#and 2. because i have so many extra shots that alas can't all be used but MAN ALIVE are good

[unhappy-sometimes]

a 2024 reading retrospective

so. i read a lot of fics in 2024. here are some of my favorites.

before i get started, please note that these are not in any particular order and these are not all of my favorites!!!!!!!! i wanted to include so many more but i just wasn't able to! also please don't roast me for reading stuff from more than two years ago :(((

anyway, here we go!!

1. Air by Cantare

as always, @cantareincminor knocks it out of the park. i'm a sucker for alternate first meeting AUs and Air is one of the good ones!! i find that it can be hard to find authentic sounding banter between yor and twilight, but cantare manages it somehow! they have such great and natural sounding dialogue. it's just a one chapter fic, but maybe if we ask nicely enough, cantare will continue one day 😏

2. like the wild geese by anonymous_viscacha

okay in all honesty, i read this for the first time last week and i scrambled to add this one to the list. it's a short one shot about a shared lunch break between yor and loid, but it's so sweet and endearing that i just had to put it on. i love love love it when people let loid and yor catch up on the childhood they lost because they deserve it. i'm kinda obsessed with this fic right now.

3. what happens outside by aerequets

it's kinda unfair that @aerequets gets to be a great artist and author but here we are. i'm not complaining tho because what happens outside is a delightful read. i enjoy exploring post reveal pre relationship twiyor and this fic is perfect for that!! it's also just really cute and reading things from yor's perspective is super endearing.

4. chaos theory by sarsaparillia

so ngl this one scared me at first because i do NOT like major character death fics and this one really seems like it, but this fic was unexpectedly wholesome and has a happy ending!!! it's short but bittersweet so i can't really talk about it without spoiling it any more. go read it! it's short!

5. eventually i fall into you, you attack my heart by princessguard

i know this is a controversial (and somewhat ironic) take but i usually really don't like eden AUs but. this fic is proof that there are always exceptions to the rule. this one is a short little story about a serious student at eden and the weird girl he keeps meeting in trees. i don't know exactly why i love this one so much but it do. it's cute and the epilogue got me grinning like a fool.

6. like real people do by Puolain

once again another alternative meeting AU. i dunno, man, it's just so much fun to see twilight and yor having the chance to be real people and accidentally fall in love which each other. i eat that up every time. great work @loveroma!

7. I'll Be There in a Minute, Dear by fluffmelange

i was SO CLOSE to putting fluffmelange's "Leave No Trace of Yourself" here because that one is SO FUNNY but alas, this delightful fic barely won out in the end. you know what you should do? read both. fluffmelange is keeping us all fed with short and sweet fics that are so much fun to read. this one is a favorite simply because the premise is so goofy and simple but i could 100% see it being canon lol. we are in your capable hands @fluffmelange.

8. I've Been Throwing Bricks At Your Window Like There's No Better Way To Say Hello by thesmallestfishinthesea

this fic has such a silly and simply premise but i love it so so so much. it's about the three times yor forgets her keys (plus one extra time loid forgets!!!!) and it's so cute to have a view inside yor's (often frazzled) mind. i don't know what else to say other than READ IT RIGHT NOW!!! great work @smallest-fish-inthesea!

this is not all!! i really wanted to include the wonderful works of @whateversawesome, @briefhottubcoffee, @spencer-is-alive, luinel, and more (ao3 literally went out just as i was typing this UGH what awful timing) but i wanted to do something to give back to this awesome community. fun fact, today is my birthday and there's a tradition in my family where the birthday person gives presents to others. so this is my present to everyone!! thanks for everything you guys and here's to another great year!

oh oh oh one last thing, i tried to link everyone's tumblr if they have one, so if there's an author on here who has a tumblr that i didn't link, let me know and i'll link them.

okay! thanks everyone!

(ALSO DON'T MAKE FUN OF HOW DIFFERENT SOME OF THE DRAWING STYLES LOOK IN SOME OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS, I WAS EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES AND THEY LOOK STUPID ALL PUT TOGETHER LEAVE ME ALONE😭😭😭😭😭😭)

[rando-lesbo210]

This is going to out me as the anon but I got too many ideas and wanted to show really bad how the au designs are in my brain because a lot of @scrap-brainzone 's stuff inspired with it and aus so this is a babble about it and some extra info on my aus!

(also at the end I made a doodle of gaige x ty x moze specifically in thanks and also to show appreciation as a gift)

ALSO SUPER SORRY THIS IS GOING TO BE A GIANT POST.

Going simple first, I wanted to show the differences, although I haven't touched Angelic Guardian in awhile and Hyperion brand new with posting I wanted to show anyways- I'll add tidbit about each under this, so sorry for anyone trying to decipher my chicken scratch

Underneath Ms Ceos heavy ass eyeliner and makeup is the eridium effects as displayed here, she's went under several different surgeries repeatedly trying to hide any of the effects and uses cameras and altering her look digitally to her advantage. Her big problem is she Can't let people know because she fears if people knew, they're going to try and kidnap her again. (Mildly irrational considering all her security but it's a fair worry.) She hasn't touched eridium since the end of BL2, so she's most clean, but with how much she had the damage has been done.

Ah, Fallen Heir au. Angel's given up caring about who sees, only hiding before to stay away from the Crimson Raiders and cultists, but after both sides know? It's so what to her. She's technically the most fit and least afraid to use her abilities because she doesn't care as much about hurting others around her. If I were to describe her attitude/self in one sentence of dialog it'd basically be, "They refuse to see me as anything but a monster, so that's what I'll be."

Alas, my dear Angelic Guardian. As you can see, she's very much not holding up well. Her suit uses eridium to help keep her going but still at what cost? She's technically extremely fit, but the repercussions are severe if she pushes too far. Her level of eridium poisoning is beyond dangerous, having been in stasis for 5 years while still receiving eridium to keep her alive. I'll end it here by saying this has severe consequences that unfortunately, she was doomed to face regardless.

Ai Ange? Well. Not very much of anything but mild traits. I, in turn, made one for Gaige with that au.

Angel isn't very the most comfortable with Gaige using eridium, mainly due to the fact its less "as needed" but she likes to test limits and see what she can really do.

moving on I made some goofies and such from my Fallen au, wanting to show interactions (Mildly for also scrap because I know tyreen and tygaige a favorite)

Tygaige alas, would heavy struggle unless we get villain redemption pt 2 like Angel, but she won't be very pleased about it at first before accepting. I'm a sucker for Gaigel, so it'll lean that way, but to entertain the idea would be interesting. I might do that sometime.

if you're curious though with Angel there, it is a shitpost and I have drawn it with the idea Tyreen was monologing, but Angel just turned off her shield and straight up shot a bitch. (Tyreen easily healed with eridium but it was the audacity that was most surprising) the fallen au is pretty funny because besides that, she's also: Made Troy punch himself, then also has made his arm punch Tyreen. Will hack their shows if she's upset enough and fucks with their things. General fun, yknow. An issue Ange faces in the end is because she's so "eridium enriched" it's like double tasty snack to the twins, so that's always fun. (In fairness to Troy and with another drawing, Angel in this au has also made Gaige punch herself a few times when she got upset. She's very petty and I support it)

AND LASTLY

This is a mild gift to scrap-brainzone! I'm really sorry thr quality and coloring isn't the best on this (or most of the images), I was mildly rushing from time and far too excited to finish this and post it to show.

FUCK I REALIZED I DIDNT ADD THE BLUSHES. GOD. I'll do it tomorrow and edit or reblog this one, god I knew I was forgetting something-

The trio may not be my personal cup of tea, but it is very cute and I couldn't stop laughing/thinking about a post similar about the White Girl Swag so I wanted to be silly and make one

I'm too loyal to Gaigel, but who doesn't like to look and toy with other ideas? I never considered it much until seeing their art and it good shit, how could i not? Anyways, rambling, hope this isn't too bad or shoddy of a gift, I'll hopefully make something better soon, I was just too excited to post and show

anyone else who.made it this far you should totally totally go to scrap-brainzone 's blog it's great good shit 100/10 👍

[madebycoffee]

tomorrow~