, especially Percy this time around.  Matt deserves ALL the props.

YAY SUNTREE MATT

Of COURSE they try to see Gilmore, I shouldn’t have been surprised.  However, let this be a reminder that I fully believe that Travis does NOT hate shopping episodes at all, as Matt is the one to brush it to an offscreen scene with Travis then trying to lead it into RP.  He doesn’t like the shopping involving outfits and stuff, sure, but shopping involving magic shit?  He’s all over it and he’s been at least throughout C2 as well.  I don’t have enough memory of C1 to see if he enjoyed it after the group.... rebalanced, so to speak.

No comments about Pate the Imp except I am more than slightly disturbed, and that the same time it’s utterly perfect.

FCG and the Changebringer, talk about something I never would have called and yet is EXACTLY what the character needed.  I wonder if Sam and Matt had discussed having FCG slowly come into faith as a part of the pre-build, or if this was just an offering that Matt made that Sam took up with both hands. Truly an absolutely beautiful scene, even with FCG/Sam struggling to figure out how to do an offering without giving up their necessary materials.  I wonder if FCG will start collecting small things for offerings now?

LOL OF COURSE IMOGEN HAS A DREAM

I called Eshteross as soon as Matt described a more masculine warrior, and while I was 98% sure he was dead, confirmation to 100% was as soon as Imogen cast Sending and there was no response.  I’m sure the rest of the cast knew it as well, but they did a fantastic job of not metagaming it and RPing like maybe he was asleep.

Lovely slow build of the reveal of the battle and result, very much appreciated.  I’m sad that he’s dead, but it adds to the more deadly campaign that they were going into for C3 and also adds a bit of uncertainty with no longer having a guide.  On the other hand, they’ve got a skyship now.

Random thoughts:

Sam failing at Sending was wonderful wonderful justice for how frequently he teased Laura over it.  The perfect revenge.

During part of the aftermath of the resurrection ritual and Laudna coming back to life, I suddenly had the thought that maybe of the gods of the two forgotten ones was the original god of death before the Raven Queen ascended.  I’m sure this is not an original idea, but I don’t recall reading it before, so we’ll see.

Percy, Vex, and Pike having invisible guards and the whole army out front in case it was Delilah was PERFECT.

Fearne trying to steal Pike’s emblem was ALSO perfect but I’m also very relieved that she didn’t actually steal it.  It would have been incredibly funny, but I’d also feel bad for Pike.

[benafee]

After all of your meticulous planning - is there anything you've started to set up and then changed your mind about, or realized after the fact that you wanted to include but it was too late?

"Meticulous planning" might be a bit overgenerous, Finn. 

Under the cut because you gave me the opportunity for self-criticism so this got long. 

As is probably evident, "The Unvarnished Truth" and "Whatever way you have to love" have both been stalled because of exactly this. In terms of “The Unvarnished Truth” I realized that while there were a lot of forthcoming scenes and plot points that I was excited about, the actual sequencing of the plot I’d developed left a lot to be desired. My attempts to correct these issues revealed that it wasn’t just an issue with the story as it progressed but also an issue with the story as a whole - tone, writing style, relationships, plot limitations. As a result I’m basically going to have to rewrite the story. I kind of want to use this as an opportunity to challenge myself to write a story of a more respectable length. We’ll see how that goes. In terms of “whatever way you have to love” I pushed out the first two chapters faster than I usually would because it was supposed to be a holiday present (sorry Penzy). As a result, I wish I’d held back a bit on David’s internal monologue in chapter 2 and instead slowly revealed those reflections over the course of the story. Also, though the story was always post-canon canon-compliant, I’ve only recently realized the plot potential of revealing the full backstory of how my characterization of Jack and David connect to the original musical characters so that was a bit of a “duh” moment I had. 

You can see why I quibbled with meticulous now, huh? 

As far as “Remaking the world,” I think the 17k I recently added to earlier chapters shows that there were more than I few things I wanted to change. Because it was my first fic and I didn’t have a lot of faith in my storytelling, I did quickly rush through David’s first sixteen years on earth. If I did it again, I might have spent more time establishing David’s connection to his family and community, his experiences in school, and his past friendships. I’ve already developed a work-around for this, so it’s not the end of the world. Also for all that this story revolves around languages and words, I really don’t engage in the differences between Polish, English, Russian, and Yiddish in terms of fundamental structure and cultural background aside from the occasional joke and idiom? This is absolute laziness on my part, and there’s lots of really cool things I could have incorporated into the story to reflect this pretty fundamental part of David’s character but oh well. This is a hobby, I keep having to remind myself. Other than all that, there are still a lot of elements (particularly in terms of the social/political situation of the time) that I know I’ve been clumsy about. In all honesty - and sorry to all the folks that have praised me for “historical accuracy” - the social and political realities of this fic are of a very modern sensibility. The historical details I’ve added are more to establish ambiance and setting. So it’s very much not an accurate reflection of the period but... I’d argue that writing the story in this manner is the only way to keep it accurate to the original musical. I saw Katherine without a chaperone and decided anything goes. In any case, there are still a lot of elements that I could have handled differently and probably better. Also I did not mean to make it so long, but that probably goes without saying. 

[bornspellcaster]

on the topic of the wittebabies (as usual), after watching 16th century witch shit on netflix I learned that…my boy would have gone through much worse than I thought. WELL OKAY in hindsight I know he’d be burned and not much is worse than that, but there’s even more to it in some cases.

It was believed that witches carried ‘the mark of the devil.’ This could be anything, a birthmark, a mole…you can imagine the unfortunate elderly would have no shot when it comes to age spots. But they’d be stripped down and…I do mean stripped down until it was found. Even their hair would be cut off if necessary to find it.

Interrogation included all sorts of torture methods. There was this one case I saw with something called ‘wrenching’, where ropes were tied against a woman’s head and tightly pulled, slowly increasing the pressure and chancing crushing her skull.

Then of course there were the trials themselves, which sometimes didn’t happen for a while and in the meantime the accused were thrown in the dungeon, many dying from their injuries or just rotting away before the trial. And then the tests to see if they were witches. Witches ‘rejected God’s baptism’, so the accused would be thrown into a cold river. If they sank, they…(were dead) and also innocent, and if they floated, they were a witch. So, add attempted drowning.

The worst thing was obviously all these people were innocent, but there were no boundaries for anyone, and no one was safe. Elderly, woman, children… And anything could get you this fate. All someone really had to do was not like you and spread a convincing enough rumour. EVEN KIDS COULD MAKE THAT HAPPEN! Kids testimonies were not often accepted in trial, but were for witch trials for some reason. There was this one little girl that got her entire family killed by saying her Mom and brothers were witches. Her Mom cursed her out to Satan as she was carried off and it’s implied the girl was likely abused and she did it as an escape. BUT THIS NINE YEAR OLD GOT HER FAMILY KILLED.

I’m going on a tangent but yeah basically there’s even more awful things than I realized happened and I’ll probably be incorporating more into Philip’s backstory. I definitely want to imply the devil’s mark thing for him happening. Then he loses his brother and gets cursed. Man I’d become a villain too.

[ocean-stuck]

A very long ??? post (+ some Arthur stuff)

Thinking ‘bout the scant information we have on ???, and what that might tell us about what it is plotwise and thematically.

So. ??? has exactly 3 appearances in the entire series. The Ghost flashback, the opening of Freaking Out, and...

well, you know.

These are all pretty brief, and they don’t really give any insight into its motivation (if it’s even sapient enough to have one), but its mechanics are readily apparent and there is the faintest scrap of backstory implied in Future, more on that later.

For now, let’s talk possession.

??? seems to gravitate toward the emotionally distressed. Envy may or may not be a preferred one, given Arthur’s mental state in the Ghost flashback and the association of green with envy (with the release of nearly every video, I’d spot at least a few not-very-sharp-eyed casuals who dismissed the green of Arthur’s possession as symbolic and failed to realize ??? existed at all; Future is the only one where this hasn’t happened, since at this point it’s literally impossible to miss). More notably, it also appears drawn to interpersonal distress, to people whose relationships are deteriorating. Both of its (sapient) targets, Arthur and Mystery, are at points of social turmoil when it enters them, and both, for varying reasons, opted to bottle their issues rather than discuss them.

(Also, this bat no one cares about. Presumably non-sapient stuff is easier by nature. I mean, it commands that hand just fine.)

This also speaks to how ??? manages to overwhelm Mystery so easily, compared to Arthur who lasted long enough for Mystery to forcibly excise it and was aware throughout, despite the former being an ancient and powerful nine-tailed kitsune and the latter a normal human. Arthur is lonely from being the third wheel and not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings by talking about it. Mystery is bleeding out, has just watched his ex-partner possibly die (or so he believes) at the hands of his ward, who herself has just been seriously injured by said ex, and in trying and failing to prevent that same nightmare scenario has left the guys unattended, who last he saw one was trying to murder the other. Like not to invalidate Arthur but there’s a bit of a gap in severity here.

(image by artsy)

That still leaves some questions, though. How did it reach Mystery from such a long distance? Last we saw it, it was loitering outside the cavern. It could’ve followed Shiro, if not for the fact that it’d’ve had to keep pace with a high speed car chase while moving entirely on foot (hand?). Why is it still attached to the hand at all when it could surely find some random animal with less awkward means of locomotion? What was it doing at the cavern in the first place?

I’ve seen people speculate that remaining in the arm lets it remain connected to Arthur via his prosthesis, and while there’s definitely something fucky about that thing this seems strange to me as an explanation. The prosthesis consistently sparks yellow, Arthur’s own color, rather than green, with the only exception being while in direct contact with Lewis (pink). Speaking of, the prosthesis seems drawn to Lewis when active, which would be odd if ??? was trying to do harm through it since...what could it possibly do to a near-invulnerable ghost with power over fire and lifelike illusions using the body of a relatively fit but still normal human?

It could be that Mystery sealed it in the arm to prevent it from doing further harm, and this binding slipped as he became physically and emotionally vulnerable, while also giving ??? a magical line to Mystery for it to exploit. It’d answer the distance question as well.

I think there’s more, though.

I’ll save myself a paragraph or two and just plug this edit of a certain Future shot for the nth time.

Each stream seems to correspond to some form of harm done to a person significant to Mystery. We know or can intuit half of them (though this doesn’t seem to be the first time Vivi/Mushi or Shiro have been seriously harmed); the others, while not explained, match the rest of the cast’s secondary colors (which itself raises questions)...except green, which isn’t linked to any of the major characters except ???.

Has there been some deeper history between ??? and Mystery (haha rhyme) that we haven’t been let on until now?

Loved ones appear to be connected in essence as well as emotionally, at least when supernatural beings are involved. This essence can be drawn on and tracked.

Shiro uses this to locate people, though still has to physically travel in order to reach them. But ??? is a different sort of entity; it may be that it has more direct access to Mystery’s soul as an incorporeal being.

After all, one can affect someone at a distance with their essence on hand.

(??? being familiar with Mystery would also recontextualize this little surprised reaction it has to Shiro; it knows who she is, rather than just being wary of her as a stronger entity.)

This possibly points to a deliberateness to its actions in the Ghost flashback, to what happened being more than happenstance. But there’s still too little information to discern why, if so. Revenge for something? Power? Possessiveness? Was possessing Mystery the endgame the whole time? If so...now what? Why did it still linger around the cavern after the fact when everyone except Lewis had gtfo’d?

There’s not really anything to go on vis a vis motivations, so I’m not really gonna pursue this line further.

Some Funky Fresh Thematic Stuff

If Ghost can be said to be a cautionary tale about failing to communicate one’s emotional needs, ??? could be thought of as the interpersonal havoc that results from letting such issues stew too long.

Arthur keeps quiet about his loneliness and ends up vulnerable to ???. Mystery intervenes to prevent ??? from doing further harm, but by then the damage is done. What was once a typical relationship hurdle has become a full-blown traumatic event that creates a rift between the gang, particularly between Arthur and Mystery and between everyone and Lewis.

Furthermore, sealing ??? doesn’t stop things from collapsing, only prolongs it. Lewis is hurt and pissed and literally comes back with a vengeance. Shiro, one of Mystery’s failed pacts, is drawn into it trying to force him into whatever relationship they used to have. The mistakes of the past catch up, and Mystery’s loved ones nearly eat each other alive.

And at the end of it...??? is back.

I think if the gang wants to make it out of this one, it’ll take them confronting their pains and the ways they’ve failed each other in order to reconcile. By extension, I think saving Mystery is gonna be an everyone deal (including Shiro, who seems to be slowly waking up to her mistake when Vivi vibe checks her), though I think one in particular is likely to shine.

Arthur, the least assuming one of the main cast, the last person to have fallen under ???’s spell, who inadvertently enabled the plot through his insecurity, and also the one who’s bent backwards the hardest trying to fix what’s been broken since.

It’s like...poetic or something.

Also, I want an excuse for Arthur to do electric magic.

[appleflavoredkitkats]

/dsmp

Any Las Nevadas and/or Fundy thoughts for the deprived?

good question! so far, i think i've said most of what i've wanted about fundy in a previous post (which idk where it is ngl, just search it up) but i really, really hope las nevadas incorporates some horror elements into its storytelling.

there's so much potential— i theorize schlatt may actually be trapped in there, because quackity specifically asked their match to be done at las nevadas. the fact that we haven't heard from him since is… pretty creepy. like, sure, maybe quackity just lost, but even if quackity loses, would he dedicate so much time towards reviving schlatt? nah, i don't think so.

on the other hand, we got the other members of las nevadas. and honestly, i feel like fundy, foolish, purpled, and maybe tubbo might have an arc the kind of depends on each other. it has to— similar motivations, just different ways of portraying it. it would be odd if they were separated… like, it feels like these characters is another character in on itself. i would really enjoy a joint kind of alliance between these characters, maybe for las nevadas or secretly against it, because i really like the dynamic! i'm a huge fan of foolish, fundy, and purpled in particular because they're kind of a unique trio we never see much of. wished there were more content of them.

for fundy… lord have mercy fundy, spare us some lore. i really want him to explore more lore around sally and give us more backstory because to me, i genuinely think that there needs to be more! yes, we saw wilbur and fundy bond during l'manberg, but i want more backstory to really reinforce their relationship. add more to the gravity of their presently broken relationship. i just think that the story focused more on the hurt but never much of simple bonding sessions, except for like, a select few l'manberg streams. like, just give me more, you know?

i do think wilbur and fundy's meetup is gonna be more grey, to be fair. i'd like to think wilbur might commend fundy for choosing a side, especially a faction he heavily enjoys messing with. but then, as much as i think fundy would be pleased in the beginning, i think he would slowly be bitter because he would want wilbur to appreciate fundy for who he is, and not just his accomplishments, so he'd definitely bite back impulsively. i definitely think wilbur might be offended by that, because he does care about fundy! it's just difficult to reverse the past pains inflicted. maybe it parallels the first “disowning” scene and these two just blow up from a misunderstanding. i think they'd just be pulled apart by quackity, ngl, but i would like to see them slowly become competitors with one another. it's a good motivation for fundy to be loyal to las nevadas

also, ngl, i have a small suspicion fundy's dreams were not random— lowkey feel like schlatt or quackity is behind them, who knows

[holderofthebowl]

Chapter Ten: If You Had But Asked

- Chapter One: In the Service of the Queen - Chapter Two: Peace Offerings - Chapter Three: Salve for the Soul - Chapter Four: Kings Guard - Chapter Five: Not a Door, but a Window - Chapter Six: Typical Æsir Arrogance - Chapter Seven: For Odin’s Sons Are We - Chapter Eight: A Demonstration - Chapter Nine: What the Gods have Joined, Let None Put Asunder -

Summary: The start of a multi chapter origin story for Loki x Sigyn in the Marvel Movie Verse which will incorporate both mythological elements and elements from her comic backstory. This takes place between the Avengers and Thor 2 during his imprisonment.

Author: holderofthebowl

Which Tom/Character: Loki

Authors Note: Well it’s been almost 5 years... hahaha sorry about deserting you all, in the middle of the climax and everything. Med school and then the first few years of being a real grownup with a big kid job, moving back to the states and 1000 other things in life and such. Anyhow, if you are new to this fic start at chapter 1 or you are gonna be real confused. Sorry if I’m a little rusty, but an update 5 years later is better than nothing :) Anyhow ‘So I made you some content, daddy made you your favorite open wide’ I hope you enjoy. 

Rating: PG, A slow burn but we’re finally there. A whole kiss in this chapter and everything. 

Sigyn’s slippers clicked with purpose as she marched down the marble steps toward the dungeon. She angrily whipped both her cheeks with her palms. Her tears had changed from mortified embarrassment to red hot anger. The long train of her heavily embroidered and laced wedding dress draped along the steps behind her. 

She turned the corner toward Loki’s cell. The scene there did not surprise her. Four Crimson Hawks were upon him. Two of them pointed their weapons at her dark haired bride groom’s back. The other two, were pinning him to the bed, one was clamping manacles to his wrists, the other leaned an elbow across the back of his neck, holding him in a kneeling position with the side of his face to the mattress. No doubt trying to pull from him the location of their missing comrade.

“Where is he?” Sigyn spat at her now husband, with a level of venom that startled Odin’s soldiers slightly from their own interrogation, as they all turned to meet her gaze. 

Loki beamed at her, speaking as though there weren't soldiers leaning on his neck. “Sigyn, what a fine ceremony that was, beautiful, I especially loved the floral arrangements. So very sorry I wasn’t able to stay till the end. By any chance, would you be willing to tell me how it went?” 

Sigyn ignored his question. “Where is he Loki. Did you kill him? Is he dead?” She moved closer to the force field in front of her, her hands clenched at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. 

Loki chuckled “ I mean, one can only hope.” he said shrugging, The man above Loki snarled and increased the pressure on Loki’s neck causing him to wince. Sigyn pursed her lips before addressing the Odin’s men. 

“I demand to speak to my husband. Alone! Asgardian law gives me that right!”  Everyone in the cell froze. None had been there for the conclusion of the ceremony and for a single moment, the entire cell of men was shocked, including Loki. It was he that cut through the silence. A deep full laugh that reverberated down the stone hall, only slightly muffled with half his face pressed into his linen sheets.

Slowly the soldiers withdrew, undoing the manacles, letting Loki push himself into a standing position. He dusted himself off with dramatic flare, his face beaming. The Hawks lowered the barrier allowing Sigyn to enter. They shot her looks as if she had grown a second head, too shocked to be upset about the betrayal of their brother in arms. She walked past them trying not to notice. She doubted this would be the end of looks and side glances she’d receive, likely for the rest of her days on Asgard. 

Loki approached her arms out, as though he thought to embrace her. The sound of the slap reverberated across the cell. Loki took a step back, and rubbed his cheek, but his smile didn’t dissipate. “Where is Theoric?” Sigyn demanded crossing her arms. 

Loki let a noise of irritation slip from between his lips and rolled his eyes. He threw a hand up in a gesture of dismissal. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is...”

“It’s important to me Loki.” she cut him off. Loki ignored her plea 

“And Odin really let the marriage stand? Ha! I can’t believe it worked. I can just imagine the row that caused. Was my brother there? I didn’t see him in the crowd beforehand.” Sygin watched him start to pace, he was having a difficult time keeping the energy of a successful scheme contained. 

Her shoulders slumped slightly and she sighed. This was not working. She was going to have to find a different tactic. Why she thought insisting Loki do anything directly would work in the first place was beyond her. Threats and orders were not in the prince’s nature to obey. She thought a moment. “Well, I guess there is one benefit to him being dead..”

This comment stopped Loki cold, and he turned to her. “What benefit?” he asked. Good, he was confused. He hadn’t expected that. He didn’t like being confused. 

“I mean at least I won’t have to tell him.” she said shaking her head. Loki lifted a single sculpted black eyebrow. “You know, I won’t have to tell him how you tricked him into missing his own wedding day. How it caused a huge scene, humiliating him in front of the All Father and the entire court of the Æsir. And then, how in front of his family, and his friends, at his own wedding, I married that man instead.” She paused for effect, allowing Loki to contemplate that a moment. “You’re right, I’d rather not have to break that news to him. Can you even imagine how humiliating that will be?”

Loki was still for a moment, and then the corner of his mouth began to drift upward. “Oh, no my dear. You are right, that’s much better.” He turned and strode away to her toward the corner of the cell, addressing the Crimson Hawks who had been standing back, eavesdropping no doubt. “Tell Heimdall to cast his eye toward Svartalfheim. He should find your man there. If he didn’t die falling through the portal, or succumb to something on the planet.” Loki chuckled to himself. The guards left to find their fallen comrade. And they were left alone.

“Thank you” said Sigyn, some of the tightness dissipating from her chest. 

“Are you happy now?’ Loki asked.

Sigyn narrowed her eyes and stepped towards him “Am I happy now?” she parroted back her hand balling back into a fist. All her previous rage flooding to the forefront. Loki instinctually took a step back, his eyes flicking toward the hand that had slapped him with earlier. “You humiliated me, that was mortifying. That was possibly the worst thing anyone has ever done to me.”

Loki face contorted suddenly into confusion. “But, you said yes? You still married me?” 

“Of course I married you. If you had just spoken to me, but once, anytime during the months we’d spent together, before I ended up in front of the All Father. If you had given me any indication that...” the words were getting stuck in her throat now, fresh tears on her cheeks.  “If you had said anything, anything at all about how you fel...” she cleared her throat to choke back a sob. “But no, talking to me like a peer, a person would have been too difficult. Instead you come up with some grand scheme to get your way. Consequences to others be damned. You arrogant emotionally stunted child!”

“You wouldn’t have married him. If I had but asked you not to?” his voice was quiet. An innocent honesty to it as he searched her face, so profoundly uncharacteristic and sincere. 

Sigyn felt the angry leave her body, she let it go with a breath. “I wouldn't have married him.” her reply was simple. 

It was all she needed to say. He closed the distance between then so quickly Sigyn barely noticed and then his lips were on hers. He pulled her in tightly, arms warping around her back. She leaned into him, her hands finding his dark hair and kissed him back, just as hard.   

[shark-el]

Onion soup:

A firend of mine asked me for my Onion soup recipe. I was just gana send it to her plain simple and boring. But then I thought of a better way to waist my time that I should probably be spending doing work or researching for projects and thing. But I decided this was a lot more fun!

My idea was to be one of those annoying food blogs that tell their whole life story in an absolutely overly exaggerated fashion! One to make fun of blogs that do this, and tow because it's fun and why the hell not?!

So the idea for this started back when I was first starting out cooking and every single blog I found had a 1000 word essay about the origin of sed food. I found it extremely irritating because why do I did to know that this person's great uncle's best friends grandma's dog died in a fire in order to make this recipe?! So I would scroll down all the way to get to the actual recipe but the story just kept on going! Like about how her great great great grandfather's colleague from work had spills tea on his novel, a passion project that he had worked so hard for. I still had no idea how this was relevant at all to the spring rolls I was planning on making? And after an eternity of scrolling fingers tired and eyes full of tears I finally got to the recipe.

You'd think after all that back story and the amount I had learned about the person writing this like the fact that her great grandmother's favorite color was tangerine but specifically tangerine, and not orange because her childhood best friend had lent her a sweater that exact color and the next day she had never returned. That sweater has become a family heirloom that has been passed down ever since. Or the fact that she had avocado toast on Tuesday three years ago on may 18th at exactly 3:26 pm. Needless to say I knew a lot about this person and their family tree. It really helped me get the care and feeling I needed for my spring rolls. So that is why I'm going to be overly pretentious and do the same thing to you so have fun.

I was born at a very young age, in the evening on a hot August day. I don't remember much from this time in my life but my parents told me that I was miserable until I could do things for myself. After that I was a force to be reckoned with, nothing could stop me! There was one time when I was about 6 months old my parents had left me on the table thinking I couldn't get far, keeping an eye on me every once in a while but not paying much attention. The second I was put down I saw something gleaming in the corner of my eye, it was a delicious looking chocolate brownie. Nothing could stop me I was going to get that brownie no matter what! so I slowly started scooching my tiny baby body to the delicious looking dessert moving as fast as my little arms could take me. It had been 10 minutes of struggling from one end of the table to the other. I had finally made it! I was so close my hand was mere centimeters away from the prize. It was gonna be mine all mine! But then suddenly out of nowhere my dad's arms came and picked me up taking me away from my long awaited dessert. needless to say I was furious but I still never got that specific brownie (I've had other brownies don't get me wrong, it's just I never had that one. And at this point I don't think I'd want to since it's several years past it's expansion date).

That was my first experience with real food which might have been a core memory if I actually remembered it. Sadly this happened before i could remember it, but i'd like to think that it was the beginning of my love for food.

Over the years I started cooking it started off as learning how to make eggs and mac and cheese but then over the years I started to make more complex dishes, some worked and some didn't. Now I know that most people would rather be informed about the times that somebody failed rather than the time someone succeeded, they stand out more I guess and if you're actually sitting down to read this then I will reward you with some of my biggest cooking fails.

First off anything that involves baking, for instance there was one time I was going to bake a chocolate cake for a bake sale and well... so what happened was, I learned that I can't follow a recipe for the life of me! You may ask why I'm writing this recipe if I probably won't follow it anyway, but it's more a list of ingredients than a actual recipe. Anyway back to the story so my first mistake was I ended up putting in a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon so normally this would be fine it would have just been a little bit salty, but problem was I had another mistake, I ended up putting in a tablespoon of mint extract instead of a teaspoon of vanilla extract as well, so the resulting cake was less cake tasting and more of the toothpaste variety. ( For some reason my brother loved it. He took about a handfuls. I would not recommend it with a glass of orange juice).

Another baking story, I was trying to make chicken pot pie, and filling itself is cooking. I can do that, throwing things in a pot, easy! It works! But do not, I repeat do not! leave me alone with a pie crust. my dad and I frantically tried to roll out said pie crust and not rip it, we were flailing around confused as to how dough worked. It took us about half an hour to roll out the pie crust so it would rip adds little as possible. After that day we came to a conclusion never to leave us with the job of baking ever again!

The next cooking fail I have is finally about the soup recipe. You see the first time I tried making onion soup it didn't go very well... Let me explain what happened. I was really in the mood for a nice warm onion soup and I figured you just throw some onions in a pot with some white wine and water and let it sit. Problem was we didn't have any wine, and I was too young to go to the grocery store to buy some, so instead I decided to use grape juice. Never but I mean never cook an absurd amount of grape juice, the heated aroma smelt excruciatingly unappetizing and I would not recommend it on anyone. So the resulting soup was watered down hot grape juice and stir-fried onions. needless to say it did not taste good and smelled even worse. I told myself that would be the last time I'd ever make onion soup! Years have past and and I was really in the mood for onion soup again even after that disaster, so I decided to try once again. this time with no grape juice! I looked through multiple recipes some had more ingredients than others and ended up combining a lot of them together to make my own onion soup recipe the one you see before you. And though I was scared that I'd mess it up I decided that I just really wanted some onion soup so I made it and it turned out delicious. Look at that a happy ending isn't that just great?!

I'd be surprised if you actually read through all of this if you did a good job,if you didn't then you're probably not going to read this sentence but I don't blame you it's all good who actually reads these backstories to recipes anyway?

Anyway I think I've mumbled on long enough here is the actual recipe for this soup:

5-6 onions

7-8 cups of chicken/ onion stock ( cold be parve from show mixes)

3 cloves of garlic (probably more)

1/4 cups of soy sauce

1/3 cups of white wine (optional)

4 tablespoons of oil (2-3 at the beginning and then 1-2 in middle of caramelization)

4 tablespoons of flower

1 teaspoon sugar (helps with caramelization)

Salt (to taste)

Pepper ( to taste but approx 1/8-1/4 of a teaspoon)

Instructions:

1) caramelize onions:

On medium heat Cook the onions, stirring often, until they have softened, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Increase the heat to medium high. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil (or butter depending on) and cook, stirring often, until the onions start to brown, about 15 more minutes.

Then sprinkle with sugar (to help with the caramelization) and 1 teaspoon of salt and continue to cook until the onions are well browned, about 10 to 15 more minutes.

Add garlic

2) Add Flour until mixed and quickly ( so it doesn't burn) add Add wine and soy sauce and once mixed well and incorporated

3)Add stock slowly, then add bay leaves and black pepper and salt (if needed, you can always add it later).

Bring to a summer and leve on low heat for 30 mins.

And now you officially scrolled too far, this is the point in a recipe blog where they add a bunch of links to all the recipes made by their friends families and anything else that comes to mind. Most people looking for the recipe would scroll all the way to the end trying to find it in this mess of words and unnecessary backstory told in an excruciatingly painful amount of detail. Then realize they've scrolled too far, sigh and start scrolling up again, this time a little slower.

It normally also has recommendations of foods that would go well with it, in the case of this onion soup I would recommend eating it with some garlic bread or grilled cheese sandwiches, basically all comfort foods that would spark Joy anytime you eat them.

If you're looking for aesthetic you can try making a bread bowl, cover it with cheese and broil it, which would have a whole other recipe linked in somewhere, with more details about how their great uncle's best firends associate made this same recipe for the pince of some country. But as I mentioned beforehand, I for one am not a baker and bread is most definitely a baking job. Not only is bread one of the more complex foods to bake, even if you put every ingredient precisely as the recipe mentions them, it still won't turn out right! Because ether the atmospheric pressure has changed very slightly, or the wind isn't blowing in the correct direction. Bread making is hard and I have a lot of respect for people who can do it correctly.

If you've read through all of this, damn that's dedication thank you and I applaud thee. I hope you enjoyed, and were amused.

[acflare]

Could you imagine each Black Bull get a potential love interest?

I’m not quite sure what this question is asking, so I’m gonna answer it twice

“Do you think each Black Bull will get a potential love interest?“

I mean, I’d love that, because I’m a sucker for romances n love stories; but I dunno how probable... though we do have love interests for a good chunk of them, so maybe! 😄

“Could you come up with a potential love interest for each Black Bull?“

- Asta -

Noelle Rebecca

I love love Astelle, but thinking only about Asta, I think Rebecca is a really good match for him. She’s incredibly put together and part of a large family (whom she loves)

- Noelle -

Asta

Asta is overflowing with positivity and love and he is not afraid to show it, which would be amazing for Noelle -- yknow, because of her upbringing. Plus, she already likes him!

- Yami -

Charlotte

Yami likes strong women, and she’s strong, beautiful, and also head over heels for him. Charlotte also doesn’t sacrifice compassion for strength (unlike Mereoleona) so is also a good match for Yami’s soft side. 

- Finral -

Vanessaaaaa

Yes, Finesse deserves the nicer of the brothers from being sold off as a political bargaining chip, but for Finral, he has such a good, positive relationship with Vanessa! Finral is more lawful while Vanessa is more chaotic, both of them are full of compassion for their friends, and both of them enjoy being laid back.

- Vanessa -

Finral

Vanessa may have gotten out of the Witch’s Forest due to the strong-willed Yami, but she’s developed such a will of her own, somebody more submissive like Finral is a better match for her now imo. That and despite his submissiveness Finral would not hesitate to voice his opinion if he thought Vanessa was doing something insane. Also all of the reasons listed above.

- Magna -

uhhhhhh

Okay so Magna is full of energy and love so he’d pretty much match well with anybody not mean-spirited or emotionally constipated to the point that they don’t even show their feelings around their S/O

- Luck -

MAGNA!!!

Magna is full of so much love that Luck needs dearly!!! Magna’s also super expressive, which would hopefully rub off on Luck so he can communicate his emotions better to his friendss

- Gauche -

Grey

Grey is low-energy and low self-esteem so Gauche is forced into showing off his best qualities around her -- She makes him supportive -- angry supportive, but we rarely see Gauche having a positive interaction with anybody, so 👌 That and they’re a heckin power couple -- Grey’s ridiculously diverse magic and Gauche’s tactical abilities really go hand in hand.

- Charmy -

Rill?

Okay hear me out: Charmy has proven she will not and cannot be tamed. Yuno would not support her insane antics, but Rill would support her all the way (unless it hurt others, in which we saw he actually has the power to stop her) Disaster couple

- Grey -

Gauche!

Okay, maybe somebody a bit softer would be good, but before her backstory was revealed I was ready to yell at her for all of her squeaking and hiding too, so Maybe Gauche is able to yell through all of her negative self-talk? idk how psychology 🤷‍♀️

- Gordon -

David? Puli?

We gotta get this boy somebody kind and full to the brim with energy -- somebody that’ll drag him along to parties and incorporate him into conversations

- Henry - uhhhhh Asta but older?

Henry hasn’t had very much screentime relative to the others, but his LI would definitely have to be overflowing with positive energy, that’s for sure. A good storyteller would definitely be a plus, somebody who doesn’t need to leave for days to come up with something interesting to tell Henry

 - Zora -

Embla

okay so I’ve actually tried to find somebody for Zora before and failed badly so I mad e  an OC........ Zora’d have a hard time taking to anybody higher ranking than a commoner, and he’d need somebody more in touch with their feelings than him (but maybe not so high energy to make him hide further in his shell?)

- Nero -

Lemiel 😭

Asta sure has the blind optimism down but I feel like Nero needs somebody more intellectual than our darling meathead... though that’s probably the wrong term -- Lemiel seems inventive, but perhaps not all that bright 😂

- Nacht -

?

Well, ‘a good person’ kinda goes without saying, unless we’re lookin for a hateship, lol. There’s lots of mystery around Nacht, but I’m really getting an intentional hypocrisy vibe from him, so we’d need somebody soft, chill, and compassionate to slowly pull him out of his angsty edgepit 

Whether what you were actually asking got answered or not, I’m a shipper so I had a blast writing this 😅

[edda-grenade]

yes hullo i'd like to hear more about feral verse it sounds G R E A T

@lesquatrechevrons replied to your photoset  “when you’ve just awoken from millennia of slumber and trying to figure…”

I am Delighted by this (as per usual, that art, her glee his ‘oh fuck but also cute but also no�� also she’s so Strok.  gold a++++) and I’d love to know more! Take this as a formal and kind request to see how you see All The Evens play out in this universe, plz *chinhands with starry eyes*                   

STRAP IN :DDD

the basic conceit of feral verse is, as mentioned, that a) solas wakes up like 16 years earlier than in canon, and b) saar’s family wasn’t attacked by an arvaarad troop when she was 17-ish, so she’s still with them by the time she’s 21

and then she finds this strange forest sprite of an elf who is capital W Weird but also A MAGE HOLY SHIT YES TEACH ME

(fun fact, solas goes from WHAT NO ABSOLUTELY NOT to ASK ME ANYTHING in the span of like 3 days. saar’s persistent. and, lbr, he’s drowning on his own)

so these are the big inciting incident changes, and everything else basically flows from there. solas gets progressively pulled into saar’s life despite his best efforts, her vashoth community, the dalish clans with whom they trade and on occasion travel with, mercenaries and surface dwarves and the list goes on. and, like the world and its people do in canon during da:i, it gets under his skin

he teaches her magic and she teaches him whatever random shit he for some reason doesn’t know. it’s very much a give and take, with him being knowledgable about magic, spirits, the fade, and her being knowledgable about this new world that he’s only seen through fragmentary memories (yeah, ngl this verse is also fueled in part by me being grossed out by how often solavellan gets written into a creepy teacher/student dynamic all like, ohhh hahren, ohh da’len BUT I DIGRESS)

far more importantly, saar keeps a running list in her head, ‘reasons solas is most likely not an elf but a sprit/elf hybrid, demon/elf hybrid, some kind of abyssal creature taken physical form, abyssal creature Forced into physical form, escaped blood magic experiment, etc.’ to the point where when she eventually Does find out who & what he really is it’s almost a letdown?

solas: i am fen’harel, ancient not-god of rebellionsaar: fuck, really? my bet was on escaped tevene blood magic experiment, now i owe my mom a new knifesolas: …………excuse me, what

there’s still a looot of stuff where i’m working out the details of how and when but the trajectory then is that saar eventually finds out basically everything the inq also knows by the end of trespasser, MEANWHILE solas goes through his usual crisis re: His Duty but the point is. the point is. eventually, they end up on the same page: the veil needs to come down—but slowly.

bit by bit they want to let magic bleed back into the world to some day end up in a future that isn’t arlathan restored exactly as it was, but a better version of it, with magic and spirits but without the godkings and the slavery and all the terrible shit solas tried to seal away the first time

that’s the plan, anyway.

and they set out to make that happen, scraping at the veil, finding places where spirits get twisted into demons and, idk, cleansing them or smth, this part is still very vague in my head (though i’m def gonna incorporate that live-action thing with the mask of fen’harel somehow)

and then, one day, they figure out where solas’s fucking focus is. the orb.

EXCEPT they’re not the only ones after it—corypheus gets his hands on it, meanwhile the mage-templar war is happening and it’s all a big fucking mess and they barely manage to track him to the conclave to try and get it back before he does something terrible and we all know how that goes

the conclave goes up in flames, the breach appears, saar wakes up with the anchor in her hand. and then, when cassandra takes her to the temple and they meet varric and cullen and solas, solas introduces himself

and saar is like WAIT WHAT.

and she gets him alone at the first opportunity to be like, why the fuck are we pretending we don’t know each other??

and he admits that he panicked, maybe, a little bit, in the aftermath of the explosion? but the thing is: they’re both mages, neither of them human, which already puts them at a disadvantage. second, cass & co think saar murdered the divine, she’s the one with the mark and solas is the only one who seems to know anything about the mark, if it was known they came here as a unit it’d make them look GUILTY AS ALL HELL

also, like. technically. they are planning to bring the veil down. just not all at once

tl;dr: da:i happens, but saar and solas are in cahoots and have to pretend they didn’t know each other beforehand, cue shenanigans (& PINING, pls, these two fuckers trying to pretend they’re not in love? hilarious)

and like, obviously this set-up changes A Lot of the character dynamics, i’m working on that, but also pls imagine every fucking instance of solas dropping Hints and Clues bc he can’t fucking help himself and meanwhile saar knows and has to maintain pokerface

vivienne: solas has basically no history and i find that just a tad suspicious, don’t you agree?saar, knowing full well why his backstory is paper-thin and wouldn’t hold up to proper scrutiny for a second: UHHHHHHhave you considered maybe he really is just a feral little forest man, they don’t tend to feature prominently in. like. history.solas, later that day: ‘feral little forest man’, REALLYsaar: you ate a raw rabbit once with your bare handssolas: vhenan, we shared that rabbit

[winxngasks]

Winx Club Next-Gen AU: Helia/Tecna’s Kids

Didn’t get a response to the thing I asked on the last post regarding which bios to do next, so I just went with the ones I was feeling like doing today. This is one of the crackships I created(initially solely so I could have some interesting/different ships to work with) to use in this verse, but I could see some potential with this particular one. This is my first time thinking on them as a couple, so some of my ideas(such as how exactly they’d get together) for them might not be that exciting yet but I will make a post when/if I come up with something better. Anyway, here’s the bios:

((This, along with Flora and Timmy’s respective romances in this AU are their own thing, and not merely just a different version of canon or my main next-gen universe, though Helia/Flora and Tecna/Timmy still exist in some way of the pairs being the best of friends. Just thought I’d point that in case anyone was curious on that.))

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- Backstory: Out of all the Winx’s relationships, theirs is probably the most low-key but still special in it’s own way. They knew each other of course from being in the same mutual friend group, but it wasn’t until sometime after they graduated did they become “closer” in a way. With Tecna, Helia’s gentleness was enough to bring out a softer side to the usually stoic nerd, showing her it’s okay to express her emotions, even through simple ways like with him and his art and poetry. And with Helia, he found Tecna to be quite charming in her own way, especially with the moments where she would get really excited and passionate about a new technological project of hers. Their relationship would start off slowly, the two being close friends for the longest time before either one making a move. Eventually Helia would make the first move, and although she’s at first flustered, Tecna would accept the idea of them getting together and soon start developing deeper feelings herself. They are not one of those “in your face” type couples or heavily into the physical side of being in a relationship, but are more so calmer and quiet yet still loving as a couple, believing their relationship is a special and sincere thing to share between themselves and not let anyone else say otherwise. They never really got officially married, but have remained together as partners anyways, even welcoming two children of their own into the world at some point. 

- Their Kids:

* Donatello

. Age: 21

. Magic Title: none

. Physical Description: tall with a toned and slightly muscular build, medium-length dark purple hair, a skin tone similar to his father’s, teal eyes, glasses

. Bio: Oldest child and son of Helia and Tecna, a graduated paladin of Blue Cress who is currently working as a teaching assistant there. He was expected to become a specialist just like his father someday, but the life of a paladin just appealed to him more when he was checking out some recruitment tables one day. He soon became intrigued at the differences between them and the specialists, particularly how the paladins didn’t seem to use as much magical technology like the specialists tend to use, preferring regular combat and weapons. Since joining the paladin ranks, Donnie(as he’s often referred to as) has been working on inventing and incorporating new tech for them to use, working sort of “behind the scenes” in battles to make sure his tech works right. Whenever he does have to fight alongside his fellow paladins, aside from his tech he often utilizes a bo staff, much like his namesake. He’s not too much of a fighter, even though when he does he’s really good at it, but has mostly stayed after graduation to continue with incorporating his tech into their battles, but might also think about becoming a permanent faculty member of being their resident tech master. Donnie tends to be too blunt and brutally honest for his own good, many finding his words harsh but to him there’s no need to sugar-coat things. Rather impulsive and stubborn, when he sets his mind to something it is hard to persuade him to something else. Though he’s mostly tired and annoyed at the world a lot, he’s still inexplicably charming in his own way, and even has a small group of fans who love his inventions and the work he’s done so far.

* Ernest

. Age: 17

. Magic Title: Fairy of Typography

. Physical Description: considerably shorter than his brother but still fairly tall with a more lanky and lean build, short dark magenta hair, a paler skin tone similar to his mother’s, dark blue eyes, a need for glasses like his brother but usually wears contacts

. Bio: Youngest child and son, is a peculiar case of being an example of a male fairy, currently attending Alfea. In contrast to his older brother, Ernie is a lot more more bubbly and expressive, always happy to make friends even if he’s a bit more shy and not as confident when speaking to others. He is careful with his words, always choosing them carefully as to not come across as rude or impolite. Has picked up a bit of an interest in poetry from his father, though he likes anything to do with writing in general, even having a secret little fanfiction account that he’d be absolutely embarrassed if anyone found out about. Likewise, his other favorite forms of art would have to be calligraphy and anything else having to do with visual arts relating to writing, as he finds the different ways people can convey words and messages through how they write them to be quite fascinating. Despite being quite different from him, Ernie loves his older brother and although he doesn’t quite care for his way of speaking, aspires to be just as confident and self-assured as him someday. 

[forestwater87]

hi! can i ask how you go about writing gwen? i’ve rewatched a bunch of her episodes and am still having trouble getting her on paper!

Okay, first you’re going to need to get a time machine and travel back in time to the summer of 2016, just after season 1 ended, when she had like 3 character traits and a couple dozen lines and zero fanfics, then fill her with elements of your own personality and project wildly onto her, slowly falling into deeper and darker despair as canon!Gwen becomes less like your iteration of the character with every season.

At least, that’s what I did, and it worked like gangbusters.

Fine, let’s try a serious answer. Gwen’s interesting because, despite how frequently she appears in the show and how much we love the shit out of her, it wasn’t really until seasons 3-4 that her backstory and less surface-level characteristics started getting filled in. She’s an ever-present enigma in a lot of ways.

So start with what we know for damn sure: 

She doesn’t like working at Camp Campbell.

She’s an anxious, emotional mess. 

She’s lazy when it comes to things she doesn’t care about, but is willing and able to step up when it’s called for.

She enjoys writing fan fiction and has a passion -- if not necessarily a talent -- for smut, drama, romance, violence, and monsterfucking. (Some of these things overlap.)

Her father’s an extremely successful musician, and their relationship is . . . complicated.

She’s beautiful and perfect and in love with David and also my girlfriend. Okay, that’s not true. This is where the projecting comes in, dang it.

Honestly, there’s . . . not a lot of there there. I think that’s why some fans are kind of bored by her, and why others absolutely love the shit out of her. Her personality is rock-solid -- seriously, just write “bored and seemingly uncaring with a heart of gold and a lust for monsters” and you’ve got a very solid Gwen portrayal right there -- but the backstory is virtually nonexistent, and that’s the bits you get to have fun with. 

For example, with all of our facts we have:

She doesn’t like working at Camp Campbell. Okay, but why doesn’t she like working there? Is it just because it’s dilapidated and Campbell is a shithead? Did she ever like working here and got burned out by its overwhelming mediocrity, or was she forced to take this job and hated it from day one? What’s the worst part of it for her: is it working with kids? Is it working with these kids? Is it the outdoors stuff? The lack of resources? That her coworker is an adorable goddamned idiot who doesn’t know how to adult? 

She’s an anxious, emotional mess. Anxiety, parasocial relationships (do those apply when talking about fictional characters and/or monsters?), serious doubt and/or regret about her life choices, a complicated and unclear sexuality . . . there’s a lot going on with Gwen. She is trash, and we love her. Add to it that she’s a psych major, and how little we know about her backstory, and she’s a great opportunity to armchair-psychologist and/or overidentify all over the place. Do you have emotional issues or identities you’d like to project onto someone? Congratulations -- Gwen now has all of those too!

She’s lazy when it comes to things she doesn’t care about, but is willing and able to step up when it’s called for. She’s a lot like Max in this way, which I think is why people are such a fan of their dynamic. She cares very deeply about some things and not at all about others, and it’s fun trying to parse out what will make her give a shit. It seems like high enough stakes will make her step up, but her idea of important is very different from David’s a lot of the time. Hell, for all we know her investment in her job changes on as little as her mood; that’s part of what you get to try and figure out as she takes shape in your writing.

She enjoys writing fan fiction and has a passion -- if not necessarily a talent -- for smut, drama, romance, violence, and monsterfucking. (Some of these things overlap.) Not gonna lie, as a book snob I had the hardest time accepting that my girl loves 50 Shades knockoffs. Her tastes are . . . I don’t wanna say bad, but they do tend to be what is popularly considered the lowest common denominator: reality TV, fashion magazines, bodice-ripping romances, paranormal tween novels. Basically, anything with lots of sex and violence seems to be her jam. It creates a really interesting dichotomy, in that she reads all the time, but isn’t necessarily what we’d call well-read. She’s a nerd, but the “worst” kind: a fangirl, and arguably the most adolescent kind. Yet she has a liberal arts degree, which tends to focus heavily on literary and creative arts, so snobs like me would assume she should know better. Apparently pretentious college English classes didn’t rub off on her all that much. I don’t have much in the way of leading questions for this one, because unless you want to psychoanalyze why she enjoys Prison Teen Mom Wars (as I most definitely do), you just sort of need to be aware of and use the fact that she enjoys high-octane drama, fighting, and kinky sex.

Her father’s an extremely successful musician, and their relationship is . . . complicated. Really, there’s two ways to work with this: either Gwen just has a normal “millennial embarrassed by her boomer dad” relationship, which is relatable to the max but doesn’t have a ton of angst fodder, or she’s dealing with some deep-seated issues about being a show toddler and/or failing to live up to his creative legacy (or whatever other parent-child problems you could imagine). Her mom is a complete nonentity. There’s definitely love between her and at least one parent, and that needs to be incorporated into any sort of discussion about her dad, but I don’t think their problems have been magically solved, which has to potential for lots of interesting scenarios.

She’s beautiful. She doesn’t think she’s beautiful, that’s for sure. One Direction in its early period of completely sucking would have lots of opinions about this, but if you don’t think Gwen is a snack (snacc? I’m very old and out of touch), you’re wrong and also not welcome on this blog.

The fun part, in my opinion, is trying to fill in the blank spaces. If I was starting out my own creation of Gwen, I’d focus first on these points: what they tell us about her, and more importantly what they don’t.

I think the hardest thing about writing Gwen -- at least, what I struggle most with -- is trying to soften her up. I took her “crippling anxiety and regret” and filled it in with all my own angst, and I think a lot of fans do that; it’s one of the great things about her, her potential for angst. But despite crying a lot (more, I believe, than any other character except mayyyybe David), she’s not especially sensitive toward other people. And I think it’s tempting to take our love for her and translate it into her being much more perfect and snuggly than she actually is. It’s an incredibly hard balance to strike, and in my opinion this makes her the hardest character to write besides Max, which makes sense, considering #3 up there.

So my advice for that would be: lean into the bitchiness. Let her be blunt and dismissive; she’s more than that, of course, and I think one of the reasons people have gravitated so much toward gwom-type portrayals is her genuine concern and even affection towards other people, but focusing too hard on her kindness and/or her angst tends to push aside the trash goblin Gwen we all fell in love with.

Let her be a trash goblin. She deserves it.

[apricot-kingdom]

Random Yugioh ideas/headcanons/au’s and basically things I just usually consider when writing them or ideas I had, mostly the Bakura’s and Ishtar’s Names used for yami’s and Hikari’s: Ryou (Hikari), Bakura (Yami Bakura), Thief (Thief King Bakura), Malik (Hikari), Tau (Yami Marik), Yuugi (Hikari), Yami (Yami Yuugi), Atemu (The pharaoh) Under the cut

if twins the Yami’s are the younger twins not the Hikari’s and usually Malik and Tau (Yami Marik) are usually the youngest despite being tallest. Yami isn’t necessarily always Yuugi’s twin, their the same age but Yuugi’s still just older and they found Yami one day either by him just showing up and them taking him in, or him being taken to Grandpa’s shop by someone who assumes the quiet boy is Yuugi

Thief (Thief King Bakura) is a huge family man, he’s ultra friendly, fluffy, happy and everything else. He’ll definitely hug you and befriend you. He’ll call you little brother or sister or just count you as family regardless, and whilst he holds a large section within himself full of hurt, hatred and everything else. And if he lets it out, you’ll definitely need damage control, so never hurt his family. He’ll be after you and you’ll regret even crossing him. He’s kinda short so it’s easy to just look past him, but he will not lose his second family, he will not allow that to happen. He’s absolutely terrifying when he desires to be, it’s hard to believe sometimes but his friends/family know better

Tau (Yami Marik) is a selective mute, it depends on the situation. (Au wise.) But most part its because of childhood trauma thinking his voice is demonic somewhat, but he’ll talk to you, its just more —more exclusive who he’ll talk to, or in another situation its because he wants to try being whole and in a way hearing his own voice, makes him kinda still feel apart of Malik. Either way he’ll only talk to you if he’s comfortable, otherwise he’ll write, ignore or sign to you. When he does speak, his voice is like venom, it’s always deep and somewhat scary/pissed off sounding or he has a smug amused tone he can use

Tau called Malik’s father Daddy, because the man was so formal, he knew it was damn childish. But it sure enough was a good blow to the man who desired to be called nothing less than father by his children and Master by Rishid (Rishid’s too good for him anyway). So Tau goes around calling him Daddy in the most cutesy childlike tone he can muster. He does so out of mere habit even years after killing the guy

Like Tau Yami (Yami Yuugi) is often silent, he’ll talk a lot to Yuugi. More so than anyone, and he’ll definitely speak up if someone needs defending. He’ll fight for the side he regards are right or for friends. However most times he only otherwise speaks to say things he finds absolutely important to do so, or ask an odd question now and again just about life, Bakura (Yami Bakura) can usually stir up an argument though

If Malik and Tau are twins, and both receive the initiation, unlike Malik, Tau gets demonic wings instead of angel ones

Tau has little to no interest in sex -sorry to people who write him purely as something that just really wants to sleep with Ryou or someone. I think he has more important things to him he needs to think about. Like firstly learning to move on from hate and become a whole person, learning to trust, learning basic human touch, he would much rather what people probably call vanilla things, holding his hand as you walk, leaning on him in movies, sleeping beside him in bed (this one is important because sleep is one of the most vulnerable states a person has and your trusting him), just trusting him, giving the benefit of the doubt, it confuses him but he just adores it. Surprisingly to most, these days when there’s no giant revenge scheme going on he actually really really enjoys the mundane things of life and finally receiving the love and care no one offered him in the first place

Tau changes his name a lot, he’s often concerns himself with being Malik, he does not  want to be Malik. Not any more. He’ll let you know when he changes it, sometimes the name can last nothing more then that day, other times it can last months. There’s still one he usually circles back to regardless of all this and most times if others know he’s chosen a name he wants for a while they are more than willing to help him with getting it legally changed regardless of  the amount of times they do it

Bakura/Thief have a motherly tendency/urge, Ryou is pretty caring in the sense he can play nurse, but Bakura/Thief have a strong protect my children type thing. They’ll make sure your fed, shower, do your teeth, get some sleep (they were bad at first because they forgot how much sleep someone should get), but all those basic things

Art wise: Ryou: He’s better at writing stories, and draws a chibi like thing now and again Bakura: He draws stick figures, and can’t draw well at all. He gets paint everywhere humanly possible but loves it and is slowly improving Thief: He does either complex Egyptian stuff or finger painting. No in between Malik: Prefers to take photos of other things Tau: He’s basically a professional, mostly avoids too much realism and goes more Manga style. It started as an anger management activity but he found he actually quite enjoyed it and it allowed him to express himself better

Bakura wears hearing aid’s (Au) I don’t really have a reason for why. I just started writing him with bad hearing and I incorporate into their backstory, so Ryou/Bakura’s Mum was completely deaf and thus didn’t hear the horn or any warnings and died in a car accident with Amane. Bakura’s not deaf completely but he does need hearing aids for the rest of his life and he can struggle hearing things too softly spoken or farther away sometimes

Malik is actually very camera shy. He loves taking photos of life to capture everything he was missing out on in childhood on film to keep forever. Except he hates to be in photos himself, he’ll avoid it if humanly possible. I think so because he always hid behind everyone to the very end of his arc, behind each of his minions and then just in the back of others minds, behind his brother and his Yami, stood behind the group going to the last duel, you know? (I mean he was trying to blend in the background during Rishid’s duel but I also don’t think despite his fashion he’s actually a very showy person, he enjoys being dramatic and such but can get put off by too large of crowds. I think this is slightly related to just his upbringing, he was brought up with just his family. So whilst he has a powerful personality, so many people can still be a concern to him. He just tries to not let it get in his way too much if plausible)

Bakura and Malik rely on each other for comfort more than anything just finally having someone there by their sides who has a great pain, something no one will probably ever fully understand. And they can talk about it the other will listen without hesitation, but they also understand you don’t always have to say something

Malik isn’t keen on horror, he’s low key traumatised from flashes of his fathers murder and his back, he respects others like it and can put up to it til a point and jokes about similar things but otherwise he’d prefer not to watch it if possible

Malik and Tau prefer cartoons over realism, it’s easier to understand and just more comforting, even if people comment their watching things way too young for them. F*** those people, they can watch what ever they want

Meat actually makes Malik and Tau sick from the lack of it in their diet so they don’t eat it purely on that basis and that’s how they grew up. No other reasoning behind it

Malik is actually stronger than Yami Marik, and as a villain he actually is one that has the support of family and friends to support this. Just hear me out on the strength thing, sure Tau takes over when he’s mentally torn and worn out. That’s because Malik’s in fact at his worse, usually he’s able to keep Tau locked away within him, so in a fight I do believe Malik would win even if I think Tau would have more visible muscle. Tau’s more about mind games and tricks to assist him

Also Yuugi is stronger than people give him credit for. He may be small and look a tad squishable. But remember he was in a burning building struggling between completing the puzzle, pulling the puzzle, holding onto it whilst his two friends one of which use to  be in a gang pulled him desperately from it and he wouldn’t let go. They actually decided they had a better shot of pulling the metal spike out of the concrete or whatever that thing was made from then they did removing an almost passed out Yuugi from his puzzle. So I’d say Yuugi’s pretty damn strong

Hiroto and Ryuji fight over girls constantly but they are basically together and this is just them trying to flirt. Truthfully they can only flirt on those they aren’t actually interested in, they’re masters until it’s someone they like like and then it’s like c*** what do I do which is how they get with each other

Thief is the king of pick up lines, puns, flirting in general. Where Atemu can’t flirt to save his life and he tries hard but its barely recognisable and he almost always screws it up. Thief finds it amusing and loves that he tries. However on the other spectrum. They’ve been dating and living together for like a year now and Thief only just figured out because they were on a date and he said they should go on a date sometime. They’ve been acting as an exclusive couple up til this point, he just honestly didn’t notice it just enjoying the ride

despite dating and Thief going as far as to call Atemu his future hubby before they even get engaged. Sometimes Thief admits that a large part deep within him will always somewhat hate Atemu, and blame him. He’s tried moving on but sometimes it can just fire up. They don’t always talk about it sometimes they don’t just talk and merely sit together or sometimes he just gets upset and Atemu tries to just be there. Not always try to understand or even offer pointless advice more so just be there for Thief regardless And thief will also admit, sometimes he avoids saying Atemu’s name using all his childish nicknames he can make up because of their history. And sometimes even the  name can just bring all that back up for him. He truly loves Atemu and it does make him feel guilty or upset but Atemu always reassures him its ok to feel the way he does Just a little bonus note: Thief’s death pack on Atemu has changed, he still declares if Atemu’s to be killed, he’ll be the one to do it. But now more so its, we’ll be together til death does us part and even then he promises Atemu he’ll never be able to get rid of him

Mai is Jonouchi’s big sister (Adopted). She took him in as her little brother and Serenity. They often fight over what’s on tv and she shows Serenity how to put on make-up and perfumes. Goes clothes shopping and stuff. She had a big house growing up but no one to share it with, but now she may not have as big as place but she’s got a proper family

Ryou’s Dad Hideki is the king of dad jokes

Whilst Amane was still alive and a baby, Ryou excitedly took her into school for show and tell. He was really proud of his sister from the day she was born and wanted all to see. In saying that he was protective of her with others, when anyone was around his little sister he was ensuring to watch them with her even falling over a few times from leaning too far to keep an eye on them

Bakura always makes friends by pure accident and he doesn’t realise for ages. Then he freaks out about it. Because. How. When why. What the. But then their his and they are never gonna go anywhere.  That or if its where he shares a body with Ryou he does it originally for his own cover, but then after time he starts just going there in general and before he knows it and yes he doesn’t know it he’s friends with the lot of them. Plus sometimes Ryou just taps out with them and at first he got irritated because he didn’t want to deal with that but he doesn’t remember at what point he stopped even noticing if anything it made him happy When he realises he has a huge c*** moment and just takes a few days to process and figure it out in his head

Au Thief, his village did burn down or everyone was killed regardless. He’s still the soul survivor, and going to another town no one knows exactly what to do with him. But they figure out he had an Uncle currently in Egypt. So he’s taken to him, Hideki Bakura. An archaeologist. Hideki takes him back to Japan to meet his other two sons Ryou and Bakura, who he acts as an older brother too now

Thief and Atemu are mostly the shortest, however instead in Au’s. Their usually Yuugi and Ryou’s cousins who had to move in due to other things back home

When Ishizu tries to display things from their home, at the museum. Malik and Tau constantly steal them. With the excuse. ‘It was mine first and you stole it from me.’

Thief is blind in his scarred eye

Bakura’s first name is Florence, and no. This has nothing. NOTHING. To do with the abridged series. Its just his name, he got it from his mother. It was a family name and whilst he often hates it and loves Japan because you can use your last name without question. But no matter how many times he fills the paper work out to change it. He never does, he can’t. Deep down its apart of him and he actually does want to keep it. He likes it. People he’s close to can call him Florence or Flow for short (or Thief calls him Flow Flow)

Yuugi and Bakura like doing puzzles together it’s oddly calming and allows Bakura time to nut out his own thoughts and if either one wishes to speak they are both open minded to what is being said. They listen to piano music a lot during this time

Bakura hates to admit it but he actually really enjoys the mundane things, cooking, doing the washing, things that just remind him he’s alive

When Tau can’t express himself, emotionally or otherwise. Too frustrated or anything like that, he often draws animals to represent people finding it easier to explain that way rather than words, he’s a lion, Ryou’s a bunny, Malik a fox, Bakura a cat, etc. I kinda imagine him drawing them a bit like how they look in Kamy’s animal au. So others know to look for them in his books and if the lion ever looks down it's a good time to start trying to comfort him. Since he’s not always the best and expressing himself verbally he’ll scream maybe but otherwise he often keeps it bottled up somewhat like Malik did when he created him. So Ryou and such know to look at how the lions doing in his books because if its not doing well something might be wrong

Bakura, Yami (Yami Yuugi), Tau, Atemu, Thief and Malik were confused as frig when they were introduced to video games but after learning about them they are get every possible console to play them, in group games like Mario Kart and such, Bakura and Thief might stand in front of Yami or Atemu whilst playing or put his hands out, Malik pokes out his tongue. Thief can not sit still, sure he does try to get in Atemu and Yami’s way, but he still doesn’t always do so on purpose, he jumps up and kicks out, gets on the edge of his seat, jumps off the couch everything. Malik will talk and yell at the game and has been known between him and Tau to throw their controllers at the screen

Ryou gets sea sick easily, Bakura’s really confused at first when he jumps on a boat in Ryou’s body, he’s basically sick the entire time and from then on he knew to take the pills

Malik and Tau can’t swallow pills. They just can’t, they try really hard but their unable to force themselves to swallow and spit them out time and time again, they even try the hide it in your food and it doesn’t work

Thief is a neat freak, and he cleans when he’s pissed off these days. And since all his  things are clean and in place he’ll break into his ‘friends’ places and clean and if someone’s home, he’ll rant to them. Atemu often makes a tea and just sits nodding. Whereas others like Bakura, Tau and such will purposefully make messes as he tries to clean so its a contest if they can mess it up faster then he can clean it Malik tells him off for touching his garage because it may look like a mess and sure it probably was but thats how he wanted it and he knew where his things were. Malik made a wall of people not allowed to  clean it has two things under it, a note saying ‘ANYONE WHO IS NOT ME MALIK ISHTAR’ and then a photo of Thief which he wrote ‘ESPECIALLY YOU’ beneath beside the note

Diabound is kinda like a vampire, because whilst yes he’s a snake man he’s a snake so  your telling me won’t bite anyone, he can fly and instead of turning into a bat he turns into a white snake and slithers up you the hugs warmly around your shoulders as he gets ready to bite (Not really a- anything? Just something I thought about kinda just figured I’d throw it on the end because why not?)

[tomfooleryprime]

Hello! I just wanted to say how much I love your writing! No Winter Lasts Forever was brilliant! And I’m throughly enjoying your newest OC-centric story. Question: do you fully outline before you begin writing? Do you have any advice on how to do that? Also, do you create character sheets to get to know them better and such? One of my biggest challenges is characterization, and I can’t seem to be able to outline. So, any advice in that department would be much appreciated. Thank you! :)

Thank you so much!

I do outline before writing. It’s the only way to go, as far as I’m concerned. No writer’s block once you have an outline. 

You can outline for plot, setting, characterization or all three, however, outlining still has its drawbacks, especially if your story is super long and full of original details. 

This is the problem I ran into with No Winter Lasts Forever. I had hundreds of characters spread over a colony world I basically designed from scratch and it ended up being more than 300,000 words long and took me two years to write. The amazing thing about an outline is it organizes little details and it reminds you to include certain things in current and foreshadow things for future chapters. I call it “sprinkling details.”

For example, you might casually mention your character has a lot of scars in the first chapter. Then in a later chapter, maybe they’re rubbing their neck and they’re reminded of how they got one scar in particular—say, a crazy sword fight with a pirate where they almost got their throat cut, I dunno? Then later your character is abducted and has a bag over his head, about to be shot execution style when he’s rescued at the last minute by a guy who owes him a favor. Your character asks, “I had a bag over my head so how did you know it was me?” Favor dude points to his neck and replies, “I would recognize that scar anywhere, boy-o.” 

Ugh, so cheesy, but you get the point. If you wait until that very chapter to inform readers, oh, he has a scar on his neck and this is how the other guy will recognize him, it just seems like some weird afterthought. 

Sprinkling details throughout the story gives your readers a chance to get to know your characters and their situation slowly, just like you would get to know anyone in real life. When you sit down next to a coworker for the first time, you don’t get the exhaustive Wikipedia version of their life in the first sitting, you notice little details and ask little questions over time. You see a picture of kids on their desk and think maybe she’s a mom. 

There isn’t some narrator to inform you, “Hey readers, this is Susan. She has three children and their names are Lucy, Bobby, and Asshole. She’s really self-conscious about the mole on her cheek. In her spare time she enjoys pilates and bareknuckle boxing.” If you want to show rather than tell, maybe you mention that you see Susan constantly pulling her hair over her left cheek and eventually realize she has weird bruises on her hands and you resolve to ask her about it later. 

In a normal human relationship, you would discover these things about your new coworker over time. Giving a giant info dump in the beginning is tedious and it’s telling rather than showing. It’s been one of the biggest challenges of bettering myself as a writer: learning to show though dialogue, actions, and details rather than just tell my readers what they need to know to get on with the story. 

Unfortunately, there comes a point at which no matter how detailed your outline is, you will start forgetting details as the months wear on because it makes no sense to have an outline so detailed that you invent a whole life story for a character you barely mention once, unless you’re J.K. Rowling and still milking a wildly successful boy wizard series nearly two decades later. There were many times I had to go to AO3, click “Entire Story” on my own story, and search for tiny details like, what color is Hadrian Moore’s hair or what was Ann Svendsen’s second-oldest kid’s name again?

I would say most stories aren’t as stupidly ambitious as that one though. I don’t think I can stress this enough: if you want to become a fiction writer, fanfiction has to be the best place to dip your toe in the pond. It’s a ready-made template. It’s easy to spread your wings in a world that has already been designed for you so that you don’t have to worry about making everything from scratch and can focus on storytelling, dialogue, and voice instead. Spock has a very well-formed character, so if you start writing him as a guy who drops f-bombs for no reason, you’ve royally screwed your characterization. 

The same goes for outlining. Creating an outline using canon characters who already have fairly established backstories and personalities is so much easier and if you’re just starting out writing, I’d recommend doing that. It’s too easy to just go to Memory Alpha if you can’t remember how old Leonard McCoy is, or if you’re writing for another popular fandom, most have their own wikis. Bless the people who compile such websites: they’re doing the Lord’s work. 

So if you need help with characterization and outlining the plot, that’s my advice: start small. Start with familiar characters in a familiar setting, and write a short fic of 10,000 words or less. Then write a longer story. Then incorporate your first central original character and spend a lot of time fleshing this person out. The more you do it, the more you’ll learn what works for you and what doesn’t. My first outlines were really bare bones, my later outlines were too detailed. I think I finally hit a happy medium with my new OC story. 

If you want, I can email you my outline for my latest chapter of my new story so you can get an idea for how much information I include. Hit my up at jtomfoolery@yahoo.com.